ALBUM REVIEW: Year Of The Demon – Night Demon
It feels quite apt that, in the week where IRON MAIDEN‘s third album The Number Of The Beast celebrates its 40th birthday, one of the torchbearers for the classic NWOBHM revival that began in the 2010s are bringing out their own record. NIGHT DEMON have been around for over a decade and built a solid fanbase in that time; in 2020, they brought out five 7″ singles across the year, and said singles were as gone as quickly as they were announced. Now, they’ve been brought together in the compilation Year Of The Demon, releasing on March 25th via Century Media Records.
Not only does this cover bring the five singles together in one place, but it also features the five B-sides that were present on the physical vinyl as well. The first half, however, is the singles that were made available on streaming platforms, track-listed in chronological order of their respective releases. Empires Fall, which was the band’s first new music in three years, opens the record and has the usual tropes of ‘Woahs‘ and drawn out melody lines to cast you straight back to the 1980s. Kill The Pain is far more in line with the earlier days of the NWOBHM, with a rougher production showcasing the transition between punk and metal that, although rare at the time, certainly happened.
Are You Out There is the first track that really feels like it’s from the last decade, the influence of the 80s being brought forward to the 21st century, and Vysteria continues that trend, a punchy number with a lot of gallop and the shortest track at under three minutes. The final single is a live cover of In Trance by SCORPIONS, featuring a guest appearance by Uli Jon Roth, the guitarist who played on the original song, and as covers go it’s a solid, faithful effort.
The remaining tracks are the B-sides to the vinyl, the tracks that haven’t seen the light of day on digital platforms. Like the first half, these are in order of their respective releases, so first up is the flip side to Empires Fall, a cover of Fast Bikes by LE GRIFFE, a group from Stoke-On-Trent who lasted five years and released two EPs in that time. As you’d expect, it’s a faithful cover of the original and could have easily been a SAXON song, but there’s something refreshing about NIGHT DEMON taking a track from somebody incredibly obscure within the NWOBHM scene and shining the light on them some four decades later.
100mph, originally by CIRITH UNGOL, follows and features Tim Baker, the long-time singer of UNGOL who has featured on all of their studio albums. After this is a shortened version of The Sun Goes Down by THIN LIZZY, which was the last single released by the Irish band before they split, and then comes a live cover of IRON MAIDEN‘s Wasted Years, again faithful to the original. Rounding out the album is another track featuring Uli Jon Roth, this time Top Of The Bill from the same album as In Trance. Once again, it’s a fun ditty and really shows the passion the band have for those who lit the trail before them.
Full credit must be given to NIGHT DEMON for bringing their 2020 releases together in one package but, when all is said and done, Year Of The Demon only really serves its use for the four original tracks. The live recordings and covers are naturally a nice touch, but this could have easily been a four-song EP in hindsight. Still, at least the new material is great.
Rating: 6/10
Year Of The Demon is set for release on March 25th via Century Media Records.
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