{"id":9288,"date":"2015-06-17T17:33:38","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T17:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-demons-great-dismal-ep\/"},"modified":"2018-03-21T22:16:12","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T22:16:12","slug":"album-review-demons-great-dismal-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-demons-great-dismal-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Demons – Great Dismal EP"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"The first thing I noticed abut Demons\u2019<\/b> debut EP, \u2018Great Dismal\u2019<\/i> was how much the cat on the cover looked like my near-decade old Weakerthans t-shirt. It\u2019s a strong image, albeit far less cutesy and infinitely more menacing and, dare I say it, demonic, than the one on my Weakerthans shirt. <\/figure>\n

Anyway, I\u2019m sure you don\u2019t want me describing the contents on my wardrobe (it is a FINE wardrobe, though\u2026), you wanna know if Demons<\/b>, the new project from long-standing Mae guitarist Zach Gehring, is any good \u2013 or indeed worthy of such an intense and powerful name. <\/p>\n

Kicking off with the riff heavy \u2018There Is No Reward\u2019<\/i>, the immediate thought would be \u2018no\u2019. A ponderous dirge, it\u2019s a blues rock behemoth turned up to 11 yet one thats had all of the joy and passion sucked out of it. I won\u2019t lie, my initial thoughts were that if the following five songs were as soul-destroying as this, we\u2019d be having some serious issues. Not even switching things up for a gallop in the final minute saves it from tedium.<\/p>\n

Great Dismal by Demons<\/a><\/p>\n

After such a bleak start, \u2018Lenora Slaughter\u2019<\/i> comes as something of a bright, brilliant surprise. It\u2019s still heavy on the riffs, but the contrast of light and dark, the succinct lyrics and glorious production means it feels like Demons<\/b> might be on to something after all. It\u2019s still a meaty, robust listen, with nods to post-hardcore and 90s alt-rock, but fantastically punchy and a much better example of what Demons<\/b> are about after the disappointing opener.<\/p>\n

After that, Demons<\/b> really hit their stride. \u2018Godless Girls\u2019<\/i> is a stadium-sized torch song, resplendent with a fantastic, heartbreaking, little piano line that is as deft as it beautiful. For a crushingly intense number \u2013 lyrically especially \u2013 it\u2019s a moment of magic.<\/p>\n

\u2018Radical Cure\u2019<\/i>, meanwhile is a rattling, 2-minute hardcore punk blast that adds some much needed pace and drive, especially when compared to the blues-rock riffage of the opener. Positively monolithic it\u2019s a giant slab of alt-punk. Better still is the Brand New-lite \u2018Parallel Lines\u2019<\/i>, which is definitely a direction I\u2019d like to see Demons<\/b> head in on future releases.<\/p>\n

However, \u2018Great Dismal\u2019<\/i> ends how it began \u2013 on something of a downer. \u2018Quietly Waiting\u2019<\/i> is something of a tortured five-minute-plus ballad that, while never being soporific, is sombre and sullen. By no means bad, I\u2019d have liked them to have gone out kicking and screaming. Instead, \u2018Quietly Waiting\u2019<\/i>, while at times beautiful (it has another wonderful, wondering piano line), just never really fits on such a short EP. It adds depth to the sound but at the same time feels like a bonus track rather than a proper song on the release.<\/p>\n

It means \u2018Great Dismal\u2019<\/i> is something of a mixed bag. If they\u2019d gone with five songs over the six (indeed, lop off at least one of the bookends and I\u2019d have been delighted), it would have been a really solid debut. Instead, it shows promise but has all the awkwardness of a band still finding their sound. That said, there\u2019s enough about \u2018Great Dismal\u2019<\/i> to suggest that if Demons<\/b> can refine their sound a touch more they could be really exciting.<\/p>\n

3.5\/5<\/p>\n

‘Great Dismal’<\/i> EP by Demons<\/b> is out now on Spartan Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Demons<\/strong> links: Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Rob Mair (@BobNightMair<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first thing I noticed abut Demons\u2019 debut EP, \u2018Great Dismal\u2019 was how much the cat on the cover looked like my near-decade old Weakerthans t-shirt. It\u2019s a strong image, albeit far less cutesy and infinitely more menacing and, dare I say it, demonic, than the one on my Weakerthans shirt. Anyway, I\u2019m sure you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[484,5475,15022,3218],"class_list":["post-9288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-demons","tag-great-dismal-ep","tag-rob-mair","tag-spartan-records"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlbum Review: Demons - Great Dismal EP - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first thing I noticed abut Demons\u2019 debut EP, \u2018Great Dismal\u2019 was how much the cat on the cover looked like my near-decade old Weakerthans t-shirt. 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