DEMO REVIEWS (new service since 19 feb 2007)

Review date: 27 november 2007
Band/Artist: Bring Your Own Knife
Demo name: Regrets from inner void
Tracks: 1. As I cry, 2. The truth, 3. Broken, 4. In this moment
City, Country: Motala, Sweden
Music format: CD-R/MySpace
Website: myspace.com/bringyourownknife
Rating: 7,5/10
Metal/Trash/Death. I got this demo as a CD-R with two tracks, but I found it that interesting I had to check out their MySpace, where I found two more tracks. However, this is really nice tunes, it´s hard and fast riffing with gore vocals. It´s melodic too, some melodies reminds me of the goth melancholy of Paradise Lost, and in my ears some melodies sounds a bit like Iron Maiden. I can also hear In Flames influences over all. The melodies makes the whole songs, they´re really nice written, the last 1:30 instrumental part in "Broken" is beautiful, with the fading and everything. Nice guys!
/Markus Ö

Review date: 27 november 2007
Band/Artist: Descend
Demo name: Orders from above
Tracks: 1. What drives us, 2. Orders from above
City, Country: Stockholm, Sweden
Music format: CD-R
Website: www.descend.se
Rating: 6/10
Metal/Trash/Death. These guys knows how to play their instruments, and the production is really good, it´s even mastered. We´re talking technical metal here, it sounds like a harder version of In Flames with less melodies and more focus on riffs. The singer screams very alike Anders Fridén of In Flames. There are blast beats, fast played riffs, some solos, changing tempos now and then, growls, talking and even some falsetto, not much singing. A nice production doesn´t compensate the lack of really good songs though.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 18 november 2007
Band/Artist: Drainage X
Demo name: -
Tracks: 1. Flight of the virus, 2. Cosmic frog, 3. Prison killers, 4. Brainwashed, 5. Angry thoughts
City, Country: Las Vegas, USA
Music format: mp3
Website: www.drainage-x.com
Rating: 4/10
Metal/Old school black metal. Sounds kinda like Venom, but this isn´t so very impressive. Boring songs, sounds like so much other bands in this genre.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 18 november 2007
Band/Artist: Circular Condition
Demo name: Time is running
Tracks: 1. Worn out, 2. Move along, 3. Insomnia
City, Country: Copenhagen, Denmark
Music format: mp3
Website: myspace.com/circularcondition
Rating: 2/10
Rock. Damn! This is boring! These guys sound like a horrible version of Foo Fighters. They live up to their name ´cause this music only go round in circles, nothing happens. You really need to focus on writing better material.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 18 november 2007
Band/Artist: HeadHunt
Demo name: -
Tracks: 1. Requiem, 2. BlackOut, 3. Sick of this, 4. Dead bodies
City, Country: Fontainebleau, France
Music format: mp3
Website: myspace.com/headhuntmusic
Rating: 3/10
Industrial/gore/black metal? This just sounds horrible.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 18 november 2007
Band/Artist: Richard Colwill
Demo name: -
Tracks: 1. I´ll never be that way
City, Country: United Kingdom
Music format: mp3
Website: myspace.com/rjcolwill
Rating: 8/10
Rock/singer/songwriter. This song is really nice! A distorted guitar, a raspy voice, a nice melody. Great song. The song structure reminds me a little bit of Hurricane #1´s "Step into my world". In that song the verse is better than the chorus. In Richards Colwill´s song it feels like the verse and the chorus melts together and just loops over the entire song, in a good way. A little suggestion is though, if you feel like working more on the song, to re-structure it with maybe a bridge and a more obvious difference between the verse and the chorus. As it is now it tend to bore a bit. Try to use the melody as it is now as a chorus and maybe write a totally new verse. However, whatever you choose to do it´s a really great song as it is now!
/Markus Ö

