''Darkness Descends'' is the second studio album by the American

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band Dark Angel, released on November 17, 1986. Released at the height of thrash metal's popularity, ''Darkness Descends'' received positive reviews from music critics, and has been cited as a major influence on the

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

and

groove metal Groove metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that began in the early 1990s. The genre achieved success in the 1990s and continued having success in the 2000s. Inspired by thrash metal and traditional heavy metal, groove metal features raspy ...

scenes of the late 1980s and 1990s.

Overview

Though bassist Rob Yahn appears on the album, Mike Gonzalez received credit in the liner notes. ''Darkness Descends'' was Dark Angel's final album to feature original vocalist Don Doty. The album is the first to feature influential drummer

Gene Hoglan Eugene Victor Hoglan II (born August 31, 1967) is an American drummer, acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including use of abstract devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms. Though his pla ...

. The song "Darkness Descends" is about the comic book characters known as the Dark Judges from the

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977), which is a British weekly anthology Comic book, comic. He is the ...

comic book series, and even contains their famous statement, "this city is guilty, the crime is life, the sentence is death." "Death Is Certain (Life Is Not)" deals with

euthanasia Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eut ...

. "Black Prophecies" deals with

Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed seer, who is best known for his book ''Les Prophéties'' (published in 1555), a collection o ...

. "Perish in Flames" deals with a

nuclear apocalypse Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

. "The Burning of Sodom" deals with the biblical story of

Sodom and Gomorrah Sodom and Gomorrah () were two legendary biblical cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Their story parallels the Genesis flood narrative in its theme of God's anger provoked by man's sin (see Genesis 19:1–28). They are mentioned frequ ...

. "Merciless Death" is a re-recording of a song from Dark Angel's previous album '' We Have Arrived''.

Reception

In August 2014, ''

Revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...

'' placed ''Darkness Descends'' on its "14 Thrash Albums You Need to Own" list. ''Decibel Magazine'' placed it 9th on its "50 Greatest Thrash Metal Albums of All Time." "Loudwire" placed "Darkness Descends" at number 6 on its "Top Ten Thrash Albums NOT Released by the Big 4" list. Top Ten Thrash Albums NOT Released by the Big 4
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Track listing

Icarus Records 2010 remastered bonus tracks

Darkness Descends on Philadelphia - DFA Live at the Trocadero, October 23, 1988 Darkness Descends on Reseda - DFA Live at the Country Club April 22, 1989

Personnel

;Dark Angel *Don Doty –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Eric Meyer –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

, engineer *Jim Durkin – lead guitar *Rob Yahn – bass, engineer (bass recording) *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Ron Rinehart Ron Rinehart (born January 25, 1965) is an American thrash metal vocalist. He is the lead singer for the American thrash metal band Dark Angel. His stints were from 1987 (after the departure of previous vocalist Don Doty) until the band's diss ...

– vocals on the live recordings *Mike Gonzalez – bass on the live recordings ;Production *Randy Burns – producer, engineer *Casey McMackin – engineer

References

{{Authority control Dark Angel (band) albums 1986 albums Combat Records albums