Demon Eye – Tempora Infernalia (2015) / 83%

Listen to the Darkness (their song, not the English band)

Strong slab of proto influenced metal

From Raleigh, home of the Carolina Hurricanes, Demon Eye definitely blew me away with their old school approach. They're a band that plays a very catchy form of traditional doom metal full of vintage influences and they do it fairly well. Adding a huge load of hard rock à la Thin Lizzy or Led Zeppelin, the quartet rocks hard and their songs are often kept relatively short (the traditional ten songs and forty minutes format!) and this is quite fine for them. They still explore slower territories such as the marvelous “Poison Garden” though.

Erik Sugg's vocals are pretty lovely. He has this ancestral charm that's often lacking in music nowadays, think of Osbourne or Plant. He's perhaps not as powerful as some of his influences but his clean delivery fits their music very well. Just like its lovely occult cover art, Demon Eye's music is executed with care and simplicity. They know exactly what they want to do and it's an amalgamation of vocal centered metal/rock with an honest hard working instrumentation decorated with the solid twin guitars combo sprinkled with psychedelic moments (listen to the eerie “Please, Father” reminding me of the feel of “Planet Caravan”). Their fast paced formula insures that there's a balance between all the elements combined on the album. It's never too much of something and you never get tired of their riffs as the songs don't overstay their welcome.

This is (almost) in the same vein as Uncle Acid but without the huge poppy Beatles influences, sure Demon Eye are accessible and classic rock fans who haven't heard new music since the uprising of the digital age are gonna dig their sound and tell you “now we're talkin', kid!”.

They also have this sort of occult or vintage rock feel but without entering the territories of The Devil's Blood and the likes as they don't have any “satanic” or “flute” gimmicks except the one where they play honest timeless metal. If ultra catchy retro metal/rock is your thing then you'll enjoy Demon Eye, they're hitting all the right notes.

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