Metal Underground.com

From the first notes of Demiricous's Metal Blade debut "One (Hellbound)," you can hear Slayer's influence on this band. In fact, the first track sounds incredibly like Slayer in music as well as name - "Repentagram" could actually be Slayer playing under another name. If Slayer were to die and be reincarnated as a thrashing death metal band, they would call themselves Demiricous. Fortunately Demiricous is no Slayer rip-off or cover band. They do play some incredible thrash metal and a lot of their guitar riffs have the same tone and style as Slayer's. Demiricous might actually be more brutal, with death metal vocals and other death metal elements thrown into the mix. The riffage is excellent throughout, sounding decidedly old-school thrash and make a point to incorporate heavy thrash metal grooves as well. The solos were surprisingly fitting to the music and did not go off on their own with fast, squealing solos like many thrash bands do.

Songs like "Withdrawal Divine," "Vagrant Idol" and "To Serve Is To Destroy," while still bearing some Slayer influence, do a great job at breaking the mold and sounding like a young, modern metal band. "To Serve Is To Destroy" actually sounds more generically like old-school thrash overall. "Cheat The Leader" is problably the song that most completely defies the Slayer comparison until the end when they bring in an excellent 1980's sounding Slayer riff. The song opens up explosively with an extended blast beat and brings it back several times throughout the song and sounds more like thrash-influenced death most of the time.

"Beyond Obscene," and "Perfection and the Infection" show that the band can slow things down a little and play an excellent mid-paced heavy song, before they pick the speed back up toward the end of both songs. Completing the album, "I Am Weapon" and "Hellraiser" both show off more extreme and unique sounds of Demiricous. "I Am Weapon" has a very distinctive and different tone to the guitars, while "Hellraiser" has more of a death metal sound with some thrashing grooves interspersed throughout.

Pardon the excess of Slayer comparisons, but you really can't listen to this album and not think of Slayer. To top it off, the timing of Demiricous' "One" is perfect, given that Slayer has not released an album since 2001. With 12 songs and about 40 minutes of pure thrashing aggression, there is not a single weak track on this album, making it a must-have for Slayer fans and thrash fans alike. While this album is one of the best old-school thrash albums I've heard in years, I am already eager to hear what Demiricous can do as they refine their own unique sound in the coming years.