Review: You're Smiling Now But We'll All Turn Into Demons - Population IV

Of late I have discovered that there are certain inevitabilities in life: Kylie Minogue is NOT going to ring with an invitation to satisfy my carnal desires with her, West Ham will promise much but, alas, deliver nothing but heartache and frustration, and any new release from Cardinal Fuzz is going to be a magnificent slice of noisy, fuzzy gorgeousness....and to prove my point along comes the new LP from You're Smiling Now But We'll All Turn Into Demons (Demons from now OK?).

The Demon's last LP 'Contact High' was one of my albums of the year last year, even though it was technically a re-release from 2009, so this is the first new material for 5 years, and it was well worth the wait.

The LP kicks off in fine style with 'The Sorcerers' - a hard rockin', fuzzed out sonic attack - part Sabbath, part Walkingseeds. 'Sad Alien & Winking Skeleton' (a fine title!) ups the wah-wah level and is probably the most straight forward, psychedelic number, complete with vocals.'Seya' has an eastern groove going on; the drums tribal and guitars picking out a raga-like melody. 'Chapel Perilous' is a more downtempo number with an undercurrent of doom and gloom. A fairly simple guitar / percussion melody which is echoed lower in the mix by fuzz and distortion....as the track progresses the fuzz becomes the predominant force, with some great feedback at it's climax. 'Throne Control' is the blues straight from badlands of Arizona, the guitars twanging over rumbling bass and drums like Link Wray backed by Sleep, before becoming more of a fully fledged wigout with some titanic heavier-than-Sabbath riffs. It is dark, foreboding and desolate - doom in every sense. 'The Bee's Eyes' follows and is a short, psych workout - brief, punchy with a eastern vibe. 'Hothouse' closes the LP, a much more contemplative track with a delicate melody picked out by guitar with some heavy fuzz and skin bashing behind it....but The Demons being The Demons it can't carry on this way and lo, after about 6 mix minutes everything is turned up to 11....the tempo increases, the fuzz level becomes...more fuzzy, and it finishes as another superlative psych freakout.

This is another awesome LP from The Demons...these guys can rock, and rock hard. It is an intelligent album...it's had thought and love go into it's making and that shines through, along with a high level of musicianship. I realise it's only January, but I'd say this will definitely be in my top albums of the year.

It is released on 2nd Feb via Cardinal Fuzz, and Captcha Records will be distributing it in the US (the two labels have entered into a mutual agreement re: distribution of releases and that can only be a good thing for us in the UK and the lovely folks across the pond)

Links:

Cardinal Fuzz

Captcha Records

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