Picture the scene, Danish winter, short days and long nights. The blistering cold in this dark and ominous landscape. If you can't imagine this yourself, then look no farther than DEMON HEAD. The five-piece forming in Denmark's capital of Copenhagen their music will personify the drab and dreary winters of their homeland.

The artwork for "Viscera", the fourth album from DEMON HEAD, is a dark and dense pit, I'm not entirely sure I understand what it is they are trying to convey. But it fits to the music that comes perfectly. Opening is "Tooth And Nail" and instantly, there is a mesmerising guitar run that just seems to drag you down into the spiral, and before you know it, the undulating vocals have you in a trap. It's almost as if the voices in your mind were recorded and put to tracking, the effect is astounding. "The Feline Smile" continues with this ominous atmosphere, making full use of the effects that can be achieved with varying vocal techniques, indeed the vocals are the main driving force of this record so far for me. It is quite simply magical.

"Arrows" acts as a bridging track, but it is still so full of fantastic ideas. It was almost reminiscent of a more Gothy DAVID BOWIE or PINK FLOYD in parts of the styling and it just blew me away. "Magical Death" appears to have been built on dissonance and unconventional time signatures, any Prog snob's dream really! The slow crawling pace of the track just again adds an air of despair and hopelessness that is honestly just beautiful in its fullest effect. "Viscera" then begins to take a bit of a turn, with two shortened tracks one after another, "The Lupine Choir" and "A Long, Groaning Descent" before plunging into "In Adamantine Chains" and whilst it is more upbeat than the remainder of the album thus far, there is an element of desperation in its driving forces and wailing vocals that just seem to continue to build on an almost conceptual story I can visualize whilst listening to the album.

This increase in tempo is short lived, bar for the odd flurry, the remainder of the record is seen out in a reduced speed. Coming to a final head clash in the form of "The Triumphal Chariot Of Antimony". Now I call this a clash as I mentioned earlier a concept; in my mind I have seen an individual struggling with their own personal demons whilst wondering on a wintery night through a town. Each track seemed to be a different mental battle that they were dealing with, sometimes successfully and other times swirling down the rabbit hole.

Overall, this is simply a marvelous release. The intricacies, the effects and atmosphere were astounding. The flow was perfect and the visual effect I felt from the music was fantastic. I would, and am, recommend this to anyone, you simply cannot go wrong by allowing DEMON HEAD into your life.