### Daemonicus: 11th hour

#### 10/11/10 || revenant

Q: What do you call it when staff writer Daemonomania swears?

A: A daemonicus.

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Was that a tumbleweed that just rolled past my desk? Well, you know what, fuck you all, my mum says I’m funny.

So… a year after their first full length album, Daemonicus return with a follow up EP of four tracks; two original songs and two covers. Daemonicus hail from Sweden, and play death metal, so my expectation levels were set pretty high for this one. I didn’t exactly walk away disappointed with this, but then again nor did I have my balls tickled. In fact, I can understand Khlysty’s lukewarm reaction to their full length debut, because I fell much the same on this release.

The two original tracks are ok, but don’t really do enough. “11th Hour” is definitely the pick of the two, making up for the lackluster first half by an excellent second half. From the moment the piano kicks in, this song is awesome. The distorted vocals, doom riffs, piano and guitar solo have me salivating. Why couldn’t there have been more of this? Give me a full album of that and I’ll be your lapdog for life.

As for the two covers on the EP, I really don’t see the point. Yes, well played, but what exactly do they add to or do differently from the originals? They certainly don’t come near Death with their cover of “Crystal Mountain”, with neither the production nor the vocals matching the power of the original. The Paradise Lost song I’m less familiar with, but a quick listen through YouLube confirmed my assumption that this too was an inferior product.

So there you have it. Two minutes of awesome and two decent covers are essentially what you get from this EP. Since the band didn’t take the time to write new material, nor will I. In fact, since it’s an accurate summary and the band themselves didn’t take the time to write something new, why should I? Therefore, to summarize, here is my cover of Khlysty’s review: “It’s a solid old skool death metal effort, but it seems to lack the ingredients that would’ve made it something to really talk about. Let’s hope that the band will really move on from here and forge its own path in a genre that really needs new voices and renewed ideas.”

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Independent
- Website: Daemonicus MySpace
- Band
- Stefan Hagström: vocals
- P-O Wester: guitars
- Jörgen Persson: bass
- Manus Boström: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. 11th Hour
- 02. Crystal Mountain (Death cover)
- 03. Rotten Sky
- 04. Falling Forever (Paradise Lost cover)