Seventh Angel
Encyclopedia
Seventh Angel are a British
Christian
heavy metal band that formed in 1987. According to Cross Rhythms
magazine, they were considered to be thrash metal pioneers, and they released the albums The Torment
(1990) and Lament for the Weary
(1991). These records achieved mainstream distribution through Music for Nations
label, making Seventh Angel label mates with such groups as Metallica
, Slayer
and Megadeth
. The band was known for its combination of doom metal
and thrash metal. Although Seventh Angel disbanded in 1992, for a long time they were considered to be the best metal act in the UK, claims Cross Rhythms. Daily Telegraph 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 Holland, and they were featured in both Channel 4
and BBC
TV for several live performances of their Greenbelt festival
concerts. The guitarist/vocalist Ian Arkley
went to form the doom metal band Ashen Mortality
. On May 23, 2008, the group announced their reforming. The current line-up consists of the original members Ian Arkley, Andrew "Tank" Thompson (drums), Simon Bibby (guitar), and Mark Broomhead (bass). On June 24, the band released their third album The Dust of Years
.
In early 1989 year Mark Ruff joined as their drummer. The first demo Seventh Angel 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 to play bass and the band began to play local concerts around the West Midlands. The band played its first concert in May in Netherton, West Midlands.
In August 1989, Seventh Angel performed their 5th concert at the Greenbelt festival
, supporting the American rock
band One Bad Pig
. Afterwards Mark Ruff left and Seventh Angel toured the United Kingdom, including Ireland, with the American heavy metal band Whitecross
. Colin Brookes played drums during the tour. Andrew "Tank" Thompson replaced Colin on drums. The second demo titled, The Rehearsal Demo, was recorded whilst Scott Rawson had a short break away from the band.
'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
described Seventh Angel as "one of Britain's leading Christian thrash metal bands." The demos received positive reviews in various magazines.
On February 14, 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.
with Paul Hodson. Afterwards the band recorded their first album entitled The Torment
at Mad Hat Studios in Wolverhampton by the same producer. The British fantasy artist Rodney Matthews
painted the cover painting for the album.
Over the next few months Seventh Angel some local venues around Dudley
and Stourbridge
, 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.
TV four times with footage recorded at their Greenbelt festival
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 March 21 to April 7, playing 11 concerts.
The second album, Lament for the Weary
, was recorded in ICC studios, Eastbourne, with Roy Rowland from the July 4 to 16, 1991. Lament saw the band combine doom metal elements to progressive thrash metal. The album received positive reviews.
Seventh Angel performed on the mainstage of Greenbelt festival on August 23, sharing the stage with the American progressive metal group Galactic Cowboys
. In October 1991, after a concert in Croydon, Scott left the band, as did Simon Jones after the Greenbelt festival concert and the band continued with only Tank and Ian Arkley as permanent members.
Over the next few months the band played some festivals and concerts around the UK, Holland and Germany. On May 30, Seventh Angel played in Utrecht, Holland. 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 August 28, sharing stage with the reputive Swedish progressive doom metal group Veni Domine
.
Seventh Angel toured Holland from September 9 to October 12, and November 12 until December 12. Mark Broomhead became a permanent member of the Band, and despite work towards a new album for the now three piece, December 12, 1992 saw Seventh Angel's last gig in Utrecht, Holland and the band split up shortly afterwards.
Ian Arkley went to form the doom metal band Ashen Mortality
in 1993.
Tank formed rap metal group Freekspert and later SukMunki
Mark joined with other former Seventh Angel bassist Simon Bibby on epic doom project Amaranth and later experimental rock band Fire Fly
. On October 1, the Polish label Metal Mind Productions
announced re-issuing the band's first two releases. The band has written half the song material for their new album, according to the press release. The re-issue of Lament 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. On March 3, 2009, Blabbermouth.net
reported that the band will enter studio The Priory in Birmingham with Greg Chandler of Esoteric
to record their new album. The cover art will be provided by Matt Vickerstaff of Darkwave Art. On March 6, it was announced that the band signed with Bombworks Records to release the album. As reported via their MySpace, during March 19–23 the band recorded the album entitled The Dust of Years
, which was released on June 24.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Christian
Christian metal
Christian metal, also known as white metal, is a form of heavy metal music usually defined by its message in a song's lyrics as well as the band's dedication to Christianity...
