Road warriors. Fresh off a nine week North American tour that logged 18,500 miles and traversing 30 US states and two Canadian provinces, the Ventura, California trio hit the road again (January '15) to support this, their debut full-length. Not exactly the typical music biz model, but then Night Demon are anything but usual. Deeply rooted in the vaunted NWOBHM (many of the songs sound like sped up versions of Diamond Head's ‘Shoot Out The Lights’), with a healthy dose of Guy Speranza-era Riot in the mix as well. Like I said, not the tried and true path for Night Demon. The urgency is heightened by almost half the tracks barely breaking the 3:00 mark! ‘Screams In The Night’ kicks off the eleven choices, speedy, but with an infectious lilt, two of their best qualities. Love those guitar tones. The mid-tempo title cut follows.

At just 2:36, ‘Full Speed Ahead’ is an apt handle. Ditto the screaming riff-arama called ‘Killer’. Need I say more? A bit of post-production sound effects (lightning/rain storm) introduces bass rumbler ‘The Howling Man’, sort of an old Black Sabbath 45 played at 78 (for those of you old enough to know a thing or two about vinyl). Listening to ‘Heavy Metal Heat’, find myself gazing over at the calendar, wondering why it says 2015 and not 1981. In the days before “power ballads” and MTV sanctioned soft hard rock, bands crammed their albums with one uptempo number after another (and maybe an instrumental), as is the case here, ‘Livin Dangerous’ on the heels of the aforementioned ‘...Heat’, then ‘Mastermind’. A rollicking ‘Run For Your Life’ keeps the momentum chugging forward, aided by the simple guitar chords, before big synth sounds introduce the ‘Save Me Now’ finale. High energy fun!