The Unexpected Guest

“…take your place in the circle, watch the mystery unwind…”

You don’t have to remind me I was a little hard on this group’s debut (though you have), and the only defense I can muster is that it goes back to my original disappointment of the disc as this then-adolescent flung it on his turntable expecting the clanging onrush of Exciter or Oz and was rewarded with a far cry from either, but whose fault is that really? In the spirit of honesty, I should’ve attached a disclaimer explaining that the debut’s review was being penned twenty one years later by that adolescent’s frustration, yet I couldn’t find the maturity to do even that, nor simply command the adult’s worldliness to write the stupid thing in the first place, and for that I apologize not only to readers, but to then-members of Demon.

So here I stand again, this time humbly, at Demon’s front entrance, and I build the nerve to use the knocker that unsurprisingly resembles this album’s front cover, knowing that the unexpected guest is me. Slow footsteps echo behind the door while foul gray-green mist seeps from the crack under it, filling the senses not unlike “Full Moon”, the debut’s weird intro. The door swings open abruptly and I'm thrown back a few steps while being greeted by the band’s masterpiece if there is one, “Don’t Break the Circle”, which instead of glowering over me, grins with a malevolent twinkle and invites me in like a new day.

“…but wait, is there one amongst us here who disbelieves?”

Okay, while admittedly over-critical of Night of the Demon, I’m not gonna gush optimistically at every waking morsel of The Unexpected Guest just to garner favor with its benefactors. The best I can do is leave adolescence at the porch, but this time around even my adolescence perceives a destiny more diabolic in Demon’s foyer, humid air more authentic with deeper intrinsic darkness that permeates words over music, and in this limited regard outclasses Witchfynde, Crucifixion and the ‘80s incarnation of Lucifer’s Friend. This lyrical darkness, however, tends to warn against itself, much like early Sabbath, and it’s possible because of this these tracks and their penchant for melodically up-tempo and even uplifting moods can find justification with fans searching for the opposite. Probably not.

Yep, hardly anything dismal can be found on The Unexpected Guest musically, in disposition, prowess, style or execution. In fact, what can be described as head-held-high triumph fills nearly every hook, nook and cranny of at least seven of these tunes while clandestinely muting the underlying lyrical pseudo-diabolism almost to a moot point (but is something hardly worth addressing, really). The level of songwriting has improved as well, enhancing this lp with more confident, stimulating hard rockin’ metal specimens spreading leathery wings to better fly into memory’s rerun pattern. The courageously vital “Deliver Us From Evil” and “Have We Been Here Before?”, infectious “Total Possession”, aurally visible “The Grand Illusion” and “Sign of the Madman”, and all-star “Don’t Break the Circle” are the bunch’s heat-treated hard rollers rollicking throughout Demon’s residence, and the adolescent peering in from the front stoop recalls why these were originally dismissed, however the ‘why’ now seems silly. Dope.

“…it’s all the work of the devil, now he will serve you well...”

Dave Hill’s usually clear, masculine rasp is a carry-over ingredient from the debut, heard much clearer here within The Unexpected Guest’s superior production, one that clears debris from a strong tenor who instills angst even in the slow-to-rotate “Victim of Fortune” and ballad-y snoozer “Strange Institutions”. Hill, in cahoots with the rhythmic provision of Les Hunt and Mal Spooner, are the reliable turbines supplying power to whatever mechanism stirs the hard rock-contained metal crock pots at the band’s center. Sure, the same turbines were used on Night of the Demon, however it’s apparent someone got slopped up overhauling the equipment to compete with ‘82’s slightly more competent standards, and before the work crew called it quits, like banners they festooned the place with the art of the chorus, the clarion call of many songs here, and in this regard as well outclass Witchfynde, Crucifixion, and maybe ‘80s Lucifer’s Friend to finish the circle unbroken.

So much for not gushing optimistic, but what can I say, the return visit with Demon is unarguably worthwhile as I not only fall under their spell, but leave my adolescence chained to the handrail as both a reminder and punishment. Won’t hold it long, however, and we’ll find it curling a lip at next year’s The Plague.

Fun Fact 87b{03}: The Unexpected Guest charted in the UK at #47.

“…a fire in his eyes tells you he’s not like the rest…”