The best thing about Williamsport, PA, modern rockers CANDLELIGHT RED's debut disc, last year's The Wreckage, was that the songs—as steeped in post-grunge arena rock as they were—had a very '80s vibe to them, an obvious love of some of the classic hard rock we all grew up with. On follow-up EP Demons those influences are apparent straight away once again. And we love that stuff, it helps the downer-groove rock go down a bit smoother; and it must be said that even though downer rock is, well, a downer, these guys do it as well as the pros, easily. The EP, produced by SEVENDUST drummer Morgan Rose, even almost approaches some MESHUGGAH turf with that intro riff to 'Cutter'. Closing kinda-ballad 'Sleeping Awake' is a powerful way to close off this EP, which is sure to please fans of the near-nu/post-grunge and, like I say, just may pull in some grizzled old hard rock dudes as well. Some of those old hard rock dudes may just be searching for something that tickles their fancy—catchy choruses, big riffs, arena-ready anthems—and considering the cheese that permeates a lot of the bands who deliver those sounds, it's refreshing to see a band like Candlelight Red who don't get bogged down in the fromage and instead obviously prefer to just rock out.
