Dark Angel - Time Does Not Heal (1991)

Much like their cover model had transformed from a frightened girl to some hunted street walker in pink, Dark Angel spent the two years between their Leave Scars and Time Does Not Heal in the throes of maturation. Whether or not this is welcome would really depend on who you asked, but seeing as the Californian brutes had already released the raw, forceful cult classic (Darkness Descends) and the sloppily produced, yet punishing viper's nest of unforgettable ideas (Leave Scars), it would have been destitute to merely repeat either experience. Time Does Not Heal goes the distance, expanding on the lyrical elements of its predecessor while sporting the most professional refinement of any album in their career.

I, for one, am thankful for the modifications. I won't claim that this record is ultimately superior to Leave Scars, but it's nice to finally be able to hear each of the band's talented instrumentalists in equal measure, from the muted fervor of Eric Meyer and (Jim Durkin's replacement) Brett Eriksen, to the intense control of Gene Hoglan, to the bass, thick and pluggy here but favorable to its presence on the prior outing. Another metamorphosis has transpired in the vocal region, as Ron Rinehart has decided to splay his meter out in a broader path of almost operatic chagrin. He still hacks and barks when necessary, but in general he gives more breath to the lines, creating an unnerving sense of melody above the rather blunt brutality of the guitars. Semi-technical, rich in hostility and not unlike Heathen's Victims of Deception with its mildly processed edge of modernity.

There are some incredibly well composed pieces here, beginning with the title track and its opening salvo of acoustic guitars that attract the frenzied swagger of the electrics in a clash that better resembles the Leave Scars material. "Pain's Invention, Madness" is hands down one of the best pieces in Dark Angel's career, a bombastic juggernaut of atmospheric chords that glide over the muted substrate, simple and catchy chorus riff, and an impressive, schizoid climax with repressed Rinehart screaming at around 7:00. Note that the general length of the tracks has not changed from the previous output, all of these are between 6-9 minutes in length and offer some substantial variation throughout. "Act of Contrition" is not a personal favorite, there are some wonderful guitars but here I felt Rob's voice stretched a little too awkwardly, but the savage "New Priesthood" and "Psychosexuality" more than compensate, and the entire closing third of Time Does Not Heal is magnificent, in particular the roiling slugfest of "Sensory Deprivation" and "A Subtle Induction", the latter making use of some thick, percussive bass elements in the odd intro.

This might not be the fastest of Dark Angel's offerings, as the band seems to hang closer to the mid pace and substitute weighty low end rhythms for a mesh of exhilaration and acceleration, but it's no less proficient and technical. Even though bands like Deathrow, Artillery, Coroner and Mekong Delta had released bewildering musical epics by 1991, this was still impressively structured composition for its day, far more ambitious than the lions share of miserable tough guy groove metal elements that were beginning to inoculate the West Coast thrash scene (well, those bands who hadn't turned to funk or grunge). Time Does Not Heal is yet another of those marginally late wonders to the Golden Age of the genre. It constantly feels as if it's hanging on the precipice, above a beckoning chasm of oblivion, along with the other natural successors to the heavily structured thrash of Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood, Terrible Certainty, Eternal Nightmare, Taking Over and so forth. It's an appreciable, intelligent and intricate swansong, although it wasn't aware of that at its time of conception; and the third Dark Angel disc in a row worth its weight in headbanging release.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (the only truth in life is pain)

Dark Angel - Decade of Chaos (1992)

Those of you who are familiar with the Relativity acquisition of the Combat Records roster will likely groan at the remembrance of 1992, in which the foster label decided to make a massive cash grab with a number of worthless compilation albums. You might recall Death's Fate (spoor), Forbidden's Point of No Return (dung) and Exodus' Lessions in Violence (excrement) as prominent examples, but the California menace Dark Angel was not exempt from this practice, and thus we are left besmirched and disgruntled by a Decade of Chaos, an album headed directly to the bargain bins, the recycling plants, and the collections of unsuspecting do gooders who thought they were doing the thrashers a favor, but would have been better off buying them a pack of smokes or a beer.

One wonders how a band like Dark Angel, great but hardly popular in the mainstream, really even warrants a 'best of' album. This is not fucking pop music, where soulless record industry czars constantly refurbish studio recordings to turn a buck or two and fill out or pad recording contracts with famous radio friendlies. But Decade of Chaos proves that the cash grab was on multiple levels, and that even our beloved thrash bands were fair game when the snake oil salesmen arriveth on our doorstep. The ten tracks here are all lifted from the band's Combat Records releases. "Darkness Descends", "Merciless Death", "The Burning of Sodom" and "Death is Certain (Life is Not)" are snatched from Darkness Descends (1986); "Never to Rise Again", "The Promise of Agony" and "Leave Scars" from Leave Scars (1989); and "Act of Contrition" and "Pain's Invention, Madness" borrowed from Time Does Not Heal (1991), to which the paint had not yet dried, coming out only a year prior...

