![]() The biggest weapon in the Dark Angel arsenal was the stunning drum work of Gene Hoglan. It has a vaguely anthemic chorus that promises merciless death, but radio play was surely never in their plans with this thrasher. The closest the album comes to a catchy or accessible song is “Merciless Death,” with a somewhat Steve Harris-y bass intro and what may have passed as a catchy chorus in the Dark Angel realm. Equally nihilistic and bleak are “Hunger of the Undead,” which sports a killer bass/drum run amid the vicious riffs and hateful spirit, and the amazing “Death is Certain (Life is Not),” wherein Don Doty spits out his lines with such raw venom and anger, it can’t help but chill the soul. No bullshit, no melodic touches, just straight up speed running and poser slaughtering from start to end. “The Burning of Sodom” should be hailed as one of the very heights of thrash metal for infusing a hyper-punk dynamic into the evil riffs and uber psychotic pace. He perpetually sounds on the verge of a schizoid break, and since the music conveyed the same feeling to the listener, it fit perfectly. Don Doty had a pretty basic thrash voice, but his odd snarl and edgy delivery heavily contributed to the manic, jittery, off-kilter charm of the material. #Dark angel darkness descends full#The guitars sound more like insect swarms bearing down upon the listener and are completely devoid of melodic touches, but full of odd time signatures and discordant notes, and when things go haywire at 1:36, it’s the sound of metal’s next step into the extreme. Look no further than the opening of the title track for proof positive. The ripping and clawing solos by Jim Durkin and Eric Meyer were equal or superior to anything Hanneman and King were slinging and the riffs were always more ominous, attacking and nerve-wracking. The main ingredients of the Dark Angel sound were speed, more speed and even more speed. Still, the fates conspired to keep this gem out of the spotlight far too often when it should be rightly hailed alongside Reign in Blood as a zenith of the entire genre. Nothing released up to that point prepared the listener for the chaotic, smothering sound and speed presented herein and nothing was remotely as menacing and deadly. Cresting the same year as Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood and Peace Sells…, Darkness Descends was that fateful next step in thrash metal extremity, going far beyond anything the “Big Three” were doing in terms of speed, darkness and generalized insanity. Case in point was the sophomore platter by California speed freaks, Dark Angel. That doesn’t mean they were the only ones who released genre-defining works however. It’s admittedly hard to deny the timeless nature of the early works by such seminal acts and it’s obvious these were the bands that defined the sound and style. Decibel Magazine placed it 9th on its "50 Greatest Thrash Metal Albums of All Time." "Loudwire" placed "Darkness Descends" at number 6 on its "Top Ten Thrash Albums NOT Released by the Big 4" list.When historians look back at the original thrash wave of the 80s, it’s usually Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth that get the lion’s share of the attention. In August 2014, Revolver placed Darkness Descends on its "14 Thrash Albums You Need to Own" list. #Dark angel darkness descends professional#Reception Professional ratings Review scores "Merciless Death" is a re-recording of a song from Dark Angel's previous album We Have Arrived. "The Burning of Sodom" deals with the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah. "Perish in Flames" deals with a nuclear apocalypse. "Black Prophecies" deals with Nostradamus. "Death Is Certain (Life Is Not)" deals with euthanasia. The song "Darkness Descends" is about the comic book characters known as the Dark Judges from the Judge Dredd comic book series, and even contains their famous statement, "this city is guilty, the crime is life, the sentence is death." The album is the first to feature influential drummer Gene Hoglan. Darkness Descends was Dark Angel's final album to feature original vocalist Don Doty. Though bassist Rob Yahn appears on the album, Mike Gonzalez received credit in the liner notes. 3.1 Icarus Records 2010 remastered bonus tracks. ![]()
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