Review by Carl on January 8, 2022.

Looking at the artwork of the CD you'd be forgiven to think that this is going to be black metal. The black and white art with the red lettering, the band's moniker and the Rotting Christ and Enslaved shirts some members are wearing on the band pic all give that impression anyway. However, when you push the "play" button on your cd-player you get force-fed a harsh dose of death/grind brutal enough to cause some lasting damage.

The band comes charging out of the gate right away, blasting it out with a sound I could probably best describe as early 90's Suffocation played by Australians. If you are familiar with Aussie bands like Bestial Warlust and Sadistik Exekution, you'll understand what I'm trying to say here. They are perhaps not the most original out there, but looking at what some other death metal acts were doing at that same time (1995), this is just beyond awesome! Psychrist has the skills to pull of the NYDM thing without any problems whatsoever, churning out low-tuned death metal ferocity with blastbeats aplenty, alternating with bludgeoning slower passages. It's in the execution of the music that you can hear that typical deranged Australian vibe coming through, with the band delivering their style with that typical frothing-at-the-mouth insanity we have come to know and respect from those bands I already mentioned. The level of aggression is kept high throughout and the short duration of this EP ensures that the band does not wear out it's welcome anytime soon. Add to this the more than adequate production and you have yourself a short 'n' sweet fix of death metal brutality right here! Those last 5 minutes of weird noise at the end weren't really necessary for me, but if that's the only thing to nag about on a cd as awesome as this, I will kindly overlook that.

This is recommended stuff for everyone into old school stuff like Suffocation, Goreaphobia, Sadistic Intent and Mortician, and I'm willing to bet that people into the more demented black metal stuff like Blasphemy, Ouroboros (CAN) or Spear of Longinus could find something in here as well.

To put it in the words of another bunch of Australians: if you want blood, you've got it !!!

Review by Death8699 on October 30, 2018.

This band needs an introduction because they're quite an unknown at the moment. This EP features Shanda Fredrick on vocals, Philip Burns on guitars, Jeremy Brenton on bass and Patrick Warren on drums. Their music even though they're within the genre of doom metal, seems more like death/thrash because the guitars feature a strong crunch tone to them, but really slow paced. That would be the reason why they're put into the doom metal genre.

The vocals are oddly orchestrated. They're not typical doom metal type vocals even though it's a female doing the singing. They're quite unique and fit with the music quite well. Every song is slow tempo paced with some clean guitar bits, but not that many. I love the guitars the most because to me they're quite original. They don't sound like any band that I've ever heard. Doom metal to me is yes slow paced, however, the guitars sink it more into a death/thrash sound. Every song is dark and grim.

A band that definitely needs to be more widely known because of their individualistic sound. There are no solos on this EP, just the rhythm guitar seeping well in the the feel of the doom sound vocals. No tempos that are fast paced at all. Still that doesn't take away the originality of the EP. All of the songs feature palm muted guitar chords mixed with a little bit of single string picked notes with hammerons and pulloffs. These bits mix well with the rhythms.

The production even though it's independent is quite well orchestrated. You can hear the guitars, vocals and drums quite clearly. The bass is a little hard to hear over the main guitars though. That's the only beef that I have with the production sound. Otherwise it's wonderfully orchestrated and well worth the money they put in to produce it. I'm sure that if this band stays together, they're going to do quite well when a full-length from them comes out.

I'd have to be honest and say that the EP didn't strike me as being anything interesting to listen to, but after a couple more spins, it became more intriguing. I'm hoping to hear a follow-up since they are still active as a band. Definitely worth checking out if your taste is amongst the death/thrash/doom genres. Just a really laid back metal EP with nothing but quality in songwriting and vocals that accommodate the guitars quite well. Pick up this one, it's a gem of an EP!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by JD on June 16, 2012.

Las Vegas is known for extreme and sickening glitz and glam, gambling and shameless flashiness that memorizers millions of people yearly to trap the all mighty dollar... but it has never been know for delivering good metal. I must tell you that is not the case any more, because Las Vegas has now spawned Doom Metallers Demon Lung out of the bright lights of the strip.

Sounding like both Candlemass and Solitude Aeternus into one with Zak Wylde joining in on guitar - yet still coming through as very original in their own right Demon Lung thunders out at you with bone crushing perfection. Having one of the few female vocalists (Shanda Fredrick) in Doom Metal today, is just icing on the cake. This girl’s haunting and ethereal vocal abilities conveys so much of the melancholy and bleakness that the lyrics are about. Powerful and direct does not begin to say how good she is.

Strong traditional Doom is what you get, accented by some shading of almost a sort of slow Thrash at times is what Demon Lung does. I love every song on this album and that does not happen very often, but it has. With memorable songs that mach up with the ingenious arrangements of the music, it keeps the songs in your head hours after the album was over. This may just be a EP... but it impacts like no other album for me.

Only thing I see that could be done is a little better - recording. It still sounds very good despite some unwanted tinniness held by the guitars on a few tracks but if they can fix up this little glitch and bring out the bass sound a touch, Candlemass might loose the Doom Metal crown to these amazing musicians.

Get the Demon Lung’s album right now, and spread the Doomy goodness across to the four corners of the Earth.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship:9.5
Atmosphere: 10
Production: 7.5
Originality: 9
Overall: 9

Rating: 9.0 out of 10