Posts Tagged ‘dark angel’
Death/Dark Angel – May 12, 1989
This was a great show even though Death didn’t play. Apparently their van broke down. It was my first time seeing Gene Hoglan live. Other than seeing OTT, a local band that I loved, seeing Dark Angel was pretty huge. I wasn’t really a Death fan at the time, that didn’t really happen until Hoglan joined the band. After that I decided to delve into their older material. Good stuff. After Darkness Descends, I lost interest in Dark Angel. This was on the Leave Scars tour and I didn’t really care for that album at all…except for the drumming. Gene rules. This show also featured Brett Eriksen from Viking on guitar to replace Jim Durkin. It was a great night made even more special by it being at the old Atlantic Beach Club. I loved that place and saw some really cool shows there. I also missed some really cool shows there!
Dark Angel – Darkness Descends
I’m pretty sure it was spring 1987 and I was down on Atlantic Ave at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront hanging out for 
whatever reason. There was a little record store there that I can’t remember the name of. I’m pretty sure it was an independent store and don’t hink it lasted more than a few years. I can’t even remember if anyone was with me…maybe Robert S. Anyhoo, we were browsing the cassettes and I saw Dark Angel’s Darkness Descends. I immediately knew that this would be my purchase. I had seen the ads for this in various metal mags and it was on Combat Records which had a pretty good track record of bands so far.
I remember getting in my 66′ Nova 4dr and heading back home while the tape started. I was immediately blown away. The drums. Holy shit, the drums! I remember seeing fotos in magazines of the band and the big huge drummer in shades looming over them in every foto. I was fortunate enough to meet him earlier this decade and he was the coolest mofo in the world.
But back to this massive album. There’s not a stinker in the bunch but my faves are Burning of Sodom, Black Prophecies and Perish In Flames. Sure it’s a tad sloppy and severely underproduced, but it set a/the standard for early thrash and death metal in my opinion, especially for drummers.
When I finally saw them live in 1989, I got to help sing Merciless Death as the new singer said he didn’t know the lyrics that well. I was the happiest acne-faced, bad-haired kid in Virginia Beach that night!
If you’re into classic metal and especially early thrash, you NEED this album.
I finally found the foto of Gene and me from 2001. 
The Metal Files 
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