For more than a decade, American act NIGHT DEMON have defiantly flown the flag of traditional heavy metal, unwavering in the face of shifting industry trends. Night Demon’s take on heavy metal plays like a happy medium between Iron Maiden and Diamond Head, sporting the galloping rhythms and soaring melodies of the former and hard rock influence of the latter.
The guitars and vocals are the driving force behind their album ‘Darkness Remains’; the riffs flow briskly from swift palm-muted patterns to big, stadium-filling power chords, with the hooks being shared between the harmony-happy lead guitars and frontman Jarvis Leatherby’s distinct pipes.
This 2024 Deluxe Edition of Darkness Remains presents the original album in its entirety, buttressed by a new remastering job courtesy of Night Demon six-stringer Armand John Anthony. In terms of extras, this version brings together a pair of songs lifted as bonus material for various territories on previous editions of the album, including a raucous cover of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and a mighty run through Black Sabbath’s “Turn Up the Night.”
Each component of Night Demon is so solid that they could have easily gotten away with phoned-in pop song structures, yet with nearly every song the band makes an attempt to shake things up by kicking the tempo up (or down, in favor of a driving mid-pace) in the second half. This strategy almost always works in the band’s favor to deliver a shot of adrenaline to the proceedings.
There’s nice tempo changes in “Welcome to the Night” and “Hallowed Ground”, and some build to an exciting crescendo before promptly fizzling out on“Life on the Run”. For a straightforward classic metal number, check out “Black Widow”.
Tracks like “Maiden Hell,” which stuffs as many Iron Maiden references as it can into three minutes (going so far as to mention “If Eternity Should Fail”), are reminders that Night Demon’s priority lies in crafting a fun, old-school romp.
There’s an ominous undercurrent that runs just underneath this record’s surface; it rises periodically, such as in the somber mid-point of instrumental “Flight of the Manticore” or the doomy “Stranger in the Room,” and culminates in the downbeat closing title track. This song is an extremely interesting choice to conclude the record with, a ballad with an epic feel that recalls the Western film work of Ennio Morricone. It hints at a greater sound that’s begging to be fleshed out on future albums, but for now, the brisk brevity of this release will more than suffice.
”Darkness Remains” delivers pretty much everything you could want from a traditional heavy record. It’s a blast to listen to from the start and holds up quite well over repeated listens thanks to its occasionally intriguing atmosphere.
Perhaps more importantly, we see much more potential in Night Demon than in their modern contemporaries to transcend homage status and become something truly special.
Until then, blast ”Darkness Remains” and enjoy classic metal as it should be done.
Highly Recommended
01 – Welcome to the Night
02 – Hallowed Ground
03 – Maiden Hell
04 – Stranger in the Room
05 – Life on the Run
06 – Dawn Rider
07 – Black Widow
08 – On Your Own
09 – Flight of the Manticore
10 – Darkness Remains
BONUS TRACKS:
11 – Turn Up the Night [Black Sabbath cover]
12 – We Will Rock You [Queen cover]
Jarvis Leatherby – lead vocals, bass
Armand John Anthony – guitars, backing vocals
Dusty Squires – drums, backing vocals