Daemonium

After two great technical thrash albums and a decent yet incomplete third record, the band came back with a new approach being much more experimental. In result, Daemonium is a less straightforward album focusing more on contrasts between agressiveness and atmosphere. The idea was great and I think the concept is still relevant nowadays. They improved their writing in English despite still having their very strong accent, the musicianship was at the top, and there was a lot of good well structured ideas out there.

Daemonium is a well balanced music laboratory where you recognize the Anonymus signature sound while listening to musical ideas never explored before (in the band). For example, Loto-destruction begins with a weird drunky beat followed by an egyptian-like verse and a hardcore thrash chorus, but it transitions to a more Anonymus-like bridge. Described like this, it is not really inviting, but trust me, everything blends very well. The main strength of the record is to have blended acoustic passages and hammering powerful riffs with an impressive efficiency : Why Be The Judge, In Your Face or Fou moi la paix for example. Everything works perfectly thanks to the hard work by band members to improve as musicians, composers, and lyricists. The production is very natural and all the agressivity and abrasiveness of previous albums is kept intact.

Vocally speaking, the band tried to implement more clean vocals into their music. If Marco Calliari really stands out with this new approach, Oscar Souto seems to struggle and I'm not sure that he was ready to do this back then. This is obvious in songs like La mano criminal or Mephisto. Fun fact, the first one was the only Anonymus Spanish song to not figure on their recent hispanic album, La Bestia. It is not a bad track, but the vocals are not that great and it sounds weird for an Anonymus song. In terms of latin songs in the album, I rather prefer Fous moi la paix and Cane di Vita witch is a great Italian thrash metal conclusion.

Despite a few weird passages and very raw vocals, Daemonium is, in my opinion, an important album in the band career, shaping a sound that will make them age very well. This is Anonymus that tries out different costumes for Halloween and this is very enjoyable.


Favourite songs : Fous moi la paix (Fight for Peace), Cane di Vita (A Dog Life), Why Be The Judge, Invisible Man, Loto-destruction

Anonymus are a fairly unknown independant band from the province of Quebec in Canada. They have a strong following in Canada but outside of their home country there are very few people who really know anything about the band. It's kind of surprising they haven't been able to get a record contract from a label like Century Media yet.

This is my first album from the group and from what I've been able to listen to from prior albums the band has been changing their sound over the last few years. Going from speed metal to something a bit more modern and chunky. They also sing in three different languages: English, French, and Spanish.

The album starts off with "Invisible Man" which is a very good track. It has a nice melody to start off on violin. Then the guitars come in playing that melody. The song then kicks into a more modern and more frantic sound. You can still hear the speed metal but you can also hear other influences including hardcore. "Demons are Forever" comes in next and I don't like the chorus in this song at all. It's slow and has some odd guitar noises in it. "Twice" is a good song and has more of a punkish vibe to it both in lyrics and some of the guitar parts. You can get the basic idea of the album in these three songs. The band uses speed metal, hardcore, punk, and some almost mallcore guitar noises to their advantage.

The better songs on the album include "Invisible Man", "Twice", "Burning the Candle at Both Ends", and "Why be the Judge?" (probably the best song on the album. Fast and thrashy). There are a few pieces of garbage here too like "Demons are Forever", "Loto-Destruction", and "Le Mano Criminal" which don't do anything. The rest of the album sits in the better than average category.

This album overall is better than many albums coming out on the bigger metal labels like Century Media or Nuclear Blast. It's quite strong and for an independant band the production is done quite well. Hopefully the band will improve and write a few better songs for their next release.

I'm guessing that not to many people here own any Anonymus cds or have even heard any songs from them. That really sucks, since they are awesome. Each cd they put out is always different and they try something new or take their sound to a new level. With that said, this cd is no exception.

The cd opens with Invisible Man and this starts with the band trying something new, this time a violin intro. It sounds really cool and has a gothic feel to it, until the guitars kick in. The song itself is a good opener, with some classic anonymus trademarks. Demons are Forever is next and not only does it have a cool name, it has some cool parts in it, like where it slows down a bit for the chorus. Twice comes up next and gets in your face right away. Marco & Oscar have a good trade off on vocals during this song. The song slows down at the midway point and the music becomes brooding, with some deeper singing, which builds up back up into the chorus. The song ends with some more death metal oriented background screams, which is something new for Anonymus. Burning the candle both ends is next and this is the shortest song so far at 2:58 and the second shortest on the cd. Its a decent pace and song until around 1:30 when it picks up. There is some wicked bass going on during this part, and this lasts for a bit, till it returns to the way it was earlier. This is probaby the worst song on the cd. Loto Destruction is next and this again is somethind new for anonymus. It has a classic anonymus start to the song, until it has a weird intro verse. Its hard to describe, but its mostly emphasized by the vocals,which are French in this song. The music at this point is what I can't really describe, its something you have to hear. Some might call it rapping, but since its in french, the words just have to be said fast and I don't see it as rapping. It took a few listens to get adjusted to this part, but now I love it. But worry not, this only makes up like 20-30 seconds of the song and the rest is heavy and fast. In Your Face is next and the song is very true, but there is a catch. This song has a stupid intro, consisting of odd noises and a string being played on the bass. At 1:30 it picks up and is like the title says, in your face. This song is short and fast. Mephisto opens up with a piano intro, again something new for anonymus. Its very short with the piano though, and the guitars join in. The piano is in the background and plays along with the guitar in a midpaced 1 min intro, before the double bass kicks in and the song gets going. The chorus is slower, mmeeephhhhissstooo, but still good. There is an opeth sounding moment, at 2:28-2:40. The vocals after this part are in a way that anonymus have never done before, but this is short, before reverting back to the usual style. Around the 3:40 mark, it reminds me of iced earth a bit. The song ends the way it started, with guitar & piano. Why be the judge kicks in next and this is classic anonymus right here. This is probably my fave track on the cd. I love the chorus, why,NOT, why, NOT, why,NOT. Again the band trys some deeper vocals, this part being the NOT part during the chorus. La mano criminal starts out accoustic, which is something the band hasn't really tried before. Though like most of the songs so far, it gets going after 1 min or so. This song is in spanish (the band sings in french, english and spanish). Its a good song, and i really like the bass in this song, as you can hear it a lot. Its got its headbanging moments and is a good way to break into the last 3 songs, as they will make your neck hurt. Its a toss up between this song and burning the candle both ends as the worst song on the cd, though both songs are still very cool.

Mean world symptom comes up next and it starts kicking ass from the very start. Like all anonymus songs, it changes at some point, either slowing down or speeding up, but reverts back to the headbanging mode before the end. The last two songs are french & spanish songs and fou moi la paix is the first of them. It has some parts which remind me of iced earth, which happens in a few anonymus songs. It has all the elements from the previous songs and is good from start to finish. The last song is Cane di vita. Again, its a fast song and a good closer, with a nevermore like solo.

Overall this cd is fucking awesome. I admit, I may be a bit biased since I love anonymus, but its still a good cd. I see bits and pieces from bands like iced earth and the bands they have played shows with recently, like cannibal corpse (the semi blast beats and deeper singing), to nevermore (a few solos remind of me of nevermore). The production is awesome and you can hear everything. The only thing that is a downside is the the intros to some songs, which take up over 1 minute, when sometimes they are just stupid, like in your face.

best songs imo: demons are forever, mephisto, why be the judge?, mean world symptom