ATTICK DEMONS
“DAYTIME STORIES, NIGHTMARE TALES”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

9/10

Attick Demons are a heavy metal band from Portugal formed in 1996, with their debut offering, the six song, self titled E.P. released in 2000. The bands first full length album ‘Atlantis’, was a 2011 release, featuring Paul Di’anno (ex-Iron Maiden) and Ross ‘The Boss’ (ex-Manowar) as special guests. The bands sophomore album ‘Let’s Raise Hell’, emerged in 2016, with Chris Caffery (Savatage) as a special guest. Attick Demons have toured across Europe, supporting bands such as Overkill, HammerFall, Sabaton and W.A.S.P. The bands third album ‘Daytime Stories, Nightmare Tales’ was released in 2020…

…and boasts an even bigger sound than their previous two full lengths. Once again the traditional sound of heavy metal features prominently, with influences from iconic bands Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. ‘Daytime Stories, Nightmare Tales’ contains nine songs across a fifty minutes play time – all kicking off with the explosive barnstormer ‘The Contract’, featuring a classic, totally traditional heavy metal sounding opening, replete with a Halford/Dickinson style scream. ‘The Contract’ gallops forth with pace, highly infectious and melodic, with a catchy sing a long style chorus. A definite “sit up and take notice” opener, you’ll be standing for ‘Make Your Choice’ – a heavier, and much faster gallop than ‘The Contract’. Add the chant style chorus for a live audience to eagerly participate in, and Attick Demons have launched a double salvo that just oozes the glorious sound of heavy metal.

The more mellow opening to ‘Renegades’ sets a tension filled and atmospheric opening that creeps to a crescendo before BOOM – the heavy hitting anthemic style of heavy metal thunders forth, placing ‘Renegades’ alongside anthemic metallers Manowar, Powerwolf and Sabaton. The crushing weight of ‘Renegades’ will destroy towns and cities, leaving only desolation in its wake. And blimey o’ fucking riley – when ‘Renegades’ changes pace, it becomes a furious speedster that will invoke head banging of the most vigorous nature. And the pace just keeps going, ‘The Revenge Of The Sailor King’ a heavyweight among heavyweights, all majestic and tall standing, showing more allegiance to the European power metal style than the classic heavy metal heard so far. Strolling its way into view, ‘Hills Of Sadness’ wanders in on the crest of mellow guitars, and proceeds to follow a path more akin to ballad territory than galloping heavy metal – and for my regular readers, you’ll already know my stance on ballads performed on heavy metal albums (insert a “thumbs down” emoji here) – but just like Maiden’s ‘Wasting Love’ and Priest’s ‘Diamonds And Rust’, Attick Demons keep ‘Hills Of Sadness’ away from the swaying and lighters in the air, proceeding to pummel senses with heavy guitars and a crescendo of jack hammer drums, ending with a feisty flurry.

And oh my oh my oh my – the Iron Maiden influence rises to the fore, with the opening to ‘Headbanger’ sounding like a dead ringer for Maiden’s ‘Brave New World’ – yet as ‘Headbanger’ progresses, it deviates from ‘Brave New World’s path, only to briefly rejoin later. Casting the Maiden similarity aside, ‘Headbanger’ is a head banger, a heavy hitter that will nod heads very hard indeed. Increasing the heaviness, yet maintaining the albums highly infectious and melodic stance, ‘Devil’s Crossroad’ has a swashbuckling intensity, and the most attractive and sing a long chorus of any song on offer. ‘O Condestavel’ is an ode to Nuno Alvares Pereira – a Portuguese general who had a decisive role in the civil war that assured Portugal’s independence from Castille. Pereira is often referred to as Saint Constable – in Portuguese, Santo Condestavel.. Hence the songs title, and apologies for the short history lesson – and is an emotionally charged seven minutes of balladry mixed with up tempo and energetic passages, all the while displaying a regal tint. And, I believe, it is sung in the bands native language… Bringing the album to a close, is the barn storming and fiery ‘Running’. Full of pace, and hitting harder than any other song on the album, ‘Running’ is a glorious romp, rounding off ‘Daytime Stories, Nightmare Tales’ in emphatic style.

Overall, a glorious gallop of heavy metal, highly infectious and overly energetic, ‘Daytime Stories, Nightmare Tales’ is memorable for all the right reasons.

TRACKLIST

The Contract
Make Your Choice
Renegade
The Revenge Of The Sailor King
Hills Of Sadness
Headbanger
Devil’s Crossing
O Condestavel
Running

http://www.attickdemons.com/
https://www.facebook.com/attickdemonsofficial/

This review is the property of Iron Mathew and Metal Gods TV. It is strictly prohibited to copy any part of this review, unless you have both of the parties’ permission, or are the band/record label/PR company in question. Failure to adhere to these instructions will be considered as Plagiarism and you will be reported to the appropriate authorities.

---