Demonic Resurrection "The Demon King" - Live: A Debate
And Live: A Gig presents you the great battle of modern Gladiator times! On one hand we have an ageing wannabe hippie is most likely to end up doing antacids in a few years rather than acids. On the other hand we have a model for shampoo companies, who drinks rum and likes pork. In this battle of the mighty pen (which neither of them use to write this article), get ready to witness a debate as these two bozos try to present their views on Demonic Resurrection’s latest release from this year - The Demon King.
Abhiraj: Okay, I’ll be honest - this album didn’t impress me too much on the first listen. But with consecutive listens, it did grow on me. The melody in the arrangement is pretty impressive. The guitar shreds have nice, clean and distinguishable notes, another thumbs up from my side. Daniel’s technical knowledge gets a nice exposure with the solos. Nishith has huge shoes to fill in, but having watched him perform live, I’m sure he’s up for it! I did feel the clean vocals have to be improved a bit, it lacked a definite emotion that I was hoping for. But, the clean vocals are surely better than their previous album. Coming to the quality of mix - it’s the closest thing to flawless. That’s a big advantage when you’re mixing and mastering your own tracks I guess. You know how it should sound and you won’t rest until you get that sound that is circling around in your head.
I love the way every instrument gets a good exposure on the final mix. Each musician given proper space and respect to do their thing and that serves up to its purpose when you give the album a spin.
Varun: Yes, I hear you when you say that the album's production is good. In fact I would go ahead and say that 'The Demon King' does sound massive and for listeners who constantly look for something heavy and melodic, this is one of the good new albums. Well, Demonic Resurrection has been in the scene for quite some time, working hard and improving with each record. And now we are seeing them making it really big with all the recent performances at Wacken, Sonisphere and Bloodstock, along with their highly successful (so it appears on social media) UK tour. They've all got immense amount of talent and are few of the best metal musicians there are in the country. Yes, I'm not a big fan of Sahil's vocals either but his work on guitars is quite decent. Some of the riffs on 'Trail Of Devastation' and 'Death, Desolation and Despair' really left me in awe.
But all that being said, one thing I always feel is missing in a new DR record is a tad bit innovation in their sound. This record is more death metal than black metal, unlike previous releases, but besides that it's more or less what we heard on 'A Darkness Descends', 'The Return To Darkness' or even on Reptilian Death's 'The Dawn of Consummation and Emergence' for that matter. Sahil has seemingly gotten very comfortable with this particular style of melodies and riffage and they're just being done over and over again. As soon as the first notes of 'Death, Desolation and Despair' (the first promo single) hit my ears, I couldn't help but go "Ohh man! Not again". No, there's nothing wrong with the song, in fact it's pretty driving, but you get my point, right?
Abhiraj: I get your point. Frankly, I am a fan of deeper growls, but not everyone will have the same vocal texture to pull it off. But one thing they can do is have vocal layerings to make the vocals sound more intense. The layering concept has been used to a good effect in the tracks. But, would have loved if something was done for the clean vocals too. A little notice must be given to the vocal sections which have a more Industrial Metal touch than Black or Death, notably at the end of ‘Facing The Faceless’ and the intro of the title track - ‘The Demon King’. Would have loved if they experimented with a layer of growl over that. Some copy-book fry vocals would do the trick!
Let’s talk about the other instruments for a bit. I found the orchestration on the album pretty imposing! My favourite being the intro of ‘Death, Desolation and Despair’. It gives the tracks a nice symphonic feel, as well as contributes a good part in the darkness quotient of the album in general. The drums, Virendra is a beast incarnate behind the drumkit. There is a reason why every band needs to record their drums live for their album, at least, and this guy shows exactly why. If the drums were programmed, I don’t think it would have had the same emotions if it was programmed, like 95% of the albums we get to listen to these days. The intensive hit of the bass drums and snares may be duplicated on the drum machine, but it will always have that fabricated feel to it. And anyways, why the hell would you program drums when your drummer can play better than the software you are using?
