Darkness Descends
{{Infobox album|
| name = Darkness Descends
| type = studio
| artist = Dark Angel
| cover = Darknessdescends.jpg
| alt =
| released = November 17, 1986
| recorded = 1986
| studio =
| genre = Thrash metal
| length = {{Duration|m=35|s=3}}
| label = Combat
| producer = Randy Burns, Dark Angel
| prev_title = We Have Arrived
| prev_year = 1985
| next_title = Leave Scars
| next_year = 1989
}}{{Needs more sources|date=January 2025}}
Darkness Descends is the second studio album by the American thrash metal 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, doom metal and groove metal scenes of the late 1980s and 1990s.{{cite web|title=Dark Angel to Perform Entire 'Darkness Descends' Album at L.A. Show This April|url=https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/dark_angel_to_perform_entire_darkness_descends_album_at_la_show_this_april.html|website=Ultimate-Guitar.com|access-date=February 4, 2022}}{{cite magazine|title=Creeping Death's Lincoln Mullins: How Dark Angel Made Me a Better Drummer|url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/creeping-deaths-lincoln-mullins-how-dark-angel-made-me-better-drummer|magazine=Revolver|access-date=February 4, 2022}}{{cite magazine|title=Discs Of Doom: Philip H. Anselmo|url= https://www.loudersound.com/features/discs-of-doom-philip-h-anselmo|magazine=Metal Hammer|access-date=February 4, 2022}}
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.
Music and lyrics
The song "Darkness Descends" is about the comic book characters known as the Dark Judges from the Judge Dredd 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. "Black Prophecies" addresses Nostradamus's prophetic gift and the foretelling of Hitler. "Perish in Flames" describes a pilot's thoughts as he destroys a ground target with terrible weapons. "The Burning of Sodom" tells the story of Lot's flight from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. "Merciless Death" is a re-recording of a song from Dark Angel's previous album We Have Arrived.{{Cn|date=January 2025}}
Dark Angel drummer Gene Hoglan described the writing process, "Well, to be honest, the “mixed bag” of other writers on Darkness Descends was more like a riff here and there. Eric Meyer wrote a riff on “The Burning of Sodom,” so we gave him credit. Eric also got credit for writing something in “Death Is Certain (Life Is Not).” But I can guarantee you that that was me, Jim and [bassist] Rob Yahn who wrote that song and Eric just had an idea for how to start off the song. But back then I didn’t really know much about songwriting credits and all that."{{Cite web |last=Kitts |first=Jeff |title=Dark Angel: Gene Hoglan Looks Back on Tumultuous Rise and Fall of Thrash Pioneers |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/dark-angel-gene-hoglan-looks-back-tumultuous-rise-and-fall-thrash-pioneers/ |access-date=2025-01-27 |website=Revolver |language=en-US}}
Reception and legacy
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/darkness-descends-mw0000651141 |title=Dark Angel - Darkness Descends review |last=Rivadavia |first=Eduardo |work=AllMusic |publisher=All Media Network |accessdate=2021-06-09 }}
| rev2 = Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal
| rev2Score = 6/10{{cite book|last=Popoff|first=Martin|author-link1=Martin Popoff|title=The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties|publisher=Collector's Guide Publishing|date=November 1, 2005|location=Burlington, Ontario, Canada|isbn=978-1894959315|page=85}}
| noprose = yes
}}
In August 2014, Revolver placed Darkness Descends on its "14 Thrash Albums You Need to Own" list.{{cite web|url=http://www.revolvermag.com/news/14-thrash-albums-you-need-to-own.html |title=14 Thrash Albums You Need to Own |date=August 29, 2014 |work=Revolver.com |accessdate=August 30, 2014}} Decibel Magazine placed it 9th on its "50 Greatest Thrash Metal Albums of All Time."{{Cite news|url=http://rateyourmusic.com/list/werewolfcat/decibel__the_top_50_thrash_metal_albums_of_all_time/2/|title=Decibel: The Top 50 Thrash Metal Albums Of All Time|work=RateYourMusic|access-date=2017-04-26}} Loudwire placed Darkness Descends at number 6 on its "Top Ten Thrash Albums NOT Released by the Big 4" list.[https://loudwire.com/top-10-thrash-albums-not-released-by-the-big-4/ Top Ten Thrash Albums NOT Released by the Big 4] It is considered to be a classic in the thrash metal genre.
