![]() ![]() He is a time bomb ready to explode and takes us with him. What can you say about this man? That instead of hands he has logs? That his extremely fast playing style and his incredible dynamics make many drummers hide under the skirts of their mothers? If he wasn’t such a drumming magician he wouldn’t have participated in a ton of bands (eg Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory, Death, Deamon, Testament, Deathklok etc.). In this album Gene Hoglan participated for the first time and contributed immensely to the band, primarily synthetically and later with his presence to the popularity of the band. Additionally, the top track apart from the aforementioned hymns is – my personal favorite as well – “The Burning of Sodom” dealing with an obvious issue… The latter has been successfully covered by the Athenians, Released Anger. In “Death Is Certain” you suffer a stroke, as blood-pressure rises to 200. The track “Black Prophecies” refers to Nostradamus and for me it’s the most progressive part of the album since it deviates from the record’s style (and this is especially evident from his great length and slower tempo), while “Perish in Flames” refers to an imaginary nuclear holocaust. ![]() “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. 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. ![]()
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