Now what do we have here? Another black metal demo by another black metal band? In today's day and age there are far too many metal bands around. It's a well documented fact that thanks to MySpace, and several other factors, everyone and anyone with a guitar can just start a band. Sometimes the results are good, but the majority of "modern" black metal bands are just soulless crap not worthy of anyone's time.

I'm pleased to say that Diabolicus is not just another sheep. I'll admit that I'm not well versed in the history of black metal and I'm yet to catch the black metal bug. But what I DO know, however, is that the music here manages to sound like classic black metal (the "classic" black metal that I've heard, anyway) while at the same time bringing some interesting ideas into the fray. One of those interesting ideas that stands out for me is the somewhat "rocking" feel in some of the songs. The best example of this is the third track. Listen closely to the riff that comes straight after the vocals. The song structures are also very free flowing and don't sound artificial at all, except for when the acoustic break comes in 'Atop the Frozen Peak'.

Most of the riffs are very well crafted, and manage to summon a truly fascinating and entrancing atmosphere. However, some of the riffs here do they exact opposite of what they were intended to do. The riff at 1:52 in 'Atop the Frozen Peaks' is an example. My only other complaint would be the vocals. They need to be slightly behind in the mix to increase the overall atmosphere of the music. The vocals tend to annoy me, but that could be solved if they were pushed back.

Overall, this is a solid demo. Diabolicus have a lot of potential and it will be interesting to see the direction they take on their next release. All the songs on this demo are worth hearing, but be warned if you don't enjoy raw production. The defining song of this demo is 'Atop the Frozen Peaks' because it demonstrates all the pro's and con's of this demo. If I were to go for the best song, though, it'd be 'Enslaved New World'.

Reviewed by MegaHassan
01/13/2009 00:44