Arkham Witch - Demo 2009

This is another one of those mystery CD's that was sent to me recently but what the hell, there was no artwork and not even a sender's address. If you are out there reading this, send me a message so can i thank you for this cool demo and make arrangements to get the artwork so i can post it here. This band and demo is the work of Simon Strange from The Lamp Of Thoth and there is some things in common with his usual band but this is a much more Traditional Heavy Metal concept. There is still some Doom elements but this band is more along the lines of early 80's British Metal and 70's Hard rock all combined with a theme from Lovecraft stories. Out of all the tracks on here, there is really only two that don't work for me. "The Kraken"reading of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s work and "Hyades" that has a change in guitar sound that kind of sounds like something you would find at a toy shop. Its a plodding slow track which doesn't seem to serve any function apart from trying to sound heavy which its not for the most part. The rest of the demo though is brilliant, the opener gets the fun started with a tale based on "Dreams in the Witch House" story. "Let England Prevail" is up next and is a metal thumper, its a mid-paced classic sounding metal tune that has a infectious groove about it. Third Track and my personal favorite is "Suicide 75" which has a similar sound to proto-metal bands of the mid 70's like Sir Lord Baltimore to name just one. Extremely catchy and while its the heaviest track on here, it is still the best to my ears. "Legions Of The Deep" is the other standout track here, this is a classic metal track in the vein of Priest, Maiden and Manilla Road. Every time you play this track you will hear a different old band in the sound, it verges on early thrash metal with its chugging riff. This is a great demo apart from the last song which is a misstep, it doesn't help when the song seems to go on forever but i am sure some people out there will love it. I couldn't rate this as high as "The Lamp Of Thoth's" current level of greatness but it is still a great metal demo and worth seeking out. 8/10
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