Демон

In the late 80's every Russian, or rather Soviet, metalhead had this vinyl in his collection. Although August was (and is) not as famous in the West as, for example, Aria, there is no doubt that this album influenced the "metal minds" of Russia.

The morbid truth is that the "Demon" album itself is rather hard rock. There is also heavy metal here, yes, at least an attempt to set sights on this genre, yes, but it would be a stretch to describe this album as "100 percent heavy metal". Even though the first song, the title one, is perhaps the heaviest song on the "Demon". It is also notable because there are no hearable keyboards here. For better or worse this instrument will dominate along the entire album. In addition, the vocalist who sings here is clearly stronger and more skillful than the vocalist for other songs. As they say, August starts on a merry note.

But finishes on a sad one. The last eighth song "Piano and Sea" is a sentimental instrumental, in which the leadership is given to keyboards. Some relaxing music before retiring to bed.

Intermediate songs are affected with various levels of success. Heavy metal is more evident in some songs ("The Night", "Danger" and "The Bell"). In others less so: the third and fifth songs ("Autumn" and "You Be the Judge") are not even hard rock. Rather rock, if not pop rock. Very similar to Zemliane (Земляне), the Soviet VIA (bands that were formally recognized by the Soviet government, see at Wikipedia "VIA music").

There is a guitar solo in every song as befits. The best heavy metal solo (for this album, I mean) you can hear in "The Night", in addition the keyboards solo is aligned very harmoniously with it here. A very deep and heartfelt bass solo sounds in "You Be the Judge". By the way the bass sound is very tight on the album.

Perhaps the most remarkable song is the seventh, "The Bell". There is a "quote", shall we say, here, from the legendary "Balls to the Wall" by Accept (1983). Obviously, the song itself falls short compared to the "original". No way, especially with the keyboards.

Well, plagiarism was a commonplace for Soviet bands. However, it is more correct to say "copying". If Aria copies Iron Maiden, then someone has to copy Accept – that was the logic in the country beyond the "Iron Curtain". Just look at the cover of the album to understand that the August logo of that time was ripped off from Accept too (this confusion made the band into a target for indignation and ridicule in the 80's). However, August didn't even amount to "Russian Accept with keyboards". Maybe it's for the best.

As for the keyboards, I must say, for those times — at least in the USSR — the presence of this instrument in a heavy metal band was not a wonder but, how can I phrase this, some kind of surprise. Keyboards were both the "ginger" of August and the reason for criticism. "Not true," as we would say today. By the way, keyboard player Oleg Gusev was then the leader of the band. Official position: "artistic director". You can see his photo on the cover of the album. "A keyboardist on the cover of the heavy metal album! What a nonsense!" It's kind of what we thought.

The Gusev's statement on the back of the jacket (as a rule, all Soviet vinyl releases were accompanied with a small annotation, text, explanation) justifies and even magnifies his presence in the band: "We play Bach rock. We're playing a rock minuet." I'm sorry to say, there is no Bach on this album.

A few words about the lyrics. The title song "The Demon" is an obligatory curtsey towards the Soviet authorities and propaganda. It's a song "for peace", "against war", the nuclear war especially. The firm Melodia (the musical government monopoly) would never have released this album without such text. The sixth song "Danger" and the seventh one "The Bell" are parts of the same story: "Everything but the war". And it is not clear what the song "My Head Aches so Bad" is about: whether the narrator grumbles at the problems with his girlfriend, or he complains about the lack of "freedom of speech" veiledly (a kind of passive struggle against the ruling regime). Strangely, the rest of the songs are depressing: "Autumn" — a lyrical sad song about this time of year; "The Night" tells the story of the loneliness in the night (broadly speaking, it describes paranoia even); "You Be the Judge", perhaps, is a confession about the vain search for the meaning of life.

I don't know the situation in the hard'n'heavy scene, at those times and now, I just give credit and respect to pioneers and veterans. Whatever this album is, it's a classic.