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CONDEMNED CREATION
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FROM COLLATERAL
DAMAGE
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| I don’t think id heard of this lot before this arrived. I have
a habit of buying a lot of stuff that’s already known to me and not really
branching out too far into the realm of the unknown, but as Root of All
Evil sent me this id better give it a whirl. After the obligatory
intro I'm suddenly caught up in a tornado of high speed death metal mayhem!
Yup, its super fast n frantic fucking metal madness for my battle torn
eardrums to take in. Man, am I ever glad this lot were brought to
my attention. Coming across as a mixture of Deicide/ Deeds of Flesh with
the more thrash based ‘Reign in Blood’ core and the insane blasting that
has been characteristic of the grindcore genre for years. The heavy
guitars switch effortlessly from Morbid Angel styled groove segments to
all out Deicide thrash ‘n’ death insanity. The drums are at ease
and technically sound both mid paced and at full speed blastorama and the
vocals are a mix of Chuck Schuldiners deeper moments and Kevin Sharps grunts.
The 12 tracks on here also display some more diverse elements, some melodic
sections, funk styled bass on a few occasions and even acoustics add to
the overall feel of this. Songs like the awesome ‘Exile Ingrown’,
the crushing speed grind of opener ‘Resmortevante’ or the technical brutality
of ‘Ascension’ all serve to make this one of those albums that
demands a place in your collection. So, if you like it brutal, fast
and unrelenting I advise contacting Root of All Evil or a distro who stock
it (Retribute Records…). As it says on the package, ‘Intense
Brutality and Technical Cruelty’, cant go much wrong there then. |
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FROM QUINTESSENCE
METAL WEBZINE
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| Formerly Dominion, Demonicon continues forth
with their style of technical, riff-heavy Death/Grind with more time changes
than delays at the airport nowadays. The sound is unique like Mekong Delta
meets Morta Skuld on 12 tantalizing tracks that are just downright brutal
and rank right up there with Dying Fetus, Prophecy and Sintury. The band
has added an additional guitarist and Theatre Of The Macabre's Umbruskus
on drums and it makes a world of difference. Truly recommended! |
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FROM METAL
FANATIX WEBZINE
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76 OUT OF 100
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| Originally named Dominion, the band Demonicon finally releases their
first full-length CD for Root of all Evil Records, called "Condemned Creation."
I think this band has an interesting sound, kind of a Deicide cross with
Death, and a little bit of Death-Grind, like Cephalic Carnage. So you can
see that this band is totally metal, and brutal to boot. The production
quality reminds me of the early nineties where death metal was a little
raw, but not to raw to ruin the music. This CD has twelve tracks of furious
rage and lasting over fifty minutes. This CD didn't really have many songs
that stood out over the other songs. It just seemed to have quite a few
decent tracks, which included "Resmortevante," the title track "Condemned
Creation," "Ascension," "Infested," "Animal of Instinct," and "Exile Ingrown"
which I think is my favorite track from this CD. There are a couple short
acoustic instrumentals on this CD, which it is always refreshing to hear
a little change. It will be interesting to see what these guys do next,
they definitely sound comfortable with the style of metal they are doing.
Only time will tell. |
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FROM PUNISHMENT ZINE
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| Former Dominion has reformed as Demonicon unleashes a technical and
progressive kind of grinding death metal that is really intense and fairly
brutal. Pretty good release by these Midwest brutes, but not super original,
there are quite a few Florida bands that did this music before. The songs
tend to sound very much like each other so the album in whole feels somewhat
monotonous. DEMONICON use a lot of dual voices in a cool way that makes
this band differ a bit from the mainstreams of death. - Rydeborg |
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FROM THE
TENEBROUS KINGDOM WEBZINE
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| Now here's some cool stuff. Demonicon (formerly Dominion) play a spiffy
brand of intense brutal death metal combined with grindcore, progressive,
and even some doom metal elements. Almost sounds like an awkward combination,
as if someone set the Style Blender™ on full power -- but it works well.
The vocals switch between yells/screams and tough-guy growls (you know,
those growls that are almost there but not quite bending the low end),
and the guitars and drums work well together throughout the twelve tracks.
