The turn of the century was an eventful time for Milwaukee music. While artists as diverse as Coo Coo Cal and Citizen King found moderate success on major labels, the city’s garage rock, hardcore and metal scenes thrived on small independent labels, with a handful of acts touring both nationally and internationally in support of their releases. As the ’00s progressed, many of them quietly faded into obscurity, relegated to record store clearance bins, but some stayed relevant years after their dissolution. One of the best examples of this was 7 Angels 7 Plagues, the short-lived Milwaukee metallic hardcore band.
The band came together in 1999 as members of the bands Caste Ahead and Intercede. They quickly began writing and soon recorded an EP entitled Until the Day Breathes and the Shadows Flee in June of 2000. After roughly six months, the band invited Kyle Johnson, former guitarist of Caste Ahead to play bass for them. The offer couldn’t have come at a better time.
“Hearing ‘Crossbearer’ by Cave In changed the way I thought about heavy music,” Johnson recalled. “The way that song was constructed, it was so chaotic, but was brought together by such a cool melodically driven ending. I heard that and said to myself, ‘This is what I want to do.’ After seeing 7 Angels for the first time and seeing they were making music like that, it was a no brainer for me when I was asked to join.”
Shortly after Johnson joined, vocalist Temo Rios left and was replaced by Matthew Mixon. Although the two vocalists differed stylistically, Mixon’s bellowing roar suited the band’s new material. The band toured as much as schedules allowed, and eventually began work on a full length. The result was Jhazmyne’s Lullaby, nine songs that blended hardcore immediacy and metallic fury with a sharp melodic sensibility. Released in September 2001 and packaged like a classic Blue Note Records release, Jhazmyne’s Lullaby sounded and looked like few albums at the time.
While their approach differed from many other aggressive acts at the time, the band didn’t think much of it. “We were all being exposed to a handful of melodic metal bands that were already doing what we were trying to do,” said Johnson. “Bands like Cave In, Turmoil, Bane and Buried Alive were really groundbreaking for us. We just took what we had heard and liked about music and created our own take of that. We loved what we were doing and we thought it was good for what it was, but we didn’t think it was groundbreaking by any means.”
With the album complete, the band began to tour in support of it. Mixon was a UW-Milwaukee student at the time and eventually left the group to focus on school. Rios rejoined the group as his replacement and the band resumed touring. While traveling to a show in Savannah, Ga., in 2002, the vehicle of tourmates Compromise was struck by a drunk driver, tragically killing two members of the band. The accident shook 7 Angels, which resulted in Rios leaving the band shortly after. Jesse Zaraska, former singer of Compromise, replaced Rios, but this lineup proved to be the band’s last. Drummer Jared Logan decided to leave just a few months after Zaraska’s arrival.
“Once Jared dropped that on us there was no changing his mind,” said Johnson. “He was such an integral member of the band that we decided that rather than to try to replace him, Ryan [Morgan], Jesse and I would start fresh with something else.” The three of them formed Misery Signals not long after the breakup, further developing the melodically aggressive sound pioneered by their former band. While 7 Angels reformed for three benefit shows in 2005, Misery Signals have enjoyed a healthy amount of success over the last decade. The band celebrated the 10-year anniversary of their debut album Of Malice and the Magnum Heart earlier this summer, playing the album in its entirety on tour.
Thirteen years after the release of their only full length, 7 Angels continue to be a major influence on young metal and hardcore acts, who reflect on the band’s legacy with an immense amount of reverence. “7 Angels 7 Plagues are one of if not the reason that Milwaukee still has a heavy music scene,” said Jared Block, guitarist of the Milwaukee metallic hardcore act Narrow Hearts. “They were doing something new and unheard of in heavy music, something that a lot of bands didn’t catch onto until years after Misery Signals had formed.”
Although their run was brief, 7 Angels 7 Plagues’ legacy lives on and will continue to do so. “The Milwaukee heavy music scene owes a lot to 7 Angels,” said Block. “If they’ve left anything behind for us, it’s an outstanding number of kids who live for this kind of music.”
