Band:	Les Ékorchés
Album:	IV Démons
Style:	Hardcore, Thrash metal
Release date:	March 2009

01. Juste assez sharp
02. Tu rayonnes la noirceur
03. Que la mort règne
04. Vieux moineau
05. Crash le bacon
06. 4 démons
07. Holeshot
08. Complainte de chicout
09. Bout du monde
10. Perdre le nord
11. À côté de toé
12. Avance par en arrière

When Les Ékorchés' first album was released, the band was claiming that they were still experimenting with their sound at the time. Theoretically then, they should have filled in all the nooks and crannies by now and the new album, IV Démons should be a fully realized masterpiece of hardcore/thrash performed with acoustic (albeit amplified) instruments. Sadly, this is not so.

Before I go on, lets get one thing out of the way - I don't understand French for shit, so the band's lyrics are completely lost on me. I've heard claims that lyrics are of utmost importance in Les Ékorchés' music so perhaps those of you who know the language can more easily overlook the faults of IV Demons that I am about to point out. Well, looking at this release from a purely musical point of view, this is pretty average stuff. More importantly, the concept seems to be a miss. Not one of those net-fad FAILs, but a miss all the same. The problem is that the acoustic instruments used to record the album do not really sound all that acoustic. They are amplified and distorted a little and end up sounding more like very simplistic single chord punk riffs than anything else. Considering the band plays hardcore and thrash, this sound doesn't really do its job while at the same time not fulfilling the novelty of a unique acoustic take on the style. By and large, the songwriting doesn't do anything to prevent my attention from quickly waning while listening to IV Demons either. Only some of the songs are kinda cool - "Vieux moineau" features a great duet of the band's gurgling vocalist with a female singer, something that makes up for Marc Vaillancourt's complete lack of any melody throughout the rest of the album. The rest of the decent musical moments of the album are largely caused by Michel Langevin's occasional decisions to play fast again, such as on the album opener "Juste assez sharp" and on the album's best thrash song "Complainte de chicout".

Alas, all of the above sadly paints a picture of a pretty mediocre album. It wouldn't even be all that bad if the expectations weren't so high due to the concept/gimmick behind this band. As it is, listening to IV Demons is like buying a great six-pack of lager only to discover that it is non-alcoholic.