Band:	Dark Angel
Album:	Leave Scars
Style:	Bay Area thrash metal
Release date:	May 01, 1989
Guest review by:	K✞ulu

01. The Death Of Innocence
02. Never To Rise Again
03. No One Answers
04. Cauterization
05. Immigrant Song [Led Zeppelin cover]
06. Older Than Time Itself
07. Worms
08. The Promise Of Agony
09. Leave Scars
10. The Death of Innocence [live] [2008 re-release bonus bonus]
11. No One Answers [live] [2008 re-release bonus bonus]
12. Leave Scars [live] [2008 re-release bonus bonus]
13. Never to Rise Again [live] [2008 re-release bonus bonus]

Can I call this album Darkness Descends: Chapter II? On the one hand yes, on the other not. Leave Scars does come as aggressively as its predecessor, but it is definitely a more mature album. Speaking about it as Dark Angel's third record, I would say it's a step forward, but speaking about it as a Thrash Metal album in late eighties, I would say it still lacks a lot: production and the originality of the music generally speaking for instance, although those two did become better.

With the new singer (Ron Reinhert replaced Don Doty), the vocals seem to become more distinct, and a bit slower than on Darkness Descends, but still the epidemic of fast playing and singing hits this album as well. However, the songs started to shape into a more thought-through and creative structures with long intro, bridges and even outros. As a result, a lot of songs went over the seven-minute mark, which never happened on the previous album. Same goes with solos: they have become more melodic and versatile in their structure. Great examples would be the bridge and the solo on "Never To Rise Again" or solos on "No One Answers."

A rather original feature of this album is its two instrumentals. The first one called "Cauterization" is actually nothing special and really sounds more like a regular song with cut-out lyrics or even like a jam. Only closer to the end can one hear some lead guitar. The second instrumental called "Worms" is a piece of music resembling a two-minute soundtrack to a horror flick. It is quite creepy and eerie, and very original too. I was also very surprised by the cover that the band made: the immortal "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin. They just played it faster and of course with more distortion (kind of what Dark Angel does), but alas, it's incomparably worse than the original piece (what can you replace the charm of Robert Plant's voice with?).

|Leave Scars is a transition point between Darkness Descends and what we can hear on the next much more progressive album combining the key features of the two. I'm not completely satisfied with it, but I can't deny the growth seen on it.