{"id":13706,"date":"2012-11-27T00:00:52","date_gmt":"2012-11-27T00:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=13706"},"modified":"2013-09-04T22:19:51","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T22:19:51","slug":"ep-review-night-demon-night-demon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-night-demon-night-demon\/","title":{"rendered":"NIGHT DEMON – Night Demon (2012) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

NIGHT DEMON
Night Demon EP<\/strong><\/span>
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\nSelf-released (2012)<\/span>
Rating: 4.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Before I hear a lot of this stuff, I often like to try and guess what type of metal it\u2019s going to be. Nine out of ten times I\u2019m usually correct in my assumptions, although I must admit that I like to be proven wrong. With California\u2019s Night Demon, I fully expected a mediocre, archetype heavy metal band bolstered by blazing riffs and clear, but slightly off-key vocals. Sadly, I was right. <\/p>\n

Night Demon is about as bland as their name unfortunately; another of those newer bands on a revival trip, Night Demon hope to bring back the days of old with their run of the mill lyrics and galloping drums.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no real surprise however that these metalheads have shared the same stage as Diamond Head and Raven, because they play the sort of straightforward leathery rock that would certainly juice up a waiting crowd. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s nothing fancy; Night Demon<\/em> is a four-track EP that is metal-by-numbers at best, lacking identity but having a certain creaky charm that brings to mind some of the more trusted, albeit tried and tested New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands that emerged in the early 80s. This time however, lyrics such as \u201cWe\u2019ll drink up all your beer, leave your women in fear\u201d<\/em> just can\u2019t win me over. <\/p>\n

Vocalist Jarvis Leatherby is no match for the original metal kings on this sub-standard rocker; an EP that begins life with the title track. \u2018Night Demon\u2019 suggests \u201cMetal is on the rise. Our fury never dies\u201d<\/em>, but what these guys don\u2019t seem to realise is that this sort of metal is dated. I find it rather disconcerting that a lot of today\u2019s revivalist bands sound even more out of date than the bands that came decades previous.<\/p>\n

With its plodding bass and rather tepid guitar trudge, \u2018The Chalice\u2019 also fails to light my fire, such is its lukewarm nature. Leatherby \u2013 until he reaches the higher notes \u2013 is more than adequate, but such is the predictability of this record that you begin to finish off the sentences before the singer even gets there. <\/p>\n

\u2018Ancient Evil\u2019 ups the pace but Brent Woodward\u2019s guitar fails to really cut its teeth, although John Crerar\u2019s drum sound is a little more potent. Overall though, this is metal eager to ape the clever nuances of great bands such as Diamond Head and Iron Maiden circa Paul Di\u2019Anno. \u2018Ritual\u2019 closes the EP with a swirling solo and hearty drum, but again it\u2019s the mediocre gallop that propels this track back into the pits of a faceless breed.<\/p>\n

These Californians are quite simply too obsessed with all the ingredients that once made metal so magic. Without injecting any elements of freshness and smothering the opus in those child-like lyrics, however, Night Demon are just another tree in the forest, melting into the background. <\/p>\n

Fourteen minutes pass by, and I\u2019m not convinced that a full-length opus by this trio is something I could put up with. While at times it\u2019s good to keep things simple, Night Demon \u2013 for all of their apparent graft \u2013 lack the guile to convert me to their alleged brand of bewitching metal. <\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NIGHT DEMONNight Demon EP Self-released (2012)Rating: 4.5\/10 Before I hear a lot of this stuff, I often like to try and guess what type of metal it\u2019s going to be. Nine out of ten times I\u2019m usually correct in my assumptions, although I must admit that I like to be proven wrong. With California\u2019s Night […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,701],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-night-demon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13706"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13876,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13706\/revisions\/13876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}