By DJ Monk
Having crawled out of the sewers of Copenhagen back in 2012, and describing their sound as “diabolic rock”, Demon Head’s name may suggest that they are positioned squarely front and centre of the Danish black metal scene. However, the evidence the this, their third album (but only the first I have encountered) suggests that something more akin to the new wave of classic metal revivalism meeting the original generation of space rockers, via the old guard of doom.
The nods to the past which permeate this eight-track, 40-minute opus are accentuated by the fact that they apparently play through second-hand valve amplifiers and record on good old-fashioned analogue tape. Talk about staying true to the roots of the genre to which they pay homage! A deliberately raw production adds to the overall effect.
While the whole retrofitting of the rock genre is proving to be an extremely hit and miss affair, ‘Hellfire Ocean Void’ is helped by the fact that it possesses both an immediacy and sense of urgency (and, not least, one of genuine fun) which draws you in from the opening bars and keep you there until the last dying embers are extinguished. Not that it’s all straight-forward, heads-down, see-you-at-the end intensity. Despite the overall rawness of the delivery, there is plenty going on to keep you intrigued, such as the psychedelic rambling of ‘In The Hour Of The Wolf’, the first to the three seven-/eight-minute epics.
Where the album changes direction, and it does so on multiple occasions, it does so with an almost genteel ease, as it nudges the listener from the Hawkwind-ish ‘The Night Is Yours’ to the NWOBHM-infused ‘A Flaming Sea’ and thence to the proggy ‘In The Hour…’ to the doom-laden drone (in the best sense of the term) of ‘Labyrinth’. In fact, the latter, by its very title, summarizes the overall feel of ‘Hellfire…’, as it takes you on a twisting journey of musical exploration, which rewards at every turn with a new and exciting experience.
I mentioned “fun” a bit earlier. That is because, amid the doom and gloominess which permeates most of the album’s overall feel, there is also that of five guys (all of whom, incidentally, are known only by their initials) genuinely enjoying what they are producing, resulting in a vibrancy and warmth which is rare in albums that dabble on the edges of the doom/psyche/space rock spheres. Equally, the result is that I enjoyed this album immensely and would commend it to those who like their musical architecture to feature experimentation based in on a concrete foundation.
- ‘Hellfire Ocean Void’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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