Night Demon "Outsider"

    Whether it be the band’s passionate classic old school heavy metal and hard rock style, or their relentless touring schedule which has taken them all around the world, Night Demon is a band that continues to confidently thrive by charging ahead at full speed. The band’s third full-length album, “Outsider,” is without question an album that sent the fanatical Night Demon fanbase into a frenzy upon hearing the news about a new album to follow-up, “Darkness Remains,” which was released back in 2017. 

    Although the band waited almost six years to put out their next full-length album, during that period they sure as hell were not kicking back and lazing around. The band embarked on constant tours and put out a live album as well as a compilation album featuring numerous new singles and covers called, “Year of the Demon.” Of course during the early years of the pandemic Night Demon like so may bands had to cut back on touring for a period time, but that did not stop the band from finding ways to connect with their fans and the band’s podcast series has provided fans with a tremendous amount of insight into the band’s history along with stories pertaining to how band approaches recording songs. 

     “Outsider,” is yet another chapter in the Night Demon story which has continued to thrive ever since their first self-titled debut four song EP. This current line-up with Jarvis Leatherby on bass/vocals, Armand John Anthony on guitar and Dusty Squires behind the drum kit, has proven to be an utterly strong heavy metal power trio. I would say that the band’s first album, "Curse of the Damned," is definitely more raw and fearsome, while “Darkness Remains,” showed a slight different side at times by putting great focus into the songwriting aspects as well as the production. Jarvis Leatherby is a tremendous lyricist who draws influence from NWOBHM and classic hard rock by crafting these profound stories where the chorus stays in your head and the words leave such an impact. 

    “Outsider,” might be the band’s most ambitious and unique album to date due to the fact that this is a concept album from start to finish. On previous Night Demon releases like, “Curse of the Damned,” there were songs which complimented each other and featured very vivid conceptual themes, but never did the band write a complete concept album. “Outsider,” brings together the supernatural world with an individuals thoughts and feelings that profoundly ties into what some people might experience in their day to day lives. During the pandemic Jarvis was staying in Northern Ireland and at times when listening to the album I can hear where having to deal with the isolation and feeling exiled around that period of time might have greatly influenced his songwriting for this album. 

    Lyrically, I really enjoy the title track off of this album and find the words to be extremely relatable. Night Demon’s sound has not drastically changed, except there are time when. you can hear some subtle adjustments. There is definitely more emphasis placed on coming up with catchy hooks to create very addictive sounding rhythms, but you there is a moment during the title track where the music slows down and creates a more doom like atmosphere. The song, “Outsider,” is a very dynamic track that I believe can appeal to wide range of rock and metal fans given the creative riffs and adrenaline pumping rhythms. 

    There are songs on the album like, “Obsidian” and “Escape from Beyond,” which do capture the triumphant sound of classic NWOBHM, although the music never comes across as cliché, nor presents itself as simple sounding like generic NWOBHM worship. On the song, “Beyond the Grave,” the band comes up with a very creative piece of music featuring some solid melodic arrangements. Armand’s guitar work really stands out throughout the track, especially in the beginning of the track where he comes up with these haunting chord progressions. 

    Another track off of the album that contains a plethora of epic compositions is the last song, “The Wrath.” From the melodic guitar and bass parts to the thunderous cymbal crashes, the song is a monumental sounding finale. Jarvis delivers the lyrics with such raw aggression to help bring to life the chaos that is conjured up by the instrumental parts. As the notes solemnly ring out and fade into the dark abyss, you stop and reflect upon the emotional journey feeling almost at ease as the music fades away. Also, I could not believe how the time flew by so quickly when listening to the album, because it really hooks you right from the beginning and you lose track of time as if you are stepping into another realm created by Night Demon. 

    In the end, Night Demon came up with a very creative third album and I do think that they found a way to step outside the box on this release. Even though this album might not feature the same hungry and ravenous energy which you can hear on early Night Demon recordings, the band demonstrates how they have become even more accomplished as songwriters by constructing a truly fascinating concept album. A concept album can be extremely hard for some fans to accept if a band has not done one before, so I strongly recommend listening to the entire album more than once before forming an opinion. Overall, this album is highly worth check out and in a perfect world would win a Metal Grammy if the people over at the Grammy Awards actually pulled their heads out of their rears. 

Check out the video for the song "Outsider" below:

Night Demon's Website:

https://nightdemon.net/

Nekus "Sepulchral Divination"

    When listening to Nekus you feel as though you are descending into a dark cavern beneath the Earth, eventually finding yourself lost in a spectral dominion where ghastly apparitions slowly come crawling out of the pitch black shadows. The German/Italian death doom act really unleashes a suffocating style of monolithic sounding destruction with the upcoming release to their debut album, “Sepulchral Divination.” 

