'There's Gonna Be a Lot of Bite on It' - Death Angel's Mark Osegueda Teases New Music

If you're a Death Angel fan and you're digging "Cult of the Used" and "Wrath (Bring Fire)," you'll be happy to know there's plenty more on the way. Singer Mark Osegueda confirmed as much while speaking with Full Metal Jackie during her weekend radio show.

While talking up the powerful new song "Cult of the Used," Osegueda shared that the band is indeed working on their first new album since 2019's Humanicide. "There's a full album coming and we're still writing for it, that's for sure," shared the singer. "There's a lot of material that we're working on and we don't have a solid date of when we're gonna go into the actual studio to record a full length, but we do know that we're going to do as far as the material, it's gonna be a very well-rounded record, but there's gonna be a lot of bite on it for sure."

The singer even offered a tentative late 2026/early 2027 timeline for their next release.

Within the chat, Osegueda shares how proud he is of the growth of their annual Death Angel Christmas shows in the Bay Area that have become a tradition. He also speaks more in depth on the meaning of "Cult of the Used" and offers reflections on the Act III album the band has been playing on tour to celebrate its anniversary.

Elsewhere, the singer shares the one metal song he'd love to cover, gives us some insight into his typical holiday experience and drops some details on what's next for his work with Kerry King.

Check out more of the chat below.

It's Full Metal Jackie, and super excited to welcome back to the show once again Death Angel's Mark Osegueda. While many acts are winding down for the year, things are getting busy for you right now. Of course, we've got the new Death Angel single I'm gonna play, "Cult of the Used," and this tour celebrating the 35th anniversary of Act III, and of course the annual Death Angel Christmas shows taking place December 18th and 19th at The Fillmore.

Let's start with the last thing. It's become such a tradition in the Bay Area. Can you speak to when and why this became a thing for the band that you continually want to revisit each year and have you had a favorite experience from these Christmas shows?

This'll be I believe our 10th annual one, so it started 10 years ago. We put it together at Slim's and it was a smaller club in San Francisco and the first night sold out really quickly, and so we did a second one.

After that people started asking, "Are you gonna do one this next year?" And then we thought, "Maybe we should make this happen, make it something like a Bay Area thrash metal tradition." And sure enough, it caught on. We did it the next year and we did it basically every year following until the pandemic.

Through the pandemic, we could no longer do it because everything was shut down so what we did is we rented out a nightclub here and we had everyone tested and we did a virtual show and made it a virtual Christmas show and streamed it and that was a success as well.

Now it's like people always say when you go to shows in San Francisco or anywhere here in the Bay Area, they'll always ask, "What dates are the Christmas shows?" They look forward to it. And it is very familial. It has a familial feel to it and all the other bands come from the thrash scene if they're in town.

It's grown over the years. And so when Slim's closed down, we moved it to The Great American Music Hall, which was a sister venue with them and slightly larger. We had it up through last year there and then we knew it was gonna be the 35th year anniversary of Act III, so we thought let's do Act III in its entirety. And do you wanna try to aim big and try for The Fillmore? That's what was presented to us.

I was actually the one most skeptical. I was like, "I don't know. Fillmore's a big jump as far as size wise." I've always wanted to headline The Fillmore my whole life. That's one of our goals here in San Francisco was always that. When we played the smaller venues, people would come both nights and they'd sell out, but I assumed there were so many people that would go both nights that I didn't know if that would transfer over to The Fillmore cause it'd be returning customers, so I didn't know if we could fill that size room. But when we announced it was happening at The Fillmore, it sold out quicker than any Death Angel Christmas show has in the past and we were blown away.

I think it was probably the excitement of Act III and it's a 10-year tradition, the Christmas shows, but people went for it. Then they tried to talk us into doing a second night at The Fillmore, and that's when I was really like, "There's no way." And The Fillmore asked us to do it. Our booking agents and the promoters asked us to do it, so we went for it, and that's just shy of selling out as well.

It's something we're really, really proud of just being from the San Francisco Bay Area and it's one of my favorite venues ever and it's so historic. It means the world to us that we're gonna get to do it.

Death Angel, "Cult of The Used"

Mark Osegueda of Death Angel is with us, and we're finishing this year off with that new present. "Cult of the Used" is the second new song the band has released this year. Mark, it's hard not to be impacted by the world around us today. That track digs into societal manipulation. What led the group down the path that this was something to be addressed in song and do you feel that there are things that we as a society need to be more tuned into?

