Demon Eye
Prophecies and Lies
Soulseller Records
2017
This band, not to be confused with a similarly named German band fronted by Doogie White and sounding like a deadpan copy of Deep Purple, is also a retro 70s loving one, but closer to the Sabbath school of things.
Them and every other “retro” loving doom clone out there, I hear you say… well yes and no. The point is that most people take a few riffs, record them poorly, without much of substance in their songs and call it retro-underground-doom whatever, slap in on a vinyl and wait to be glorified. There are the people who try to sound “vintage” and the few who actually “succeed” in doing so, without sounding forced or presumptuous. If someone told me this album was recorded in 1970 by some US or UK underground band, I’d have little reason to doubt or to challenge them. This is how “close” these North Carolina natives get it…
Taking equal parts of mid 70s Sabbath and Deep Purple at their most epic and mixing it up with the free spirited hard rock and proto-metal that was slowly being formulated as bands got heavier and edgier, DE’s take on the rock genre is almost as authentic as any of the progenitors of the scene and as such worthy of really be given proper attention.
Opener “The Waters and the Wild” has a nasty riff and Erik Sugg, who doubles on guitar and vocals, sounds like a cross between Ozzy, Liebling and Geddy Lee. A nice fit.
“In the Spiders Eye” is a mid-tempo, with start stop dynamics, giving their way to an epic chorus. Neato.
“Redeemer” doesn’t change things too much, but is looser and “different” enough.
“Kismet” is even looser, but has a pretty dynamic and epic chorus that makes you sit up and take notice…
“Infinite Regress” initially seems to be picking up the slack, only to become fuzzy and encircled in smoke rings as it spaces out.
“Dying For It” is where the band really picks up the pace, in a song that sounds a lot like Pentagram having an illegitimate child with a sunset strip band! Horror rock and proto-metal with a twisted little sister in there.
“Politic Divine” has a seriously cool riff, a serious Sabbath vibe and very interesting urge-filled verses, resulting in quite a potent “potion”…
“Power of One” has some more nice riffs up its sleeve and starts off with a persistent drum beat… not to mention a rather cool chorus.
The coolest track however proves to be “Vagabond”, which mixes the normal DE modus operandi with a ton of Deep Purple influences. The riffing is exemplary and sweet and it leads to a cool chorus, there’s a cool breakdown, a pretty cool solo and even cowbell. As “Bruce Dickinson” would say, “I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell baby”!
“Prophecies and Lies” drags on a bit with spoken verses and some really sublime instrumental sections trying to build up tension and succeeding to a point but for some reason sounds a bit more muffled mix wise, which is kind of a shame.
Lastly closer, “Morning’s Son” is a rather enjoyable affair, despite being twice as long as most of the other songs on the album… but being driven by a strong riff and quite focused, it manages to retain interest on high levels and sounds quite carefree and emancipating with a bunch of jammy solos really taking it off.
Scoring another cool album – in a bit of a hat trick – these guys should have been on everybody’s lips and ears, but as usual people might really “discover them” several albums in. Much better than a metric [email protected] of other “retro” bands.
Them and every other “retro” loving doom clone out there, I hear you say… well yes and no. The point is that most people take a few riffs, record them poorly, without much of substance in their songs and call it retro-underground-doom whatever, slap in on a vinyl and wait to be glorified. There are the people who try to sound “vintage” and the few who actually “succeed” in doing so, without sounding forced or presumptuous. If someone told me this album was recorded in 1970 by some US or UK underground band, I’d have little reason to doubt or to challenge them. This is how “close” these North Carolina natives get it…
Taking equal parts of mid 70s Sabbath and Deep Purple at their most epic and mixing it up with the free spirited hard rock and proto-metal that was slowly being formulated as bands got heavier and edgier, DE’s take on the rock genre is almost as authentic as any of the progenitors of the scene and as such worthy of really be given proper attention.
Opener “The Waters and the Wild” has a nasty riff and Erik Sugg, who doubles on guitar and vocals, sounds like a cross between Ozzy, Liebling and Geddy Lee. A nice fit.
“In the Spiders Eye” is a mid-tempo, with start stop dynamics, giving their way to an epic chorus. Neato.
“Redeemer” doesn’t change things too much, but is looser and “different” enough.
“Kismet” is even looser, but has a pretty dynamic and epic chorus that makes you sit up and take notice…
“Infinite Regress” initially seems to be picking up the slack, only to become fuzzy and encircled in smoke rings as it spaces out.
“Dying For It” is where the band really picks up the pace, in a song that sounds a lot like Pentagram having an illegitimate child with a sunset strip band! Horror rock and proto-metal with a twisted little sister in there.
“Politic Divine” has a seriously cool riff, a serious Sabbath vibe and very interesting urge-filled verses, resulting in quite a potent “potion”…
“Power of One” has some more nice riffs up its sleeve and starts off with a persistent drum beat… not to mention a rather cool chorus.
The coolest track however proves to be “Vagabond”, which mixes the normal DE modus operandi with a ton of Deep Purple influences. The riffing is exemplary and sweet and it leads to a cool chorus, there’s a cool breakdown, a pretty cool solo and even cowbell. As “Bruce Dickinson” would say, “I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell baby”!
“Prophecies and Lies” drags on a bit with spoken verses and some really sublime instrumental sections trying to build up tension and succeeding to a point but for some reason sounds a bit more muffled mix wise, which is kind of a shame.
Lastly closer, “Morning’s Son” is a rather enjoyable affair, despite being twice as long as most of the other songs on the album… but being driven by a strong riff and quite focused, it manages to retain interest on high levels and sounds quite carefree and emancipating with a bunch of jammy solos really taking it off.
Scoring another cool album – in a bit of a hat trick – these guys should have been on everybody’s lips and ears, but as usual people might really “discover them” several albums in. Much better than a metric [email protected] of other “retro” bands.