100 DEMONS – Embrace the Black Light

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7.0

• Bands:
  100 DEMONS
• Duration: 00:36:00
• Available from: 05/06/2026
• Label:

• Closed Casket Activities

Twenty-two years of recording silence have not softened 100 Demons. Indeed, “Embrace the Black Light” sounds exactly like the return of a band of life-worn veterans, still full of resentment and absolutely uninterested in compromising. In a hardcore and metalcore scene increasingly obsessed with the recovery of sounds from the Nineties and Noughties, the Connecticut quintet returns to the scene almost with an air of defiance: after having seen numerous young groups take inspiration from their catalogue, they might as well go back to doing the work themselves.

The return seems to be welcomed with enthusiasm by a scene that in recent times seems to look insistently to certain formulas of the past. Moreover, the debut “In the Eyes of the Lord” remains a small classic of metal hardcore, even if the subsequent “100 Demons” had already shown a band intent on smoothing out some corners, introducing slightly more melodic solutions. The new chapter ideally continues that evolutionary path, but does so by pushing in a partially different direction, that is, opting for a hybridization between hardcore and more distinctly thrash metal elements.

“Embrace the Black Light” then starts from there, adding further specific weight to the sound, relying on a modern and massive production that makes each riff thicker. The hardcore metal fulcrum remains clear, with the quintet then incorporating more excited gallops and cues, for a formula in which riffs and dynamics that owe to Slayer and Exodus clearly emerge. Parallels with Hatebreed, All Out War and Sworn Enemy are equally automatic, especially for that way of alternating uptempo, pachydermal grooves and cadences that inspire brawls in parking lots.

In this sense, of course there is nothing really new under the sun: this type of crossover between hardcore and essential thrash has existed for decades and “Embrace…” certainly doesn't try to reinvent it. But there is a substantial difference between those who mimic an aesthetic and those who have actually experienced that stuff. 100 Demons sound like men coming from years of bruises, mistakes and accumulated frustration, and that attitude makes the album more credible than many revivalist products. Furthermore, the band still knows the mechanics of hardcore songwriting well: the breakdowns arrive when they need to arrive and the album almost always maintains a good balance between ostentatious ignorance and spontaneity.

Of course, the second half of the tracklist loses a bit of brilliance after a decidedly more inspired start, as if the group had fired their best cartridges at the beginning of the scuffles, but in front of broadsides like “The Nightmare”, “Meat for the Beast” and “Nail It Shut” and with an overall duration that is still rather limited, the problem fades into the background.

All things considered, 100 Demons return, turn up the volume, recover their baggage of anger and anti-religious sentiment and pour it into a handful of new compositions. Not everything works the same, but the feeling is that this return has something authentic to say, especially in a scene where attitude is often imitated better than it is actually experienced.