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It took the arrival of drummer Gene Hoglan to elevate Dark Angel above the uncultivated noise fests captured on their amateurish first album, We Have Arrived; and in many ways, their follow-up 1986 release, Darkness Descends, represents the group's true debut. From the very first crushing riff of the title track, it becomes obvious that the production values and technical discipline which had eluded the band the first time around would be brought screaming into focus on this album -- still considered a minor thrash metal classic. To be fair, Dark Angel only had a few tricks at their disposal, but they execute them extremely well. The results are a number of largely one-dimensional, but surprisingly memorable headbanging classics, including "Merciless Death," "Death Is Certain, Life Is Not," and the vicious "Perish in Flames." Over eight minutes in length, "Black Prophecies" at times sounds like a forced experiment, but it's actually the group's first stab at the progressive thrash style which would characterize subsequent releases. Under Hoglan's supervision, Dark Angel would spend the next two years refining their sound to achieve just that, but for many purists, Darkness Descends remains the band's definitive thrash statement. [Reissued by Century Media in 1998 with two bonus live tracks and much improved sound quality, Darkness Descends is a worthy discovery for committed thrashers.] ~ Ed Rivadavia, All Music Guide
Darkness singer Hawkins quits
Two months after entering rehab for substance abuse, frontman's exit leaves band members scrambling.
Justin Hawkins, frontman for British hair band the Darkness, has left the group to continue his drug and alcohol rehabilitation, stunning his fellow band members.
The Darkness
In a lengthy article in today's edition of UK newspaper the Sun, Hawkins said his lengthy stint at the Priory rehab clinic in London for alcohol and cocaine addiction was successful and "it's time for me to move on."
"It would be damaging to my recovery to stay on," he said. "I'm not blaming the band for my problem--I am an addict. There are people who can be in bands and stay clean, but I'm not one of them."
Hawkins told the paper that he felt bad for his fellow band members, including his brother and guitarist Dan Hawkins, drummer Ed Graham, and bassist Richie Edwards, who the band will tab as its frontman and who replaced original bassist Frankie Puillian in June 2005.
In a post on the message board of the band's Web's site, the remaining band members wrote, "We're sorry that you had to find this out through the newspapers, but we were hoping until the last minute that this--Justin's exit--wasn't going to happen. We--Dan, Ed and Richie--are still in total shock and can't say at this stage what the future holds."
The group burst onto the worldwide stage with its 2004 debut, Permission to Land, which has sold nearly 700,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan. But last year's One Way Ticket to Hell ... And Back didn't fare as well, selling 91,000 copies in the US to date.
In August, Hawkins entered rehab; at the time, the band insisted it would hit the studio as soon as he was well, and it denied rumors that it had been dropped by Atlantic Records.
"You will hear from us, once we know what we want to do..." the band wrote in its post.
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