Review DEMONS AWAKE ‘Off the Axis’ – EP

There is always a big buzz when the ‘major league’-bands announce and unleash a new album. The real musical freedom though lives in the underground when musicians and bands follow their heart and do what they love to do, celebrating the mighty riff and the solid groove. One of these bands is Demons Awake, hailing from Hamburg rock city.

The quintet just released with ‘Off the Axis’ their new EP. It features four songs, all with roots in traditional rock and metal with a certain psychedelic twist. Demons Awake, that is Björn Vollmer, Claudio Illanes, Pablo Cortés, Laurenz Mösbauer and Max Arenas. The German/Chilean powerhouse follows their passion, manifested in songs like the heavy pounding ‘I See Demons in the Sky’. Some stoner rock vibes sneaked into this song that brings the desert heat to Hamburg. Speed is not what Demons Awake has in the offer and it is ‘Blue Angel Slug’ that stays more in a moderate pace too. This song is a bad-ass-head-banger without frills and gimmicks. This track is spot-on.

I mentioned the psychedelic part of Demons Awake’s sound, and one important asset is the vocals by frontman Björn Vollmer who adds a hypnotic twist to the mix. ‘Requiem’, the closer, shows this very well. A requiem is basically the opposite of a happy song. It’s darkness and wistfulness being the basic vibe of the final chapter on this EP. Almost an elegy that ends ‘Off the Axis’.

It needs a few spins of this EP before the songs unfold their potential and details. It is for sure worth to invest a bit time into these four songs. These songs are a matter of heart and soul, music that has been written because of passion only.