Dark Angel - Teragram Ballroom - 4/14/23
Thrash metal legends Dark Angel announced a special one-off show in Los Angeles. The special occasion was that they would perform their second album, 1986's Darkness Descends in its entirety. The album is considered a masterpiece and is one of the greatest thrash metal albums of all time. This show would mark the first time that Dark Angel has played LA since 1991. LA was so excited to have Dark Angel return that the show sold out the same day that tickets went on sale. Dark Angel added a second show for the next day on Saturday and that show too sold out the same day. They added a third and final day on Sunday. Tragic news came to the band and metal community when founding member and one of the Godfathers of thrash metal Jim Durkin passed away on March 8th leaving no original members left in Dark Angel. Dark Angel chose to continue with the shows in his memory. Taking Durkin's place on guitar would be Laura Christine who is the wife of drummer Gene Hoglan. The day finally came, and Los Angeles was more than ready for what was to be the start of a thrash-tastic weekend.
The venue was packed to capacity by the time Dark Angel was ready to hit the stage. The lights went out and the venue roared with excitement. The intro track started, and Dark Angel came on stage to start the show. The first song played was We Have Arrived, the title track from their 1985 debut album of the same name. To no surprise, the fans went completely berserk with a mosh pit and of course, crowd surfers and stage divers. After a few more classic tracks, the first half of the show came to an end with The Death of Innocence. Dark Angel left the stage, and all went dark. The fans kept chanting, "Dark Angel! Dark Angel!". After a quick break, another intro started, and Dark Angel made their way back to the stage. It was now time for the main event for the Darkness Descends album to be played. The first track was played which was the title track Darkness Descends. The crowd once again got super crazy and continued with mosh pits and stage divers the whole night. Before the start of the third track, vocalist Ron Rinehart mentioned how this next song has never been played live and the fans tonight would be the very first to hear it live. That song was Hunger of the Undead. After the song Merciless Death was played, Hoglan took a quick pause to talk to the audience on how the crowd tonight is the same crowd he was seeing back in 1985 and is the craziest show he has ever played at. Nearing the end of the show, Rinehart mentioned how this next song has only ever been played five times at the most and how this is the first time it's being played since 1991. The song would be Black Prophecies and it clocks in at eight and a half minutes. The show was sadly coming to an end and to end the night, Dark Angel played the album's final track Perish in Flames. The crowd was still wild and gave it their all one last time. The show came to an end and Dark Angel was all smiles seeing the positive reaction that the band had received. It was an amazing night and an even better tribute to Durkin. With the success of these shows, hopefully Dark Angel come back again real soon. A new album is in the works too so that's something to definitely be looking forward to.
Photos and review by Misael Ruiz
IG: tarantulamanmr
