Demoniac - Nube Negra - CD

It was but that cursed year of 2020 when these long-running thrashers domestically released their breakout second album, So It Goes. Released on a worldwide scale at the beginning of 2021 by longtime fans EDGED CIRCLE, DEMONIAC's So It Goes showed remarkable growth from the band's not-inconsiderable Intemperance debut album from 2017, but showed it in such a shockingly bold way that it was almost like a new band. Sure, it sounded identifiably DEMONIAC, but the wild 'n' weird paths it took upended all the usual "evil thrash" cliches with mischievous glee, remaining resolutely serious but not without a sense of (wait for it) demonic fun. Clarinet? Check. A 20-minute suite for the title track? Check. Crazy angles AND memorable hooks? Fucking CHECK.

Thankfully, DEMONIAC continue to (seriously) travel the path of the wild 'n' weird with Nube Negra. Featuring a more palatable/approach eight songs in 42 minutes, DEMONIAC's third full-length nevertheless carries on the craziness of its predecessor and makes the steel even more gleaming and the hooks even more mesmerizing and melodic. And yet, as suggested by its title, Nube Negra is undeniably the band's most blackened record in many a year. Together, this combination of classic-metal-era class and sulfurous South American intensity makes DEMONIAC's third long-player even more curious - and even more engaging, impossibly so, as their already-insane chops are brought to a fever pitch of dexterity and devilishness as their strange-yet-sinuous songwriting leads the listener to uncharted heights and depths of abandon. Plus, there's surprise visits by accordion, Moog, and - yes - clarinet, further underlining the fact that DEMONIAC are pursuing a muse that's entirely their own...and, crucially, without being obnoxious about it. And, once again, absolutely 3D production that proves that underground ethics can be given totally respectable clarity without dulling the intent.

Ever want to hear a mind-blown, HELLishly intense and tuneful trainwreck of 1991 cult classics like Dark Angel's Time Does Not Heal, Heathen's Victims of Deception, AND Sarcofago's The Laws of Scourge? DEMONIAC offer such a hypothetical collision with Nube Negra. But, like its likewise-cult predecessor, there's really little to nothing like this around right now: the future is NOW for these Chileans.