Sometimes the bass drums seem to get a bit lost in the deluge of music,
but the production is clean enough to allow everything some room to breathe
-- it occasionally gets a bit chaotic here and there, though. Though for
this style I'd consider twelve tracks a little excessive (sometimes I can
only take so much of one thing), Demonicon keep things interesting with
-- of all things -- two "interlude-like" acoustic pieces, both of which
are surprisingly good. The band's main focus seems to be around brutality
and intensity, though, and they serve up plenty of those things. I would
recommend this to fans of Skinless, as that's who first comes to mind if
I were to compare these guys to anyone in terms of general sound. Fortunately
Demonicon seem to have their minds set firmly on their own brand of poignant
death metal (though people will undoubtedly compare them to other bands),
and I like it. One and a half thumbs up -- I'd like to hear things clearer
and have more power ("Ho-ho-ho-ho!") put behind the drums. Other than that,
I dig it. |
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FROM TWIN CITIES HARDCORE
JOURNAL
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| Scary... very scary! St. Paul death metal in its most evil form. The
music is both technical and brutal at the same time. They don't stick to
any given time signature for more than a couple bars. The dual vocals make
for a very haunting sound. The lyrics are all about Satan... well actually
they have a song about child abuse but the rest are about Satan. I think...
I was too afraid to read on. But with a name like Demonicon they better
have a song or two about Satan. |
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FROM VAE
SOLIS WEBZINE
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5 OUT OF 6
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| Strange. I always thought that Root 'o' Evil appears as a strictly
black metal label (with few exceptions, such as having IMPALER in their
roster, for instance), therefore it's obvious that I prepared myself for
a good dose of black metal playing this CD. Well… It is NOT black metal,
even though atmospherically it's no less darker. Coming with a fabulous
appearance (those grey colors / shades make it look even gloomier), DEMONICON
deliver dark death metal with varied tempos, hellishly brutal and hauntingly
sick, sometimes reminding of DEICIDE a bit (check out "The Burning Starts
Again" as well as "Exile Ingrown" and try to figure out if I'm right or
wrong), though still far from being someone's worthless clone. What else…
"Condemned Creation" has been magnificently executed, and even though the
album is a pretty lengthy one, it doesn't get boring due to its versatility.
The drumming is beyond any critics, appearing courtesy of THEATRE OF THE
MACABRE's drummer. Ok, and finally, let me recommend you to pay a sensitive
attention to "Exile Ingrown", with it's acoustic pseudo-interludes and
emphasized bass lines (almost a solo, you see). A hell of an album, indeed!
(Herr Stalhammar) |
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BLOODLUST
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FROM NEVER ENDING
HATE
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| Evil, twisted, fast and insane brutal death metal !!! Prepare yourselves
for the total devastation from Demonicon's brutal blasts !!! No catchy
and no trendy brutal death styles. Pure brutal extreme metal assaults.
No compromise, aggressive and brutal extreme metal music. This band don't
fuck around with their music. They will crushed everything in their bloody
and demonic path. The vocals have a lot of brutal characters-from the ultra
guttural to the demonic hellish screams-very brutal vocals patterns, the
guitars shredds in very brutal parts in every songs-chaotic and relenteless
guitars riffs, the brutal rhythm section from the bass player is making
this fucking sick band sounds more brutal and heavy, all of those mixed
and combined by the unholy powerful, skillful and high technics drumming
styles, very fast double bass and very fast grinding blastbeats ! This
album got 10 songs of pure evil, sadistic and brutal extreme metal - 10
songs of punishing and pounding brutal metal musick is what you will experienced
from the music performed by these 5 sickos in Demonicon.The cd layout and
design is very professionally done with very brutal artwork. Highly recommended
to all of you who like metal music to be played in brutal, chaotic and
uncompromised ways. Get this album now !!! |
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FROM THE WAKE
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Twin Cities-based Demonicon has released a killer death metal album
with Bloodlust. The band has moved forward from 2001’s Condemned Creation
in technical ability, song writing, and most certainly on vocals. The band
melds technical proficiency and brutality. Brandon Almendinger’s vocals
are the highlight of the album for me. He conveys an amazing amount of
force, and though his vocals are truly flesh-shredding, the lyrics are
still understandable. Guitarists Brian Owens and Anthony Columbus (formerly
of Anal Blast) put forth blazing performances with some highly intricate
and hyper speed leads. Though Demonicon maintains blazing speed throughout
the album they are able to create interesting, sometimes bizarre song structures,
somewhat reminiscent of Cryptopsy. Highlights are album opener “Heretic,”
“Drafting the Phalanx” and the surprisingly calm outro “Cathartic Self-Destruction.”
While Condemned Creation was good, Bloodlust truly made me take notice
of Demonicon, and it should garner them major attention in the metal community.
Demonicon has proven itself a force to be reckoned with. Readers should
check out Demonicon at www.demonicon.net.
-Brant Johnson |
