DEMONICA — Demonstrous (review)

DEMONICA — Demonstrous album cover Album · 2010 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
Demonstrous is the debut album by Danish/ American thrash metal act Demonica. The album was released in February 2010 by Massacre Records. The band was formed by the two Danes in the group, lead vocalist Klaus Hyr and guitarist Hank Shermann, after the former put pressure on the latter to write and record a thrash metal album. Hank Shermann, who is mostly known for his work with Mercyful Fate, took up the challenge and he is responsible for writing all the music on the album. The lyrics are written by Klaus Hyr. The two Danes are joined by three experienced American metal musicians in bassist Marc Grabowski ( Corruption), guitarist Craig Locicero ( Forbidden) and drummer Mark Hernandez ( Forbidden, Heathen, Vio-Lence, Defiance...etc.), making this a very strong lineup.

The music on Demonstrous is traditional US influenced thrash metal. Bands like Forbidden and especially Exodus come to mind IMO. There´s a good dynamic between the fast-paced sections and the heavy mid-paced sections. The solos are screaming and fast played, the vocals are aggressive yet with a sense for memorability, the riffs are powerful and memorable and the rythm section is also something to feast upon. The only time we´re reminded that Hank Shermann usually plays and composes more traditonal heavy metal is during the excellent instrumental closing track Astronomica. There are solos in that track to die for. Just beautiful. The rest of the tracks are more or less hard hittin´ thrash metal assaults and personally that suits me fine. All 10 tracks on the album are high quality compositions and the consistency of the material is in addition to the great musicianship, one of the greatest assets of the album.

When I first read about this project my curiosity was instantly woken. I´m a Mercyful Fate fan, so I´ve always followed Hank Shermann´s various projects. The man is a great composer and guitarist IMO. I´ve often been disappointed with the output of some of the projects by Hank Shermann though, simply because they didn´t suit my personal tastes, but Demonica is an alltogether different beast. Demonstrous is simply a high class thrash metal album in every respect. Powerful production, great varied ( within the confines of the US thrash metal style) songwriting and excellent musicianship. A big 4 star rating is fully deserved.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

I, the Destroyer Black Metal
SVARTFJELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
A Sonication Technical Death Metal
OBSCURA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 9 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 9 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 9 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 9 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 9 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed