GREAT BRITISH BAND
Gergellor | Supimpalāndia | 09/27/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"If you like real metal, one played with intelliggence, simplicity, aggression and creativity, this is a must. NIGHT OF THE DEMON is the first DEMON album ( of only two worthwhile albuns they released). But the vibe is so good, production also, that the resulta was stupendous. I was eagerly awaiting for this reissue. At last it came.(but it was not released in America yet). Band line-up - Dave Hill - vocals; Mal Spooner (died of pneumonia); Les Hunt - lead guitar; Chris Ellis - bass; Joh Wright - drums. All songs were written by Hill / SPooner. The actual DEMON who released SPACED OUT MONKEY has only Dave Hill from the originaal formation."
Classic British metal, finally re-released!
Robert P. Beveridge | Cleveland, OH | 02/15/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Demon, Night of the Demon (Clay Records, 1981)A long time ago in a galaxy far far away there lived a biker-rock-...-metal band called Demon. Demon were part of what came to be known as NWOBHM (the New Wave of British Heavy Metal), but were overshadowed, as so many early-eighties British metal bands were, by renewed interest on this side of the pond in the bands that had come before-Judas Priest, Slade, et al. And so, despite the best efforts of a young, barely-known American band called Metallica (through numerous covers and the NWOBHM compilation album in the mid-eighties) to bring American attention to these acts, many of them faded into obscurity quickly.Within the past couple of years, there has been a new spark of interest in some of those bands, and various record companies have been reissuing old albums right and left on CD. Thankfully, Night of the Demon, the debut album from Demon, wasn't overlooked, and is a whole lot easier to find now than it was when I tracked it down over a decade ago.The album is definitely two separate entities. Side one is a mini-concept work, five songs of straightforward metal of the three-chords-and-a-shout variety popular at the time. It's good, solid, listenable stuff. What distinguishes Night of the Demon, though, is side two, which shows a much more laid-back blues-influenced feel in two songs, "Big Love" and "Fool to Play the Hard Way." While it's doubtful anyone would ever tack the appellation "sexy" onto Demon, or most other non-hair-metal hard rock bands, there's an undeniable current of good times to be had by all running through these tracks. There was magic in the air, there was. What happened to it is anyone's guess.Demon released a few more albums as time went on. Their relative worth is debated to this day, with some fans saying the band's first two albums are the only decent ones, and some holding out that the first four are all worth having; about the only thing all agree on is that Night of the Demon is an unrecognized classic. The older generation of metal fans has gradually become well acquainted with the genius that is Demon's first album. Hopefully, with the recent reissues, a new generation of metal fans will realize that there was, in fact, life before Metallica started doing power ballads. **** ½"
This made way for the excellent follow up
L. B. Ivarsson | Rock City | 10/16/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
""Night of the demon" is the band's debut album from 1981. This release can be considered as a diamond in the rough. On this effort, you can sense what would come later on when Demon released their second and great album "The unexpected guest" (1982). "Night of the demon" includes songs, written and structured in the same fashion and even if it's not fair to say it's undeveloped it certainly has an unpolished and raw touch. Tracks like "Night of the demon", "One helluva night", and "Into the nightmare" are significant for Demon's musical approach and they show a band that both has the power and the melody. "Father of time" is a moving piece in rather slow tempo with effects on the vocal's which brings a feeling of the unknown. These tracks can be regarded as the embryo to the coming Demon, but a songs like "Big love" seems out of place. Some people put Demon in the heavy metal category (and wrongly comparing them to Judas Priest and Rainbow) but I believe this band isn't that easy to put a label on. As I mentioned, Demon recorded a real masterpiece after this debut and it's a shame that so few people know of that album. The core in early Demon was singer Dave Hill and guitar player Mal Spooner. Too bad, Spooner passed away in 1984 and the band really lost something very important as well as their trade mark. After Spooner's death, the material never reached the same heights and Demon became a totally uninteresting band, releasing awful albums. But if you're a rock fan or just musically curios I strongly advise you to check out "Night of the demon" as well as "The unexpected guest". But beware, you might be addicted to those excellent songs, playing them over and over again."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1