Death Angel: Rob Cavestany And The Addictive Power of Music

Spanning a career of over four decades, Death Angel guitarist Rob Cavestany remains excited to see how he can creatively evolve within a genre criticized for being one-dimensional. Forming within the legendary Bay area Thrash community, Death Angel stood apart for being among the youngest players to command a stage, but Cavestany worked to distinguish himself from his peers by providing a sense of melody within Metal’s fury.

“Thrash metal can certainly be a time capsule from a bygone heyday but it still excites me! It’s always a challenge to push creativity when doing anything for so long but you don’t wanna get stuck recreating your past because you’ll slip further into the past. We were so young growing up in the Thrash community but we did not see it that way because that can be limiting. We had older mentors and friends and people recognized our gumption,” recalled Cavestany.

Death Angel’s recent Grammy nomination for the title track off Humanicide gave Thrash elevated visibility, as longtime fans stated the genre is quickly dismissed despite some players easily being a virtuoso within their respective instrument. Cavestany reflected on the honor.

“Even though that was in 2019 I will still take it any day of the week because it was such an unexpected surprise. Our genre and community is not catered to, as the academy heavily focuses on pop artists but I do respect certain aspects of the academy. We took it for all it was worth and had fun attending the ceremony.”

The Bay Area metal community gave birth to now legendary groups such as Metallica, Exodus, and Testament, and within the invaluable underground tape trading network, bands successfully built dedicated, grassroots followings that ultimately earned them European tours and contracts. Bands did not receive radio play, much less any kind of formal academy recognition but a totally grassroots support system pushed bands into the spotlight and today, enjoy well-deserved enduring careers.

Death Angel may not be among the first names mentioned within the genre but they have rightfully earned a place within the Thrash lexicon for growing diversity and slowly elevating the songwriting. Formed in ‘82, with Cavestany and his band mates being just teenagers, Death Angel earned local accolades for their Kill As One demo, which was extensively traded within the underground tape network. Not until the1987 release of The Ultra-Violence did the group successfully create its identity as expressive songwriters that could balance the power and aggression of Thrash with Cavestany’s slowly growing sense of melody. He reflected on the group’s signing with Enigma Records and the pitfalls within the industry.

“All we were focused on was playing as powerfully as we could, having fun, and being creative. When we were on Enigma Records, I was only 17 and none of us, and certainly not me, wanted to deal with anything business-like. Obviously, the industry has changed dramatically since then but for us, there was a brief magical time when we began because all we wanted to do was rock and there’s a pure sense of innocence about that,” said Cavestany.

He added, “But there were so many people actively working to take advantage of you and so much money went out of our hands into everyone else’s, which we only realized later. Also, being an all-Filipino band at the time we certainly experienced our share of racism when touring in certain areas. One restaurant refused to even serve us but we worked to not give stuff like that any power over us.”

Death Angel would earn lucrative tours but returning from a stint in Europe, Cavestany recalled taking bad advice and firing their manager and eventually dumping Enigma for Geffen. On the surface, Death Angel was quickly rising and their songwriting evolution was moving just as quickly but they collectively began feeling burnt out from the constraints of managers and label executives. Their sophomore effort, ‘88’s Frolic Through the Park was their final release on Enigma and fans began to comment it was a departure from their signature sounds within The Ultra-Violence.

“We were growing and I loved that! You don’t wanna be known for just one thing and we certainly had our powerful, aggressive expression but I loved how we were creatively growing together, but we all hated the business side of things and certainly got fucked from Enigma when we left. While at Geffen, we had to sit thru all these meetings with lawyers and we were forced to pay Enigma all this money and to make it worse, they would be getting points off our records from Geffen. Shit was a drag and we rebelled against all of it,” laughed Cavestany.

Death Angel continued drawing large crowds for their live shows and offers to play with Judas Priest and eventually an offer for the legendary Clash of The Titans tour came their way, but a near- fatal bus accident in ‘90 derailed their future, forcing Cavestany into a corner.

“Even looking back, it’s painful. Nobody is prepared to deal with something like that. We had good things lined up but the most important thing was it wasn’t fatal, but it basically ended things right there. Our drummer Andy Galeon was really injured and needed extensive healing time from all the surgeries. The label and lawyers were not supportive and pushed us to replace him immediately because we had all these show commitments and they were invested in the band with our record, Act III. We were not focused on any of that but due to legal shit we were forced to play our final shows in Japan, without Andy and it was a nightmare,” recalled Cavestany.

