FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
On November 17, 1986, Dark Angel released their second full-length studio album Darkness Descends via Combat Records.
Though bassist Rob Yahn appears on the album, Mike Gonzalez received credit in the liner notes. Darkness Descends was Dark Angel's final album to feature original vocalist Don Doty. The album is also the first to feature influential drummer Gene Hoglan.
Background:
Darkness Descends is widely considered to be Dark Angel’s seminal release. Around the same time, several other Thrash Metal bands such as Metallica also released seminal albums and started to gain more popularity. Although Darkness Descends did not initially reach the Billboard 200 charts or become a commercial success, Dark Angel spent most of 1986 and 1987 touring heavily behind the album, with bands like Motörhead, Megadeth, Possessed, Slayer, Overkill, Sacred Reich, Whiplash, Cryptic Slaughter and the Crumbsuckers. After the Darkness Descends tour ended in August 1987, vocalist Don Doty left Dark Angel in order to start a family and was replaced by Ron Rinehart, who would stay with the band until their breakup in 1992 and rejoin for their subsequent reunions. Dark Angel performed their first show with Rinehart at the Fender's Ballroom in Long Beach, California on January 29, 1988.
At this time, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine asked Eric Meyer to join Megadeth, but he declined in order to stay with Dark Angel. According to an interview in Voices from the Dark Side, Eric Meyer claims he did not feel comfortable with the situation.
About the Songs:
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."
Death Is Certain (Life Is Not) deals with euthanasia.
Black Prophecies deals with Nostradamus.
Perish in Flames deals with a nuclear apocalypse.
The Burning of Sodom deals with the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Merciless Death is a re-recording of a song from Dark Angel's previous album We Have Arrived.
Critical Reception:
In August 2014, REVOLVER Magazine placed Darkness Descends on its 14 Thrash Albums You Need to Own list.
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.
In his review for AllMusic, Eduardo Rivadavia stated;
“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. 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.
To be fair, Dark Angel only had a few tricks at their disposal, but they execute them extremely well. 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. 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.” “(Reissued by Century Media in 1998 with two bonus live tracks and much improved sound quality, Darkness Descends is a worthy discovery for committed thrashers.)”
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
Follow Us:
Subscribe to Into the Wells at: https://intothewellsabyss.wixsite.com/intothewells
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Intothewells.abyss
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/into_the_wells
You can also follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/into_the_wells?s=21&t=ISh9VpVYRrOy70MsZZVXTQ
Comments