Dark Angel - Leave Scars
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Saturday marks the 20th birthday of Dark Angel’s Leave Scars. Unlike many, I find Dark Angel merely enjoyable. I think people have willed them into legendary status. Their relative obscurity compared to larger thrash bands is pretty much as it should be. For me, their biggest drawbacks were iffy production and singers who wouldn’t shut up. It follows that my favorite Dark Angel record, by far, is Time Does Not Heal. Conventional wisdom holds that Darkness Descends is the band’s masterpiece. But while it is fucking relentless, I could do without it. Leave Scars is more interesting. On the downside, it has a pointless interlude (“Worms”) and an unnecessary dismantling of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” On the upside, it’s a bridge between Darkness Descends and Time Does Not Heal, with the raw intensity of the former and the riff salad-ery of the latter. Ron Rinehart also lets loose an awesome scream on the title track. Mainly, though, I just like looking at the artwork. Did anyone get Dark Angel’s “Black Edition” remastered reissues last year? If so, how were they?
Never to Rise AgainLeave Scars
