Demon

Demon stands out in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal for its elaborate, shock-driven stage shows steeped in occult imagery, yet the group remains underappreciated despite its foundational role. Their macabre visual style stood apart from the music itself, which stayed rooted in classic hard rock rather than the high-speed punk-metal approach favored by Venom and Motörhead. Following the arrival of their opening pair of LPs—Night of the Demon in 1981 and The Unexpected Guest in 1983—the band shifted toward a more progressive sound. After breaking up in 1992, frontman Dave Hill assembled a fresh lineup in the early 2000s; this version has since issued a series of acclaimed records, among them Better the Devil You Know! (2005), Cemetery Junction (2016), and Invincible (2024).

Dave Hill and guitarist Mal Spooner had already gained experience playing in local amateur outfits around Staffordshire, England, before teaming up to launch Demon in 1979. Aided by guitarist Clive Cook, bassist Paul Riley, and drummer John Wright, the new act landed a one-off 7-inch deal with independent Clay Records that produced the single “Liar” before the year ended. Strong sales prompted French imprint Carrere—home at the time to fellow NWOBHM act Saxon—to sign the band, sending them straight back to the studio after Cook and Riley departed in favor of lead guitarist Les Hunt and bassist Chris Ellis. Night of the Demon appeared in July 1981, its first side filled with darkly gothic heavy metal and its second devoted to melodic hard rock; reviewers likened the balance to Judas Priest and later-period Rainbow. The semi-conceptual debut moved briskly, as did its 1982 successor The Unexpected Guest, which maintained the same approach while introducing keyboardist Andy Wright.

The Plague, issued in 1983, marked the beginning of a pronounced progressive-rock turn that continued through Heart of Our Time (1985), Breakout (1987), and Taking the World by Storm (1988). The band endured a serious blow when founding guitarist Mal Spooner died of pneumonia in December 1984. Hill mothballed the project throughout the 1990s and even put out a solo album in 1994, yet after assembling another best-of collection in 1999 he recruited fresh players. The reconstituted Demon entered the new century with its tenth studio effort, Spaced Out Monkey, in 2001. Hill and his latest colleagues—guitarists Ray Walmsley and Karl Finney, keyboardist Paul “Fazza” Farrington, bassist Andy Dale, and drummer Neil Ogden—delivered Better the Devil You Know! in 2005. When Unbroken surfaced in fall 2012, the lineup had again shifted: Hill, Farrington, and Ogden stayed on while David Cotterill and Paul Hume joined on guitar and Paul “Fasker” Johnson took the bass chair. Further changes accompanied Cemetery Junction in October 2016, with former guitarist Ray Walmsley returning on bass in place of Paul Johnson and Karl Waye assuming keyboards from Paul Farrington. The group marked the 35th anniversary of The Unexpected Guest with a U.K. tour in 2018. Invincible arrived in 2024 to commemorate the band’s 45th year, offering a fresh set of ghoulish tracks grounded in classic hard rock and epic prog-metal.