Night of the Demon

They drenched their bodies in ghoulish paint and pentagrams at concerts, and were notorious for emerging out of coffins on stage. They called themselves “Demon.” They must be one of the heaviest, most evil bands in all of England, right?

Their 1981 record “Night of the Demon” begins. The album opens with “Full Moon,” an ominous chanting of the word “Rise” as tombs are opening and beasts gurgle “Lucifer! Satan! Beelzebub!” Could this be the band that actually outdoes Newcastle’s Venom?

Then, it’s the ultimate anticlimax; the title track kicks in and it sounds like… Deep Purple, maybe Thin Lizzy, one of those hard rock bands that overlap with the heavy metal genre. There’s a lot of chugging riffs and a bit of a typical NWOBHM sound, and that’s the only reason this can be called metal; it’s about as borderline as it gets.

It’s really easy to see why some people were disappointed, but in order to appreciate this you need to look past what it was billed as. Have you ever seen previews for a horror film that made the movie out be scary, watched it, and then found out it was actually a really good thriller with an interesting plot? That’s what this album is like; it’s filled with amazingly crafted hooks and melodies, fun lyrics about demons and debauchery and love, and an overall happy atmosphere. All the songs are about mid-paced, with lots of good and simple guitar solos and fills, but it’s nothing even remotely extreme.

One of the best components of Demon is vocalist Dave Hill, who is unique for being one of the few heavy metal singers to sing in a clean, relatively deep voice. His performance really makes Demon stand out from the crowd, amongst other factors such as the clear production that was unusual for this British metal scene. Big names like Def Leppard and Iron Maiden were below them at this point in history when it came to crystal production quality. That said, it’s not exactly my personal concept of ideal production either, and I almost prefer the rougher sound of other bands sometimes.

But what’s important is songwriting, and that’s why Demon are one of the most underrated NWOBHM bands of all time. I’ll take them over most of the huge successes and well-remembered legends from the scene any day. “Fool to Play the Hard Way” is everything you could ask for in a mellow, beautiful love song. “One Helluva Night” is loud-and-proud party metal and one of the few parts of this album that sounds 80’s; this release is mostly 70’s-style heavy metal, or even 60’s rock like Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild.” Other highlights include the AC/DC-esque “Big Love” and the ultra-melodic “Into the Nightmare” which foreshadows the style on their sophomore album.

In order to understand the faults of this album it must be explained how it is organized: Side A is occult-themed devil-rock and a spiritual descendent of Black Sabbath, while side B is hedonistic women-and-motorcycles metal for the 80’s Judas Priest and Saxon fans. It’s legitimate biker-sounding stuff that sounds straight from the local pub; in fact, this band sounds like it’s playing for a bar throughout this entire side. This is actually what they did better in 1981, as the first side is a bit inconsistent with a couple weaker tracks such as “Decisions.” It’s still good, but they did this same niche except superiorly on “The Unexpected Guest.”

This album is recommended for metalheads who love melody, enjoy hard rock in addition to metal, and don’t mind lyrics that range from the fires of Hell to heart-melting ballads. But don’t go looking for some atmospheric journey; this is a fun, rocking, versatile piece of music.