This is rounded off with "We Have Arrived", not the studio version, but the live offering from the Live Scars EP (Combat didn't own the rights to the debut album, evidently), then packaged and printed with gaudy, awful cover tones of red background and light blue logo. What a fucking eyesore that is! As far as track selection, this really isn't all that bad, they're all good choices, but it doesn't change the fact that Decade of Chaos is completely, 100% void of merit. Landfill. Not suitable to set your beer upon. Even a cheap beer. Any amount of money spent on this ripoff is simply better exhausted elsewhere. A handshake and hug from a prostitute. A half dozen packs of gum. Fuck, instead of paying Relativity for this fodder, just write out a check to Jim Durkin, Ron Rinehart or any of the band members. Or send cash. I'm sure they'd appreciate it more than knowing you bought this travesty.

Verdict: Epic Fail [0/10]

Dark Angel - Live Scars EP (1990)

Though Dark Angel had already been around for some years and released what many consider their most important album (Darkness Descends), many of their fans were probably first exposed to their sound through the Ultimate Revenge 2 live compilation VHS/album, which they shared with up and comers Death and Forbidden, the lesser known Faith or Fear, and the NWOBHM legends Raven. Thus, this initial interaction was of the stage, to which the thrashers return for the Live Scars EP. The cassette of this release was a bit of a ripoff, with only 5 songs in check, whereas the CD had 8 in total, more of a full-length live album. This was not the only such live EP, as Combat also foisted Forbidden's Raw Evil upon us, but Live Scars is far more substantial in either format.

Well, if you'd seen Ultimate Revenge 2, then you already knew the band rocked as hard on stage as in the studio, and at the very least, Live Scars reflects that viral energy, that blazing fortitude that the Californians manifest through their incessant storms of speed. For such a short release, you get a fair mix of material from their first three full-lengths. We Have Arrived is represented only by the title track, but as it was the weakest of the lot, the decision is welcome. To be fair, though, with Ron Rinehart screaming and the band playing the track as fast as their limbs might carry it, it gets a nice face lift here. Otherwise, the selection is pretty spot on. They rip out "The Promise of Agony", "Leave Scars", "Never to Rise Again" and "The Death of Innocence" from their most recent album Leave Scars, and "The Burning of Sodom" and "Death is Certain (Life is Not)" from Darkness Descends. Lastly, they've included a cover of Fear's "I Don't Care About You" (from The Record in 1982). Structurally, this is a huge contrast to the originals, but its delivered with attitude and its fun enough.

Live Scars is hardly one of those mandatory acquisitions like Iron Maiden's Live After Death or Destruction's Live Without Sense, and I've never found myself desiring it over the studio albums at any point in time. The mix is decent, though somewhat repressed. You can hear most of the guitars, vocals, and drums; with some semblance of bass beneath. There's a decent amount of crowd reaction, which makes sense as the EP was recorded in Reseda CA, not far from the band's home base; but they're pretty soft in the recording, even when howling the backing vocals. If you're the sort that maintains a massive stiffy for all things Dark Angel, then you shouldn't be adverse to giving this a go (CD version only). But even then, it's not the sort of live recording to leave a lasting impression, and your money is best spent elsewhere.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

Dark Angel - Leave Scars (1989)

Though Darkness Descends was the audio incendiary equivalent of a wing of fighter jets attacking a hot dog stand (aka you, the listener), creating ripples throughout an underground starved for increasing extremity in metal music; the band experienced a period of unrest and a nearly 3-year gap before they could channel its followup. Bass player Rob Yahn and cult screamer Don Doty would exit the lineup, to be replaced respectively by Eric Gonzalez and tattooed man-beast Ron Rinehart, one of the last guys you'd probably want to meet in a dark alley or anywhere else you'd exchange interpersonal violence. Dark Angel had 'arrived' in its most enduring configuration, signed with Combat Records and given further exposure through their live performance on the Ultimate Revenge 2 compilation.

Rinehart is probably the most obvious difference between this album and Darkness Descends, with a more down to earth, shouted tone rifling through the myriad, verbose lyrics that Gene Hoglan drafted up for this album. Seriously, they scroll onward and onward, and not through mere repetition, but plausible, nightmarish revelations of the psycho and sadistic concepts being strewn over the instrumental violation. Let's just say Dark Angel had crafted one thorough epic of mental and musical distortion. The riffing is not unfamiliar to the previous album, but more complex still, almost as if you took other Californian thrashers Vio-Lence and ramped up the volatility levels of their 1988 classic Eternal Nightmare (especially "The Death of Innocence"). Yet, where that album provokes a fresh, bright brawl that leers at you from a street corner or a pile of junked automobiles, Leave Scars is more dark and personal, a Nightmare on Elm Street of technical thrash sans the shitty plot and acting. The stuff of broken homes and bedrooms. Drug addled depressions. Paranoid schizophrenia.

