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TV four times with footage recorded at their
Seventh Angel are an English
TV for several live performances of their Christian metal
Christian metal, also known as white metal, Jesus metal or heavenly metal, is heavy metal music distinguished by its Christian themed song lyrics and the dedication of the band members to Christianity. Christian metal is typically performed by ...
band that formed in 1987 in Halesowen
Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of West Midlands, England.
Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, the town is around from Birmingham city centre, and fro ...
, West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
. The band was known for its combination of doom metal and thrash metal
Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...
. The band initially released two albums, ''The Torment
''The Torment'' is the debut studio album by the British Christian thrash metal band Seventh Angel, released on Music for Nations in 1990. The album established the band as "one of England's leading thrash metal bands" by ''The Daily Telegraph'' ...
'' (1990) and '' Lament for the Weary'' (1992), before disbanding; these records achieved mainstream distribution through the Music for Nations
Music For Nations (MFN) is a British independent record label focusing mainly on rock and metal. It was a subsidiary of the larger label distributor Zomba Records, which was a division of BMG and later Sony Music Entertainment.
Launched i ...
label, making Seventh Angel label mates with such groups as Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth. ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' called Seventh Angel "one of the leading Christian thrash metal bands in Great Britain."
The band headlined the Metal Meltdown festival in 1990, played concerts in Germany and the Netherlands, and they were featured on both Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
and BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...Greenbelt Festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...
concerts. Guitarist/vocalist Ian Arkley later formed the doom metal bands Ashen Mortality and My Silent Wake. In May 2008, the group announced their reforming. The current line-up consists of the original members Ian Arkley (guitars, vocals), Simon Bibby (guitar), Andrew "Tank" Thompson (drums) and Mark Broomhead (bass). The band released their third album, '' The Dust of Years'', in 2009.
History
Demo era (1987–1989)
Seventh Angel was formed in 1987 by Ian Arkley and Andrew (Andi) Blount with Scott Rawson joining very soon afterwards. In August 1988, the first drummer Andrew Blount was replaced by Andy Hopkins who played with the band until December. Stuart Benton was trialled as the vocalist for a brief period in 1988. In early 1989, Mark Ruff joined the band as their drummer. Seventh Angel's self-titled demo, sometimes referred to as the "Red" demo, was produced in 1989 with Ian playing lead guitar, bass (as Neil A Kray) as well as vocals. A few days later, Simon Bibby joined as the bassist and the band began to play local concerts around the West Midlands. The band played its first concert in May 1989 in Netherton, West Midlands. In August 1989, Seventh Angel performed their fifth concert at theGreenbelt Festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...
, supporting American rock band One Bad Pig. Afterwards, Mark Ruff left and Seventh Angel toured the United Kingdom, including Ireland, with the American Christian metal band Whitecross. Colin Brookes played drums during the tour. Andrew "Tank" Thompson replaced Colin on drums. Seventh Angel's second demo, ''The Rehearsal Demo'', was recorded whilst Scott Rawson had a short break away from the band.
Channel 4, ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''The Torment'' (1990)
On 25 January 1990, Seventh Angel appeared onChannel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
's ''Not on Sunday'' programme which featured a performance of "Divine Takeover" and a band interview with Brian Redhead. Later that year, ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' described Seventh Angel as "one of Britain's leading Christian thrash metal bands." The demos received positive reviews in various magazines.
On 14 February, Ian Arkley and Simon Bibby were involved in a car crash in which Bibby broke his arm and Ian damaged several of his teeth. However, the band was able to play their confirmed concerts. Simon took over on vocal duties and Scott played bass for the gig following the accident.
Between 12 and 14 March 1990, the third demo titled ''Heed the Warning'' was recorded and mixed at White Rabbit Studios in Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079.
Histor ...
with Paul Hodson. Afterwards, the band recorded their debut album entitled ''The Torment
''The Torment'' is the debut studio album by the British Christian thrash metal band Seventh Angel, released on Music for Nations in 1990. The album established the band as "one of England's leading thrash metal bands" by ''The Daily Telegraph'' ...