Death Angel disbanded in 1991, with singer Mark Osegueda quitting, citing the gravity of the situation and the band’s growing disillusion with record labels. Cavestany shared that he and Mark became estranged for a few years once Mark moved to New York.

“It was a very difficult time. We had a falling out and at the time, I just didn’t understand his point of view. We stayed with Andy during his recovery and slowly, we decided we wanted to play again, but not as Death Angel. It was painful for me because Thrash music reminded me of what happened and I was burnt out from all the lawsuits with labels and managers. I didn’t wanna hear anything about Thrash anymore but I was excited to create something different,” shared Cavestany.

The group re-branded as The Organization sans Osegeuda, but Cavestany was quickly demonstrating his songwriting prowess and versatility. His bandmates retained the energy of Death Angel but seamlessly channeled their collective passion in marked contrast from their Thrash roots to propel their new music forward.

“I wanted to enjoy and try new creative outlets. I wasn’t interested in playing Thrash at that time, not at all. We were all sick of everything that happened and at the time, it brought up painful memories. We eventually went overboard with distancing ourselves from that music, which I guess shot ourselves in the foot because maybe we could have used the work we put in Death Angel to transition better by at least mentioning it in some way? I can’t be sure. Creatively, we enjoyed the new freedom and lack of constraints and it was a happy period for us,” said Cavestany.

The Organization did not earn acclaim like Death Angel and the group released their final record, Savor The Flavor in 1995. Despite being recognized for pushing creative boundaries, The Organization was unable to create sustainable impact. Cavestany ultimately reconciled with Osegueda once he moved back to California and united by their love for music and songwriting, the duo reconnected with Galeon to form the hard rock group, Swarm. Far removed from Thrash, Cavestany and Osegueda embraced their creative resurgence until a surprise call from Testament in 2001 began to draw them back to their Thrash roots.

“Time apart was actually really healthy for Mark and I. When we began writing together, it felt natural and it had a new energy. We were beyond stoked to earn a tour with Jerry Cantrell because he’s a monster player. While on that tour we got a call from Chuck Billy of Testament, asking if we would play a benefit show for his cancer treatments, called Thrash of The Titans. It was a surprise, for sure, but the biggest surprise was he asked if Death Angel would reunite! We didn’t wanna open that Pandora’s box because we haven’t played that style of music in 10 years! Those emotions and music were locked up but Chuck wouldn’t take no for an answer, so we agreed but we were nervous. We had such limited time to rehearse and would actually soundcheck Death Angel songs as practice while on the Cantrell tour,” said Cavestany.

Swarm concluded their tour and Cavestany dedicated himself to preparing for the benefit show. Despite being an accomplished guitarist, he said recapturing the emotions of Death Angel and working to ensure the music would translate onstage was an ambitious challenge. Additionally, original guitarist Gus Pepa was estranged from music so Cavestany recruited Ted Aguilar for the benefit show, who remains with Death Angel today.

“I really thank Chuck for his persistence, which sparked us reuniting. Looking back, there were so many raw emotions going thru us when playing those songs again. The crowd responses at the benefit show were so amazing, from the first notes we played. We didn’t intend to keep playing after that show but offers were coming in so we did more shows and festivals. It began to feel it was finally the right time to write new Death Angel songs again, so we went for it and I was grateful that we were together creating again,” shared Cavestany.

Since reuniting in 2001, Death Angel continues consistently releasing new records, earning their biggest commercial acclaim for Humanicide. Cavestany retains his Thrash intensity but offers an evolved outlook on the genre and the early tribulations of the band. He shared how the power of music can transcend actions that divide communities and while Death Angel plays an aggressive style, Cavestany adamantly states he wants to project unity and fun.

“I’ve learned a lot about the world with music, especially how people relate to each other. Growing up, I would sadly experience people yelling at me to go back to my country, despite being born in San Francisco and that’s absurd. I feel empathy for anyone that is made to feel inferior because that can leave such a mark on an individual. I see how women are made to feel inferior and that’s beyond ridiculous to still see today. Music has taken me all over the world and I see how the community brings people together and allowed me to experience so many cultures. I think the biggest takeaway I want people to experience from Death Angel is unity, feeling positive, and having fun because that is the addictive power of music,” concluded Cavestany.

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