Demons Down: I Stand

Hmmm….. Demons Down? I wonder where I’ve heard that name before? Well, for the uninitiated that was the title of the third album from pomp-melodic rockers House of Lords, the band fronted by James Christian and possessing the keyboard skills of ex-Angel and Giuffria man, Gregg Giuffria. Also on board, although not by the time the Demons Down album was released, were bassist Chuck Wright (Quiet Riot and too many others to mention) and drummer Ken Mary (Alice Cooper and too many others to mention), alongside a number of talented guitarists. In fact the last HoL album to find Wright and Mary tempted back into the fold was 2004’s The Power And The Myth, which was notable for, well, not really sounding much like House of Lords at all. Since then Christian has led the band through numerous line-ups and releases, mostly with the standard kept pretty high. Along the way for the last 18 years has been guitarist Jimi Bell, so even by Frontiers meld-a-band standards, it’s maybe something of a surprise to find his undoubted six-string skills adorning Demons Down alongside Wright and Mary. What Mr Christian thinks of it all, and that the album arrives on the same label that House of Lords are long time partners with, who knows?

So with Wright, Mary and Bell being the backbone, that leaves three key spots in the band to be filled - Italian guitarist Franceso Savino backing up Bell’s every move, while Chilean singer James Robledo does a grand job of landing somewhere between Jorne Lande and, well, James Christian. On keyboards (and guitars and backing vocals) comes Alessandro Del Vecchio, the go-to-guy as far as Frontiers is concerned - a fact that usually raises concerns for this reviewer…

Anyway, long story short, Demons Down are aimed squarely at the market you presume it will be, House of Lords fans, and I’d go as far as to suggest that the majority of this album sounds more like House of Lords than the band that have been using that name for the last 20 or so years. “Where Will Our Tears Fall� is a more pompous ’87 era Whitesnake keyboard led rocker, while the album’s title track is a slithering, darkly atmospheric piece of melodic rock that sticks in the mind long after it’s stopped spinning. Robledo does an excellent job here of breathing the confident, strutting air into these songs that they really need, while, controversially, I’d suggest Bell maybe sound more ‘free’ here than on the most recent House of Lords album, Saints & Sinners. With “Stranded In The Middle Of Nowhere� powering along on huge banks of keys and neat guitar lines, and the uptempo “Disappear� finding Mary really ramping up the energy, as a long time follower of House of Lords I must admit that I Stand has provided a blast of sound that not only had I presumed I’d never hear anew again, but also one that I hadn’t realised that I miss as much as I clearly do.

The motivations behind this ‘band’ might be questionable, but the results most certainly are not.

Track Listing
1. I Stand
2. Disappear
3. Down In A Hole
4. On My Way To You
5. Where Will Our Tears Fall?
6. Book Of Love
7. Stranded In The Middle Of Nowhere
8. Follow Me
9. To The Edge Of The World
10. Search Over The Horizon
11. Only The Brave

Added: March 24th 2023
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Demons Down @ facebook
Hits: 748
Language: english

[ Printer Friendly Page ]
[ Send to a Friend ]