Demonicorn

Thunder And Lightning has proven to be quite a considerable force in the world of metal, with both of their prior albums being quite successful, boosting the band's prominence in their portion of the world, which is a very pleasing thing to hear for someone with such fondness for this band as myself. Though the previous album, The Ages Will Turn, was generally considered a good, strong release, it was agreed that 2013's album, In Charge of the Scythe was a staggeringly good album that showed the kind of power this band possessed. So, six years later and with small lineup changes, there's certainly an intrigued desire from myself when I started listening to this album; as much as I love Scythe, as I shall simply refer to it as, I think it's perhaps foolish to make comparisons to it and everything else from Thunder And Lightning, as I did in my review of The Ages Will Turn. With that in mind, the album Demonicorn:

Now, if you, like me, had seen the cover art for this album and the music video for the track Demonicorn itself, and remembered the fact that a member of Alestorm was featured in the previous album, then you might have had concerns that Thunder And Lightning was about to take a turn into the lands of humor metal. Well, lay those concerns to rest; Demonicorn is an absolute kick-ass album and is very distinct from the rest of the band's discography. It pulls a bit of surprise right off the bat with the opening track, All Your Lies, being an actual song rather than an into track, done before only by Scythe, in addition to the song being six minutes long - longer than most TnL songs get. It's a song of good length and quality, allowing the new guitarist, Fabrizio Agabiti, to show his stuff, which is good and blends seamlessly into the music, meaning that without being specifically told, I don't think anyone would even notice the difference in guitars. To some that might be bad, as it means this musician isn't leaving much of his own mark on the band, but for me it's good because he shows his ability to adapt to different bands and match it.

As well as this longer opener giving us a taste of a new guitarist, it also gives us the undeniable best part of the album: Norman Dittmar. Truth be told, he hasn't really been my favorite singer, but I enjoy his very recognizable and strong voice, as most power metal singers I hear either sound like Marc Hudson or Jens Carlsson. But I have to say, after only the first few songs, I absolutely loved Dittmar's vocals here; I can think of now better word to describe him on Demonicorn than fierce; when it rains it pours, and indeed when he shouts, he fucking roars, and it's great. Honestly, he sounds great from start to finish, be it while raising his voice to the sky or whilst simply coldly speaking his lines. He's never sounded bad in the past, but he's never sounded this good either.

Now, as for the album itself rather than the people on it, the title track is a perfectly enjoyable, if slightly uninspired song, being the second shortest on the album and seemingly just used to promote the album. But, as implied, it's not a bad listen and I have no impulse to skip it when listening to the album. The funny thing is that all four of the songs the follow it are incredibly good; Demmin has a slower, darker build up than the openers with a very memorable chorus. The Temple of Death is probably the hardest hitting track to be found here and it's an absolute blast. This probably would've been a better song to advertise the album with, despite being the second longest song on the album. God For a Day, my personal favorite track from the album, is the closest to a ballad the album has, with almost two minutes of slow music with softly sung lyrics, which leads into my next note:

While The Ages Will Turn offered quite a variety of speeds and approaches throughout, Demonicorn is pretty much all thrashing power metal all the time. This may divide some people as this can be seen as both a pro and a con; the album never stops and barely slows, you're not given many chances to breathe from start to finish, and will come down to personal taste weather or not this works for the album. Some people like sheer relentlessness, and it's less common in power metal compared to some other genres, so it's more special here, but if you want to just take a break and unwind a little, you won't really find a chance here. Personally, since the the heaviness is done so well, I think it's perfectly fine to hit this hard. The coupling of fewer, longer songs with the intensity that Demonicorn has really shakes up Thunder And Lightning's formula in good, effective ways.

That remark I made about the album being relentless isn't entirely true if you, like I, helped fund the album and got the extended, backer's version, which features two bonus tracks, a cover of I Heard it Through the Grapevine, and, most significantly, a piano version of All your Lies. Though, being so close to the end of the album, perhaps it shouldn't be counted. Either way, it's a good rendition of the song and may invoke memories of their acoustic version of Horizon seen in 2014's Slice of Life. The first impressions from this album based on the cover art and the title track's music video left me with concerns about the path my favorite band might take, and now here I am, blasting the album every other day. Demonicorn will blast your doubts even more than it does your speakers and shows Thunder And Lightning only in the best of light. Thunder And Lightning, I'm sorry I ever doubted you. See you all in 2022, yeah? If the release pattern keeps up, that is.

Best songs:
3rd: Heaven's Gate
2nd: The Temple of Death
1st: God For a Day