DEMON EYES from Sannois in France gained respect in the old guard of Classic European Metal after releasing their debut "Rites Of Chaos" in 1984. Think classic French bands like SORTILEGE or H-BOMB and you are on the right Metal track. By 1990 and their third album, Traditional Heavy Metal had started to run out of steam amongst the changing musical environment. The third album, "Out Of Control", now gets a re-issue after lack of support back in the day. It received limited promotion in 1990 and the band faded away. Luckily, Greek label No Remorse have issued this limited to 500 copies album with two extra studio tracks, five demo tracks and a live track.

I was always a big fan of TRUST and SORTILEGE, so I have a bit of a Metal soft spot for French bands. Metal actually sounds pretty good when sung in French as TRUST proved back in the day but of course most bands stick to English. The old school French bands tended to have an early Power Metal sound and this is the case with DEMON EYES. They have a nice galloping, pounding style. They sound a bit like early LOUDNESS. "Songs Of Death" especially has the sound of the Japanese heavies. It has that nice fast riff and high-pitched vocals and energy. This is the glory years of the Metal sound before man discovered de-tuned guitars, break beats and cookie-monster vocals. When heavy music was full of melodies and songs and happy go lucky Metaldom. Of course, it couldn't last forever as with most musical movements. People had basically heard a similar formula for nigh on ten years. That's where all the new Metal genres came in. It had to happen.

Back to the album, "Shy" is more melodic and the vocals sound very much like Joe Elliot from the early DEF LEPPARD years. Title track "Out Of Control" is a well-constructed song and different. It has synthesized horns, rapping vocals and funky beats. I'm guessing these guys secretly listened to funky grooves. "Dreams Never Lie" finishes the original album with a nice riffing finale and fret board tapping. More of a Classic Rock feel to this one, akin to early RAINBOW. There are two bonus tracks and a load of demo's sung in French. These tracks have a certain charm but the original eight songs are on there for a reason.

Back in the 80's this was quality Metal played well with a touch of originality. There are funky bits added and I suspect the band were looking at the 90's and thinking that they needed something extra in their recipe. I still want to give this a strong rating and this deserves a seven. In reality, this is for the hard-core old school Metaller. The fact that this see's the light of day again in 2017 is well deserved and good luck to DEMON EYES for any future activity.