    The album traverses far down into the hellish death doom depths by hammering out some utter agonizing riffs and sludgy sounding arrangements. As much as I would consider this a death doom album, I hear influences from sludge/doom bands like Noothgrush and Grief, which is why this album sounds inhumanely heavy at times. Compared to a lot of death doom that I have encountered over the years, Nekus finds a way to capture your attention with extremely vivid ominous sounding atmospheric elements to accompany the merciless aural bludgeoning. 

    The six tracks featured on this album are very well produced and tell this nightmarish tale as you become engulfed by the monstrous sounding riffs. On the opening track, “Nekyia,” I was completely taken back by the song’s abrasive tone as well as the more frantic sounding arrangements. I really liked the drumming on the first track, which I thought added a great deal of seismic force to compliment the juggernaut sized amounts of distortion coming from the guitar parts. Track number two, “Eidolon,” starts out with a more sludge metal like feel at first and then continues to move along to this sadistic and haunting tempo. The song is utterly horrifying, primarily due to the purely evil riffs accompanied by even more abhorrent sounding vocal parts. 

    Another point to bring up about this album is that there are quite a few ten minute plus songs, however the compositions do not come across as egregiously repetitive, nor do they sound cheaply thrown together. Take for example the last song on the album, “Elysion,” which is eleven minutes and probably one of the most putrid offerings off of the album. During the beginning of the song you hear these agonizing cries in the distant as the guitarist slowly hacks away at some malevolent chord progressions. You are left with this feeling that you are alone sitting in complete darkness as the distortion fills your mind, twisting your sanity until you become paralyzed with unfathomable fear. One of my favorite tracks on album, “Stygian,” was also very much an exploration through these punishing dynamic arrangements that delivers a tremendous amount of ferocious death doom destruction. 

    “Sepulchral Divination,” is an extremely ear shattering debut album that once again compliments the Sentient Ruin roster. Nekus is definitely a band that I hope to see continue to explore this type of approach, especially given how impressive the overall production was in terms of creating an insanely loud and pestilent soundscape. This is an album that I highly recommend checking out if you are a fan of death metal which puts emphasis on slow gruesome arrangements, while even offering an abysmal touch of sludge to give the music an even more hellacious sound. Also, make sure to turn the volume up really loud when listening to the album, that way your neighbors can also hear the cataclysmic death doom devastation! 

Check out the track "Katabasis" below (Album comes out April 7, 2023): 

Pre-Order below through Sentient Ruin:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/

Aphotic "Abyssgazer"

    Breaking through the confines of an entropic realm where the rules of time and space cease to exist, Aphotic emerges from the unspeakable void to deliver a truly malevolent full-length album titled, “Abyssgazer.” These Italian extreme metal musicians conjure up some monstrous sounding death doom riffs that will leave listeners feeling like they have become lost in an infinite darkness where all hope of escape is tarnished by deafening dissonant noises. 

    The album cover was done by Chilean abstract painter Rodrigo Pereira who I thought did an exceptional job capturing what Aphotic set out to accomplish on this album. When looking at the album cover and listening to the music, you start to feel like you are being drawn into the cataclysmic abyss which shatters all sense of reality. Musically, the band is extremely talented at composing brutal and massive sounding arrangements. The variety of influences ranging from pulverizing old school death metal to atmospheric death doom, really establishes an unbelievably vivid sounding landscape. 

    I will say that I felt as though some of the tracks on the album stood out more than others, especially songs like, “Abyssgazer” and “Depths Call Depths.” Also, I liked how the band came up with some creative instrumental pieces to setup certain tracks. The three instrumental and ambient tracks “Endzeit,” “Endzeit II” and “Endzeit III,” were very important in terms of building up anticipation as well as complimenting the album’s malicious unpredictable cosmic theme. The acoustic guitar part during, “Endzeit II,” had me completely taken back at first, but in the end it was a calming touch to add right before the next track, “Abyssgazer.” I would say that, “Abyssgazer,” is the strongest song off of the album and features some haunting chord progressions along with this mix of savage death growls and mournful sounding cries echoing through the pitch black musical void. 

    Tracks such as, “Cosmivore” and “Deathward and Beyond,” definitely display a more straightforward brutal old school death metal sound with very abrasive riffs and thunderously loud drum parts. Still, the band continues to thrown in these surrealistic atmospheric elements, and the music is constantly shifting in a variety of chaotic directions. The solid musicianship, dynamic creativity and unbelievably strong production, are a few reasons why I do believe that this album can be appreciated by a wide variety of extreme music fans. 

    Sentient Ruin will be releasing the album on March 24th, and the limited edition red/black marbled galaxy colored vinyl looks down right amazing. Aphotic's "Abyssgazer," is highly recommended for fans of horrifying celestial death doom that opens up a forbidden portal to an endless apocalyptic abyss. Conceptually, this album makes modern horror films look juvenile by constructing utterly behemoth fear inducing compositions. Once the music begins and you stare at the lifeless abyss like album cover, there is no escaping the inevitable death doom mind altering onslaught!

Check out the music video for the song "Abyssgazer" below : 

Order the album here:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/abyssgazer