Bandcamp Everything about Planet Terror is in the cover, so start there: a halftone pulp panel of a hooded woman gunning a chopper across a blood-red sky, gothic logo up top, western-font title below. Sonic Demon, an Italian outfit going since 2020, deal in exactly that, fuzz-acid biker doom pitched somewhere between a grindhouse double bill and a Sabbath worship service, and their fourth record is a lurid, riff-first, occult-sleaze good time. Seven tracks named things like “Demonbreath,” “Godhead Overdose” and “Hellqueen” tell you the band are not here to reinvent anything, just to melt your face with tube-saturated fuzz and ride off into the red. On its own terms, it mostly rips.
The strength is the riffs and, on the better-sounding tracks, a production that lets them breathe. “Cult Of Fire” is the high point: balanced and transparent with a healthy chunk of dynamics left intact, the tube-saturated guitars carrying excellent note separation through both riffs and leads, the bass lean and contoured, the kick landing with a real punch. “Roaring Thunder” has that same organic, mid-forward warmth with dynamic headroom and a precise pick-attack bass, and “Hellqueen” closes the record on a raw, dry, rehearsal-room feel driven by a gnarled, growling bass that is a joy. When Sonic Demon keep it loose and analog, the fuzz has weight and the songs swagger the way this music is supposed to.
The reservation is the master at the front of the record, where the loudness is pushed hardest. “Demonbreath” opens the album squeezed into hard brickwall limiting, the dynamics compressed flat before the fun even starts, and “Beyond Eternity” is similarly overcooked, the transient peaks flattened under a slightly too-hot ceiling. There is also a recurring softness in the low end, the bass on “Planet Terror” wandering into a boomy, undefined rumble rather than the tight growl it manages elsewhere, and “Godhead Overdose” lets the cymbals get harsh over a congested low mid. None of it is fatal, and much of it is the honest grime the style trades in, but the record is at its best in its second half, where the hand at the desk clearly eased off.
Planet Terror is a fun, filthy, unpretentious fuzz-doom record from a band who know precisely what they are and lean all the way in. It is not trying to be clever and it does not need to be; it just wants to be loud, heavy and a little bit evil, and when the production stays out of the way, as on “Cult Of Fire” and “Hellqueen,” it nails that with room to spare. Fans of the fuzzier, sleazier end of stoner-doom, the Electric Wizard and Acid King lineage played with a horror-movie grin, will have a blast. Crank it and let the chopper roll.
Fuzz-acid biker doom, tube-saturated and riff-first, best where the master leaves the fuzz room to breathe. “Cult Of Fire” is the high point: balanced and transparent with healthy dynamics intact, the saturated guitars carrying excellent note separation through riffs and leads, a lean contoured bass and a punchy kick. “Roaring Thunder” shares that organic, mid-forward warmth with real headroom and a precise pick-attack bass, and closer “Hellqueen” rides a raw, dry rehearsal-room feel driven by a gnarled growling bass. The reservation is the front-loaded loudness: opener “Demonbreath” is squeezed into hard brickwall limiting with the dynamics flattened, and “Beyond Eternity” is similarly overcooked, the transients crushed under a hot ceiling. There is also a recurring low-end softness, the bass on “Planet Terror” boomy and undefined where it growls tight elsewhere, and “Godhead Overdose” lets the cymbals turn harsh over a congested low mid. Loose and analog at its best, overcooked only at the front.
Standout tracks: Cult Of Fire, Hellqueen, Roaring Thunder
