9 April 2026 - Demon (Gazpacho)

 

 

Release Date: 17 March 2014

Song Count: 8

Duration: 45 minutes, 56 seconds

Rating: 6.7/10

Description: 

 

Here is a band that has been quite pro-active in their craft for a while: Demon, a group of six Norwegian musicians making highly unique art rock music since 1996. Their album which we are looking at today, Demon, marks their eighth full-length release and what is described by some to be their "strangest and most complicated" one out of their wide catalogue. Blending together enchanting melodies and musical craft with progressive rock elements that stretch and push the bounds of widely appealing music, this album is highly rich with intent and meaning, perhaps requiring more than a mere light listen to grasp it in full.

 

Every track - or rather, segment of a track - makes use out of as much time as they need to truly tell their story, taking up at least four minutes and often more in length. Within these moments, there are seemingly sporadic alterations between the band charging through with full power, electric guitars and such taking the limelight, and everything slowing and quieting down in sound, making use out of the likes of pianos, strings and similar instruments to let the emotions and artistry seize the listener's attention. It feels almost like a graceful mixture of rock with Western classical music taking place during these scenes, and the entire project has a sort of theatre-like framing to it that compels one to put their focus into the mental images being painted by the musicians at work.

 

I shall admit that things really did not click for me within Demon during the initial listen-through, and even when revisiting, there are times where it ends up becoming easier to tune out more than anything; this does, however, not take away from the rather objective quality of the music being provided, from its smooth progression across tracks to its ability to channel in all sorts of different energies and scenarios with its instrumentation. Gazpacho is a collective full of artists with soaring musical capabilities and strong vision for their music that finds a fine line between experimentation and wide appeal that one may have never thought could even exist, and this album is a showcase of all of that materialising into one package. Perhaps with a differing record structure this could have peaked my subjective interest higher, but alas, it lands as a work I nevertheless hold plenty of respect for.