Varun: Haha! Well the answer's simple. Cost. Not every band can invest the kind of money which live drum tracking requires. But again, if you're really serious about your work and you are seeking recognition, then that's something you would not want to compromise on besides all the real effort which is required. A lot of Indian bands have been coming up with new stuff but very few of them actually spend time jamming and working on their sound… and yet they feel entitled to people’s support. But coming back to Virendra, he is indeed quite impressive. His drumming adds a lot dynamics to the tracks, which I felt most in the tracks, 'Trail Of Devastation', 'Even Gods To Fall' and 'The Promise Of Never'. I even remember seeing him live a couple of times last year and being simply amazed by his flamboyance and flair. So, there's no doubt that he is an excellent drummer and I even look forward to listening his work on Scribe's new album, 'Hail Mogambo'.
Speaking of orchestration, there were a few places where I wasn't very happy with the tone of keyboards and a few places where I felt it overpowered the guitars. Frankly, I'm more fond of the work on guitars on the album. 'The Promise Of Never' exhibits that great work and is definitely the highlight for me as well. The guitar melodies on the song are quite captivating and it does stand out from the rest of the tracks in terms of sound. So you could say I found the "tad bit of innovation" I was looking for in that song.
Abhiraj: And folks, here is a rare case where Varun and I actually have a common opinion about a song. ‘The Promise Of Never’ agreeing to each other is broken for at least this album :P
I agree with the cost of actually recording live drums and given the current scenario, not everyone is rich enough to do that. And the non-paid gig scene adds to the misery.
Coming back to the album again, let’s talk about the concept. The concept revolves around the age old policy of without any good, there won’t be any bad! The story starts with the assassination son of God, who was also the King and rules from the land of man. But, during this time, the Demon King is awakened for some reason and he start creating havoc in the land we call Earth and upsetting the balance of the universe, in short - making bacon bombs out of everything he saw in front of him. In order to restore the balance and harmony, the God, who was until then a silent spectator, descended down to kill the Demon King. But it seems all these silent years had taken a toll on God’s fitness level and he gets slaughtered by the Demon, classic Mortal Kombat style. That’s how the story goes, except the unnecessary jokes I added. A very well thought out plan taking a slight dig at basic human psychology of judgement and normality.
The songs, hence, are chapters of the story as it unfolds. Looking at the lyrics, though they get a bit monotonous at times, maintain the fluidity and spontaneity of the story, without being too dramatic. Your views on that?
Varun: Well, the concept sure does sound interesting and I guess the "Mortal Kombat" you speak of, is depicted in the cover art, which is quite good I must say. I spent a good amount of time yesterday staring at the high resolution image of the cover art and appreciating the details and the vicious and kinda indiscernible face of The Demon King. I think that's what makes him even so frightening and dangerous - his incomprehensible features. The good guy had to lose!
The lyrics seem alright to me. I don't generally put much stress on the lyrics because I have my love for the instruments and at least in metal, I really believe that the pen is not quite mightier than the sword (or axe or guitar or whatever instrument you play). Yes, of course over the years we have seen bands like Ayreon, Wintersun, Dio and King Diamond whose lyrics are as good as poems and that only adds to people's listening experience. And then I come across bands like jesu, who barely write 4-5 lines in the song, but the atmosphere of the music lands you in a chronically depressive state and you simply lie on your couch eating ice cream directly from the box. That reminds me, have you tried the new flavour of chocolate at Baskin Robbins?
Abhiraj: I prefer Gelato over Ice Cream. Baskin Robbins never impressed me, just like Shah Rukh Khan’s movies don’t. Coming back from the dessert-ed talks, final verdict on the album? If I was good in mathematics, I would have rated the album. But, I’m dyslexic, so, I can’t rate :’(
Varun: I'm still thinking about the ice cream!
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