Review date: 18 november 2007
Band/Artist: Queen Drea
Demo name: -
Tracks: 1. I live, 2. Black on black love, 3. The score, 4. Nerve (feat. Tish Jones)
City, Country: Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
Music format: mp3
Website: www.queendrea.com
Rating: 5/10
R&B/Soul. This girl can sing for sure. The songs are quite ordinary though. Really good songs is a must in this genre ´cause this genre often tend to bore otherwise.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 18 november 2007
Band/Artist: Lewis
Demo name: Tankar i en bil
Tracks: 1. Någon mer konkret, 2. Excuse moi, 3. En mardröm, 4. Aldrig blir det som man vill, 5. När man har börjat förstå, 6. Tankar i en bil
City, Country: Karlskrona/Göteborg, Sweden
Music format: mp3
Website: www.myspace.com/lewistheband
Rating: 9/10
Rock/Pop/Punk. I´ve reviewed this bands first demo (check feb 23rd). On that demo they played mostly punk tunes. On this second demo they have changed style to a more poppy sound, and even more melancholy is added at some tracks. The influences to Bob Hund are obvious, and even early Hardy Nilsson. However, I definitely like what I hear, catchy tunes, small great hooks and musically interesting details here and there, smart written melodies. The guys in this band really now how to write music, they have the gift to write really good songs, which not so many musicians are blessed with. I find myself humming on the songs sometimes, that´s a good thing. And don´t ever stop singing in Swedish! Not so many bands sing in Swedish nowadays.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 17 november 2007
Band/Artist: Edgar Allan Poets
Demo name: -
Tracks: 1. Old black clown, 2. Those we are, 3. Watch, 4. Icarus´ tale
City, Country: Italy
Music format: mp3
Website: myspace.com/edgarallanpoets
Rating: 6/10
Rock/Poetic symphonic music. Electric guitars, piano, violin. Kinda ghosty atmospheric tunes. Here and there you´ll hear lullaby-like childish "lalalala"-singing. This is kinda like freakshow/circus music. They sound like Tiamat light. It´s quite beautiful now and then actually, but sometimes I just wanna laugh listening to it. The male singer doing the main vocals is quite good, a deep voice. But I think they should let the female background singer to do more main singing. The production is good, they have put quite some time into this project. The biggest thing they have against them though, is the english pronunciation, it´s really bad. To the band: check out the Swedish rocker Iodine Jupiter for inspiration.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 17 november 2007
Band/Artist: TIAN
Demo name: -
Tracks: 1. Desert sunrise, 2. A dream of fire, 3. Two ravens of one eye, 4. Soul scorcher, 5. A sense of the inevitable, 6. First ignition
City, Country: Helsinki, Finland
Music format: mp3
Website: myspace.com/tianband
Rating: 6,5/10
Doom/Sludge/Psychedelic Space Rock. Sounds messy, A lotta things goin´on here! Every track are different from each other. The good thing is that the band doesn´t sound so very much like many other bands, the kinda go their own way. It´s experimental, and I believe it could be fun watching them live. The music - is it good? Well, it takes some time to get the tracks into my head ´cause they mix a lot of genres. I wonder if the music gets better or worse if I drink a couple of beers? Maybe I should try.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 17 november 2007
Band/Artist: Double Damage
Demo name: -
Tracks: 1. Entangled, 2. Chaos is freedom, 3. Shattered, 4. No control
City, Country: Brazil
Music format: mp3
Website: myspace.com/doubledamage
Rating: 6/10
Metal/rock. The singer is good, a bit nasal though. Sounds like a heavier version of Nickelback mixed with Dream Theater. They are good musicians, the songs are quite ordinary though, no hooks, no really good choruses. An ordinary band similar to much other bands playing this genre. The track "Entangled" has a quite good chorus though.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 17 november 2007
Band/Artist: The Taco Rebels
Demo name: White trash trailer park rock and roll
Tracks: 1. Sign here please, 2. Going out
City, Country: Gislaved, Sweden
Music format: mp3
Website: www.mp3.com/artist/the-taco-rebels/
Rating: 5/10
Rock n roll. Some sort of rock n roll, sounds a little like Eagles of Death Metal, but with an industrial guitar sound. Is it good? I don´t really know, the 2 tracks is not that very impressive to me. Have a listen for yourself and judge.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 14 may 2007
Band/Artist: Pale Rider
Demo name: Old Dog demo
City, Country: Sweden
Music format: mp3
Website: www.myspace.com/paleriders
Rating: 7/10
Stoner/Doom. This is the second demo I review from this band, and I must say they´re doing the same thing as before. The strong vocals is still there. The songs haven´t got so much faster though, they´re in some kind of midtempo, but it sounds nice. "Old dog" is the best track, write some more songs and compile some tracks from the previous "Stealing the goods"-demo with some from this new one and you´ll have a nice third demo/promo.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 14 may 2007
Band/Artist: BlindBySight
Demo name: ?
City, Country: Stockholm, Sweden
Music format: mp3
Website: www.blindbysight.com
Rating: 5/10
Melodic Death Metal. Well, It´s melodic enough but I would like to hear more harmonic melodies to call it ”Melodic Death Metal” as the band themselfes define the genre they play. The songs are kind of monoton and ”fast riff”-based, it gets boring quite fast. A lot of the rythms and riffs reminds me actually of tunes from Metallica´s ”Master of Puppets” and ”…and justice for all” from the 80´s even though BlindBySight´s riffs are darker and more Death Metalish. Well, a summary – compose more harmonic melodies and apply them to your riffs and it´ll be nice music – monotony and harmony in symbiosis!
/Markus Ö

