DEATH ANGEL Will Play Their Act III Album In Its Entirety During One-Off Christmas Show

When Death Angel takes the stage at San Francisco’s Fillmore on December 18, they will be celebrating the 35th anniversary of Act III, their pivotal 1990 album, by performing it in its entirety for the first time at their tenth annual Christmas show.

In a move that underscores just how special this performance is to them and their fans, they’ve made it clear: “One night only and no livestream this year — grab your tickets early!”

Act III marked a turning point for Death Angel — a creative leap that came under intense pressure and guidance during their brief time with Geffen Records.

In a 2020 interview with Now Hear This, Inc. vocalist Mark Osegueda and guitarist Rob Cavestany pulled back the curtain on what it took to craft the record. The shift toward more melodic and structured songwriting set Act III apart from the raw aggression of The Ultraviolence and Frolic Through The Park.

When the band landed their first major-label deal, it came with a crash course in industry expectations. “One thing is, when we did sign to the major label and we went in to write and record our record Act III, it was a major lesson,” Rob recalled. That lesson came courtesy of legendary producer Max Norman, whose work with Ozzy Osbourne on Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman had already made a lasting impression on the band.

Working with Norman changed the pace and scale of their creative process entirely. “We were writing, I don’t know, for six months straight or eight months nonstop. Easily. Maybe up to a year,” said Rob. Used to delivering ten songs and calling it an album, the band was stunned when the label demanded more, again and again. “Basically, we ended up writing 30 songs for that album. But, at the time, we were hating it… By that point, we were just, like, ‘Screw all of you!’”

Despite their frustration, Death Angel came to understand the method behind the madness. “Some of the better songs, I think, on that album, came in the fourth quarter of the writing,” Rob admitted. “I guess we realized that the people who were telling us to do this knew what they were talking about.”

What followed was not just a well-produced album but a foundational moment in the band’s development. “From that point on, that was major to me because I never needed that kind of whip-cracking again,” he said. “After that, I realized, we realized, that’s what you need to be working as hard as that.”

The band also discovered the importance of pre-production—something they’d never done before Act III. “Technically,” the first album they ever prepped in that way, it gave them the space to refine their ideas and tighten their compositions.

“We never even heard what pre-production is,” Mark admitted. Once Max Norman joined them in San Francisco, everything changed. “We started dissecting those songs. Then it became a whole other thing, re-arranging and dissecting.”

For Mark, this was a turning point in how the band approached songwriting. “We always did want to be good songwriters, even though it’s writing thrash metal. We still wanted to have good song structures,” he said. Norman’s influence helped rein in the band’s youthful desire to show off their technical skills. “Sometimes, you’re a young musician… You want to flaunt that you’ve improved, and that doesn’t necessarily make for a better song.”