Demo 2012

As demos go, this one benefits from its status in many ways. First of all, this is Töxik Death mark II and introduces the much better vocal talents of E.N., who has the great advantage over his predecessor of not being painful to listen to. Also, the greater blackened features of the style that the band ushered in here (as opposed to more straightforward thrash before) benefit from the hiss of the guitars and dirt of the production. When coupled with techniques such as the sudden screams of the vocals that rise out of the generally gritty tone, the effect is much, much darker than hinted at on the rather silly debut EP.

All of the songs on Demo 2012 were redone for the full-length Speed Metal Hell, so it might seem rather redundant to listen to this, but I fancy that these are the superior versions, focusing less on speed than getting the atmosphere in place and probably ending up sloppier but actually more emotionally powerful as a result. This is particularly evident from two of the tracks: ‘TERRORSEXSLAUGHTER’ (which thankfully changed out of upper case the second time round) is the most terrifying these musicians have ever sounded, the screams cutting across the razor-sharp guitars with murderous intent; ‘Highway Warrior’ loses much of the intensity of the other numbers in order to barrel off on a course like Mötorhead after a lot of crack, which is majestic in many ways, though the ragged lead guitars that end seem a bit of a letdown.

The only song that doesn’t match up to its counterpart on Speed Metal Hell is ‘D-Beat Destruktor’, which should spice things up a bit with the alternate stylings; nevertheless, the vocals in this song are poorly judged and the little yelp every time the title rolls around gets on my nerves, especially with the amount of repetition it goes through. It’s not bad exactly, but spoils the grim atmosphere of the rest of the release, seeing as it ends up sounding silly by comparison to the furious energy elsewhere. All in all though, this is a great example of how pure speed and a pinch of hell can make a winning combination.


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