Once Dead is a

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 originated in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California. The band has played at Festivals such as Up From The Ashes, Elements of Rock Festival and Nordic Fest.

History

The band started as a reunion for

Vengeance Rising Vengeance Rising was an American Christian thrash metal band from Los Angeles, California. Fronted by vocalist Roger Martinez, they originally formed as Vengeance in 1987, but changed their name in 1989 to avoid conflict with another band from ...

a band that original members,

Larry Farkas Larry Farkas (born May 2, 1966) is an American guitarist who primarily performs thrash metal. He was a member of Christian bands Vengeance Rising, Deliverance, Holy Soldier, and Once Dead, many of which he started. History Farkas presumably st ...

, Doug Thieme, Roger Dale Martin and Glen Mancaruso had all performed in. All the members quit Vengeance at the same time and formed the band Die Happy. The members decided they wanted to reunite the band minus original vocalist Roger Martinez, who threatened to sue over the reunion. Soon after those two shows as Vengeance, the band changed their name to Once Dead after one of Vengeance's

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

. In 2005, the band released a DVD titled ''Return with a Vengeance''. Soon after the release, Glen Mancaruso departed from the band and was replaced by

The Crucified The Crucified is an American Christian hardcore and crossover thrash band from Fresno, California that formed in 1984. Its lineup is vocalist Mark Salomon, guitarist Greg Minier, bassist Jeff Bellew, and drummer Jim Chaffin. The band are cons ...

drummer,

Jim Chaffin Jim Chaffin is an American musician. He is the original drummer for the Crucified and Fasedown and has played with many other acts, such as Deliverance, the Blamed and Left Out. History Jim Chaffin was born in Madera, California and began pla ...

. In 2006, Former

Deliverance ''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American thriller film directed and produced by John Boorman from a screenplay by James Dickey, who adapted it from his own Deliverance (novel), 1970 novel. It follows four businessmen from Atlanta who venture into th ...

and Vengeance guitarist

Glenn Rogers Glenn Alan Rogers (born 12 April 1977) is an Australian-born former cricketer who played international cricket for Scotland. A slow left-arm orthodox bowler, his ODI debut was in Chittagong against Bangladesh in December 2006. Rogers was the ...

joined the band and quit the band

Hirax Hirax (often stylized as HIRAX) is an American thrash metal band from Cypress, California. Starting in 1984 under the leadership of vocalist Katon W. De Pena (the band's only original member left in the current line-up), the band played in Los ...

. In September 2006, Once Dead announced the departure of vocalist Scott Waters because of the distance in between where he and the other members lived. After Waters departure, the band announced that Devin Shaeffer, of the Christian metalcore band

Fasedown Fasedown are a Christian hardcore band from Fresno, California, that formed in late 1998. Members have also been in Once Dead, The Blamed, Deliverance, The Sacrificed, and many more. In 2015 vocalist Devin Shaffer had "throat setbacks" accor ...

, would be taking over. In 2007, the band announced an update on the recording process. In April 2007, the band announced signing to Open Grave Records. In the announcement, it was mentioned that Angelo Espino was the new bass player, hinting that bassist Roger Dale Martin had quit. In May 2007, the band announced the departure of original lead guitarist Larry Farkas. Farkas stated that he quit the band as he refused to work with Open Grave Records. Shaeffer stated that the band had to rewrite all the parts that Farkas had written. After Farkas left the last known lineup was vocalist Devin Shaeffer, guitarist Doug Thieme (the only remaining original member), guitarist Glenn Rogers, bassist Angelo Espino, and drummer Jim Chaffin. In April 2008, the band announced that Farkas had rejoined the band. In June 2008, the band announced the completion of their album, ''Visions of Hell''. After the album release, the band has been inactive with members performing in

, and

Ultimatum An ; ; : ultimata or ultimatums) is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a coercion, threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance (open loop). An ultimatum is generally the ...

. In 2017, Once Dead reunited as

for the So Cal Metal Fest, with the original lineup, minus Roger Martinez. The band hired Jim Settle ( Hand of Fire, ex- Tantrum of the Muse) as their vocalist. After the show, the band began working on changing their name. However, they went back to the name of Once Dead, which meant that Espino, Schaeffer, Rogers, and Chaffin were no longer a part of the lineup. The band is currently recording another album with Producer Juan Urtega. It was later announced that Roger Sampson of Precious Death would be taking over on drums.

Members

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums * ''Visions of Hell'' (October 28, 2008) EPs * ''Ghost Tribe'' (2019) DVDs * ''Return with a Vengeance'' (2005)Beck, Chris (June 2005). "Once Dead - ''Return with a Vengeance''". Heaven's Metal. Retrieved on April 26, 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Once Dead Musical groups established in 2004 American Christian metal musical groups