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DEMON
Invincible

Frontiers (2024)
Rating: 8.5/10

Eight years after their last album, Cemetery Junction, British rockers Demon coolly emerge again from the shadows like a veteran sports star sweeping the crowd up for another mercurial performance.

Demon have been at it since the 1970s, and it was their early releases, namely Night Of The Demon (1981) and The Unexpected Guest (1982), which really sent the shivers down the spines of rock fans. Maybe it was the occult driven cover art alongside the band name which instilled the same dread as those early Satan albums. Sure, the music softened over the years but Demon continues to astound with their hard rock flames by marrying AOR-tinged moments with gallops afire.

The subject matter here varies from the afterlife, Satan and even UFOs, while musically Demon veers into progressive rock on ‘Hole In The Sky’ with some fantastic keyboard work from Karl Waye who illuminates the opus. Closing track ‘Forever Seventeen’ is a warm semi-ballad, while ‘Face The Master’ has a gritty AOR feel in spite of its horror themes, but ‘Beyond The Darkside’ is one of the heavier moments paraded with its fiery axework.

There’s a good mix of stuff encased within a cosy hard rock framework; Dave Hill’s vocals are commanding and rich, some of the riffs are punchy thanks to Dave Cotterill and Paul Hume, and the drums are fluid yet hard. The crunch really comes to the fore with a trio of delights. ‘Ghost From the Past’, ‘Rise Up’ and the aforementioned ‘Beyond The Darkside’. Although ‘Cradle To The Grave’ lacks snap, it still has a nice progressive edge, again showcasing the versatility of Demon.

Put this new Demon outing alongside the latest FM platter (Old Habits Die Hard) and it’ll be time well spent among old friends with new i.

Neil Arnold

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