I've often complained about the production on this album, and its my least favorite aspect. Sure, it's workmanlike, fairly balanced and audible, but not entirely adequate for the level of riffs being wrought. As atmosphere, it functions like an overture to dementia, and you'll be so stunned by the constant hustle of the guitars and Gene Hoglan's storming, almost unparalleled battering that you are unlikely to notice so much. The album opens with a three hit onslaught, "The Death of Innocence" a symphony of fists beating an asylum wall before the grimy assailant that is "Never to Rise Again". Rinehart shines here, his vocals creating a manic percussion that perfectly flows astride the sore joints of the guitarists' digits. But as great a momentum as these tracks create, it is the stunning floor work of "No One Answers" and its incredibly evil opening riff that inform us that true greatness has occurred. The ensuing breakdown is one of the finest in all of metal history, with Slayer-like descending melodies that provide more than just a mosh pit, but a one way ticket to personal hell.

"Cauterization" is rather lengthy for an instrumental, and it might damned well have been given lyrics, but then the word count of Leave Scars would have likely surpassed the King James bible. However, the chugging, multi-tiered complex is convincing enough to level you straight in the face, before the unexpected deviation into a cover of Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song". Now, it arguably doesn't mesh well with its environment of psycho-sadistic emotional bombardments, but outside of a video with Viking cat stills set to the original, it's one of the most entertaining renditions I've heard, Rinehart proving he could scream just like Doty if he so chose. "Older Than Time Itself" is another favorite, its intro bearing a stark similarity to "For Whom the Bell Tolls", but the comparison ending there as dire melodies erupt and another intense, early breakdown sequence. "The Promise of Agony" is another classic, the bass pedal so condensed and percussive that it feels like there are 3-4 separate drum kits performing simultaneously in the studio; and neither do the freakish "Worms" 'narrated instrumental, nor the monstrous title track disappoint in the slightest.

Darkness Descends probably frightened a lot of people, and Leave Scars honored the tradition. It honestly would not get a lot more 'extreme' than this album in 80s thrash, without delving into the harrowing and inevitable mutations that were death and black. The combination of poignant, intelligent and violent imagery conjured through the lyrics is a tight fit with the labyrinthine, constant riffing. Despite its scale, there is no real excess here. Like Slayer, when this band wrote a breakdown, you could feel it, and while these aren't necessarily as potent as "Angel of Death" or "Raining Blood", they're both mighty and appropriate to offset the dominant, faster paced surge. The one hurdle I cannot get past is the production, it is simply not good enough for the writing, nor as resonant as Darkness Descends or the cleaner swansong Time Does Not Heal. But the songs themselves, barring the cover, are pregnant with hostility, riven with ideas and in the end I prefer it even to its highly lauded predecessor: it's marginally more interesting, with more consistently memorable riffs and psychological, multi perspective lyrics.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (I've absolved my self-control)

Dark Angel - We Have Arrived (1984)

In lieu of the concussive, speed limit battering material Dark Angel would concoct for their later albums, We Have Arrived seems but a humble statement. An average speed/thrash metal album for its time, with obvious parallels to California locals Metallica, Slayer and Abattoir, but also to Canadian acts like Anvil and Razor, the latter in their purely speed metal incarnation up to Evil Invaders. Fast based, raw power guitars with wrenching and shrieking vocals circa Show No Mercy era-Slayer, only Don Doty was not quite as charismatic or memorable. The placement of his screams here can feel forced and awkward, and I'd much prefer his lower, snarling register on this debut.

Despite its age, We Have Arrived actually still sounds fairly brazen today, with that authentic, natural tone so redolent of the mid 80s which bands simply don't use today under the banners of modern studio engineering. "Merciless Death" is without a doubt the most punishing track here, so aggressive that the band would re-use it on the followup Darkness Descends, where it better suits the environment, but otherwise fans who know only their more popular efforts might be a little shocked by the more subdued compositions. Not that they necessarily lack for aggression. "We Have Arrived" and "Welcome to the Slaughter House" both writhe along with a promise of agony (haw haw), but the riff patterns are simply not all that memorable. "No Tomorrow" fares better, with a big of grooving swagger to the notation which recalls early Slayer; "Falling from the Sky" the most solid, dirty speed metal licks and gang shouts, and nice air raid siren intro; both "Hell On Its Knees" and "Vendetta" open with clean guitar passages before exploding to some of the finer guitars on the album.

