Visitor Q – Inception [Demo]

To start off I like how this is done, old fashioned approach, just put out a demo. This is Visitor Q (named after the controversial film of the same name) from Dublin and they sound like, hold on… The band themselves describe their sound as “A car full of shotguns crashing through a consecutive series of stained-glass windows, eventually bound to destroy itself in a factory full of mangled animal carcasses.” Well, em….. yeah……….. they’re a metal band. Anyway, what’s it like?

Opener “Caligula” shifts in and out of satisfying old school thrash-esque bursts complete with some tasty riffs. The vocalist sounding a tad bit too much like Phil Anselmo may become weary to some ears but the track remains alluringly heavy and just plain good!

The band wears their influences on their sleeves. The obvious sway of Pantera is heard as too is Lamb Of God. But, you can hear snippets of prog in Visitor Q’s output, like those of Symphony X and Dream Theater.

“Phenotype” opens with some impressive riffing and then cascades between some Maiden-like guitar leads. I like the guitar work on this demo; it’s quite impressive, as too is the drumming. “Unholy Depiction” continues Q’s barrage, peeling off riff after riff.

To close off this demo we have “Popular Disease”; an interesting cap off serving as an appropriate summation. Also, at the 3.16 mark the song swings into a largely unexpected mellow section with near crystal clear vocals and a superb guitar solo only to revert back to the bludgeon within a minute.

Inception shows a great deal of potential, though they seem like one of those bands that some folk will like to find flaws in, like the ever present Anselmo-isms. But look past that and what you have is a band that could do great things some day.

7/10