Come on, this is just horrible, failed attempt at progressive thrash with poor songwriting, and one of the worst thrash vocalists of all time..When this came out it made no impact, a classic case of picking supposedly under rated and forgotten bands, and hyping them up ridiculously.

I'm sorry,but this is totally not a great album...

Getting bored when listening to this. Where are the good riffs?

Heard this record about 10 years ago the first time. Liked Darkness Descends a lot more. Years passed, I grew fond of Leave Scars over DD, and I liked this. Yesterday I've listened to this album in full for the first time in years, and I totally love it, more than anything they've put out.

I am convinced now that it's just way to complex for most people who come from the "pure aggressive thrash" paradigm, and they just don't get it. I hadn't for a long time.

The vocals remind me a lot Warrel Dane from Nevermore, and that can only mean good things

The development of late 80's technical thrash taken to the logical extreme. There are riffs like crazy, every song is approximately 8-9 minutes and the lyrics are about some psychology and stuff. And then there's Gene Hoglan beating those drums...

What can I say? I have found myself listening to this record more seldom last few years, since the song lengths make it feel so tough to sit through without getting bored at some point. When listening it in parts or just single songs it's all fine and dandy thrash candy, but as a whole it's not as shiny and flawless.

246 riffs it says. None of them is remarkable.

Lengthy riff-salads crammed with random riffs and horrible off-key singing. This is the only way I can describe this abortion. Gene Hoglan must've been on heavy drugs if he actually gave his ok when he agreed on hiring Ron and when he worked on writing and recording this album. How can the same guy, who played with a genius like Devin Townsend and even contributed on some good/great songs on his album, record this and think it was ok for release? I will never know.

Right from the opener Ron is not able to hit a single note! He is off-key the entire song. Admittedly, I am not sure if it is his fault, or the band's fault for making the brazen decision of cramming over 200 riffs in this album. I can imagine that even a tone-deaf guy like Ron has difficulty writing vocal lines over ever shifting riffs and melodies that are cobbled together in a nonsensical manner. Dark Angel must've considered the writing process of this album like a sort of sport, rather than an art.

This album is the perfect hearing test. If you have friends that like metal, thrash metal in particular, play this album to them and ask them what they think of the singer. The answer will decide whether you are dealing with a hearing-impaired person or not. Because this is beyond any level of amateurism. It fringes on stupidity even. The only good thing about this album is that the singer offers some Spinal Tap moments. Like in the early parts of song Act of Contrition, or towards the end of the 2nd minute. Or at 2:44-2:50. On The New Priesthood, the guy refuses to stop singing even when the song goes into a fast section and he is completely off-key! It gets even worse... the vocal section at the beginning of the 2nd minute on song Ancient Inherited Shame. Bloody hell, Jesus wept. This was written by Hoglan and Ron together, in case you wondered if Gene is actually deaf.

The funniest moments are on Trauma and Catharsis, by far the worst track on the record. A funny vocal tune in minute 3, then followed by a hilariously bad vocal scream at the beginning of minute 5 and then tone-deaf Hoglan decided to awe the chimps unfortunate enough to hear this with a Middle Eastern tune around 5:20. Spinal Tap would be proud.

I have no hopes that they will record something good after all these years. Bad decision to reunite with Ron rather than with Don Doty. Don was no Chuck Billy or Phil Rind, but he was leaps ahead compared to Ron. Don's performance on Darkness Descends is really good.

Main problem of this album - it can fly in one ear and came out from other with nothing left inside. And "9 songs, 228 minutes, 777 riffs" thing is just screaming about quantity over quality. But this doesn't mean that quality is shit. I enjoyed some stuff from here and there and, unfortunately, don't really get the negativity about this record. Yeah, it is not something mindblowing, but it is just fine. Probably wouldn't recommend it to listen ASAP, but if you like old-school thrash you can check it out, nothing scary will happen.

Written by Yxag on 22.08.2024 at 15:05

I enjoyed some stuff from here and there and, unfortunately, don't really get the negativity about this record. Yeah, it is not something mindblowing, but it is just fine. Probably wouldn't recommend it to listen ASAP

I found this album to be draining seeing how far fetched was in terms of length, made it sound dull from making complex song structures; production was flat or sterile especially compared to the rawer, more aggressive sound of earlier albums. Dan's vocals was polarizing as well. Not my favourite Dark Angel album.