Demons My Friends filmed the video premiering below earlier this Spring as they played two support gigs for Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson in Guadalajara. There’s some joke there to be made about stoner rock and Dickinson famously yelling at people in the crowd for smoking weed, but that’s a good spot to play regardless of whether or not you’re a Maiden fan, and why poke fun anyhow. To mark the occasion, the song “Inner Slay” becomes the backdrop for a clip that captures the TX/MX-based three-piece onstage and off, and while it’s not the most party-ready cut from their 2023 debut long-player, Demons Seem to Gather (review here), with some edge of Pallbearer-style emotionalism resonating in its echoing melody, but that adds rather than takes away from the experience, and clearly it was a special moment for the band. At five minutes, “Inner Slay” is one of the longer songs on the record. Maybe they had more they wanted to remember than the 3:13 “Make Them Pay” could hold. I ain’t arguing.

The band were on tour in May and will be out again in September in Austin — where at least some percentage of the trio is based, I think, split between there and Mexico City — as part of the sprawling gathering that will be this year’s Ripplefest Texas, and in October they’re set to appear at Monterrey Metal Fest, where the likes of Satyricon and Enslaved will also play. Demons My Friends aren’t that aggro, but their tones are likewise fuzzed and expansive, and as alluded above, there are darker tinges of doom beneath the exterior of some of their material, whether it’s the Monolordy roll of album opener “The Tower Falls” or the thickened shuffle in the verses of “Fire Mountain” later on. Either way, the spirit in which the the “Inner Slay” clip arrives is pretty straightforward — commemoration — and indeed it looks like a couple nights worth remembering.

If you didn’t catch the album, no sweat, it’s not like they’ve put out three more since (yet). The full Bandcamp stream is at the bottom of this post, and you might find that after you see them celebrating what will surely be a highlight of the time around their first album, it’s cool to see clips spliced into the “Inner Slay” video of them laughing and having a good time backstage and soundchecking and whatnot. Cool band does cool thing — again, pretty straightforward. But if they’re new to you and you find yourself thinking of forward potential in their sound, the various avenues that Demons Seem to Gather sets up for them to explore while offering solid structures underneath their more soaring elements for a strong foundation in craft, that’s pretty much where I’m at too. Very interested to see where the next few years take them, and that they’re thus far playing into being the outsider act on more metal lineups — not that Bruce Dickinson and Satyricon play the same kind of stuff, but you know what I mean — is fascinating and bold. I expect to hear good things after Ripplefest.

For now, here’s the video. Please enjoy:

Demons My Friends, “Inner Slay” video premiere

Recorded on April 18 2024 at Teatro Diana in Guadalajara, Mexico during the first of the two shows that DMF opened for Bruce Dickinson on his Mandrake Project World Tour.

“Inner Slay” appears on Demons My Friends’ full-length album, “Demons Seem To Gather”, available everywhere via Gravitoyd Heavy Music (in partnership with Wiseband France).

Video shot, edited and directed by Alexander Bizzarro.
“Inner Slay” produced and mixed by Jeff Henson at Red Nova Ranch (Austin, TX) and mastered by Alberto De Icaza.

Festival Appearances
Sept 21st – Ripplefest Texas – Austin TX
Oct 12th – Mexico Metal Fest – Monterrey, Mexico

Demons My Friends is:
Pablo Anton – guitar/vox
Lu Salinas – Bass/vox
Tarro Martinez – Drums

Demons My Friends, Demons Seem to Gather (2023)

Demons My Friends on Facebook

Demons My Friends on Instagram

Demons My Friends on Bandcamp

Demons My Friends Linktr.ee

Gravitoyd Heavy Music on Facebook

Gravitoyd Heavy Music on Instagram

Gravitoyd Heavy Music on Bandcamp

Tags: Austin, Demons My Friends, Demons My Friends Demons Seem to Gather, Demons Seem to Gather, Gravitoyd Heavy Music, Mexico, Mexico City, Texas

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 5th, 2024 at 8:56 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.