Review by Ben for Dark Angel - We Have Arrived (1985)

Dark Angel's debut album is pretty much just early Slayer worship mixed with Metallica's Kill-em All. Clearly there was some talent involved as those bands aren't necessarily easy to replicate, but it must be said that at this stage, Dark Angel had not yet formed their own identity. There are quite a few sections that sound like they could have been taken directly from either Kill'em All or Show No Mercy and vocalist Don Doty does his best (but as not as good) Tom Araya impersonation.

There are some decent enough tracks on here including Merciless Death, Falling From the Sky and Welcome to the Slaughterhouse and when you take the album in its 1984 context, it holds up ok. But their next release, the classic Darkness Descends would see them improve dramatically and create their own sound in the process. We Have Arrived is a decent enough if completely unoriginal beginning to an important band.