heavy metal band that formed in 1987. According to Cross Rhythms
Cross Rhythms
Cross Rhythms is a Christian media organisation based in Stoke-on-Trent, England.-History:The roots of what was to become Cross Rhythms go back to two separate sources which merged in 1991. In 1983, broadcaster Chris Cole started a 30-minute weekly Christian music radio show on Plymouth Sound FM, a...
magazine, they were considered to be thrash metal pioneers, and they released the albums The Torment
The Torment
The Torment is the first studio album by the British thrash metal band Seventh Angel, released on Music for Nations label 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
Lament for the Weary
Lament for the Weary is Christian thrash metal band Seventh Angel's second album, released in 1992 on Music for Nations. The album saw the band incorporating doom metal elements to thrash. The album garnered generous reviews from British music press at the time.-Recording history:The album was...
(1991). These records achieved mainstream distribution through Music for Nations
Music For Nations
Music For Nations was a British independent record label focusing mainly on rock and metal. They were a subsidiary of the larger label distributor Zomba Records who in turn is owned by BMG....
label, making Seventh Angel label mates with such groups as Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
, Slayer
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...
and Megadeth
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...
. The band was known for its combination of doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
and thrash metal. Although Seventh Angel disbanded in 1992, for a long time they were considered to be the best metal act in the UK, claims Cross Rhythms. Daily Telegraph called Seventh Angel "one of the leading Christian thrash metal bands in Great Britain."
The band headlined the Metal Meltdown
Metal Meltdown
For the Judas Priest Song, see Metal Meltdown Metal Meltdown is a heavy metal festival held annually at Lucky & Co in Rijssen, Netherlands, since 2007. The 2007 edition took place on March 30.-2007 lineup:*Suffocation*Ensiferum...
festival in 1990, played concerts in Germany and Holland, and they were featured in both Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
and BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV for several live performances of their Greenbelt festival
Greenbelt festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown from a Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young Christians to its current more secular festival attended by around 20,000 - Christians and non-Christians.The festival...
concerts. The guitarist/vocalist Ian Arkley
Ian Arkley
Ian Arkley is a guitarist in the death/doom/gothic metal genre, his current band is the UK gothic doom metal outfit My Silent Wake.Arkley first gained attention as a member of seminal Christian thrash metal band Seventh Angel...
went to form the doom metal band Ashen Mortality
Ashen Mortality
Ashen Mortality were a British doom metal band that was formed in early 1993 by Ian Arkley and Melanie Bolton. They and Paramaecium are the best known Christian Doom metal bands, though they were always wary of being typecast as such. They recorded two demos, and two albums, and played many gigs...
. On May 23, 2008, the group announced their reforming. The current line-up consists of the original members Ian Arkley, Andrew "Tank" Thompson (drums), Simon Bibby (guitar), and Mark Broomhead (bass). On June 24, the band released their third album The Dust of Years
The Dust of Years
The Dust of Years is the third studio album by the British metal band Seventh Angel, released June 24, 2009. A comeback album, The Dust of Years is the band's first release since 1992 to contain new material. While the style continues on the Seventh Angel's trademark thrash and doom metal sound,...
.
Demo era (1987–1989)
Seventh Angel was formed in 1987 by Ian Arkley and Andrew 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. For a brief period, Stuart Benton was trialled as vocallist but this was short-lived.In early 1989 year Mark Ruff joined as their drummer. The first demo Seventh Angel 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 to play bass and the band began to play local concerts around the West Midlands. The band played its first concert in May in Netherton, West Midlands.
In August 1989, Seventh Angel performed their 5th concert at the Greenbelt festival
Greenbelt festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown from a Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young Christians to its current more secular festival attended by around 20,000 - Christians and non-Christians.The festival...
, supporting the American rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band One Bad Pig
One Bad Pig
One Bad Pig is a Christian punk and metal crossover band from Austin, Texas which formed in 1985. The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music describes them as "Quite possibly the most popular hard-punk act ever to arise within the Christian music scene." They were known for their mischief and...
. Afterwards Mark Ruff left and Seventh Angel toured the United Kingdom, including Ireland, with the American heavy metal band Whitecross
Whitecross
Whitecross is a Christian metal band that formed in 1985 in Waukegan, IL releasing their first recording in the year 1987. Their early albums, which often invite comparisons to Ratt, are laced with fast, technical guitar work. In 1994, bandleader, primary songwriter and producer Rex Carroll split...
