Liar

Which in this case is a pretty damn cool cover! A red-eyed, bug-like, winged, hell-spawned creature breaking out of its gargoyle-like imprisonment atop a pile of skulls. What to expect from a cover like this - Venom? Demon Pact? Or at least the heavy riffage of Argorn’s Black Ice single? No, what we have here is pretty tame latecomers to the hard rock scene thrown in with the N.W.O.B.H.M.. This happened surprisingly a lot during those first three or so years (’79–’81) and it’s always disappointing when expecting something heavier and more metallic.

Demon formed around the time the N.W.O.B.H.M. had just started taking off (not that it’s an excuse for their misleading 7”). I’m being a little too hard on the single Liar, as it's quite a nice slab of N.W.O.B.H.R. (hard rock). It has a nice pumping rhythm with riffs that cut in with the power of AC/DC and melodies not that far off a more primitive what would later be known as “Ebony sound” (Ebony Records). Think what would those early Blade Runner and Grim Reaper riffs sound like without the second guitar harmonizing? In retrospect, I suppose this could in fact be considered heavy metal if you consider when it was released. It’s the B-side that really plays as the great downfall of the single. Wild Women sounds more like it’s a tribute to Chuck Berry than anything else, more something for '50s “old time rock ‘n’ roll” enthusiasts to drool over than the youngsters of 1980. It does have a fairly energetic sound, but it’s in no way heavy metal at all.

The production, while being pretty standard for the time, does have its pros and cons. The main objection is the mixing and while I do like a fairly audible bass line (especially in pounding lower octave-driven songs like Liar), the drums have admittedly been mixed far too low in the mix. The snare sound is less audible and “hitting” than the bass guitar, which really isn’t excusable in a genre like heavy metal. Musicianship is slightly above par here which makes up a lot of lost ground. Dave Hill sounds like a raunchier, more mid-ranged version of Ian Gillian, focusing a little more energy on attitude rather than emotion. Guitarist Clive Cook runs through his book of '50s-styled rock ‘n’ roll licks quite well in Wild Women and together he and Mal Spooner play some excellent melodies and riffs in Liar, while drummer John Wright and bassist Paul Riley hold down the fort with some solid backing work.

While Demon may not live up to the occult imagery and mystique, Liar is quite a solid slab of heavy rock. It’s a good thing they finally realized their debut album (and ultimately the heavy metal world) would be better off without Wild Women. While not receiving the media attention of the likes of Diamond Head, Angel Witch or Iron Maiden, Demon did receive enough attention for the quality of the music they were producing, especially considering the dozens of quality bands that would release one or two singles (or worse, never make it out of demo status) only to die out in obscurity. But hey, Liar and the awesome cover art are worth the cheap 2-5 pounds you can find and pick up a copy of this single.