Seventh Angel are an English former
Christian metal
Christian metal, also known as white metal, Jesus metal, or heavenly metal, is heavy metal music distinguished by its Christian-themed song lyrics and the dedication of the band-members to Christianity. Christian metal is typically performed by ...
band that formed in 1987 in
Halesowen
Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England.
Historic counties of England, Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, ...
,
West Midlands. The band was known for its combination of
doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...
and
thrash metal
Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...
. The band initially released two albums, ''
The Torment'' (1990) and ''
Lament for the Weary'' (1992), before disbanding; these records achieved mainstream distribution through the
Music for Nations
Music for Nations (MFN) is a British independent record label focusing mainly on rock and metal. Originally a subsidiary of Zomba Records, which was a division of BMG, the label was closed in 2004 and later revived in 2015 by Sony Music Ente ...
label, making Seventh Angel label mates with such groups as
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
,
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them ...
and
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—alo ...
. ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' 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 the Netherlands, and they were featured on both
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
and
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
TV for several live performances of their
Greenbelt Festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...
concerts. Guitarist/vocalist Ian Arkley later formed the doom metal bands
Ashen Mortality and My Silent Wake. In May 2008, the group announced their reforming.
The current line-up consists of the original members Ian Arkley (guitars, vocals), Simon Bibby (guitar), Andrew "Tank" Thompson (drums) and Mark Broomhead (bass). The band released their third album, ''
The Dust of Years'', in 2009.
History
Demo era (1987–1989)
Seventh Angel was formed in 1987 by Ian Arkley and Andrew (Andi) Blount with Scott Rawson joining very soon afterwards. In August 1988, the first drummer Andrew Blount left to start college and was replaced by Andy Hopkins who played with the band until December. Stuart Benton was trialled as the vocalist for a brief period in 1988.
In early 1989, Mark Ruff joined the band as their drummer. Seventh Angel's self-titled demo, sometimes referred to as the "Red" demo, 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 as the bassist and the band began to play local concerts around the West Midlands. The band played its first concert in May 1989 in Netherton, West Midlands.
In August 1989, Seventh Angel performed their fifth concert at the
Greenbelt Festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...
, supporting American rock band
One Bad Pig. Afterwards, Mark Ruff left and Seventh Angel toured the United Kingdom, including Ireland, with the American Christian metal band
Whitecross. Colin Brookes played drums during the tour. Andrew "Tank" Thompson replaced Colin on drums. Seventh Angel's second demo, ''The Rehearsal Demo'', was recorded whilst Scott Rawson had a short break away from the band.
Channel 4, ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''The Torment'' (1990)
On 25 January 1990, Seventh Angel appeared on
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
'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'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' described Seventh Angel as "one of Britain's leading Christian thrash metal bands." The demos received positive reviews in various magazines.
On 14 February, 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.
Between 12 and 14 March 1990, the third demo titled ''Heed the Warning'' was recorded and mixed at White Rabbit Studios in
Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the United Kingd ...
with Paul Hodson. Afterwards, the band recorded their debut album entitled ''
The Torment'' at Mad Hat Studios in Wolverhampton by the same producer; the album was released that year. The British fantasy artist
Rodney Matthews painted the cover painting for the album.
Over the next few months, Seventh Angel played at local venues around
Dudley
Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...
and
Stourbridge
Stourbridge () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour, the town lies around west of Birmingham,
at the southwester ...
, 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. The band also contributed to the ''Just Be Sure It's Pure'' split EP in 1990 with American Christian metal bands
Bride
A bride is a woman who is about to be married or who is a newlywed.
When marrying, if the bride's future spouse is a man, he is usually referred to as the ''bridegroom'' or just ''groom''. In Western culture, a bride may be attended by a maid, ...
, Seraiah and Xalt, German Christian metal band Creed, and Jeff Scheetz.
BBCTV and ''Lament for the Weary'' (1991–1992)
In February, Seventh Angel appeared on
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
TV four times with footage recorded at their
Greenbelt festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...
concert; "Forbidden Desires" was the featured song.
Simon Jones joined in to play bass and Seventh Angel performed concerts around
Horsham
Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
and Stourbridge during the spring. The band played festivals including Harry and Crossfire. Seventh Angel toured the UK with Toranaga from 21 March to 7 April, playing eleven concerts.
Seventh Angel's second album, ''
Lament for the Weary'', was recorded in ICC studios, Eastbourne, with Roy Rowland from 4 to 16 July 1991; it was released in 1992. The album saw the band combine
doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...
elements with
progressive thrash metal. The album received positive reviews. The band contributed to a second split EP, ''White Metal Warriors – Last Ship Home'' in 1991 with the bands Detritus, Lazarus, Maverick and
Stairway
A stairwell or stair room is a room in a building where a stair is located, and is used to connect walkways between floors so that one can move in height. Collectively, a set of stairs and a stairwell is referred to as a staircase or stairway. ...
.
Seventh Angel performed on the mainstage of the Greenbelt festival on 23 August, sharing the stage with the American
progressive metal
Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...
group
Galactic Cowboys. In October 1991, after a concert in Croydon, Scott left the band, as did Simon Jones after the Greenbelt festival concert. The band continued with only Tank and Ian Arkley as permanent members.
