The filthy doom metal savages in Demonsmoke once again emerge from the shadowy depths of the California Delta to unleash upon the metal world a profoundly monstrous creation. On their sophomore album titled, “Resin Wrought,” the band continues to hammer out sickening cuts of agonizing old school sludge and doom without any remorse.
The first time I heard Demonsmoke live was when I saw them play live in 2015 at a dive bar in downtown Petaluma. After seeing them perform I was instantly hooked by their vicious doom metal sound which heavily incorporates that profanely venomous sludge/doom metal vibe similar to groups like Church of Misery and Eyehategod. When they released their debut album “Morphine Moonshine” I definitely felt as though the band delivered a killer album featuring some utterly devastating songs with one of my favorites being “Creeping Down Your Neck.” Also, the band worked with legendary metal recording guru Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios in Oakland, CA who returned and lent his recording and mixing talents on, “Resin Wrought.” I do believe Greg perfectly captures the band’s sound on this new album and even helped draw out a more insidious side to Demonsmoke that can be heard throughout the release.
The album beings with some malevolent high-pitched feedback noises followed by the band’s vocalist Cam unleashing a disgusted cry of unapologetic anger. Titled, “Caustic Truth,” the opening track features a pulverizing main riff as well as some punishing rhythms. The drumming and bass playing sounds extremely tight, and the impact can be heard throughout the song. Also, I can hear where the band added more harsh sludge elements on this release that I would say draw influence from acts like Grief and Noothgrush. The second track, “Earth Monkey,” is another southern sludge inspired doom onslaught containing more deafening noises to come mercilessly blaring out of your speakers. There is one riff during the song which hits with such seismic force by throwing down some meaty palm muted chord strikes.
Taking a break from the album’s first two heavily cataclysmic sounding songs, the third track, “Onset,” is a trippy sounding instrumental piece that serves as the perfect setup for the next song, “Inebriated Muff.” Coming up with a more diabolically groovy sounding doom jam, Demonsmoke delivers out a real distorted banger with “Inebriated Muff.” There is a very bluesy vibe going on during the song, which I would even say captures that old school 70’s Black Sabbath spirit. The fifth song, “Eternal Abyss,” is probably the strongest example of Demonsmoke crafting a more hideous sludge offering, especially in terms of the putrid vocal delivery which can be heard violently screaming over the distorted chaos.
For the final two songs, “Blunt Force Trauma” and “Resin Wrought,” the band arranges even more abysmal mind-altering riffs and primordial doom rhythms. On the song, “Blunt Force Trauma,” Jimmy R from Transylvanian Recordings provides some guest vocal work and when paired with Cam’s vocals, adds a massive boost of hostility during the track. Towards the middle/end of the song there is a burst of hardcore punk fueled aggression giving the music more entropic edge. The final song, “Resin Wrought,” is a gruesome sounding sludge/doom drenched piece of raw aggression that once again displays this band’s truly wicked talents. From the start of the album until the end, Demonsmoke grabs the listener like a demonic entity taking possession of a host and driving them completely insane with maniacally heavy dose of distorted riffs.
Overall, Demonsmoke delivers an undeniably heavy and down right sinister album with the release of, “Resin Wrought.” Picking up where they left off on, “Morphine Moonshine,” the band was able to keep the momentum going, but they also added some even more hellacious sounding elements to their sound. I know in the metal world that there are some critics who label doom and sludge metal as being repetitive and sometimes the equivalent to an endless snooze fest, however, the new Demonsmoke is anything but a snooze fest. The moment you start listening to the album's first song, I can guarantee you will be fiendishly hooked until the very end.
Check out the song "Eternal Abyss" below:
Demonsmoke Bandcamp:
https://demonsmoke.bandcamp.com/album/resin-wrought
