Well, this reviewing lark continues to be full of surprises. First surprise, the esteemed editor sends me a CD from FDA Records, a label that is pretty much intrinsically linked with the more extreme end of the market that really doesn’t get a play in my household. Second surprise, despite the suitably menacing band name of ‘Demon Incarnate’ and matching album cover for ‘Key of Solomon’, it is not the non stop death grunt auditory assault such as you’d get from label mates Slaughterday or Discreation. Third surprise, it features the clear, sustained vocals of lady by the name of Lisa Healy rather than some wild eyed, bearded, screaming bloke. Well, enough of the surprises, and onto the music.
Sadly, that last line is pretty much a way of describing the album, as there really were no surprises. ‘In Vessels’ opens with a very familiar mid paced metal, with pleasant, but frankly to me unmemorable hooks, a formula very much evident in the follow up ‘Taming The East’, albeit opening with a slightly slower tempo, all before moving imperceptibly into ‘Beyond and Below.’ There is nothing offensive or challenging in any of the opening tracks, and in that statement lies their very generic nature. Frankly, one track bled into the next without any real change in pace or style. Now, as a fan of Motörhead, some of the more wicked amongst you may think I should be used to that, but at least the Lemmy of old had a fire and passion that was infectious, whereas on ‘Key of Solomon’ it just tended to leave no impression on me; I could easily imagine popping on the CD, listening for a bit, wandering away to make a cup of tea, and not be able to tell whether or not I’d returned to the same track. The only breaks in the formula were the two instrumentals ‘The Lesser Key’, and ‘The Greater Key’, albeit in themselves they didn’t really do much to grab my attention, nor really distinguish themselves from each other. I could go on to review every track on the album, but frankly, for me there was insufficient character to any of them to make that a worthwhile endeavour. Now, it may be my personal taste, and frankly if ‘The Key of Solomon’ were playing on the jukebox of my local metal pub (back when my home town still had one, damn you Dundee!), I’d not be unhappy or feel the need to accidentally unplug the machine, and frankly, I’d be far more likely to watch them play the main stage at Bloodstock rather than the inexplicably popular Amaranthe, and I’m sure they would go down a storm at that festival, but as technically well played as the album was, it really wasn’t my thing.
In the twenty plus years since Nightwish hit the music scene, the style of combining technically solid and unthreatening mid tempo metal with clean female vocals has become a whole sub-genre that attracted the frankly insulting tag of “female fronted” and thus leading to lazy pigeon holing based on gender rather than ability. As I sit typing this review, on international women’s day as it happens, in a room adorned with cherished signed and framed prints from acts as diverse as Alunah, Purson, Blues Pills and Acid King, I know this is a stupid and pointless tag, and I fear that Demon Incarnate, rather than innovating and creating their own sound have given more ammo to lazy formulaic reviewers.
(5.5/10 Spenny)
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