Demiricous come pelting out of your speakers like some terrifying hit and run mugging, knocking you to the ground with their furious barrage, grinding your face into the grit and leaving you with little more than the relief you survived it.

Their second offering, sub-titled Poverty, is an abrasive slice of thrash mixed with little elements of almost every other hostile form of metal you can imagine. Its gritty production never detracts from the impact, and the impact of monstrosities like 'Tusk And Claw' could cave in your sternum. It's forceful, speedy delivery comes across as the meeting point of Ringworm and Slayer, vocalist Nate Olp's furious bark let loose over riffs, blastbeats and solos that are occasionally a tad messy, but far more often shockingly good grooves and killer guitars – no better example being the screaming wrath of 'Engineer' and the unforgiving riffs of album highlight 'Knuckle Eye'.

For fans of modern metal as well as old school thrashers in search of something new, Two (Poverty) is overshadowed by the vast amount of excellent metal albums released this year, but is no less worthy of a place in your collection.

Rating: 4/5 by Phill May

Tracklisting

1. Never Enough Road
2. Expression of Immunity To God
3. Knuckle Eye
4. Leprosaic Belief
5. Language Of Oblivion
6. Tusk And Claw
7. Appreciation For Misery
8. Engineer
9. Celebration Of Damage
10. Acid Lung
11. Stress Fetish
12. Blackish Silver

Further links

Metal Blade.de

Web home of the massive metal label

Demiricous.com

Homepage of Indianapolis noise-merchants Demiricous

Demiricous on Myspace

Listen to the abrasive metallic racket of Indianapolis' Demiricous