• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

I've never been a big fan of Demon, but this album – a 2015 remix of the original 1989 release – is pretty cool overall though it is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride. Very upbeat songs share this disc with some solemn-sounding, sometimes downright depressing ones. As a whole, the material here is mostly "approachable", meaning that it probably won't turn off, and maybe appeal to, people who are into more commercial stuff like hard rock or even "plain and simple" rock.

The main draw for me are the vocals. They likely wouldn't win any prize, but here the delivery is pretty much perfect on every song. Even when they sound a bit shaky, they don't sound out of place but rather just what the song calls for. This beats any singer trying to show off too much in my book. Musically the album, as mentioned earlier, is very approachable, just "metal enough" but "rock-ish enough" to potentially appeal to a larger audience (whether it does or not is another story). Most of the album is very upbeat except for "Remembrance Day" (great song, just a bit of a downer), "What Do You Think About Hell" (good song but kind of depressing) and the closer "Time Has Come" which at just under 12 minutes is too long for its own good and feels a little out of place.

Taking the World by Storm is not a perfect album but it has a raw vibe, an honesty about it that keeps it on my playlist despite a couple of downers.