Dark Angel became known in thrash metal circles for their ability to deliver some of the genre's most challenging and articulate albums without ever losing touch with its core attributes of pure speed and primal aggression. Following a primitive but enthusiastic first album called We Have Arrived (1985), 1986's much-improved Darkness Descends is usually viewed by fans as the band's true arrival. Appearing in 1989, Leave Scars was the first of two albums that earned them the unlikely label of progressive thrash due to the longer, more complex songs the band had begun composing. Their fourth album, 1991's Time Does Not Heal, was hailed by critics for the sheer creative scope of its ambitious songwriting, and was considered the last word on technical thrash metal, arriving as the style's popularity faded. A collection of Dark Angel's finest moments, Decade of Chaos, was issued in 1992.