. Colin Brookes played drums during the tour. Andrew "Tank" Thompson replaced Colin on drums. The second demo titled, The Rehearsal Demo, was recorded whilst Scott Rawson had a short break away from the band.
Channel 4 and The Daily Telegraph (1990)
On January 25, 1990 Seventh Angel appeared on Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
'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
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
described Seventh Angel as "one of Britain's leading Christian thrash metal bands." The demos received positive reviews in various magazines.
On February 14, 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.
The Torment
Between March 12 and 14 the third demo titled Heed the Warning was recorded and mixed at White Rabbit Studios in BridgnorthBridgnorth
Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England, along the Severn Valley. It is split into Low Town and High Town, named on account of their elevations relative to the River Severn, which separates the upper town on the right bank from the lower on the left...
with Paul Hodson. Afterwards the band recorded their first album entitled The Torment
The Torment
The Torment is the first studio album by the British thrash metal band Seventh Angel, released on Music for Nations label 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 British fantasy artist Rodney Matthews
Rodney Matthews
Rodney Matthews is a fantasy artist and illustrator.In 1978, he published Yendor: The Journey of a Junior Adventurer, a hard-back picture book featuring his distinctive paintings of "The Wild Country", a fantasy world seen through the eyes of young Yendor, named after his son...
painted the cover painting for the album.
Over the next few months Seventh Angel some local venues around Dudley
Dudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
and Stourbridge
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...
, including five performances at The Rock Tavern in Brierley Hill. The band headlined Metal Meltdown
Metal Meltdown
For the Judas Priest Song, see Metal Meltdown Metal Meltdown is a heavy metal festival held annually at Lucky & Co in Rijssen, Netherlands, since 2007. The 2007 edition took place on March 30.-2007 lineup:*Suffocation*Ensiferum...
in November, which was Simon Bibby's last concert as he left the band in February.
BBCTV and Lament for the Weary (1991)
In February, Seventh Angel appeared BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV four times with footage recorded at their Greenbelt festival
Greenbelt festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown from a Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young Christians to its current more secular festival attended by around 20,000 - Christians and non-Christians.The festival...
concert. "Forbidden Desires" was the featured song.
Simon Jones joined in to play bass and Seventh Angel performed concerts around Horsham
Horsham
Horsham is a market town with a population of 55,657 on the upper reaches of the River Arun in the centre of the Weald, West Sussex, in the historic County of Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester...
and Stourbridge during the spring. The band played festivals including Harry and Crossfire. Seventh Angel toured the UK with Toranaga from March 21 to April 7, playing 11 concerts.
The second album, Lament for the Weary
Lament for the Weary
Lament for the Weary is Christian thrash metal band Seventh Angel's second album, released in 1992 on Music for Nations. The album saw the band incorporating doom metal elements to thrash. The album garnered generous reviews from British music press at the time.-Recording history:The album was...
, was recorded in ICC studios, Eastbourne, with Roy Rowland from the July 4 to 16, 1991. Lament saw the band combine doom metal elements to progressive thrash metal. The album received positive reviews.
Seventh Angel performed on the mainstage of Greenbelt festival on August 23, sharing the stage with the American progressive metal group Galactic Cowboys
Galactic Cowboys
Galactic Cowboys was a Heavy Metal band based in Houston, Texas. They combined progressive metal with a style of vocals influenced by The Beatles and the heavy playing style of thrash bands such as Anthrax...
. In October 1991, after a concert in Croydon, Scott left the band, as did Simon Jones after the Greenbelt festival concert and the band continued with only Tank and Ian Arkley as permanent members.
Foreign concerts and disbandment (1992)
On December 7, 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 some festivals and concerts around the UK, Holland and Germany. On May 30, Seventh Angel played in Utrecht, Holland. 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 August 28, sharing stage with the reputive Swedish progressive doom metal group Veni Domine
Veni Domine
Veni Domine is a Christian progressive doom metal band. The band was founded in 1987 in Sollentuna, Sweden.Veni Domine combines down-tempo melodic heavy metal, symphonic metal and doom metal with occasional touches of gothic. Originally, the vocalist Fredrik Ohlsson represented operatic,...
.
