Review by Ben for Dark Angel - Darkness Descends (1986)

1986 was an amazing year for thrash metal. With Reign in Blood, Pleasure to Kill, Peace Sells and Master of Puppets taking extreme metal to a new level. Dark Angel's Darkness Descends can be added to that list easily as another cracking example.

There are literally hundreds of awesome riffs throughout the album and Hoglan's drumming is outstanding. I can really hear how much of an influence this was on death metal to come, particularly on Black Prophecies which sounds very much like how Deicide would about 4 years later. The only place I feel this album is less than perfect is on the vocal front. Don Doty's vocals are decent but considering the excellent musicianship on offer here, something a little more aggressive and memorable would have made this even better.

Overall, a great album from a band at its peak. If you're into thrash, get it!