Demon Preacher

Everyone loves strong debuts, especially the respective bands which didn't fail their first step into the metal kingdom, though they come with a huge pressure to surpass them with the eventual sophomores as the obvious drawback. Many bands passed also that exam, just as many others failed or didn't show up altogether, and now, in 1988, it was Deathwish's turn. Previous year's At the Edge of Damnation showed a pretty unique hybrid of thrash and traditional metal, yet they weren't content with that. No, with Demon Preacher, their idea was more along the lines of demonstrating that the Old England, albeit hardly present in the scene, could easily beat the USA at their own game if provoked...

Apparently, everyone in the band shared the same mindset (with the possible exception of bassist Stuart Ranger, who had left in the meantime). Drummer Brad Sims immediately accepted the challenge and projected his already no-frills style to several bpms higher. Dave Brunt, apart from also picking up bass duties, kept avoiding the simplest tremolo riffs with disarming ease, capitalizing on the debut's strong heavy metal influences and re-elaborating the riffwork to match the newfound intensity... to say nothing of his leads, which are still top-tier stuff. Of course, Jon Van Doorn is once again soaring over this foundation with his slightly nasal delivery, and apparently some extra confidence resulting in even more frequent excursions into sharp falsettos, yet another ace up Deathwish's rather ample sleeve.

In a perfect world (not unlike that dictatorship I hinted at before), the title-track and opener already immortalized the band's legacy. The intro riff, which somehow echoes of contemporary Bathory material (think Blood Fire Death), is immediately hammered into your brain, and then proceeds to keep the beating constant for a full minute before the actual entrance of Van Doorn, with everybody pretty much never letting go of the gas pedal. Not to mention that there's a hugely effective chorus somewhere in it. Memorability-wise, 'Demon Preacher' has everything it takes to stand defiantly before the household names of the genre. It's at the end of this very song that you realize that, for how good At the Edge of Damnation was, it was a mere warm-up in the grand scheme of things.

All of this would surely seem premature, given that we analyzed only one track so far... as if every other song here didn't nail that thrash/heavy balance just as masterfully. The latter factor starts to gain prominence in the melodic solutions of 'Carrion' and again in the more measured, but equally brilliant 'Visions of Insanity', be it the sung intro, smoothly lead by Van Doorn, or the long solo in the middle. Yet, Deathwish never let it usurp thrash's throne, and so there's no such thing as an entirely slow song this time. They even find a way to sneak a frantic thrash coda to the unexpected Black Sabbath cover. Only 'Prey to the Lord' (subtle) inevitably needs to try something a bit more different, from the top of its running time exceeding 7 minutes, and yet it's enviably flawless as well. Apart from Brunt's obvious guitar seminar, Van Doorn really shines on the refrain, with even the lyrics following a smart, interesting twist that sets Deathwish worlds apart from your average, run-of-the-mill satanic band even in this department.

Still, for some reason, searching for filler? Better move on to another album, then. Granted, there are only seven proper songs, but that alone doesn't justify how perfect the solo section of 'Wall of Lies' is, or why Van Doorn suddenly got possessed by Jon Oliva on the ultra-fast closer 'Fatal Attraction''s bridge. Even the calm acoustic footnote 'Past Life' only confirms that this truly is classy stuff, even if there's just a bit too much background noise during the last minute that mostly serves as a reminder that we're still listening to obscure '80s thrash, and not some shredder laying down an interlude on his latest release for Shrapnel.

Sadly, nothing's really perfect, and Demon Preacher is no exception, although downsides are very few in number. I may attract some aversions here but, to be honest, I've never been this huge 'Symptom of the Universe' fan, and even more so here since the song sure fits in decently, but the average level of the surroundings is so high I'd have liked another original composition in its place. Considering the lone year lapse between the debut album and this, they probably didn't have another song ready for an equally fast release, although the impeccable timing wasn't enough to preserve them from an untimely demise. For a minor nitpicking of mine, there's no way that the riff set of 'Prey to the Lord' isn't rehashed from the title-track, but hey, if you gotta steal, might as well do it from the best, am I right?

Pedantry aside, I can't really underline enough that, if you've got this far in the review and still didn't start playing the album, you have already wasted too much time. Do a favor to yourself and prepare to see all your notions about thrash metal from England being invalidated. Truly the definition of 'criminally underrated'.