adg211288 Speed metal. I don’t think this is a genre that we really hear that much about these days, despite pre-dating many of the commonplace metal styles of today. That may be in part I guess because the genre spawned two children, namely thrash metal and power metal, which kind of took over and in the late eighties and bands like Helloween and Blind Guardian, who started as speed metal, turned towards power metal. I’m sure there were also speed metal bands who went full thrash as well but being less interested in the thrash genre I can’t say I know any to reference here. Every so often though there comes a new band with a sound that belongs in another era. Most of them are classable as traditional heavy metal but Demona, originating from Chile but now relocated to Canada, however are unashamedly speed metal. Not thrash, not power, just pure speed proving even with its children two of the most common metal genres of the modern era that speed metal is alive and well.

Demona started as a one woman band and released a number of smaller releases since the 2007 inception of the project. Now more of a band, but still led but that one woman, Tanza (who is the daughter of Mauricio "Jackie" Godoy of Distorsion fame, who appears on the album), Metal Through the Time is Demona’s first full-length album and it was released in 2012. It is twelve tracks of speed metal that if you didn’t know better you’d say were recorded a couple of decades earlier than they actually were. Tanza is clearly not a lady who cares for the modern aesthetics of metal music such as crystal clear productions, keyboards (common in power metal) or growling vocals (becoming common even in genres that never used to use them of late, it seems). Just relentless riffs, leads and pure aggression. Should speed metal be any other way? Of course not!

And, although I can’t say Metal Through the Time numbers among my favourite releases of 2012, it is still a lot more satisfying for its blatant old school approach to metal than anything many of the more modern artists following trends have been delivering of late. I’m all for metal evolving into new styles and introducing new approaches to older styles, but some of the recent trends have left me a lot to be desired, although I guess that happens in every era of metal. Trends of course divide opinion, but I think there is something to be said for the retro trend and its classic approach that Demona can be placed in. It is a respectful nod to metal of the past and shows that the sound still has a place with the young artists of the current generation.

What kills the release somewhat though is Tanza’s vocals. While she’s crafted some solid speed metal for the album I don’t think she’s ever going to win any vocal awards. Describing her vocals as being an acquired taste would be appropriate but the simple truth is that she’s given a patchy performance on Metal Through The Time. There are times when her voice and style of singing works but more often it does start to grate on me, especially on repeated listens to the album.

At this stage all I can say is that it would do Demona wonders if they followed the suit of other young artists and had Tanza focus solely on her guitar playing and bring in a new vocalist. This has worked wonders for others artists before Demona such as with the UK traditional metal act Dark Forest. While I’m sure there’s an appeal for Tanza to sing her own material there’d be no shame for her I think to allow someone else to sing her songs, because it could lift her music to a whole new level.

Since vocals seem often to be the make or break aspect of any band though (they are for me at least) this does pose a major problem to fairly scoring Metal Through the Time. Musically, this is generally excellent, but vocally it leaves much to be desired. At the end of the day though the album is, as I said, satisfying for me but ultimately the only reasonable score I can award it, all things considered, is a low end ‘good but not great’ tier rating.

6.5/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

Time Signature Only metal exists...

Genre: speed metal

Fuck yeah! Speed metal is back! And what better representative than Demona - a Canadian-Chilean underground band led by Tanza Godoy, daughter of Jackie Godoy and for a long time a one-woman speed metal killing machine who, despite facing all sorts of adversity, stuck to her guns and never lost sight of her goal: to make old school quality speed metal.

Now, all the hard work has come to fruition in the form of the debut album from Demona, now a full band, but still under Tanza's command.

We are dealing with old school speed metal here evolving around old school thrash and speed metal riffage chucking away at breakneck velocity, accompanied by fast - at time even punky - drumbeats and a nicely audible and round, almost warm-sounding, bass. There are plenty of shreddy guitar solos, some of which are provided by guest musicians, including Mr Godoy Senior.

The album is complete in its use of speed metal aesthetics, which means that there are a lot of bursts of melody and, at time, it sounds like NWoBHM in speed (just check out some of the more melodic parts of 'Nightmare' or the galloping, nay stampeding, riffage in 'Llagas'). The title track is a speed metal power bomb, featuring guest musicians from Warrant, Wardance, Sabbat (JPN), and Gurd, among others. As a bonus, there is a well-executed cover version of Wardance's 'Don't Play with Fire'.

The album contains a lot of Demona classics, some of which have been around since the very early days of the band. They have all been rerecorded with the present Demona line-up (with help from Hugo Uribe on drums), and thus there is both a lot of history and a lot of authenticity to the album. Tanza's vocals have fortunately not lost the unique quality that has characterized the sound of Demona since its inception.

The production is old school and unpolished, but not unbearably raw. Still, it does suit the overall DIY-feel of the album very well, and certainly adds to the speed metal authenticity of the album.

Speed metal to the bone, Demona's "Metal Through the Time" has everything that makes for good speed metal - it has the charm, the aggression, the influence from traditional metal, it has the production. Fans of old school thrash and speed metal are bound to love this album.