Blog Post
Vantage Point - 'Demonic Dinner Dance 2; The Demon Stomp' Released digitally only 2nd October 2020
Iain McArthur • Oct 02, 2020
Album Review
This is the 5th full-length album from Edinburgh’s Vantage Point and once again it is filled with top quality classic rock songs featuring Halfordian vocals, virile bass lines and that sweet, vintage-Maiden twin guitar sound with a touch of The Darkness thrown in. A couple of the best songs have already been out on EPs; the bonkers but brilliant “Puffin Killer” is one of my songs of the year so far but “Pay As You Go” is also good and “Laid Back Lad” benefits from an exquisite guest vocal appearance from Lissa Robertson.
To experience this work properly, I would suggest you set aside 47 minutes and settle in, because its actually a themed album with a flowing narrative based around the guests at a dinner party – a concept the band first explored on the original Demonic Dinner Dance in 2014. New Wave of Dinner Party Metal? It certainly makes a nice change from the formulaic rainbows and wizards we’re conditioned to hearing about in concept albums….although there is a demon in it (and like Stu in Hangover 2 there is some s*m*n in it)!
It’s an interesting guest list. The “Hostess” doesn’t come over well (‘don’t piss down my back and then tell me it’s rain’), “Leona Hart” is more fragile but “Rainbow Ruth” is a complete zoomer who slips in a sly use of ‘the C word’ during a domestic rammy. “Equine Lady” is a recurring love theme which suggests that somebody may have had an unhealthy interest in his Mum’s Jilly Cooper horsey bonkbusters back in the day. It all seems to end well though so why the long face?
Closer “Fast Car Smell” references being on ‘the bypass of life’. I hope it’s not the City of Edinburgh Bypass or they’ll be on it for f*cking hours but it is a good song to finish with before the reprise of the “Demon Stomp Overture”.
It’s an ambitious effort but they’ve pulled it off and it’s good to hear something just a little bit different, especially with superior songs and performances like these. So check it out if you fancy taking a look from a different vantage point. (Ha – see what I did there!)
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