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Demoncy > Empire of the Fallen Angel > Reviews
Demoncy - Empire of the Fallen Angel

How the Mighty Have Fallen - 67%

PaganWinter_44, July 14th, 2007

Demoncy has been one of my favorite bands ever since I've heard Joined in Darkness. When I checked out Empire of the Fallen Angel, I was expecting a follow-up to Joined in Darkness. That's not what I got. Instead, Demoncy delivers nothing but your average black metal. This album wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't Demoncy playing it.

In comparison to their older material, this is a very weak production. There is no overwhelming level of darkness that was present in previous recordings. The guitars just play your usual riffs. The riffs don't sound so bad, but they're not dark or evil. The drums are mostly blast beats, however it kind of fits the style. As usual, there's hardly any bass at all in there. Trying to hear the bass lines is the equivalent of playing hide and seek. The vocals are not nearly as evil as they were in Joined. Just low growls. If they were any lower, this would be more like a death metal album. The cover art might as well be death metal.

The only atmosphere you find is that of generic black metal. The feel of the album isn't dark at all. It's quite the opposite. Whenever I hear this album, I think of your typical bands going around screaming "Hail Satan" while holding up their battle axes. If I wanted to hear that, I'd just listen to Norwegian black metal.

Demoncy could've done a lot better with this. A band as good as Demoncy should not resort to this kind of style. I strongly hope that Enthroned is the Night is nothing like this.

Not up to par with Demoncy's other work - 65%

vorfeed, April 17th, 2005

This is the fourth full-length album from Demoncy, an American band playing black metal.

The guitar sounds very much like later Enthroned, quite thin and high. The drumming is blast-beats, for the most part. Vocals are growled.

Demoncy is one of my favorite bands, but the songwriting here just isn't up to their usual standard. The riff transitions and atmosphere feel very "done before", to the point where the album feels generic and boring. There are a few moments of quality, like the beginning of "Wormarch of the Black Hordes", but these are overwhelmed by mediocrity. In short, this album sounds like any random album from any random Norsecore band, NOT like Demoncy.

For any other band, this album would be halfway decent, but for Demoncy, it's a
failure. If you've already got "Faustian Dawn", "Within the Sylvan Realms of Frost", and "Joined in Darkness", there's no reason to get this. In fact, there's no real reason to get this, period. I'll look forward to their next album, in the hopes that they return to their earlier greatness. Not recommended.

Review by Vorfeed: http://www.vorfeed.net

Predictable... - 73%

Snxke, July 6th, 2004

Demoncy are one of those bands that deserve respect for upholding an idea they find entirely productive, but at the same time release records that seem to fall a little short of their diabolical goals. All of them are extremely competant musicians who understand the creation of a "dark mood". Unfortunatly, their songwriting skills work better as invidual riff-creations than good actual songs. The production is there, the playing is there, the mood is there...but sadly..the song construction is simply not.

The opening blast of "The Obsidian Age of Ice" is quite good at times, with many weaving guitar lines and the like. The guitars actually work well on this record to create an overall "spell of evil". Sadly, the drumming is so constant and battering one tends to find himself annoyed at the unrelenting blast moments. Had the band worked more drum dynamics (as shown on the song "Empire of the Fallen Angel") the CD may have had a little more lift. Sadly, despite all the hard work, good musicianship and excellent vocals...the band just begins to sound the same track after track on this release. The effort to create a mood was here, but sadly the CD did not live up to the set potential.

Demoncy SHOULD be seen live, as they destroy in this arena...sadly...this record just doesn't do what we all hoped it would. Demoncy still have the goods to make their amazing opus...this sadly falls short of those intended goals. It's "good"...but it's hardly great.

I say buy it if you like slightly droning bm with swirling guitars...YOU may enjoy it. I simply cannot endorse this as being much better than any of the other CD's I've been receiving in the mail as of late.

Demoncy fucking kills!! - 90%

IbexThrone666, June 25th, 2004

This release has raised a bit of controversy here and there and I know exactly why, everyone wanted this album to be Joined In Darkness pt. 2. I think it is great that Demoncy decided to grow and try a different sound then on the previous albums. Really when you look back at it, everything from Faustian Dawn (total Beherit/Darkthrone type worship), Within The Sylvan Realms (more atmospheric styled), Joined In Darkness (brutal straight foreward and minimalistic type black metal) there is such a diversity in the craft they are creating and unleashing to us. Rather than cater to all the fuckers who want every band to make the same album over and over again they bring us this nice piece of razor sharp black metal.

I have heard this album been called "melodic" by many and I just don't see what they mean by melodic!?!?! It doesn't sound like fucking Dissection, doesn't sound like Ancient Rites or Arcturus. These people out there need to realize that melodic just doesn't fit the feeling of this album at all. It is great fast and killer black metal, bar none.

For one thing you can notice that the drumming has greatly improved and Synvorlaths vocals are fucking insane. Having the oppurtunity to see them play live and play material off of this release mixed in with their previoys material it was fucking top notch, totally complements everything they have done in the past. I am not dissapointed by this release at all and I highly recommend it to people who appreciate black metal music and warfare and not for people who are into scenism, staple styles, and basically anyone who just thinks that if a band isn't The Black Legions or War Metal they aren't worth it. Fuck off, DEMONCY RULES!!!