Brighton based trio Demob Happy peer into the depths of the human soul on their second album Holy Doom.
It’s been a while since Demob’s debut album Dream Soda in 2015, and a lot has happened since. The band was under strain; down a member, let down by a lot of people, depression, anxiety, and a nasty break-up to top it all off. They came out strong however, combating the struggle with an united spirit defining Holy Doom.
The album jumps between pure holiness and the lure of the devil through a combination of heavy music with sweet melodies and harmonies. Despite being down one guitarist, Holy Doom feels a lot heavier than their last album, with grungy, fuzzed out guitars and lots of chunky riffs. Title track ‘Holy Doom’ in specific is one to look out for with a lot of experimental guitar effects and mismatched riffs laced with Matt Marcantonio’s falsetto “You know it’s gonna be OK”.
As an album, Holy Doom is a strong nod towards traditional indie rock, especially on ‘Loosen It’, ‘Fake Satan’ and ‘I Wanna Leave (Alive)’, but it is also full of little surprises such as the almost punk track ‘Spinning Out’ and opening track ‘Liar In Your Head’ is guaranteed to get the crowd going when played live with its catchy chorus and massive build up to the albums first instrumental solo.
The song that most stands out on the album is closing track ‘Fresh Outta Luck’. Compared to the harmony drenched heavy rock on the rest of the album, ‘Fresh Outta Luck’ feels very fresh and instrumentally light, making the lyrics “You’re fresh out of luck / So fresh out of luck” sound like something that’s actually positive and enjoyable. Although it’s a stark contrast with the rest of the album, the song still screams Demob Happy and it’s very welcome on this second release.
A lot has changed in the last couple of years, but we’re glad to see that Demob Happy is still the band we’ve come to love. They might be a man shorter, but they’re bigger and stronger than ever before.
Rating out of 10: 9/10
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