Review by Stephen Pedicino
This deathened thrash quartet hails from the state of Indiana, also known for such great things as the Indy 500, Larry Bird…………...and having seven letters! Just kidding, it’s a fine state(please don’t send hate mail). Now, you might assume that the name Demiricous means something very wicked or is some ancient Roman emperor. In actuality, it was simply made up with no serious meaning…..contrived about as much as the reason for the war in Iraq. It still sounds cool though.
But with one album already released in 2006, these Indianans have spewed forth another offering of death/thrash hybrid metal in 2007. And they did not fuck around with this release. “Never Enough Road” starts things off with some deathcore screams accompanied with a pounding rhythm that will take any Slayer/Testament fanatic on a nostalgic trip back to the glory days. After a primitive but blistering second track, “Knuckle Eye” comes in with a mid-paced, almost groovier tempo while still sounding very heavy. This is the style I think the band should explore further. Its fun to be raw, unrelenting, and furious, but I can hear that Demiricous possess enough talent to play fast AND have more developed song structures
Both “Language of Oblivion,” and “Tusk and Claw” have a type of Nevermore feel to them, which from my perspective is a good thing! The guitar work is top-notch, and the drummer displays some good blastbeats and double bass work.
Although this is largely thrash, Demiricous don’t make the mistake of throwing a solo at you every 2 minutes. When they do come along, they fit in smoothly with the rest of the orchestration but I must say aren’t terribly impressive. Guitarist Ben Parrish plays some great rhythms though, which is ultimately more important anyway.
The rest of the album is more of the same, which I won’t complain about because I expect repetition with this type of music. Fortunately, the energy and force of the songs is enough to distract you from the self-duplicity. The closer, “Blackish Silver,” is the only track here over four minutes and is incidentally a much doomier, instrumental song. Its respectable and shows the potential versatility of this band
Although my appreciation for this genre isn’t the strongest, I still found this cd very enjoyable and have listened to it every time I’ve work out for the past week! Perhaps this group can offer a breath of inspiration for me and a genre of metal that wanes more with every passing year.
I can’t compare this album to their debut since I haven’t heard it, but I can say that it offers some high caliber thrash with great speed, instrumentation and fire. The production is solid with all of the instruments sounding well-balanced and rich. The vocals are decent and straddle the line between thrash and death metal, fitting in well with the music. What Demiricous lack in variety they make up for with pure talent and energy.