Ultimately, though it feels fresh and potent, the debut just lacks for the memorable velocity and technically demanding riffs that dominate Darkness Descends and Leave Scars. Dark Angel have never exactly penned the most glorious of chorus elements into their tracks, but here they are at their least interesting. As I've mentioned, the screams can occasionally feel out of place, as if they were simply adding them because they thought it was 'cool'. They are managed far more fluidly on the sophomore album, which has already destroyed We Have Arrived in its entirety by the time you get to the bridge of "The Burning of Sodom". If you're not too demanding, and simply long for the sincerity of filthy speed/thrash smack dab in the central 80s, then this album does not leave a painful impression, but there were far more poignant efforts out there (Ride the Lighting, Executioner's Song, Strength of Steel, Show No Mercy) and this doesn't exhibit a songwriting finesse on a comparable level.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (the final damnation ahead)

Dark Angel - Darkness Descends (1986)

1986 was obviously an enormous year for metal music, thrash in particular, with monoliths like Master of Puppets and Reign in Blood collecting and consuming an eager audience like Martian tripods attacking the California landscape. The time was right to strike. The crowds wanted blood with their speed. They wanted crunch. They wanted unshakable violence, raw spectators of gladiatorial combat, and the Golden State was one of the first to heed the call, going on to spawn an enormous number of memorable bands like Sadus, Testament, Vio-Lence, Death Angel, Forbidden, and so forth in the span of only a few years. But one name stands as releasing perhaps the most extreme, intense thrash metal album of its generation, giving even Slayer a run for their money, and that name is Dark Angel, whose second full-length and Combat debut Darkness Descends sends shivers down even the most rugged thrasher's posterior.

This album was important for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the emergence of Gene Hoglan as one of the prominent percussion forces in extreme metal. His rampant footwork and consistent bludgeoning are one of the most memorable characteristics here, upping the ante for thrash drummers everywhere as they had their heads spun off their necks in the destructive aftermath. By today's standards, in which the death and black genres have stolen metal music off to the coldest and most unfeeling, mechanistic of climates, this performance might seem like old hat, but for 1986 it was unbelievable, making even Dave Lombardo blink twice. Marrying this concrete precision shit storm was one of the more blazing guitar duos in the US, Eric Meyer and Jim Durkin, who decided that the best approach to writing was throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, directly into your face. Each of the seven compositions here cycles through a good number of cocaine rodeo riff assaults that almost unanimously deliver the ominous environs promised by the iconic cover image.

I can't promise that every one of these riffs sticks, and surely this is one of the few shortcomings of the album that would hold it back from the attention whoring of a Slayer, Megadeth or Metallica, but they are at least effective as a whole. "The Burning of Sodom" is generally cited as the favorite here, and this is an understandable sentiment, because Don Doty's normally pinched vocal aggression takes a spin for a slightly higher pitched, punk/crossover approach which is ironically much closer to his replacement Ron Rinehart (on the subsequent Leave Scars and Time Does Not Heal albums), and the guitars race and crash through a number of bombastic blitzkriegs and chaotic solo splices. However, my own personal preference lies for a number of other pieces, including "Darkness Descends" itself, which heralds its approach with scorching feedback and a biting, apocalyptic belligerence; "Hunger of the Undead", which sounds like Sadus and Nuclear Assault jamming together during a zombie revolt; and "Merciless Death", in which bassist Rob Yahn gets to show off a little in the intro before being smothered in bristling speed/thrash metal.

Doty's vocals were not always on point with me, but I will admit that he, like early Tom Araya, was exemplary at knowing precisely where to lay into a scream. The catty, grating voice he would normally hurl out across the energetic mesh of guitars would occasionally feel too light-hearted for the music, despite the blasphemy and gravitas of the lyrics, but there are certainly a number of lines where he's alight with the blistering menace of the instruments, and it all comes together like a drunk out of cold turkey rehab the first time he re-enters a liquor store. As I mentioned earlier, the riffs fly at you like an out of control pitching machine in some hellish batting cage, but not all of them penetrate the memory equally (I don't remember much of "Black Prophecies", for example). However, they are performed with such a taut intensity, ever on the verge of explosion, that they still sound like an impressive array beyond decades of shelf life, and even for 1986, there was a lot of bang for the buck here when compared to most thrash or speed metal efforts.

Darkness Descends might not be a personal favorite, but it certainly deserves its place among the legendary thrash elite for the simple fact of its existence as a dark, looming sentinel of extremity, a standard against which many brutal thrash or death/thrash records will always be compared. I might be in the minority in claiming to prefer the following albums Leave Scars and Time Does Not Heal, with their wall of text lyrical excavations and increased riffing complexity (which yielded mildly more memorable results), but this sophomore has always remained an enticing, reliable option for a refresher in the pure propulsion this genre once promised, a nuclear celebration of murder and mayhem that very few peers could stand alongside without having their knees broken and skins flayed off.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10] (paradise of pleasures lost)

http://www.myspace.com/darkfuckinangel