Have any of you guys heard of a band called Demiricous before? Apparently, they are a quartet that's based in Indianapolis/USA and their label Metal Blade claims that their music style is quite difficult to define, seeing as it contains a mix of thrash, hardcore punk and death metal elements. Now, to me, a description like that is normally translated to modern US Metalcore - a genre that I am not really fond of, but luckily for me (and also the members of Demiricous), their music has few, if none, similarities with some of Metal Blade's leading metalcore bands such as AS I LAY DYING and THE RED CHORD. Why? Simply because they tend to prefer the 'classic forms' of both the hardcore and metal scene respectively, rather that trying to imitate the modern sound that is currently popular.

My understanding of what Death Metal music is all about may be slightly different from that of the youngest reviewers’ around, seeing as my early musical education was based on the music of bands such as Death, Morbid Angel and Deicide, but I am adamant in saying that I didn't manage to trace any such elements in "Two (Poverty)”, the band's second full length release, even after having given the album a couple of really good listens. On the other hand, what I did hear were twelve highly energetic compositions featuring a variety of different influences, the vast majority of which were inspired by the early 90s Thrash Metal and Hardcore music and more specifically by bands like Grip, Sepultura ("Chaos A.D" era) and Agnostic Front.

Now, much as I love the music of all the above-mentioned bands, I really cannot say that I was particularly blown away by what's on offer in "Two (Poverty)", mainly because the majority of the featured compositions are somehow typical/predictable in nature. That doesn't mean, though, that listening to this highly energised release was not an enjoyable experience. Nate Olp's vocals may have a certain screamo quality that I normally find annoying in bands, yet his approach is similar to that of Gus Chambers' (Grip Inc) and thus closer to my liking.

As far as riffs are concerned, the listener will enjoy a wide variety of them, starting from the Slayeric ones in "Expression Of Immunity To God", all the way to the Machine Head sounding ones in "Knuckle Eye" and the more technical Grip Inc orientated in "Stress Fetish". My vote of preference goes to "Leprosaic Belief" and "Appreciation Of Misery" - the former being an extreme punk fuelled opus whereas the latter a more rhythmical-orientated composition with various changes in its structure. I would also recommend that you pay attention to some of the more challenging compositions such as "Celebration Of Damage" and "Acid Lung", without missing the very inspiring groovy themes of the closing instrumental composition "Blackish Silver".

Generally speaking, the music of Demiricous left a very interesting aftertaste and left me intrigued to hear more. Energy and passion is something that the music of this young American band has in abundance and it certainly felt to me like it is only a matter of time before they come up with that one release which will make many of us excited. Demiricous are at the stage in their career where they need to make some really serious decisions - decisions that will influence their music once and for all. I really hope that they will have the required maturity to choose wisely.

***½

Review by John Stefanis