Chrome Demo​(​n)

Providence, Rhode Island's Demon Chrome presently stands mighty and tall as my number one fetish band, as much for its grimy and raw musicianship as overall, lowbrow early 1980s flair, so nailed the first time out on its digitally independent Chrome Demo(n) release from 2018, which, aside from killer cover of Motorhead's "Killed By Death" and JP's "Desert Plains", features rock solid triptych of originals, starting with extensive, but no-less mottling, "Hang 'Em High" - whose title irremediably brings to mind Demon Bitch (of Detroit)'s Death Is Hanging EP ('14), followed by "Intro/Chrome Demon" proper forked tongue lashing and less abrasive, albeit insalubriously rockin', "Half Past Midnight".

(Further sundries entail 2019 single "Midnight Dreamer", followed by recent Burned By Love EP)

Hot mess of an introduction, aside - which, on its own, proves how much the Ocean state quartet has gripped me by the lapels (and flung asunder) - I highly recommend this brief bevy of winsome old-schoolness to any leather-headed, spiked-wristband proponent of the golden fist, as even the demo's weather-beaten and garage-y, grainy sound behoves the lads' unassuming, no frills approach. As inferred, "Hang 'Em High" wastes no time kicking into high gear, with front/axe man Dylan Kulpa's grueling, tortured caws bleeding from speakers to tune of languidly poised notes reminiscent of Sin After Sin era Judas Priest, all the whilst a schizophrenic-like lead guitar genuflection vamps around, akin to some nefarious treasure troll poking its scruffy pate around the corner.

Worth noting, auxiliary guitarist Dave Booth and bass/synth man Nick Pelle hail as current/ex members of local doom stalwart Sin of Angels, whilst drummer Mike St. Onge, while delivering a sturdy, at times ramshackle and cumulative, performance on Chrome Demo(n), goes on to be replaced, in time for said sophomoric demo, by Marc St Sauver. This may account for first offering's sloppier countenance, as Burned By Love sounds much tidier in terms of song structure and flow. Moreover, the production here is vintage and daze-gone-by in vein of, say, Satan Hallow's wicked one-off, titular wire from 2017, which sounds recorded around time I feted my fifth birthday at Ronald's McDonald's, yet, in general, demo is no worse for wear - just that much more woolly and cool.

While technically the longer effort, at almost twenty-five minutes, Demon Chrome's Chrome Demo(n) also proffers indelibly obvious band influences and/or inspirations by way of aforementioned Motorhead and Priest reprises, the former of which showcases Dylan's best Lemmy impersonation - particularly during the banally cawing chorus - alongside his knack for switching between more accessible, easy-breezy heavy rock alleviation and rather knavish, near-unintelligible rasps fit for a new rivet-minded (re)generation.

Make no mistake, sons and daughters of the third metal millennium...Something huge is brewing, American East coast-side, and it ain't the re-incarnated form of HP Lovecraft, or any of his ghastly, newly resurrected creations, either.