The Fever

This demo is, of course, a demo, so I must treat it as one and not as a full professional release. Yes, the production is shoddy and the vocals feel a little bit out of place as the review before me had mentioned, but I don't think that that bumps this demo down so low. Personally I like the vocalist and I think he has a lot of potential, and he sounds great live. I don't think he was mixed very well into the demo though of course, as I often found one of my ears hurting as he panned too much onto one side of the tape, but that's simply the realities of a basement demo, which this is. (It was recorded on a 4-track.)

Instrumentally, this demo is a gem. The band is always keeping things interesting. The guitars harmonize well and have some pretty killer riffs and the bass is always supporting more uniquely than you'll find in other nwothm/thrash bands. It creates a very diverse sound while you listen and so the music never gets monotonous. They know how to go to mid-paced groovy heavy metal to thrashing instrumental sections with great solos at the turn of a single beat. There's never a time where a transition seems sloppy or unfitting, it all flows very well to me. Excuse me for excluding the drummer, who also keeps himself in line instead of overly obtrusive like many new thrash bands are known to do. Overall It's a great instrumental lineup.

Once or twice though I heard some familiar things, for instance in one of the tracks I heard a snippet of D.O.A. by Havok, which they probably used subconsciously. That distracted me from the track a bit but overall the song is still very well composed, even if your attention is diverted a bit.

They also covered Iron Maiden's Invaders on this demo, which is probably the most disappointing. They sped up the song some, which I like, and the bassist kept the song interesting, however this is where the vocalist messes up some. He can't hit Dickinson's highs so he had to compensate with slightly distracting lower notes. It's a damn shame because the rest of the cover is pretty damn good.

Overall it's not a perfect release, as they very well know, but I feel it's a fantastic start to any band's career and I hope to see them go far. I'll definitely be picking up the upcoming EP.