One Helluva Night

Demon – One Helluva Night

Ok, so Demon was never really the greatest or hardest NWOBHM band around; in fact pretty far from it. People were often suckered in by the badass cover on their debut, and those who were unfortunate enough to fork out for the utter drivel that is ‘Heart of Our Time’ - with its pompous attempts at grandeur - were almost unanimously disappointed. Either way, in this early period Demon at least rocked a little, and if you’re gonna bother with anything by them,
start with either this single or the full-length it came from, but for the love of metal stay away from the aforementioned 1985 release. Anyway, if you’re no stranger to stuff like Chariot or Shogun, that’s perhaps what you get on this release – two decent enough rockers, while experiencing no really hard thrills. Demon never really rocked out too hard, but these one’s are about their hardest outings, so it's worth checkin’ em out.

The title track itself features almost AC/DC-ish riffage/vocal match up and has some definite punch, yet fails to really captivate. It centers around the big chorus, one that surely must’ve been stuck in a few heads over the years. “One Helluva Night!” is repeatedly chanted throughout the song, often with backing ‘claps’ adding to its catchiness. The guitars are nice and sound pretty crisp in this track, a decent enough straightforward pop-rocker that won’t blow you away, while being enjoyable enough to warrant a couple of spins. ‘Into the Nightmare’ is an example of the occult, ‘scary’ imagery the band would often dabble in in their early career with this one the more ‘metal’ feeling track and is probably the better cut. It’s odd that these guys had such a soft-edged sound, yet often incorporated a lot of ‘horror’ themes in both their artwork and their subject matter. This one being the heavier track on the album, the melodic guitar and vocals in the chorus remain very catchy with almost an '70s pop-rock sound. This one is catchy as ‘hell’ and very memorable, perhaps proving their point here - mixing the evil imagery with a softer, lighthearted approach to the music – an odd approach, but I guess that’s almost what the one time scene-leaders, Witchfynde, had done, too.

In any case, what we have here is pretty straightforward NWOBHM. A focus on catchiness and repeated choruses is the central theme, and this is overall the high-point of the band’s sound. In later works they would attempt a lot more experimental, progressive stuff with deep lyrics and themes. The stuff from this early period is better, so if you’re new to the band, check out this one or the full-length ‘Night of the Demon’ – they may not have the metal credentials of Atomkraft or Cloven Hoof, but are is catchy and worth a listen.

-DeathRiderDoom