demon for crossover / eclectic prog / neo-prog

^^

NWOBPR = New Wave of British Progressive Rock

Cristi wrote: hard rock and heavy metal if they have a prog side or at least influences, give us some links because I've heard of this band and I know them as hard'n'heavy/NWOBHM.

A few that shies a little bit away from trad hard rock/metal at least:

New Ground - from British Standard Approved - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqZAyXkVjqw
The Plague - from The Plague - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEYm1anvavQ

Others can probably chime in with more and possibly better examples.

BAND INFORMATION: DEMON

 

A short paragraph with your reasons why this band should be added

Although generally filed up with the ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ bands and classic metal bands and largely linked to this scene, Demon introduced consistently ‘proggy’ elements to their music throughout their long history, and in 1983-1986, the heyday of the ‘New-prog’ season in the UK, they published a triplet of Albums, starting with the great ‘The Plague’, which stand well together with other bands of the period, especially Twelfth Night and Saga, coupling metal and new wave elements with a distinct symphonic twist and politically-charged lyrics.

 

Artist/band biography (usually found on their web site)

Demon is an English hard rock/heavy metal/progressive rock group, formed in 1979 by vocalist Dave Hill and guitarist Mal Spooner, both hailing from Leek, Staffordshire. They are considered an important band in the new wave of British heavy metal movement.

The original line-up was completed by Les Hunt (lead guitar), Chris Ellis (bass guitar) and John Wright (drums). The band were signed by Mike Stone's Clay Records in 1980 and licensed to Carrere Records to join their stable of metal bands. Their debut album, Night of the Demon, was released in 1981. After their 1982 follow-up album, The Unexpected Guest, the band experimented beyond the NWOBHM sound and moved the band in a more melodic direction whilst still retaining the more traditional heavy metal black magic lyrical style.

In 1983 Demon took a change in direction. The Plague marked a swing towards a more progressive sound, adding the keyboards of session musician Andy Richards to the album's sound. Lyrically the band also changed direction, switching to a more overtly political style that was to characterise their albums for the rest of their career. The following album, the Pink Floyd influenced British Standard Approved (1984), released on the small independent Clay label, was not a huge commercial success, and with the death of Mal Spooner later that year, it appeared that the band would soon fold. At this point, the band had recruited a permanent keyboard player and co-songwriter in Steven Watts.

The following release Heart of Our Time (1985) showed that the remaining members of the band were determined to continue, and it was the start of a new songwriting partnership between Hill and Watts. Although the album is regarded as the weakest of the bands releases, it paved the way for the critically acclaimed Breakout (1987) and its follow-up Taking the World by Storm (1988). The band would go on to release two more albums in the 1990s: 1991's Hold onto the Dream and 1992's Blow Out, before splitting up in 1992 which, according to singer and founding member Dave Hill, was because of fatigue.

Hill reunited the band with new members in 2001, and released a new album called Spaced Out Monkey. The band has since gone onto release a further three albums: Better the Devil You Know (2005), Unbroken (2012) and their latest release Cemetery Junction, which was released on 28 October 2016. All of the bands post reunion releases have received positive reviews from the press leading the band to go on and play many festivals across Europe Including Bang Your Head festival and Sweden Rock the band also toured with Magnum singer Bob Catley in 2005.

(Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_(band))

 

Country

UK

 

Prog genre (This may be subject to change by PA staff)

Eclectic prog? Neo-prog?

 

Artist picture

 

Official Website

http://the-demon.com/

 

Discography (In a List style not in a Paragraph, Include line up and Year of release)

Studio albums

·         Night of the Demon (1981)

·         The Unexpected Guest (1982) – UK No. 47

·         The Plague (1983) – UK No. 73 [5]

·         British Standard Approved (1985)

·         Heart of Our Time (1985)

·         Breakout (1987)

·         Taking the World by Storm (1989)

·         Hold on to the Dream (1991)

·         Blow-out (1992)

·         Spaced out Monkey (2001)

·         Better the Devil You Know (2005)[6]

·         Unbroken (2012)

·         Cemetery Junction (2016)

Live albums / compilations

·         One Helluva Night (live) (1990)

·         Anthology (1991)

·         The best of Demon Volume one (1999)

·         The Time Has Come - Best of Demon (2006)

Videos

·         The Unexpected Guest Tour - Live At Tiffany's 1982 (2008)

·         Up Close And Personal! Live In Germany 2006 (2009)

 

Members

Current members

Dave Hill – lead vocals (1979–1992, 2001–present)

Ray Walmsley – bass (2012–present), guitars (1997–2011)

Karl Waye – keyboards (2001, 2012–present)

Neil Ogden – drums, percussion (2002–present)

David Cotterill – guitars (2007–present)

Paul Hume – guitars (2012–present)

 

Past members

Paul Riley – bass (1979–1980)

John Wright – drums, percussion (1979–1987)

Clive Cook – guitars (1979–1980)

Mal Spooner – guitars (1979–1984; died in 1984)

Les Hunt – bass (1981), guitars (1981–1983)

Chris Ellis – bass (1982–1983)

Gavin Sutherland – bass (1984–1985)

Steve Watts – keyboards (1984–1991)

John Waterhouse – guitars (1985–1992)

Andy Dale – bass (1987–1988, 1997–2011)

Nick Bushell – bass (1988–1991)

Scott Crawford – drums (1988–1991)

Steve Brookes – guitars (1988–1992, 1997–2001)

Mike Thomas – bass (1992)

Paul Rosscrow – drums, percussion (1992)

John Cotterill – drums, percussion (2001)

Duncan Hansell – keyboards (2001)

Karl Finney – guitars (2003–2005)

Tim Read – guitars (2005–2007)

Paul Farrington – keyboards (2002–2012)

Paul Johnson – bass (2011–2012)

 

A group (5) of MP3 that give the best overview of bands sound in 128 bit stereo,mp3

[sent separately as a GDRIVE link]

-          Fever in the City (from ‘The Plague’ 1983)

-          Hemispheres (from ‘British Standard Approved’ 1984)

-          Expressing the heart (from ‘Heart of our times’ 1985)

-          Don’t break the circle (from ‘The unexpected guest’ 1982)

-          Life on the wire (from ‘A Helluva Night (live)’ 1990)