Demoncy is one of the oldest black metal entities from USA, originating from 1989. With many demo, full-length and other releases on their resume, the latest output is their fourth full-length album 'Enthroned Is the Night', which was unleashed almost two years ago, in March 2012. Anyway, this is my first close encounter with Demoncy, a one-man band navigated by a being called Ixithra (he have also played with Profanatica, Incursus and Crimson Moon, among others).

Demoncy's style is attacking, fast and minimalistic black metal. Ominous, fearsome and aggressive are the emotions they powerfully deliver. The music here have some war metal as well as death metal elements. Big wall of harmonious and dissonant guitar and pummelling, rumbling bass guitar generate a billowing gestalt, that is fortified by pounding drums. The guitar sound isn't typical "beehive" tremolo stuff, but is low-tuned and more death metal in style. Some of the chord progressions are familiar from black metal's long history (but still mainly from the 2nd wave BM), and the fact that there's not a lot of variety between many songs, are the stumbling blocks of this release. See, the pace of the music is mostly fast, and a lot of blast beat drumming occurs. I mean a lot. There are a few slower moments, but Demoncy love to hang on to speed here. It's more about small nuances, than varying songs. Keyboards are utilized only on three pieces: The intro, interlude and outro, which create all mental images of hell and demons. Also, one typical metal music thing called guitar solos are absent. 'Into the Twilight Mists' contains spellbinding Mid-Eastern vibe, reminding about Melechesh. At times the offensive double kick drum parts aren't unlike Bolt Thrower's.

That brings us to vocals, which are ghoulish, raspy croaking. They are not very strongly delivered, but feel still are totally intense. He is more like orating and speaking, than "singing". It's very hard to comprehend any words, though. However, the song titles tell a lot about the lyrical content. This is a horrendous gallery of malevolent spirits, vampires, demons, death and chaos. Because the band comes from USA, the lyrics are very well written, managing to give visual side for the music.

The production job here is considerably different from any cast iron black metal rubric. As mentioned, the guitar tone is low. It clashes a bit with heavy and loud bass guitar, but together the two create a big wall of noise. The drums are audible, even during the fastest blast beat playing. This alone is already a special treat, but as the drums sound powerful even with reverbing effect, this is a triumph in my ears. The vocals too contain quite a lot of echo, giving an impression of a creature perforating in a damp crypt. The instruments are efficiently performed, without slackening or missed beats.

'Enthroned Is the Night' is a pretty successful exercise of aggressive black metal with ominous atmospheres. I call it deathy black metal, because there are many death metal elements abound on the album. However, the similarity of the music is clearly a hindrance, and not a minuscule one; it's now more extreme than interesting. But if you think it might suit for your musical tastes, this is not something like a total failure, no. It still can beat up its listener and conjure up evil spirits.

Rating: 6 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
02/07/2014 12:01