![]() “Merciless Death” is a re-recording of the track released in their first album. Its lyrics refer to the characters of the comic “Judge Dredd”. The pitch dark intro is the most tranquil part of the record. The album opens with the title track “Darkness Descends”, whose introduction causes nuclear leveling. A vicious malevolent explosion of brute force, submerged in darkness. Omnipotent melodies, powerful drums crushing you like a battering ram, ultrasonic rhythms. Characteristics of this record are the changes in tempo and intensity even in the same song, the robust drumming, the balance between the instruments (which is charged to producer Randy Burns as well) and the aggressive (and more extreme than their debut) vocals. Dude!” Based on the music industry’s state at the time and on what the members of the band have already told us, the recording process and production methods could not accurately convey what was written and what the band really had in mind. As soon as you listen to a riff or a 5-second bit, you’ll screams “That’s Dark Angel. Don’t feel bad, it happened to all of us. In the next two or three hearings, you’ll feel tangled, as you won’t fully understand what’s being played or believe that the record’s sound is smothered. The first time you listen to it, you feel like a huge anvil suddenly drops on your head, like the one falling on Coyote’s head in every episode of “The Road Runner Show”. “Darkness Descends” is a record rather difficult to digest. Doty had been substituted by Ron Rinehart since 1987 already and Dark Angel’s first release with Ron was the incredible “Ultimate Revenge II”, in which Death, Forbidden, Faith or Fear and Raven had participated and haunted our young memories. As a record, it’s much more brutal than (the very good, indeed) “We Have Arrived” at all levels, something that will keep on going with Don Doty’s substitution by Ron Rinehart for the next two albums “Leave Scars” (1989) and “Time Does Not Heal” (1991) which are even more aggressive. Nonetheless, the band s in great shape both in song – composition and the way they deliver. This was Gene Hoglan’s first and Don Doty’s last album with Dark Angel. Most of us, though, have obtained the re-release of the record via Century Media, which has as a bonus two live – recorded tracks, “Merciless Death” and “Perish in Flames / Darkness Descends”. “Darkness Descends” is the second album Dark Angel released in November 1986 via Combat Records on 12” vinyl format. Under Hoglan's supervision, Dark Angel would spend the next two years refining their sound to achieve just that, but for many purists, Darkness Descends remains the band's definitive thrash statement.Written by Elpida Baphomet & Giorgos TsekasĪt the time when the war between the extreme sound and poser/glam was raging in America, at the time when hair sprays battled with bulletbelts and ripped jeans fought against the panty hoses and leopard tights, all of a sudden, a panzer named “Darkness Descends” came out of nowhere. The results are a number of largely one-dimensional, but surprisingly memorable headbanging classics, including "Merciless Death," "Death Is Certain, Life Is Not," and the vicious "Perish in Flames." Over eight minutes in length, "Black Prophecies" at times sounds like a forced experiment, but it's actually the group's first stab at the progressive thrash style which would characterize subsequent releases. To be fair, Dark Angel only had a few tricks at their disposal, but they execute them extremely well. From the very first crushing riff of the title track, it becomes obvious that the production values and technical discipline which had eluded the band the first time around would be brought screaming into focus on this album - still considered a minor thrash metal classic. It took the arrival of drummer Gene Hoglan to elevate Dark Angel above the uncultivated noise fests captured on their amateurish first album, We Have Arrived and in many ways, their follow-up 1986 release, Darkness Descends, represents the group's true debut.
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