What's going on currently throughout the world right now, that's exactly what's happening and I think people are so distracted with anything from their devices and their television and things like that and the people in control, people in powerful positions are using this and kind of manipulating what people are watching or what people are thinking.

It's happening worldwide, especially with, dare I say, a lot of political figures. Right now, the world is in such a divisive state because of that and it's both sides that just right now just don't see eye to eye and it's so divisive. Both sides are just full of sheep and it's really unfortunate that that seems to be the case. That's what this song is kinda based on.

But what we could do to change it, I just think people need to go back and just realize that we're all in this together. We really are. Sure, everyone's gonna have their differences, but it's just you gotta see and accept. To me, the beauty in different cultures, the beauty in different genders, and just the beauty in acceptance, that's what has to happen.

There's always gonna be differences between people, and you gotta just kind of accept it and let people be themselves. I think that's what people need to do and as long as you respect people for being themselves, you're gonna earn that same mutual respect from others 'cause you're being yourself.

Between "Cult of the Used" and "Wrath (Bring Fire)" that was issued earlier this year, there seems to be some solid bite in what we're getting musically. So far, they're standalone tracks, but is there a full album coming? And also, how indicative are these songs of what we might hear down the road?

Oh yeah. There's definitely a full album coming. There's a full album coming and we're still writing for it, that's for sure. We did record a few more tracks but we haven't decided if those will be released as singles or whatnot.

There's a lot of material that we're working on and we don't have a solid date of when we're gonna go into the actual studio to record a full length, but we do know that we're going to do as far as the material, it's gonna be a very well-rounded record for sure, but there's gonna be a lot of bite on it for sure.

I'd have to say we'd probably be in the studio, I'm guessing, sometime tail end of '26 and hopefully have a release beginning of '27 or maybe the last quarter of '26. But we're definitely planning on overwriting for this one and then cherry-picking the best ones.

Mark, Act III has rightfully amassed plenty of accolades over the years. It was a bit more experimental and darker than previous records, but has become beloved over time. What are your recollections of making that album and the discussions that were going on about where to take the music? And also, is it a bit bittersweet in reflection knowing that would be the band's final musical statement for over a decade?

With Act III, that was our third record and it was our first on a major label, 'cause it was released by Geffen Records. The two prior were on Enigma and then we got picked up by Geffen. And so the budget kind of grew exponentially and that gave us the opportunity to work with Max Norman, who produced the record.

Max Norman, we were thrilled to work with 'cause he produced two of our favorite records of all time, still to this date, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of Madman by Ozzy Osbourne. May he rest in peace.

So when we heard that he wanted to work with us and all the stars aligned, we were beside ourselves. And soon as we got in touch with him, we just started demoing, demoing, demoing, more than we ever had for any other project. And we worked with him closely and with the label, and that's the first record we overwrote for. I think we wrote 30 songs and just picked out, the best songs for that particular record.

Whereas The Ultra-Violence was recorded in three days and mixed in five and Frolic Through The Park was recorded and mixed in two weeks, I believe Act III, just recording alone, was something like five weeks. Then mixing with Max, I don't remember how long that took. But I remember all the writing we did for that, it really took us down different roads that we'd never thought we'd go down, bringing acoustic songs in there with a lot of harmony vocals and then just really experimental sounds.

Max really inspired us to do that and pushed us to get a lot out of us which we really appreciated with what came out of it. People really have attached themselves to that record over the years and it brings them to a special place.

So now that it's 35 years later, I have a newfound appreciation for it for sure. I think I did distance myself from it 'cause it was the last record of our career at that point before an 11-year hiatus. And so I really distanced myself from it because I did have bittersweet feelings towards it. But now revisiting it and relearning it with the guys, it's really carved its way back into my heart and you could see with the amount of rehearsals we've done for this tour and people who that album means a lot to, when they see it live, they're not gonna be disappointed. We've been practicing and rehearsing a lot for this tour.

Mark, we've been talking about this newfound appreciation for Act III and preparing for this tour you guys are on. Did you guys discover sort of a newfound appreciation for any songs on the album? Were there things that as you prepared to bring this thing live to the stage that you wanted to alter with time? And also, is it easy to get back into the mindset of a now 35-year-old album and where you were at during that period? Or does that meaning evolve for you over time?

