We cover many of the tangents and background nodal points around death metal here, and Demon Head fits right into those categories. Basically 1970s rock filtered through Danzig with a lot of Iron Maiden but played with a modern stoner doom approach and hard rock pace, Demon Head brings back the weird, enjoyable, and unsettling in rock.

The band started out with its first album Ride the Wilderness (2015), which sounds like the Doors and Steeler’s Wheel covering Danzig, then injected a bit of the deliciously weird and mystical with Thunder on the Fields (2017) before mixing in some Sisters of Mercy and Joy Division on Hellfire Ocean Void (2019). Each album stays within the radio rock paradigm but mixes in some of the lessons of extreme metal and keeps its own voice, including characteristically precise Danish use of tempo to keep high-energy even in mid-paced material.

On being signed to Metal Blade Records for its fourth album, due out early 2021, Demon HEad released the following statement:

The rudiments are unfolding. Unforgotten promises of friendship and dedication are bearing sweet, sweet fruit. We’re nothing but excited and full of hope to have shaken hands with an as influential and willing partner as Metal Blade Records. No one knows what this will bring.

Tags: AOR, demon head, hard rock, stoner doom