The French Metal scene is blooming and has been for a while, if it ever has been slumbering. Though somehow French bands have a hard time to get beyond their own borders and out into the world. For as long as I can remember there have been French cult bands around, lurking and making noise, but not many getting the full scale of attention they might have deserved. Gabriel and Nihilistic Holocaust have done their part to promote and get French bands out in the big world, on cassette tape. He has been signing and releasing both new names and old and almost forgotten bands, he has been re-releasing some cool dusty and almost forgotten things – and luckily Nihilistic Holocaust continues its quest. DEMONIST is a new band from Nancy, in Northern France, churning out old school Death Metal. This four track EP takes us back to when things were darker and heavier in Death Metal. Though the band isn’t travelling all the way down the nostalgic path, there is a little modern twist and turn here and there. When I write modern, I mean in the manner of brutal tech Death Metal from the start ’00s, with some quirky guitar leads and thundering drum and bass patterns. The riffing is solid and the guitar tone is crunchy, on top of that, there are some good melodies intertwined into the brutality, the bass lines rock and come well through the production, the drumming is powerful and that snare drum sound I approve! The vocals are brutal and well-articulated, most of the lyrics can be picked out. There isn’t a single innovative thing sledged into the four tracks on the release, and that is nice! Solid old school Death Metal with a significant touch of the band’s identity, which will grow stronger with time. I am looking forward to hearing more from this, quite pre- to start ’90s Floridian, with heavy traces of Buffalo, band from the North of France. Enter the coronation of DEMONIST’s domain: www.facebook.com/demonistdeathmetal, www.facebook.com/nihilisticzinedistro