Attick Demons Album Review: “Let’s Raise Hell”

ATTICK DEMONS
“LET’S RAISE HELL”
Album Review By Rick Tilley

7.5/10

Attick Demons from Lisbon, Portugal are another band who have been around a fair while now, releasing their first EP in 2000, but they haven’t been tremendously prolific as ‘Let’s Raise Hell is only their second full length album. However, I had heard of the name, thanks to them being on the Pure Steel roster and have listened to snippets of several tracks in the past without really having the time to get into them properly! That has now been rectified as I’ve been able to digest ‘Let’s Raise Hell’ over the last few weeks and if you love Traditional Metal with a bit of Power Metal thrown in for good measure then you, like me, might be pleasantly surprised with what you hear!

Firstly though, you’ll have to get passed the Iron Maiden comparisons of which there are many! Attick Demons absolutely worship at the hallowed ground that Maiden have walked over the last forty years and in vocalist Artur Almeida they have someone who sounds so like Bruce Dickinson in places that’s it’s uncanny. Every so often the merest hint of an accent will come through, some of his screams are more Helloween like and very occasionally some of the higher notes are a touch flat or sharp but, other than that, you could be listening to the great man himself. Joao Clemente’s bass work is also straight out of the Steve Harris songbook having that clicking/twanging sound that Harris managed to get on the earlier Maiden albums and drummer Ricardo Oliveira, apart from regularly hitting the double bass pedals, has obviously been studying the galloping rhythms of Clive Burr and Nicko McBrain. Guitarists Luis Figueira and Nuno Martins provide the only slight difference to the Maiden sound in that, whilst the riffs could have been written by Smith, Murray or Gers, the production gives them a more Power Metal feel. Overall though this is about as close to Iron Maiden as I’ve heard without it being Iron Maiden! If you can get passed those trappings, obviously some will feel this is far too close to Maiden for comfort; Attick Demons have actually released a very enjoyable album that, I’m sorry to say, I actually prefer to either ‘The Final Frontier’ or ‘The Book Of Souls’!

‘The Circle Of Light’ is a great way to start the album. It’s fast, in your face and shows you exactly what the members of Attick Demons can do! ‘Adamastor’ is next and is classic, mid 1980’s Maiden. In fact if the real Maiden had come up with this track on either of their last two albums some might not be saying they had got a bit boring! ‘Glory To Gawain’ is another catchy song that smacks you right in the chops, but it’s fourth track ‘Dark Angel’ that really made me sit up and grin. At six and a half minutes it’s not the longest track on the album but feels like an epic. A fantastic introduction slowly builds into a main chugging riff and the whole thing is a Classic Metal lovers wet dream that proves Attick Demons don’t need to do Maiden if they don’t want to. Ironically, next track ‘The Endless Game, which is the longest track at seven minutes plus and more ballad driven, proves that this band can do Maiden perfectly if they want to! ‘Let’s Raise Hell’ maintains a high standard through to its completion, all members are obviously very good at what they do and the production lets them explore the 80’s scene without sounding dated. It’s also worth noting that when I had finished listening to it for the first time I immediately pressed play again and subsequent listens have seen the songs grow in my head very nicely indeed!

Due to the fickle nature of the music industry Attick Demons are never going to reach a mass audience and, as already mentioned, some will feel they are nothing more than a cheap Maiden rip-off. It’s also safe to say, that even though Maiden are a band from the UK, Attick Demons will certainly get more fans in Mainland Europe where they absolutely love Traditional and Power Metal. In fact I sometimes wish I lived over there because the bands, gigs and Festival line-ups in the rest of Europe are fantastic! As for Attick Demons well I really like them and ‘Let’s Raise Hell’ is a very good album. With a vocalist that sounds so much like Bruce then they’ll never escape the Maiden comparisons but, judging by the comments on their website, they don’t want to and that’s fine by me!

TRACKLIST

he Circle Of Light
Adamastor
Glory To Gawain
Dark Angel
The Endless Game
Let’s Raise Hell
Ghost
Nightmares
Ritual

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