Review Summary: Killer Clarinets from Outer Space
Chilean blackened thrash outfit Demoniac released their sophomore album "So It Goes" for international audiences during the high pandemic year of 2021. It was an absolutely wild time to be alive, and the music on this album follows suit. If I were to write a headline for "So It Goes," it would read something like this: Blackened thrash clarinets refuse to be ignored! Listen now!
"So It Goes" showcases a band that seems mainly concerned with writing killer tunes that push their own envelope, at their own speed. They weaponized a potent mix of classic thrash, black metal and progressive sensibilities to build an album that's truly unique. And man, does it rip.
I’ll be honest here - I haven’t really kept up with thrash metal until the last couple years. The 80s thrash titans like Metallica and Slayer were some of the first bands to kick me out of my Christian music malaise as a kid. But from there we more or less parted ways. In my younger mind, fairly or not, thrash turned into groove metal, which turned into NWOAHM, which made me turn off the radio.
But over the past few years I’ve been enticed by thrash again, and especially drawn to blackened and death-infused bands like Hellripper, Oxygen Destroyer and Goatwhore. It’s fast, fun music that gets your pulse up, and that’s fine by me. It is not, however, terribly inventive and that’s okay too. It’s a genre where proficiency of execution takes you a long way.
Sometimes though it’s nice to be challenged by music, and Demoniac’s “So It Goes” certainly challenged me. Listening for the first time, this album didn’t really land for me at first. Sure the riffs were tasty, the drums kicked hard, the bass shredded (a real standout performance throughout) and Javier Ortiz’ growls hit just right.
It didn’t quite click for me as the band played through the opener ‘Rsv - Fool Coincidence - Testigo,’ which moves flawlessly through three memorable movements filled with Maiden-esque harmonies and blackened thrash.
It started to click a bit more as the pinwheeling piano of ‘The Trap’ gave way to chugging riffs and blazing solos.
But then, of course, as everyone who’s listened to this album knows, ‘Extraviado’ drops, and everything makes sense. This for me is really the standout track of the album, and the one that pulls everything together. Can a clarinet solo be evil? Yes. Is this one of the most bonkers moves a thrash band could try? Yes. Does it absolutely smash? Hell yes. I can’t really do this track justice, so go listen for yourself.
From there the album racks up another thrasher with ‘Equilibria Fatal’ before diving into the album’s 20-minute title track. This is where “So It Goes” loses some steam for me. It’s well-composed and the musicianship is tops, but every time I listen my eyes start to glaze over around the halfway mark. That could be a me problem, or maybe this could have been split into two or three songs. Who knows. Either way, I respect the fact that Demoniac took a big swing with it.
So what are we supposed to make of ‘So It Goes’ roughly five years after it was released? This album sounded significantly better than their first, “Intemperance.” The mix is warm and crunchy and feels perfectly produced. It’s also much more experimental than their follow up album “Nube Negra,” despite the clarinet showing up there too, and it being an overall solid album. Was the experimentation on “So It Goes” a one-off? Or is Demoniac mostly concerned with writing whatever the hell they want? I think it’s the latter.
The members of Demoniac have gone on record with their love of their fellow Chilean bands and scene. Based out of the small city of Limache, within striking distance of Santiago, it seems the band is content plotting their next thrash incantation in relative seclusion until they can melt their compatriots’ faces. I think whatever we see from Demoniac in the future, it will be two things: kickass and written for themselves and their friends. That sounds like a killer recipe to me.