Gene Hoglan retrospectively said of his performance on the album, "I was an 18-year-old kid with a whole lot of energy who thought he knew what he was doing, but totally didn’t. On that record, I was woefully un-tight. And we certainly did not have a great guitar sound [...] We actually slowed down drastically when we recorded [the album]. We were much faster before that — because I believed that you needed to really feel it to be at your best, and unless you were playing as fast as you [could], you probably weren’t really feeling it. I just didn’t have the proper philosophies back then. So Darkness Descends is just a challenging album to listen to, from my standpoint. I appreciate that people enjoy it and I’m grateful that it has kept up its reputation over the years, but it’s not an easy album for me to listen to."{{Cite web |title= Dark Angel: Gene Hoglan Looks Back on Tumultuous Rise and Fall of Thrash Pioneers|url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/dark-angel-gene-hoglan-looks-back-tumultuous-rise-and-fall-thrash-pioneers/}}
Track listing
{{track listing
| headline = Side one
| title1 = Darkness Descends
| lyrics1 = Gene Hoglan
| music1 = Jim Durkin, Gene Hoglan
| length1 = 5:49
| title2 = The Burning of Sodom
| lyrics2 = Durkin, Hoglan, Don Doty
| music2 = Durkin, Eric Meyer
| length2 = 3:16
| title3 = Hunger of the Undead
| lyrics3 = Hoglan
| music3 = Durkin, Hoglan, Meyer
| length3 = 4:16
| title4 = Merciless Death
| lyrics4 = Durkin, Doty
| music4 = Durkin
| length4 = 4:04
}}
{{track listing
| headline = Side two
| title5 = Death Is Certain (Life Is Not)
| lyrics5 = Hoglan
| music5 = Durkin, Hoglan, Meyer, Rob Yahn
| length5 = 4:15
| title6 = Black Prophecies
| lyrics6 = Hoglan
| music6 = Durkin, Hoglan
| length6 = 8:29
| title7 = Perish in Flames
| lyrics7 = Doty
| music7 = Durkin
| length7 = 4:49
}}
{{track listing
| headline = 1998 Century Media re-release bonus tracks
| title8 = Merciless Death
| note8 = Live
| lyrics8 = Durkin, Doty
| music8 = Durkin
| length8 = 3:44
| title9 = Perish in Flames / Darkness Descends
| note9 = Live
| lyrics9 = Doty / Hoglan
| music9 = Durkin / Durkin, Hoglan
| length9 = 8:27
}}
=Icarus Records 2010 remastered bonus tracks=
Darkness Descends on Philadelphia - DFA Live at the Trocadero, October 23, 1988
{{track listing
| title8 = The Burning of Sodom
| length8 = 5:30
| title9 = Death Is Certain (Life Is Not)
| length9 = 3:43
| title10 = Merciless Death
| length10 = 3:45
| title11 = Perish in Flames
| length11 = 5:07
| title12 = Darkness Descends
| length12 = 6:41
}}
Darkness Descends on Reseda - DFA Live at the Country Club April 22, 1989
{{track listing
| title13 = We Have Arrived
| title14 = The Burning of Sodom
| title15 = Death Is Certain (Life Is Not)
}}
Personnel
;Dark Angel
- Don Doty – lead vocals
- Eric Meyer – lead and rhythm guitar, engineer
- Jim Durkin – lead and rhythm guitar
- Rob Yahn – bass, engineer (bass recording)
- Gene Hoglan – drums
- Ron Rinehart – vocals on the live recordings
- Mike Gonzalez – bass on the live recordings
;Production
- Randy Burns – producer, engineer
- Casey McMackin – engineer