Band:	Dark Angel
Album:	Darkness Descends
Style:	Bay Area thrash metal
Release date:	November 17, 1986
Guest review by:	K✞ulu

01. Darkness Descends
02. The Burning Of Sodom
03. Hunger Of The Undead
04. Merciless Death
05. Death Is Certain (Life Is Not)
06. Black Prophecies
07. Perish In Flames
08. Merciless Death [live] [1998 re-release bonus]
09. Perish In Flames/Darkness Descends [live] [1998 re-release bonus]
Darkness Descends On Philadelphia - DFA Live At The Trocadero, October 23rd, 1988 [2008 reissue bonus]
10. The Burning Of Sodom [live]
11. Death Is Certain (Life Is Not) [live]
12. Merciless Death [live]
13. Perish In Flames [live]
14. Darkness Descends [live]
Darkness Descends On Reseda - DFA Live At The Country Club, April 22nd, 1989 [2008 reissue bonus]
15. We Have Arrived [live]
16. The Burning Of Sodom [live]
17. Death Is Certain (Life Is Not) [live]

1986 is considered a golden year for Thrash Metal releases: Master Of Puppets, Reign In Blood, Peace Sells... Dark Angel also released a CD that year called Darkness Descends. It is considered a classic by many, but I'm going to draw conclusions closer to the end.

A big change on this album is Gene Hoglan replacing Jack Schwartz on drums. As one may guess the drum work became more technical and insane, but Gene also turned out to be a great songwriter. So the lyrics written by him are impressive from the very first verse of the first song. A lot of them deal with questions of Christianity and denial of God. I can't say that I like them or share the author's opinion, but the imagery in the lyrics and word choice make me wonder if Gene Hoglan has a PhD in something. But alas this is all that is truly great about this album.

For me personally, Darkness Descends is a let down after We Have Arrived. The starting riff of Darkness Descends (both the song and the album) actually gives a lot of hope for the album to be good, but then the band makes it clear that the main philosophy behind their music is "playing faster." They even included a song from the previous album called "Merciless Death" and just played it faster and more aggressively. But music is more than just playing faster. The songs sound too similar as far as the riffs and "machine-gun" singing. Just two songs somewhat stand out: "The Burning Of Sodom" and "Black Prophecies." The former has a catchy chorus, a pretty cool solo series, and a melody change, but that's as far as it goes. So the only song that vindicates the musicianship of this album is "Black Prophecies." Only on this song do they keep the speed down a little, so at least you have an impression of listening to a different song. Moreover, the lyrics are just perfection: talking about Nostradamus and his predictions like the Great Fire of London, the rise of Napoleon and Hitler and Armageddon. In one verse, there is actually a direct quote from one of Nostradamus' works.

For this record to be successful, it would need songs like "Black Prophecies" and to have their intro-type riffs placed in the main parts of the songs merely for the diversity purpose. The funny thing is that most of the songs start with great vibes, but then turn into a homogeneous mass ("Perish In Flames" being another example besides "Darkness Descends"), and the drum work also takes it's toll here. With all due respect to Gene Hoglan, he sounds just too repetitive on most songs. On top of it the drums are a little too up-front, so production shortcomings from the previous album are heard on this one too.

As much as I don't want to make up such a conclusion, Darkness Descends proves to be Dark Angel's worst album.