Review date: 14 may 2007
Band/Artist: The Zoids
Demo name: In Charge EP
City, Country: Sarpsborg/Fredrikstad, Norway
Music format: mp3
Website: www.thezoids.com
Rating: 4/10
Rock, kind of. The Zoids sound very monoton in my ears, the 6 tracks on this EP sounds very much the same. None of the songs got stuck in my head even after 3 listenings. Focus on writing better material with more contrasts.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 14 may 2007
Band/Artist: Strangers in Wonderland
Demo name: ?
City, Country: Stockholm, Sweden
Music format: mp3
Website: myspace.com/strangersinwonderland
Rating: 6/10
Pop/Rock/Blues. First song ”The big one” is a really melodic nice track, the female singer sounds a lot like Lisa Loeb/Edie Brickell, very nice singing. Then we come to the track ”Walk with me” and suddenly the genre turns into some strange movie soundtrack/circus/mystical music. It sounds like Einstürzende Neubauten with Nina Hagen light on vocals, it becomes theatrical. The rest of the tracks also turns towards the mystical/melancholic side. If the band could capture the atmosphere of ”The big one” in more of their songs they could actually become something big.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 14 may 2007
Band/Artist: Zamza
Demo name: ?
City, Country: Russia
Music format: mp3
Website: None, but 4 tracks here: 1, 2, 3, 4.
Rating: 8/10
Pop. This is nice music. Cute little songs, well structured, good melodies. Don´t know what more to say, have a listen.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 9 may 2007
Band/Artist: Lace
Demo name: Volume Sex
City, Country: Borås, Sweden
Music format: mp3
Website: www.myspace.com/laceband
Rating: 9/10
Rock n roll. I´ve reviewed this bands previous demo, not public though. In that review I wrote that they´re not playing in a unique genre, but they have damn good songs, above the average. That´s pretty much what I have to say about this new demo too. This band is really heading somewhere! Great song structures and a great singing voice. Check them out! One thing though – make all tracks free for download, you´ll win on that.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 9 may 2007
Band/Artist: Corroded
Demo name: ?
City, Country: Ånge, Sweden
Music format: mp3
Website: www.corroded.se
Rating: 5/10
Metal. Kind of unstructed metal. The singer is a good singer, a bit nasal though (not that there´s anything wrong with that). They are good musicians and so on… but the lack of really good songs is obvious. The songs are kind of… normal average metal tunes, but nothing more than that. To make Corroded a more interesting band they need to focus on their song writing.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 19 march 2007
Band/Artist: Pale Rider
Demo name: Stealing the goods
City, Country: Sweden
Music format: mp3
Website: www.myspace.com/paleriders
Rating: 7/10
Stoner/Doom. Groovy, slow sludgy thick music. The singer has a really strong nice voice, at some places he sounds a bit like Peter Steele of Type O Negative. The songs are good, but not brilliant, some faster tunes would be nice to hear.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 13 march 2007
Band/Artist: Mercuria
Demo name: Purity
City, Country: Montecassiano, Macerata, Italy
Music format: mp3
Website: www.myspace.com/metalmercuria
Rating: 7/10
Powermetal. Hey, this is quite nice actually! Powermetal with a little touch of Iron Maiden. Good songs, melodies and riffs. Kind of happy metal, but there´s one thing I have to complain about, and that´s the singing. The singer needs to take some singing lessons ´cause it´s a bit false. He even needs to practice on his english pronunciation. Except that this is good music!
/Markus Ö

