Gene Hoglan may have quit Testament earlier this year, but he’s still been plenty busy. Hoglan has (presumably) been working with Brendon Small on new Dethklok recently, and has now revealed he’s cracking down on the first Dark Angel record since 1991. Hoglan said in an interview with Oxygène Radio that he’s hoping to have a new Dark Angel record out in the world by sometime mid-2023, and that the band is “really moving forward” lately.

“We are writing right now. I’ve been writing for the last decade, really, just putting down Dark Angel riffs and all that. So now that we’re really moving forward with Dark Angel.”

“When we reformed a number of years ago — about a decade or so ago — it was for just a bunch of concerts. And then we all jelled together so good, I’m, like, ‘Man, let’s keep this together. Let’s start writing.’ So [Dark Angel guitarist] Jim Durkin and myself have been writing a ton of stuff. So hopefully by the middle part of 2023, we hope to have a new album out. We’re hoping.”

Hoglan reiterated his hope for 2023, adding “All I can do is just keep working on material. So at some point before 2023, I hope to get the drums recorded and the guitars and get all the rest of the record on the road. But we’re hoping.”

Dark Angel released four albums between 1985 and 1991, and frankly is one of the most criminally underrated thrash bands of the era. I mean seriously, is it even possible to get through all of “Darkness Descends” without getting a full-body headbang on? The answer is no. You can’t. Nobody can.