For all the sinister, occult-orientated imagery – goat heads, serpents, and burning objects – which overtly connote black metal, Demon Head’s form is very much vintage heavy metal with a progressive twist. They’re clearly very much in thrall to Back Sabbath and that whole 70s scene, while song titles like ‘Strange Eggs’, ‘Labyrinth’, and ‘Death’s Solitude’ hint at a certain immersion in fairly obvious literary sources like Poe and Lovecraft.
It’s by no means bad: ‘Hellfire Ocean Void’ has some epic tunes, and in terms of execution, it’s hard to fault Demon Head’s assimilation of the tropes evolved by their precursors.
Loping drums and interweaving harmonic guitars bring an air of pomp and elevation to ‘The Hour of the Wolf’, and it’s difficult to avoid the ponderance as to precisely how seriously they – or anyone – can take all of this.
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The album has a certain linearity, moving from hard-hitting hard rock to a gentler, more progressive style as it goes on. In doing so, it feels quite considered, well-designed even. And so, while ‘Hellfire Ocean Void’ is very much a genre work, it’s a pretty solid one.
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