'' at Mad Hat Studios in Wolverhampton by the same producer; the album was released that year. The British fantasy artist Rodney Matthews
Rodney Matthews (born 6 July 1945) is a British illustrator and conceptual designer of fantasy and science-fiction.
Career
Trained at the West of England College of Art, Matthews worked in advertising for Plastic Dog Graphics before turning ...
painted the cover painting for the album.
Over the next few months, Seventh Angel played at local venues around Dudley
Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...
and Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...
, including five performances at The Rock Tavern in Brierley Hill. The band headlined Metal meltdown in November, which was Simon Bibby's last concert as he left the band in February. The band also contributed to the ''Just Be Sure It's Pure'' split EP in 1990 with American Christian metal bands Bride
A bride is a woman who is about to be married or who is newlywed.
When marrying, the bride's future spouse, (if male) is usually referred to as the '' bridegroom'' or just ''groom''. In Western culture, a bride may be attended by a maid, bri ...
, Seraiah and Xalt, German Christian metal band Creed, and Jeff Scheetz.
BBCTV and ''Lament for the Weary'' (1991–1992)
In February, Seventh Angel appeared onBBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...Greenbelt festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...
concert; "Forbidden Desires" was the featured song.
Simon Jones joined in to play bass and Seventh Angel performed concerts around Horsham and Stourbridge during the spring. The band played festivals including Harry and Crossfire. Seventh Angel toured the UK with Toranaga from 21 March to 7 April, playing eleven concerts.
Seventh Angel's second album, '' Lament for the Weary'', was recorded in ICC studios, Eastbourne, with Roy Rowland from 4 to 16 July 1991; it was released in 1992. The album saw the band combine doom metal elements with progressive thrash metal
Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...
. The album received positive reviews. The band contributed to a second split EP, ''White Metal Warriors – Last Ship Home'' in 1991 with the bands Detritus, Lazarus, Maverick and Stairway.
Seventh Angel performed on the mainstage of the Greenbelt festival on 23 August, sharing the stage with the American progressive metal
Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...
group Galactic Cowboys
Galactic Cowboys are an American heavy metal band based in Houston, Texas. They combine progressive metal with a vocal style influenced by The Beatles and the heavy playing style of thrash bands such as Anthrax. They have been described as " ...
. In October 1991, after a concert in Croydon, Scott left the band, as did Simon Jones after the Greenbelt festival concert. The band continued with only Tank and Ian Arkley as permanent members.
Foreign concerts and disbandment (1992–1993)
On 7 December 1991, the band played a concert at Christmas Rock Night in Ennepetal, Germany. Jon Willis played bass on this occasion. Also filling in for bass during the next few months were Earl Morris of Detritus and Nic White. Over the next few months, the band played at festivals and concerts around the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. On 30 May, Seventh Angel played in Utrecht, Netherlands. Mark Broomhead of the fellow thrash metal band Detritus played bass at the time for Seventh Angel, and the band played a concert at Greenbelt festival on 28 August, sharing stage with the reputive Swedish progressive doom metal groupVeni Domine
Veni Domine was a Christian progressive doom metal band founded in Sollentuna, Sweden in 1987. The band split up on 20 September 2014.
Veni Domine combined down-tempo melodic heavy metal, symphonic metal and doom metal with occasional touch ...
.
Seventh Angel toured the Netherlands from 9 September to 12 October and from 12 November until 12 December. Mark Broomhead became a permanent member of the band. Despite work towards a new album for the now three piece group, 12 December 1992 saw Seventh Angel's last gig in Utrecht, Netherlands. The band split up the following year.
Ian Arkley went on to form the doom metal bands Ashen Mortality in 1993 and My Silent Wake in 2005, the former of which disbanded in 2005, and was also the guitarist in the Australian Christian doom metal band Paramaecium in 1999; Tank formed the rap metal
Rap metal is a subgenre of rap rock and alternative metal music which combines hip hop with heavy metal. It usually consists of heavy metal guitar riffs, funk metal elements, rapped vocals and sometimes turntables.
History Origins and earl ...
group Freekspert and later SukMunki; Mark joined with other former Seventh Angel bassist Simon Bibby on the epic doom project Amaranth and later the experimental rock
Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...
band Fire Fly.
