siLLy puPPy After Venom unleashed its landmark debut album “Welcome To Hell,” it was sort of an invitation for metal bands to become ever more extreme and would lead to many forks in the metal road. While generally described as speed metal as it wasn’t quite thrash and despite the early blueprints not even close to black metal, it seems that other English bands were too busy following in the footsteps of Judas Priest and other NWOBHM pioneers therefore Germany seems to have been the nation that picked up on the opportunity to take speed metal into ever faster gallops with bands like Blind Guardian and Helloween having become the most famous. The Dortmund based ANGEL DUST was yet another pioneer that straddled in between the early heavy metal of the 80s and the more extreme thrash that was gestating around the same time.

Formed in 1984 and heavily influenced by Venom to the extent that the band even took its moniker from Venom’s debut album, this quartet of Romme Keymer (vocals, guitar), Andreas Lohrum (guitars), Frank Banx (bass) and Dirk Assmuth (drums) started out as a mere garage rock band but quickly honed its chops to become one of the 80s most ferocious speed metal acts. The band released its debut INTO THE DARK PAST in 1986 and although would go through a series of lineup changes and change steer its style into a more progressively infused power metal still nonetheless unleashed one of the must hear speed metal contributions in the 80s when thrash metal was coming of age, death and black metal were still in diapers and Helloween was just making the ole switcheroo from speed to power metal.

Musically this one’s a beast. Starting with some atonal classical piano sounds it adds some synthesizer sounds which is the calm before the storm because once the thundering din of the twin guitar assaults strike, it’s a speed metal roller coaster for the rest of the ride. Obvious antecedents include bands like Running Wild, Exciter and even Motorhead but ANGEL DUST delivers a more sophisticated blend of knotty riffing and a sniff of thrash metal sensibilities although this speed metal rampage is more akin to the typical NWOBM only on steroids. Musicwise INTO THE DARK PAST is flawless with excellent twin guitar attacks that offer the perfect mix of crunchy riffing and sizzling face melting solos. The bass is completely independent and never gets buried and the drumming prowess matches the technical chops of any tech infused extreme metal band of the day.

Perhaps the one weak point for ANGEL DUST at this point is the vocals. While the expected delivery of speed and power metal is a more operatic performance, Romme Keymer’s rough and tumble style is more akin to Lemmy of Motorhead which gives this album a bit of street cred grunginess and although i don’t exactly love his style, it’s certainly not offensive to the ears in any way and in many ways actually matches the rather filthy guitar distortion and semi-sloppy playing style however he does belt out a few high squealed yelps. Overall the album feels like it’s just a few baby steps away from entering thrash metal territory but then again that’s what speed metal was all about wasn’t it? This is not my favorite speed metal album of the 80s but there is no denying the excellent musicianship and the balls to the wall energetic drive so this is certainly one who is seeking out the 80s excesses of speed metal cannot miss out on.

Warthur If you wanted to make an argument for speed metal as occupying a middle ground between traditional heavy metal, thrash metal, and power metal, Angel Dust's debut album could be Exhibit A for your case. Romme Keymer's vocals may occasionally be a little shaky, but the twin lead guitar assault he mounts with Andreas Lohrum is more than enough to inject energy and vigour into the proceedings here, with a hard, defiant edge to both the music and lyrics reminiscent of the more political moments of 1980s thrash whilst at the same time occasionally hinting at a more epic scope to the band's concerns suggestive of early power metal. Fast, thrilling, this is an exemplary piece of 1980s metal.

adg211288 Into the Dark Past (1986) is the debut full-length album by German speed/thrash metal (later power metal) band Angel Dust. The first of two albums released during the band’s original run of activity which lasted from 1984 to 1988, it’s the only Angel Dust album to feature the vocals of Romme Keymer. Along with its follow-up To Dust You Will Decay (1988) the original copies of Into the Dark Past have became some of rarest metal releases in the world. Fortunately in 2016 No Remorse Records has reissued both albums in remastered formats with bonus tracks, the first official represses since the eighties. The 2016 version of Into the Dark Past includes Angel Dust’s original demo, Marching for Revenge (1985).

The demo doesn’t add too much to the album despite only sharing one song with it due to the production on the vocals not being all that. The remastering of the main album though, that’s definitely given Into the Dark Past a boost. I liked the album anyway, but it sounds a lot more powerful now, so I would definitely recommend the 2016 remaster even if the original were still readily available. The most important thing though is of course that this gem is officially back on the market after all this time.

While better known as a speed metal band during this stage in their career Angel Dust also show off a well developed thrash metal side on Into the Dark Past. This is evident in Romme Keymer’s vocals as well as the band’s riffs as he has quite a harsh style of singing, especially compared to the man who replaced him on To Dust You Will Decay, S.L. Coe, who was a much more melodic singer. I still need to check out Angel Dust’s power metal albums in full but I think it’s probably safe to say that Into the Dark Past is the band’s thrashiest and most aggressive album, though there’s still a level of catchiness to the songwriting to be found, as well as a strong sense of melody. Angel Dust switched to a power metal sound when they returned with their third album Border of Reality (1998) and I’d say that there are a few hints of that future found here, though not as many as on To Dust You Will Decay. Still it’s not that hard to put this album on the same page as the other German speed metal bands that became the first (Euro style) power metal bands such as Helloween and Blind Guardian, although Angel Dust was more thrash metal than those bands ever were at this point.

The songwriting is pretty strong throughout to my ears. The title track is a short introductory instrumental before the band kicks things off proper with I’ll Come Back, which seems rather appropriate considering that it’s been thirty years since Into the Dark Past was originally released and it’s taken this long to officially get the album back out there for a new generation. The topics touched on in their lyrics are the usual suspects such as life issues (I’ll Come Back for example is about losing your job), gambling and atomic war, but the album is always delivered convincingly, while the band only occasionally put a lull in their relentless attack of speed/thrash metal, so there’s plenty of energy to be had as well.

Into the Dark Past is well worth a listen for anyone into eighties speed and thrash metal as well as anyone interested in the roots of the early German power metal scene.