Foreign concerts and disbandment (1992–1993)
On 7 December 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 at festivals and concerts around the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. On 30 May, Seventh Angel played in Utrecht, Netherlands. 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 28 August, sharing stage with the reputive Swedish
progressive doom metal group
Veni Domine.
Seventh Angel toured the Netherlands from 9 September to 12 October and from 12 November until 12 December. Mark Broomhead became a permanent member of the band. Despite work towards a new album for the now three piece group, 12 December 1992 saw Seventh Angel's last gig in Utrecht, Netherlands. The band split up the following year.
Ian Arkley went on to form the doom metal bands
Ashen Mortality in 1993 and My Silent Wake in 2005, the former of which disbanded in 2005, and was also the guitarist in the Australian Christian doom metal band
Paramaecium in 1999; Tank formed the
rap metal
Rap metal is a fusion genre that combines hip hop music, hip hop with heavy metal music, heavy metal. It usually consists of heavy metal guitar riffs, funk metal elements, Rapping, rapped vocals and sometimes turntablism, turntables.
History O ...
group Freekspert and later SukMunki; Mark joined with other former Seventh Angel bassist Simon Bibby on the
epic doom project Amaranth and later the
experimental rock
Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, wit ...
band Fire Fly.
''Heed the Warning'', comeback and ''The Dust of Years'' (2005–present)

In 2005, a compilation album titled ''Heed the Warning: Live & Demo Recordings'' was released by Bombworks Records, containing Seventh Angel's demo of the same name as well as live recordings of songs from the band's studio albums. On 23 May 2008, Seventh Angel announced they were reforming. They also announced the release of a new album.
The band had written half the song material for their new album, according to the press release. The re-issue of ''Lament for the Weary'' 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. In March 2009,
Blabbermouth.net
''Blabbermouth.net'' is a website dedicated to metal and rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. It is run by the website's founder Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001. In October 2001, the rec ...
reported that the band would enter studio The Priory in Birmingham with Greg Chandler of
Esoteric
Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...
to record their new album. The cover art was provided by Matt Vickerstaff of Darkwave Art. It was also announced that the band had signed with Bombworks Records to release the album. As reported via their Myspace, during 19–23 March the band recorded the album, entitled ''
The Dust of Years'', which was released on 24 June 2009.
Seventh Angel's official
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
page was launched in 2012. The band's second compilation album, the ''Demo Collection'', was released in 2017 and contains material from their three demos. In 2018, remasters of both ''The Torment'' and ''Lament for the Weary'' were released. On 20 May 2019, the band posted on Facebook, "We have not split SA as we see no need; we probably never will. We hope to record again one day but there are no immediate plans."
Members
;Current
*Ian Arkley – guitars, vocals (1987–1991, 1991–1993, 2008–present) (My Silent Wake, ex-
Ashen Mortality, ex-
Paramaecium)
*Simon Bibby – guitars (1987–1993, 2008–present) (My Silent Wake)
*Andrew "Tank" Thompson – drums (1989, 1989–1993, 2008–present) (ex-My Silent Wake)
*Mark Broomhead – bass (1992–1993, 2008–present) (
Detritus
In biology, detritus ( or ) is organic matter made up of the decomposition, decomposing remains of organisms and plants, and also of feces. Detritus usually hosts communities of microorganisms that colonize and decomposition, decompose (Reminera ...
)
;Former
*Scott A. Rawson – guitar, bass (1987–1989, 1990–1991)
*Andrew "Andi" Blount – drums (1987–1988) (prior to the first recordings or live performances)
*Andy Hopkins – drums (1988) (prior to the first recordings or live performances)
*Stuart Benton – vocals (1988) (prior to the first recordings or live performances)
*Mark Ruff – drums (1989)
*Colin Brookes – drums (1989)
*Simon Jones – bass (1991)
*Earl Morris – bass (ex-Detritus) (1991)
*Nic White – bass (1991)
*Jon Willis – bass (1991, 1992)
Discography
Studio albums
* ''
The Torment'' (1990)
* ''
Lament for the Weary'' (1992)
* ''
The Dust of Years'' (2009)
Compilation albums
* ''Heed the Warning: Live & Demo Recordings'' (2005)
* ''Demo Collection'' (2017)
Extended plays
* ''Just Be Sure It's Pure'' (1990, split with Bride, Creed, Jeff Scheetz, Seraiah, Xalt)
* ''White Metal Warriors – Last Ship Home'' (1991, split with
Detritus
In biology, detritus ( or ) is organic matter made up of the decomposition, decomposing remains of organisms and plants, and also of feces. Detritus usually hosts communities of microorganisms that colonize and decomposition, decompose (Reminera ...
, Lazarus, Maverick,
Stairway
A stairwell or stair room is a room in a building where a stair is located, and is used to connect walkways between floors so that one can move in height. Collectively, a set of stairs and a stairwell is referred to as a staircase or stairway. ...
)
Demo albums
* ''Seventh Angel'' (1989)
* ''The Rehearsal Demo'' (1989)
* ''Heed the Warning'' (1990)
References
External links
*
Seventh Angel bio
{{Authority control
Christian extreme metal groups
English thrash metal musical groups
English doom metal musical groups
Musical groups established in 1987
Musical groups disestablished in 1992
Musical groups reestablished in 2008