Seventh Angel toured Holland from September 9 to October 12, and November 12 until December 12. Mark Broomhead became a permanent member of the Band, and despite work towards a new album for the now three piece, December 12, 1992 saw Seventh Angel's last gig in Utrecht, Holland and the band split up shortly afterwards.
Ian Arkley went to form the doom metal band Ashen Mortality
Ashen Mortality
Ashen Mortality were a British doom metal band that was formed in early 1993 by Ian Arkley and Melanie Bolton. They and Paramaecium are the best known Christian Doom metal bands, though they were always wary of being typecast as such. They recorded two demos, and two albums, and played many gigs...
in 1993.
Tank formed rap metal group Freekspert and later SukMunki
Mark joined with other former Seventh Angel bassist Simon Bibby on epic doom project Amaranth and later experimental rock band Fire Fly
Comeback and The Dust of Years (2008-)
Seventh Angel announced reforming on May 23, 2008. They will release a new album later. The current line-up consists of the original members Ian Arkley, Andrew "Tank" Thompson (drums), Simon Bibby (guitar), and Mark Broomhead (bass). The group also launched an official MySpaceMySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
. On October 1, the Polish label Metal Mind Productions
Metal Mind Productions
Metal Mind Productions is a Polish record label founded in 1987. Currently it is one of the lead independent labels in Poland with over 1000 of licences and over 10 million of data mediums sold. The label focuses mainly on rock and heavy metal genres...
announced re-issuing the band's first two releases. The band has written half the song material for their new album, according to the press release. The re-issue of Lament 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. On March 3, 2009, Blabbermouth.net
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 officially launched in March 2001...
reported that the band will enter studio The Priory in Birmingham with Greg Chandler of Esoteric
Esoteric (band)
Esoteric is a British extreme doom metal band from Birmingham founded in 1992 that incorporates highly acute, distorted vocals and samples over slow paced riffs and atmospheric melodies.-Biography:...
to record their new album. The cover art will be provided by Matt Vickerstaff of Darkwave Art. On March 6, it was announced that the band signed with Bombworks Records to release the album. As reported via their MySpace, during March 19–23 the band recorded the album entitled The Dust of Years
The Dust of Years
The Dust of Years is the third studio album by the British metal band Seventh Angel, released June 24, 2009. A comeback album, The Dust of Years is the band's first release since 1992 to contain new material. While the style continues on the Seventh Angel's trademark thrash and doom metal sound,...
, which was released on June 24.
Discography
- Seventh Angel (demo) (1989)
- The Rehearsal Demo (demo) (1989)
- Heed the Warning (demo) (1990)
- The TormentThe TormentThe Torment is the first studio album by the British thrash metal band Seventh Angel, released on Music for Nations label in 1990. The album established the band as "one of England's leading thrash metal bands" by The Daily Telegraph...
(1990) - Lament for the WearyLament for the WearyLament for the Weary is Christian thrash metal band Seventh Angel's second album, released in 1992 on Music for Nations. The album saw the band incorporating doom metal elements to thrash. The album garnered generous reviews from British music press at the time.-Recording history:The album was...
(1992) - Heed the Warning - Live (2005) (A collection of demo and live material from the early 90s)
- The Dust of YearsThe Dust of YearsThe Dust of Years is the third studio album by the British metal band Seventh Angel, released June 24, 2009. A comeback album, The Dust of Years is the band's first release since 1992 to contain new material. While the style continues on the Seventh Angel's trademark thrash and doom metal sound,...
(2009)
Current
- Ian ArkleyIan ArkleyIan Arkley is a guitarist in the death/doom/gothic metal genre, his current band is the UK gothic doom metal outfit My Silent Wake.Arkley first gained attention as a member of seminal Christian thrash metal band Seventh Angel...
- guitars, vocals - Andrew "Tank" Thompson - drums
- Simon Bibby – guitars
- Mark Broomhead – bass
Past
- Stuart Benton – vocals (prior to the first recordings or live performances)
- Andrew Blount – Drums (prior to the first recordings or live performances)
- Andy Hopkins – bass (prior to the first recordings or live performances)
- Simon Jones – bass
- Jon Willis – bass (live)
- Earl Morris – bass (live)
- Colin Brookes – drums 1989 (live)
- Scott A. Rawson – guitar
- Nic White – bass (live)
- Mark Ruff – drums