I have appreciation for the musicality that we had back then for being the ages we were. That's for sure. I put a lot of that on Max Norman for really pushing us. The songs that have really garnered my respect over time has probably been the acoustic stuff more than I used to at the time.

At the time I was still into the thrash genre. So at the time, I kind of was wondering if we should really go down the acoustic path. But I really, really enjoy the instrumentation and the music of the songs and that we weren't just stagnant.

And at 35 years later, to get in that headspace, it's an odd headspace to get into, I've grown as a human being. So if anything, what I bring to it now is that I'm just a much more experienced vocalist at this point. I know how to control my voice better, so I was still learning very much so in the '80s. It's a constant learning experience, but I've been singing for 35 years. So I think what I'm bringing to it myself is just me singing with more technique and it's souped-up for me.

Mark, earlier this year, you teamed up with Exodus on a cover of Scorpions' "He's A Woman, She's A Man," and you've also played with Metal Allegiance, which gives you the opportunity to scratch that covers itch. Is there a favorite metal song that you'd love to either cover on record or perform live someday that you'd love to pay respect to?

Ooh, that's a good one. I do love doing covers, that's for sure. Just jamming with my friends and putting together things that'll blow peoples' minds live or record them. That's a good one. Maybe "The Shed (Subtle)" off of Rainbow's Long Live Rock and Roll.

READ MORE: The Best Cover Songs by 11 Big Thrash Metal Bands

Mark, earlier in the year, Kerry King discussed the idea of getting to work on his second solo record with the possibility of a 2026 release. Where do things stand for you at the moment with Kerry and Death Angel, and what is your 2026 starting to shape up like?

We had a great touring cycle for that first record From Hell I Rise. It's been great. We hit everywhere from North America, South America, Europe. We hit those markets twice, went down to Australia and Japan. We worked that record pretty hard and now we're in the writing stages of  the new record.

We're gonna start demoing stuff very soon. So I would imagine we'll be recording the next record in the first quarter of next year for Kerry King. As far as release date, we just have to see with Reigning Phoenix on when they plan on doing with it when we actually get the record mastered and whatnot. After that, we'll do more touring for sure. We're gonna work that second record as well as Death Angel,

As I said, we're writing for this next record, but we do have some shows booked. Obviously, we have the Act III tour up through the Christmas shows and then we have, I believe it's May, we have the Maryland Death Fest and then Death Angel's doing some summer festivals that we've already booked in Europe.

So that's what we have on the books with Death Angel, and the Kerry shows will fall into place once we know a release date and all that. Then we can start working with our booking agents and management to get a schedule going for that.

Just keep me busy, 'cause I love being busy playing music. It's my favorite thing in the world.

Mark, while you're finishing the year obviously with a flurry of activity, do you allow yourself some time to enjoy the holidays? What is Christmas and New Year's in the Osegueda household like? And what was the greatest gift you ever got over the holidays?

Oh, wow, that's tough.

Well, Christmas at the Osegueda household is crazy 'cause my family is absolutely... they're wonderful, but they're crazy. I come from a very loud family that likes to celebrate and right down to lots of food, lots of drinks. It's loud and it's wonderful.

We have friends and family and all our loved ones. It's just an amazing celebration for sure, always. We tend to take New Year's a little easier, you know. I don't really go balls out. I like to try to really, really relax on New Year's and I usually just kinda spend with my girl, and we just kinda stay in the house and I have a fire in the backyard and have some drinks and just listen to fireworks and hear all the other people laughing and we laugh and usually just listen to music by the fire and just enjoy ourselves. That's what we tend to do on New Year's.

That sounds lovely.

Oh, it's wonderful. It's my favorite. And then as far as the greatest gift, man, the greatest gift I ever got on Christmas, that's a tough one, 'cause I've gotten some pretty amazing things, but  off the top of my head to think what's the best gift I have ....  my girl's really great at giving gifts too. So it's tied with a lot of things that she's given me. And then, you can always go back to being a little kid and going, "Oh my god," the year I got my first BMX bike, things like that.

I'll tell you, when I got Kiss Alive II for Christmas, I was beaming. It just depends what era you take me to.

Thanks to Death Angel's Mark Osegueda for the interview. Stay up to date on all of Death Angel's activity through their website, Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube accounts. Stay on top of all things Kerry King through King's website, Facebook and Instagram. Find out where you can hear Full Metal Jackie's weekend radio show here.