''Heed the Warning'', comeback and ''The Dust of Years'' (2005–present)
In 2005, a compilation album titled ''Heed the Warning: Live & Demo Recordings'' was released by Bombworks Records
Bombworks Records is a record label from McKinney, Texas, that formed in January 2004. The label would sign several bands, including Seventh Angel, A Hill to Die Upon, Grave Declaration and Crimson Thorn. The label started careers for bands suc ...
, containing Seventh Angel's demo of the same name as well as live recordings of songs from the band's studio albums. On 23 May 2008, Seventh Angel announced they were reforming. They also announced the release of a new album. The band had written half the song material for their new album, according to the press release. The re-issue of ''Lament for the Weary'' includes a newly recorded bonus track titled "The Turning Tide". The song features similar thrash/doom style the band is known for, albeit with death growl vocals as opposed to the previous thrash shouting. In late 2008, the band performed concerts in Brainstorm festival, Netherlands and Nordic Fest, Norway. In March 2009, Blabbermouth.net
Blabbermouth.net is a website dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. Blabbermouth.net was founded and is run by Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001; in Octob ...
reported that the band would enter studio The Priory in Birmingham with Greg Chandler of Esoteric
Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas ...
to record their new album. The cover art was provided by Matt Vickerstaff of Darkwave Art. It was also announced that the band had signed with Bombworks Records to release the album. As reported via their Myspace, during 19–23 March the band recorded the album, entitled '' The Dust of Years'', which was released on 24 June 2009.
Seventh Angel's official Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
page was launched in 2012. The band's second compilation album, the ''Demo Collection'', was released in 2017 and contains material from their three demos. In 2018, remasters of both ''The Torment'' and ''Lament for the Weary'' were released. On 20 May 2019, the band posted on Facebook, "We have not split SA as we see no need; we probably never will. We hope to record again one day but there are no immediate plans."
Members
;Current * Ian Arkley – guitars, vocals (1987–1991, 1991–1993, 2008–present) (My Silent Wake, ex- Ashen Mortality, ex- Paramaecium) *Simon Bibby – guitars (1987–1993, 2008–present) (My Silent Wake) *Andrew "Tank" Thompson – drums (1989, 1989–1993, 2008–present) (ex-My Silent Wake) *Mark Broomhead – bass (1992–1993, 2008–present) ( Detritus) ;Former *Scott A. Rawson – guitar, bass (1987–1989, 1990–1991) *Andrew "Andi" Blount – drums (1987–1988) (prior to the first recordings or live performances) *Andy Hopkins – drums (1988) (prior to the first recordings or live performances) *Stuart Benton – vocals (1988) (prior to the first recordings or live performances) *Mark Ruff – drums (1989) *Colin Brookes – drums (1989) *Simon Jones – bass (1991) *Earl Morris – bass (ex-Detritus) (1991) *Nic White – bass (1991) *Jon Willis – bass (1991, 1992)Discography
Studio albums * ''The Torment
''The Torment'' is the debut studio album by the British Christian thrash metal band Seventh Angel, released on Music for Nations in 1990. The album established the band as "one of England's leading thrash metal bands" by ''The Daily Telegraph'' ...
'' (1990)
* '' Lament for the Weary'' (1992)
* '' The Dust of Years'' (2009)
Compilation albums
* ''Heed the Warning: Live & Demo Recordings'' (2005)
* ''Demo Collection'' (2017)
Extended plays
* ''Just Be Sure It's Pure'' (1990, split with Bride, Creed, Jeff Scheetz, Seraiah, Xalt)
* ''White Metal Warriors – Last Ship Home'' (1991, split with Detritus, Lazarus, Maverick, Stairway)
Demo albums
* ''Seventh Angel'' (1989)
* ''The Rehearsal Demo'' (1989)
* ''Heed the Warning'' (1990)
References
External links
*Seventh Angel bio
{{Authority control Christian extreme metal groups English heavy metal musical groups English thrash metal musical groups English doom metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1987 Musical groups disestablished in 1992 Musical groups reestablished in 2008