Almost all Metal fans know Demon due to their first two brilliant releases: "Night Of The Demon" and "The Unexpected Guest". Although they have released so far 12 albums including many good songs, yet the average fan still identifies them with the first two insuperable ones. Two main reasons puzzled me about their current appearance in Athens. The first one was that there have been elapsed 20 years from their heydays and the second one was that from the original line-up only the singer Dave Hill has remained. However not all musicians were new, since Andy Dale had participated in the "Breakout" album of 1987. In any case I was very curious to see how they would sound live nowadays.

The small club "Underworld" was decorated like a stage from the "Seven" movie. The concert begun with "Crimson Fire", whose appearance and sound resembled like a NWOBHM band with some Power Metal influences ala Helloween. Among the songs that distinguished was the homonymous "Crimson fire" and the cover of Tokyo Blade "Night Of The Blade". Regardless if one likes them or not, it is remarkable that young musicians deal with old type cult bands like Tokyo Blade and the NWOBHM movement in general.

Next band the Greek Power Metal veterans "Reflection". Although they existed many years they haven't managed to release many albums, which is indicative of the problems that Greek Metal scene confronts. The expansive singer Chris Kappas was the indisputable frontman and talked to the audience at almost every break. They played songs from the albums "The Fire Still Burns" and "Odyssey" such as “The Sorceress” “Fire”, “Giants”, “Wings of Fate”, “Reflection”, “The Forbidden Seed”, “Slaughter In The Island Of The Sun”, “The Wheel Of Fortune”. All musicians were skillful enough and especially the guitarist. Their songs include many choral parts; in a way I could say they are ideal for attending football matches. They finished with supreme Power Metal hymn "When Immortals Die".

Demon appeared on stage at about 11 o'clock after a small (20 years!!!) delay playing (at else?) "Night Of The Demon". Even by listening the first notes the audience "was set on fire" and expressed its exultation in many ways like headbanging, moshing etc. Dave Hill, who was initially dressed in a black robe and wore sunglasses, launched the energy of the audience as an absolute frontman and made us feel something from their heydays in the early 80ties. The panic continued since the next song, "Into The Nightmare", came from of the same glorious period. The "torch" passed to the Plague album of '83 by playing two songs: "The Plague" and "Blackheath". The classic hit "Wonderland" came perfectly at the right moment to cool us down a bit. It was already high time for something new and they played "Standing On The Edge" from the latest album "Better The Devil You Know". It sounded pretty interesting to my ears although I listened it for first time. At this point Dave thanked all of us for celebrating that night the 25th anniversary of the band. It followed a big dive to the past with "Father of time" and "Sign of a madman". Needless to describe how much the audience was Demonized.

The next part of the concert was really overwhelming. Demon didn't leave us in a peace of mind since after these masterpieces they played the Power Metal hymn "Remembrance Day". Despite its duration was getting more interesting as it went on and on and concluded to a dynamic outbreak. The audience was more than satisfied but still hungry to listen to the beloved old successes. And at the right moment came the absolute song: "Don't Break The Circle". What happened in the Club was indescribable. Even the walls participated to this party atmosphere. All musicians and especially the guitarists didn't simply perform the song but they improvised by playing amazing guitar solos.

After this Karl Finney played an extensive guitar solo resembling Van Halen's "Eruption", not only by sound but also in the movements.

It followed "Life On Wire" and then "One Helluva Night" performed in a completely hyperdynamic extensive guitar outbreaks. Ray Walmsley and Karl Finney gave it all. Whoever has listened the live album "One Helluva Night - live in Germany" of 1990 can understand what happened, even after a delay of 15 years. The concert closed with the song "Think Of Time". I don't know from where it came since it is not included in the official discography. They played at about 90 minutes, which was satisfactory enough although we wanted to listen to more songs especially from the first albums. My initial inhibitions had been smashed. Demon proved that, at least live, haven't loose much of their glory and they can still excite the audience, which should have been that night about 400-500 persons. Despite the great time distance from their heydays, I think more people should have attended this legendary band. Anyway, the ones who did should consider themselves as lucky.

I frankly apologize to our readers for the lack of photos due to a terrible mishappening that occurred to my camera. I advise them to visit the very well designed official site of the band since there is much info and some nice photos from this concert as well.

Approximate Setlist

Night Of The Demon
Into The Nightmare
The Plague
Blackheath
Wonderland
Standing On The Edge
Father Of Time
Sign Of A Madman
Remembrance Day (A Song For Peace)
Don't Break The Circle
Life On The Wire
No More Hell On Earth
One Helluva Night
Think Of Time