Dark Angel Plays Their First Show in North America Since The Early 90's

Heather Vandemark
Sep 8, 2025
4 min read

Dark Angel kicked off their first tour since the early 90's in San Diego at the House of Blues. I always love the first night of the tour, there’s a different energy of excitement, nerves, and working out the glitches. Dark Angel, Sacred Reich, and Hirax all go way back to the 80's when thrash metal was getting started, along the same time as Metallica, Testament, and Death Angel.

The band Void from Lafayette, Louisiana opened up the show. This was their first time at House of Blues and my first time seeing them. They just dropped a new album, Forbidden Morals. I loved their set, I’ll definitely be checking out their album. They spent a lot of time at merch greeting fans and they were seen jumping in the pit a few times.

Hirax always puts on an awesome set. Lead vocalist and only original member Katon W. De Pena said this was their first time playing in San Diego since 1985. That seemed so crazy to me! He also talked about how the three bands go way back and this was an exciting night to be back together. They played “Destruction and Terror”, a song that has never been played live. Unfortunately, their set got cut a little short, with their last song “El Diablo Negro”. I know a band is always disappointed to not be able to finish their set, but Katon took it graciously and said “The first night of a tour is always a bit off”. Hirax also spent a lot of time at merch meeting fans and jumping in the pit.

Sacred Reich hit the stage and I have to admit, I was kind of losing my mind. I forgot how much I love this band! They started with “The American Way” and I time warped back to my 20's. Phil Rind, lead vocalist and bassist, also the only original member, asked who has been a fan since the beginning. Most of us raised our hands, so he asked “ok, what was our first album?’ and most of us paused for a second. They played the title track “Ignorance” and Phil added ‘like the stupid mother fuckers running the country’ and fans cheered. They also played “One Nation” where Phil read part of the lyrics before starting the song. and said “this is how we should all try to live”. He told us a secret that we promised not to tell but here I am telling all….they have a new record coming out and it’s “Sick AF because Joey (Joey Radziwill, guitarist) wrote it”. Don’t tell them I told you! They ended with saying “Find a place of happiness, think of all the people you wouldn’t have met if it weren’t for music”. Most people in my life are because of music.

Dark Angel hits the stage for night one of their first North American tour in over 30 years in support of their new album, Extinction Level Event. This is their fourth studio album and the first release since 1991. There are no remaining original members, but Eric Meyer (guitarist) is on all studio albums, Gene Hoglan joined the band in 1984, lead vocalist Ron Rinehart joined in 1987 and Mike Gonzalez (bass) joined in 1986. Laura Christine recently joined in 2023. She’s amazing! I first saw her at Dimebash I believe in 2020. Rinehart was talking in between songs and said the first night of tour is exciting and overwhelming, but this is the best part of his day, right there in that moment. He jumped down in the photo pit, giving every fan on the rail a fist bump, and then jumped into the circle a couple of times during their set. I love story time. They played “The Death of Innocence”, the first song he ever sang live with Dark Angel. There was a little delay, and Rinehart said it’s the Incredible Hoglan, not Hulk, that he hits so hard, he kills his drum kit every night. They were going to load as much thrash into this night since it’s been a minute since they played.

This was a great first night of the tour. The fans were awesome, the circle pit was fun with a line of headbanging in the middle. This tour just got started so check the dates and get to the show!

Remaining dates on Extinction Level Event tour:

Sept 11 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall#

Sept 12 – San Antonio, TX – Vibes Event Center#

Sept 13 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater#

Sept 14 – Baton Rouge, LA – Chelsea’s Live#

Sept 16 – Tampa, FL – The Orpheum#

Sept 17 – Ft Lauderdale, FL – Revolution#

Sept 19 – Richmond, VA – Canal Club#

Sept 20 – Charlotte, NC – The Underground#

Sept 23 – New York, NY – Gramercy Theatre#

Sept 24 – Harrisburg, PA – Capital City Music Hall#

Sept 25 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage#