Label - Azra
Year Of Release - 1985

Tracklist:
1. We Have Arrived
2. Merciless Death
3. Falling From The Sky
4. Welcome To The Slaughterhouse
5. No Tomorrow
6. Hell's On Its Knees
7. Vendetta

Yet another Thrash Metal band that rose out of Los Angeles in the 80s, Dark Angel, were underdogs for much of their recording career and became "Gods" to most people after they disbanded. Why are this band held in such reverence by the metal community? The answer to that is simple. Dark Angel wrote energetic thrash metal songs that were heavy as fuck and bordered on the very edge of chaotic violent music.

"We Have Arrived" was originally released on the small Azra Records print and subsequently re-released by Axe Killer Records (in 1987) and Dark Realm Production much later in a nice digi-pack version. "We Have Arrived" is not a landmark Thrash Metal album by any stretch of the imagination but it is still a thoroughly enjoyable album. The first three songs on the album are quite simply kick-ass and Eric Meyer and Jim Durkin's riffs are quite the treat. Drummer Jack Shwartz employs the double bass to good effect particularly on the superb "Falling From The Sky." The highlight of the album though, is "Merciless Death." This song is a thrash metal classic and comparable to any of the other great Thrash Metal songs of the same period.

The other high point of the album is the excellent "No Tomorrow" with its opening guitar lines retaining a pseudo- Arabic melody (that is later replayed in the song) and a pretty cool melodic guitar solo.

"We Have Arrived" is not essential to your collection, but if you have not heard it, then looking at the shit that is passed off as Thrash Metal today, you would be doing yourself a favor by getting this album.