It took me a while to come up with this entry, but I really wanted to make sure I give this album the attention it deserves.
Dark Angel - Darkness Descends
There is a type of thrash referred to in thrash metal circles as "pure thrash." These are the most straightforward, frenzied, and speedy releases in thrash. The term is horribly vague, but once you separate out the raw, primitive thrash albums (i.e. the ones that still sound like aggressive speed metal) and the obvious fusion genres, what you have left is pure thrash.
Bonded By Blood,
Reign In Blood, and
Darkness Descends, are notable pure thrash albums.
Reign In Blood is obviously my favorite pure thrash album, but DD is a worthy foe of any thrash album, including
Reign In Blood. In fact, I think it comes up just behind RIB.
Darkness Descends is unfortunately far less known outside of the metal community than either of those albums. Its intensity is spread pretty evenly between the drumming, riffs, and vocals, and the instruments mostly play together. This wall of sound style of thrash that typifies Dark Angel's music and was unique for its time—certainly among the Bay Area scene—bears some sonic resemblances to death metal in that regard; and it has a similar effect on non-metal listeners that an average death metal album would have: it sounds completely impenetrable. Every second of this album is intense, and that is what makes
DD a monster of an album.
This tight songwriting is what deals the deathblow to 90% of thrash. Rarely does the relentlessness break down into something less than all-out war. The riffs rampage along, Gene Hoglan relentlessly switches styles, rarely playing the same beat and using fills at will, and Don Doty makes no attempt to sing even somewhat coherently. It's a cacophonous album, but it's structured with cold, calculated precision. There's a reason Dark Angel are well known for their technically complex music. They're thrash metal surgeons, supplanting one section of a song's riff and drum beat with an entirely new section without losing intensity. Even between different tracks the album flows seamlessly.
I actually hated this album at first because I thought it
was impenetrable. Over time, I warmed to this and now it's one of my favorite thrash albums ever.
Everything on this beast is listenable, but "The Burning of Sodom" is everything this album strives to be.