Demonist – Demonist

Demonist is a French old-school Death Metal trio who, by their own admission, strive to keep alive the standard set by mid-era Morbid Angel. This has so far been done through a Single that earlier this year evolved into a four-piece self-titled EP. And true to form, the record was released on cassette, something antiquated me enjoyed both as a nice final touch as well as amusing since physical copies delivered to my boss has to be on CD – So they ripped and burned it for me, adding the cassette sleeve instead of creating a jewelcase cover just for the review versions. I love the dedication of it. 

And thankfully, the same attention to detail as well as sheer single-mindedness is also ever-present throughout the seventeen minutes of pure, unadulterated Death Metal that is their proper debut onto the worlds stage. 

The riffs are simple and repetitive yet without becoming monotonous, the drums are relentless and the bas more felt than heard – Coupled with a hoarse, menacing growl that for some reason stuck with me even long after I finished spinning the record the first dozen times. Not quite the same approach as seen by early 2010’s God Dethroned, but definitely on nodding terms, fused with the slower, more blasting tendencies of both Morbid Angel and Immolation. 

All in all four nice, bite-sized four-minute-equivalent tracks to get the heart racing and the pit started. Definitely a band I will keep an eye on in the future – Especially since I feel like they kept me hanging with such a powerful, yet relatively short debut. So now the wait for the Full-length begins.

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