After the bone-crushing rifferama that was 'Leave Scars', Dark Angel somehow invented something even more monstrous, an album of some 246 riffs to match the mighty early offerings of Slayer. 'Time Does Not Heal' stands alone, bridging the gap between death metal, thrash and traditional heavy metal, decades later it still remains as fresh and as punishing, but unlike bands such as Slayer who since their classic days have attempted, but failed miserably, to bring those days back, Dark Angel tragically folded after this classic record, but looking back, it was probably for the best, the band reaching a titanic peak on this record.
The album weighs in at almost seventy-minutes, each track touches at least six minutes, several clocking in at over seven minutes, but not once will you get bored by this juggernaut. Hoglan's drumming is enough of an excuse to just lay back and be swallowed by this massive beast of brutality. 'Time...' is wonderfully complex, ragingly psychotic yet also accessible, vocally Rinehart takes us to a more traditional yell rather than something attempting evil, his social commentary backed up by musicianship that can only be described as epic and mighty, the tracks woven together by a labyrinth of riffs. The lyrics seemingly complex, leaving you bemused at how the guy manages to remember it all, dark tales of reality, seedy streets and homicidal rage, and yet this is so, so different from everything else the genre has ever had to offer, truly monstrous.
Favourite track on the record is the stalking 'Psychosexuality', a creeping heavyweight serial killer of a tune, but pick out any of the nine slabs on offer and you'll drowned in the ocean of muscular power.
Dark Angel remain untouchable, true genre defining metal that matured beyond the scene, so the fact that such a sound was tragically cut short remains an almost romantic echo of a time when thrash/death metal was ahead of its game and Dark Angel were true leaders of the field.
9/10
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