Hailing from France Demians are the brainchild of one Nicolas Chapel, the man behind the music, lyrics and all of the arrangements on “Building An Empire”. Initially conceived as individual project Chapel however later decided to turn the project into a full blown band affair in order to realize his visions commenting. "I really started working on the album with an extremely naïve approach. Musical styles or genres don’t mean anything to me, so I really concentrate on my feelings when I work on my music. No boundaries, no expectations and absolutely no limits”. Indeed “Building An Empire” is one of those albums that requires a few listens before you can begin to really appreciate its musical riches.

Opening track “The Perfect Symmetry” is the perfect example of the riches described above. Clocking in at just less than ten minutes it's a dark and broody song that develops on many levels. Guitar parts start out sparse and gentle sketching out the harmonic basis of the track but just when you think you are listening to modern day formulaic progressive rock the band introduce some sophisticated orchestration before hitting you over the head with what can only be described as bludgeoning riffs.  On second track, Shine, Demians take things from a whisper to a roar as the gentle opening gives way to a guitar riff that is both tight and straight to the point, whilst the vocal line that loops over the top of the heavier section gives an intense and dramatic feel to proceedings.

“Sapphire”, well-arranged and melodic, manages to combine moments of darkness and light to wonderful effect and “Naïve” blends great acoustic playing and layers together with crunching rock guitar riffs. There are weaker moments here however, “Unspoken”, which is the most delicate and sparse song on the album, somehow drifts past the listener slightly even with the wonderfully layered guitars that give this song a very unique flavour and two songs later  “Empire”, with its trippy ambient drums feels slightly repetitive and fails to really catch fire. Luckily  sandwiched between these two the vocal and drum patterns of “Temple” pull the listener back in as the song is both dramatic and bold without needing to employ any heavy guitar riffs that were a feature of the first few numbers.

The final track, “Sand”,  is also the album's longest running to just over sixteen minutes. With instrumentation that is gently drip fed into the arrangement things build with purpose and there is a wonderful surging feel to the rhythms and melodies. As a piece of song writing it’s certainly ambitious and sophisticated and possibly points the way musically for Demians.

“Building An Empire” has already garnered praise from one of the most influential voices in modern day progressive music, namely Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson who believes that “Building An Empire” is  “One of the most assured accomplished debut albums I have ever heard, the textures and dynamics within the music are breathtaking. A must for everyone who appreciates the art of epic and ambitious 21^st century rock music”. High praise indeed and wholly justified. Like Wilson I also think the band have created something rather special when you consider this is their debut album and it definitely shows that Demians have the ability and talent to become quite a force in the music world.

Let us know your views on Building An Empire

Track Listing

The Perfect Symmetry
Shine
Sapphire
Naive
Unspoken
Temple
Empire
Sand