I probably wasn’t the only one who pilloried Demiricous‘ debut. The Indiana band was a complete knock-off of Slayer, even more so than The Haunted (who I wish would return to being a Slayer knock-off). Thus, I expected little from Two (Metal Blade, 2007), which is perhaps unsurprisingly subtitled Poverty. When your niche is so small that your only competitor is Slayer, you will lose.
Never Enough RoadExpression of Immunity to God
But Two is almost the product of a different band. The change is so great that I picture an anguished heart-to-heart: “Shit, guys, this Slayer thing isn’t working.” When “Never Enough Road” projectile vomits d-beats, it’s clear the agenda has changed. Thrash is still the core, but hardcore punk, Pantera, and dirtbag filth now muddy the waters a la Ringworm. In “Tusk and Claw,” the band falls off the wagon and quotes a whole mess of Slayer-isms. Otherwise, the band sounds like it has a self. Judging from the scream that ends “Expression of Immunity to God,” that self is pissed.
In fact, the intensity is almost too abrasive at times. But that’s exactly what I want from Demiricous (and any other metal band) – challenging listeners by challenging themselves. Demiricous don’t sound like Converge, but I get the same feeling of flying dirt and bloody hooks. The drumming is especially vicious and dynamic, via the tried-and-true device of switching beats underneath riffs. Two is one of the biggest turnarounds I’ve ever heard in a band. Hopefully Three will be subtitled something happier.
Two (Poverty) is available from Metal Blade and The End.
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Wow, interesting take on this. To my ears it sounds like almost the direct opposite of how you heard it, especially in the comparos to Ringworm or Converge as it sounds almost antiseptically clean to me. I can definitely hear you in that comparison on the technical construction in “Never Enough” but to me the feeling is way different. That’s just probably the result of different palates and backgrounds though.
That said, it is written well enough and drawing from a pool of influence enough to differentiate it from whatever “thrash/core/trend” thing many are doing.
I backed in with these guys – never heard the debut until after I’d already been blown backward by this one. Agreed that it’s fast, fierce and tech but in a non-antiseptic way. (Another really good dirty-tech disc from Metal Blade is the new Brain Drill album, Apocalyptic Feasting. Check it out.)
This is a good album with some infectious riffs. A good turnaround as you said.
Pdf is also correct in that the new Brain Drill is lots of fun.
Johnny, I think the production may be quite professional, but it’s far from being, say, an Andy Sneap production. The content is still plenty dirty (and I’m sure this is more true live). And given that you’re from the South and I’m from the Midwest, maybe your clean is my dirty
PDF and Dave – convince me that Brain Drill isn’t just a bunch of noise. I like things as extreme as they come, but this just hurts my head, so to speak.
A fine review, I will definitely have to pick this up. I may have been one of the few that loved the unapologetic Slayer worship of the first Demiricous album. I’m all for a band challenging itself, but I don’t really get why Demiricous got ripped on by so many people for the Slayer debt, while neo-thrash bands like Warbringer and Fueled by Fire can directly rip Testament and Exodus and still inspire great reviews from critics & fans that acknowledge the borrowing. I’d never put such a referential album on an end-of-year list, but I wouldn’t shit on it either.
Demiricous were great live when I saw ‘em with Soilent Green in ‘06. Hope to catch ‘em again.
This is pretty good. I haven’t heard the first, but my only beef is that they don’t really have very well crafted riffs on these two songs. They’re largely pedestrian riffs and, in being that, the breaks and blast beats sound very …*shudder* … ‘nu metal’ to me.