Demoniac

Demoniac were a heavy metal band from New Zealand formed in Wellington in 1993 by singer and bass player Lindsay Dawson, guitarist Sam Totman and Drummer Steve Francis. They later moved to London, UK. Three of the members went on to form DragonForce. Their rather unique musical style has often been labeled as "blackened power metal".

Biography

The group began playing black metal with Dawson and Totman adopting the stage names "Behemoth" and "Heimdall" as well as the genre's defining trappings and symbolism such as corpse paint. The following year the band was joined by The Magus on keyboards and drummer Mark Hamill from the avant-garde rock band Head Like a Hole. This line-up produced the band's first album Prepare For War|Prepare for War, after which Magus left Demoniac and was replaced on keyboards by MC Magnus, reportedly The Magus's brother

Demoniac's next album was 1996's Stormblade that featured a slightly more melodic and catchier black metal style as well as controversial tracks like "Hatred is Purity" and "Niggerslut". During a 2014 interview with Noisey, Totman was asked to explain what appeared to be a White Power and homophobic slant to some of Demoniac's lyrics on songs such as these. Totman shrugged off the allegations stating that other members of the band were responsible for those songs and that the members were just "having a laugh".