Review date: 23 february 2007
Band/Artist: Lewis
Demo name: Vem behöver dig när man har rock & roll
City, Country: Karlskrona/Göteborg, Sweden
Music format: mp3
Website: www.myspace.com/lewistheband
Rating: 8,5/10
Punk/punk rock. Happy punk! Hey! – This is damn good music! Happy punk tunes sung in Swedish, sounds like a mix of the Swedish legendary punk band De Lyckliga Kompisarna and Ebba Grön and Strebers/Dia Psalma and such bands. Lewis has composed 4 great tracks with nice sing-a-long melodies and good song structure. This really has potential. I wish them all the best in their future music career. Do I need to say more?! Have a listen!
/Markus Ö

Review date: 19 february 2007
Band/Artist: Banana Skin
Demo name: Bad or no signal
City, Country: Murmansk, Russia
Music format: CD
Website: www.banana-skin.com
Rating: 5/10
Metal/rap metal with electronic elements. Very good production, nice sound. Sounds like Linkin´Park/Limp Bizkit with less melodies but with harder riffs and a faster BPM. But a nice production doesn´t compensate the lack of good songs. The songs are kind of monotonous. The band are from Russia but sings in english, the singer needs to practice on his english pronunciation. The band really now how to play, but need to focus on writing better material. The track "Look Back" has a nice melody though.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 19 february 2007
Band/Artist: Three Flights
Demo name: Mind Map
City, Country: Nyköping, Sweden
Music format: CD-R
Website: None
Rating: 4/10
Rock music/alternative rock. Hmm.... sounds a bit like Foo Fighters, but with more pop melodies. Kind of happy music, the influences must even be Green Day i suppose. The singer sounds a little bit like Billie Joe Armstrong from GD. Well, better songs are wanted, the most songs sounds the same. Sounds like they have used the same riff in many songs, with a minimal variation.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 19 february 2007
Band/Artist: Tristand
Demo name: Circumstances
City, Country: Machelen, Belgium
Music format: CD-R
Website: www.tristand-music.be
Rating: 4/10
Alternative rock, reminds me of Placebo. Sounds kind of alternative, but with the attitude of hardcore metal ´cause the singer screams more than he sings. The songs are very ordinary, focus on writing better material. This demo consists of 3 songs and they all sound very alike, none of the tracks gets stuck in my head. My advice is that you, once again, focus on writing better material with better refrains. Now I have listen to the demo 4 times, still none of the tracks stucked.
/Markus Ö

Review date: 19 february 2007
Band/Artist: Thalamus
Demo name: None, just three tracks from forthcoming EP
City, Country: Borlänge, Sweden
Music format: mp3
Website: www.thalamusband.com
Rating: 5/10
Groovy metal/rock with influences from the 70´s bands like Black Sabbath and such. Sounds kinda good, the singer can sing, the rest of the band can play and so on. Ordinary songs, not so very overwhelming. Better riffs is needed, and better songs in general. Kinda OK, but not so much more than that.
/Markus Ö