Stepping out of the tower in the dark determined to muse upon the thresholds of consciousness without leaving behind the surrealistic despair that’d powered their past Copenhagen, Denmark-based “diabolic” rock quintet DEMON HEAD now complete their first decade of action with a record that portends a deep-set bout of change. A fifth full-length album built from their unbroken continuum of olden, oaken rock and gothic heavy metal grime ‘Through Holes Shine the Stars‘ is additive to all they’ve gained and lost in the search for dire emotional profundity. Their work has gained its own specificity to the point that it feels several leagues down a dark rabbit hole, a dark trip that’ll take some time to catch up with and grasp as the eerily layered production values and haunted, ailing moods it wills into sombre space carry significant idiosyncrasy despite attempts to be more outwardly shot.

Demon Head formed circa 2012 as they’d ventured their own exuberant path through “retro” heavy psychedelic rock and proto-doom metal unto a handful of notable releases. As a fan of everything from Dunbarrow and Witchcraft to the oldest tapes from Pentagram (United States) their first two full-length releases had a stirringly oaken, olden sound that’d developed to an appreciable peak on ‘Thunder on the Fields‘ by 2017. While there was a mournful spirit to their sound it was a band best known for fiercely self-sufficient practices, anti-capitalist sentiment, and somber occult/gothic rock inspired tonality. Their first deeper step into the darker heavy rock direction, which many compared to In Solitude‘s change on ‘Sister‘, came with ‘Hellfire Ocean Void‘ (2019) an album that I’d praised in review at the time while acknowledging their sound was endearing and unique in its affect though rarely catchy in the moment. Their atmosphere was entirely their own at that point and a uniquely miserable doomed gothic rock sound which’d eventually got them signed with Metal Blade for an incredibly dour, wilting fourth LP (‘Viscera‘, 2021). It’d been their darkest step, a most draining event, and their most elaborately built release to date, earning the band a fresh point of personage. If there is any hype for this fifth album, which finds the band back at it with Svart Records (who’d released their third album), it comes from the sort of listener who has a brain for introverted heavy rock music that delays any outright gratification upon reveal.

The spin given to ‘Through Holes Shines the Stars‘ is that Demon Head‘ve put a more of an extroverted touch to not only their vocal arrangements but the whole of their songcraft, grabbing at bigger hooks and such as they continue their walk beyond ‘Viscera‘. From the get-go I have to say, yes, this is definitely an important tonal difference compared to the previous record but I’d not noticed any of this up front on account of the absolutely bizarre presentation of the vocals which haunts the full listen from the start. Like a King Diamond pre-chorus variant that never ends all of the vocals from Marcus Ferreira Larsen are backed, mirrored, or harmonized by guitarist Birk Gjerlufsen Nielsen. I don’t believe there is a single line on the lyric sheet that isn’t performed in unison between the two vocalists and from my point of view this never quite lets Larsen shine as he had previously. I say this not for the sake of disliking dual vocals but rather that they’re so incessantly there in both ears, detracting from the dynamic of the recording. To start this works well in creating the unsettling, often discordantly stated entrance we’re given with the first two songs, “The Chalice” b/w “Draw Down the Sky”, which are actually some of the more lively, guitar driven songs on the album with the latter sporting an early 80’s heavy metal gallop for its main verses.

If you’ve returned to Demon Head in 2024 looking for something that goes beyond ‘Viscera‘ and its creepy-crawling tonal grime “Every Flatworm” is exactly that step as far as I’m concerned, a dreary and deranged piece which stretches into eeriest, nigh ethereal rounds of harmonized backing vocals and heavier guitar progressions which unravel slowly. The dementia of it all arises in a very satisfying way as the rhythm section and various accoutrement appear to intentionally lose direction as the song waltzes out of line at peak statement. If they’d played it a bit more straight out the box the effect might’ve been a goth-doom stammer yet the atmospheric dread and buried resound of this piece acts as an estranged corridor, a soldiering nightmarish stomp which reminds me of one of my favorite (brutally underrated) records in recent years Encyrcle‘s ‘Deeper‘ for the trotting dramatism that picks the song up in its final reprise.

Otherwise there are a handful of dual lead guitar strung periods of solace and stride on ‘Through Holes Shine the Stars‘ which provide the light behind the eyes ‘Viscera‘ lacked beyond ‘Hellfire Ocean Void‘. The largely instrumental bluster of “Wildfire” is the most direct showcase to start but as the album’s tonal reach leans increasingly layered, ethereal yet tormented in its group-sung ache, the remainder of Side B finds any reason it can to whip out a lead or two. The surreal drooping spiritus and heavy metal glide of the early Ghost-like chorales of “Deeper Blades” set the NWOTHM-era punchiness of faux retro 80’s heavy metal to drown beneath the waves in a noir scene where Demon Head‘s winged guitar leads that carry this song (and its surrounding pieces) in a way that’d regularly caught my ear on repeat listens. Otherwise this emphasis on leads is also the most obvious feature of “Frost” where Nielsen trades and harmonizes leads with Anders M. Jørgensen of Slaegt as this dramatic goth heavy metal gallop they’ve managed together finds one shining moment where Larsen‘s theatrics aren’t entirely drowned or distracted from by the backing vocals.

Though my gripe with the vocal arrangements was initially disruptive of the overall experience I will say that they began to make sense in certain situations as the suggested dramatism of ‘Through Holes Shine the Stars‘ and its discordant goth-tinged muse revealed more of its late 70’s heavy rock bones over on Side B. While I still pine for the greasy, broken bustle of the first two records from Demon Head I have to admit that this point they’ve reached something entirely unique in the span of the three LPs released since, it feels like their own thing. What’d have been next-level for my own taste? Tapped into more tonal variety, making it more of a theatric trip beyond the transcendent sprawl that happens here, or at least cutting into a couple surprising song types since we are limited to this singular gloom-stricken moodiness from the outset. Otherwise I’d felt this album revive my interest in their work to some degree, enjoying a more bold delivery and appreciating a group willing to go their own way and make a patient reveal of it. A moderately high recommendation.

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