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Dark Angel - Darkness Descends



8.4 | 311 votes |
Release date: 17 November 1986
Style: Bay Area thrash metal

Owners:

357 have it
35 want it


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]

Top 20 albums of 1986: 11

Additional info
Mike Gonzalez appears as the bassist for the band in the booklet; however, it is mentioned that the bass was recorded by Rob Yahn, who left the band after the recording.

The album has been re-released by Century Media twice: in 1998 and 2008 (the so-called Black Edition with 8 bonus tracks).

Guest review by
K✞ulu
Rating:
6.8
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.

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published 28.07.2008 | Comments (21)

Guest review by
Maasai Mara
Rating:
10
October/November 1986 marks the greatest time in the history of thrash with the release of the unholy trinity of thrash. This, alongside Reign In Blood and Pleasure To Kill are the three best thrash albums to ever be produced. I will not waste my time talking about the other so-called great thrash albums from 1986. Darkness Descends is the best among the three, stands a mile above the others, and is the only album across all genres of heavy metal that I have come across that deserves to be rated 10. Only Demolition Hammer's Epidemic Of Violence matches this in the brutality aspect, but this blows it out of the water when it comes to riffs and solos.

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published 13.01.2019 | Comments (6)

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Comments

Comments: 14   Visited by: 676 users
04.11.2010 - 12:35
Rating: 10
Yper

Wow..... what kind of moron can give 6.8 to Darkness Descends? This album should not receive anything below 9...
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17.11.2012 - 15:39
megadeath13
Account deleted
Just a "in your face" record. Nearly as fast as reign in blood.
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24.11.2012 - 04:18
Maco
Pvt Funderground
Fuck this is a classic
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Crackhead Megadeth reigns supreme.
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09.05.2013 - 01:18
Illog1cal
Account deleted
Written by Guest on 17.11.2012 at 15:39

Just a "in your face" record. Nearly as fast as reign in blood.


Some of the riffing is faster actually.
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07.07.2013 - 22:16
Rating: 10
Nima.Noghan

Words can't describe this album !! one of the best metal albums ever
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02.08.2013 - 16:38
Schizonaut

Fukk 'Reign In Blood', here's "Darkness Descends"!
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04.05.2015 - 19:19
Rating: 9
indexqwest

A classic!
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11.07.2018 - 04:03
Maco
Pvt Funderground
Well I still prefer Reign In Blood. But this one is still leagues above 99.1% of modern thrash metal bands.
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Crackhead Megadeth reigns supreme.
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11.07.2018 - 11:30
Cynic Metalhead
Paisa Vich Nasha
Written by Maco on 11.07.2018 at 04:03

But this one is still leagues above 99.1% of modern thrash metal bands.


How did you come up with that stat?
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12.02.2021 - 14:37
Rating: 9
Redel

For me their best, and their only really great album.
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18.04.2021 - 01:03
Rating: 9
Redel

If you want to know what early thrash metal was all about you have just got to spin the opening title track at maximum volume.
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06.11.2023 - 07:21
Rating: 9
Metal Rasputin

It must have been about 20 years since I first heard about this album and It didn't take long to figure out why Darkness Descends is so revered. Take Don Doty's vocals for example, the dude is crazy. Then there's Gene Hoglan on drums, pretty simplistic for his talent but you can tell he's already head and shoulders above most other thrash drummers. The songs, some of the most extreme metal of the day. If it wasn't for the muddy production this would get 10 from me.
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You've got a lot of guts. Let's see what they look like!
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08.02.2024 - 11:05
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Good old school 80's thrashing madness, but I listened only original studio recordings. I missed live ones due time and also quallity but same time that live songs are cool in some way.
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Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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28.03.2024 - 23:49
Rating: 10
Yxag

I fuking love the atmosphere in that album... I still can't understand how they achieve it, but it is so dark and grim, my dudes... This shit may sound samey, but it kicks your ass like INSANE. Probably this album will always have special place in my heart.
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