This is a NWOBHM styled band from Ventura, California who took my fancy a while back and when in Germany recently I saw that they are playing Keep It True festival next year, so the word is out there. Is this just another young band playing old tunes? Well…yes…but they do it very, very well I have to say. Their namesake song title ‘Night Demon’ has ripping riffing and has a really positive vibe throughout the tune. Melody in the vocals were always key in this genre, checklist completed and all present and correct I am pleased to report. Following this vibrant opener you get to a track like ‘The Chalice’. Whilst not immediately as infectious as the opener in terms of speed, this still provides some ballsy metal credentials in the aforementioned key element…melody.
Moving onto ‘Ancient Evil,’ the song will sit well with High Spirits fans with marginal touches of both melody and power and then moving onto the closer ‘Ritual’, this is much more into Jaguar/Diamond Head riffing territory by being both fast, brash but mainly to the point. Whilst I don’t profess this to be the one and only saviour of the current crop of NWOBHM styled bands, I do say they are one of the better ones. For one, the singer (and bassist) Jarvis Leatherby can actually sing and they don’t go for ranges that are beyond Leatherby’s ability, unlike other bands I could mention that sound like strangled rats; this three piece band have a spark of excitement and quality.
I have my t shirt and later this year a CD version of this download will be available (on Shadow Kingdom Records), so you will finally get a tangible piece of cool NWOBHM from the States. Look out for this band; they have something special, including a great logo!
(8/10 Paul Maddison)
Leave a Reply