From their origins in Mexico City to the 2022 SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, the three members of Demons My Friends have a shared journey that made their union fateful. This shared geography has played a role in their music-making process, as they record their second album, Survive/Yourself , between Mexico and Texas. Personal hardships after COVID shape the album’s themes, with illnesses, job losses and family crises cited as sources of stress that fueled their songwriting.
Demons My Friends don’t offer doses of sadboi, however. What they play is a raw, rough and hard grunge style. Although it flirts with mainstream bands like Alice in Chains and Soundgarden , Survive/Yourself plays its grunge off the beaten path. While making music is undoubtedly a healthy outlet, the question remains whether it’s a good idea to get too friendly with your demons.
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Demons My Friends blend dense stoner/sludge guitar tones with catchy alternative rock hooks for a compelling sonic palette. The fuzzy guitar on the opening track “The Theory of Change” recalls Mastodon , while the chorus takes a page from 90s rock bands like Nirvana and Bush . However, the tracks on Survive/Yourself last a little longer than the more radio-friendly grunge examples, leaving room to wander and play. Often these moments serve as highlights, especially the melodic lead that appears in the middle of the song on “The Last Dance”. And although sludge proves to be the dominant guitar tone, Demons My Friends also show their more sensitive side. “Kalorama”, with its catchy scratchy guitar lead, borrows heavily from the soft jams of Pearl Jam . On other tracks, the guitar becomes more playful, with a twang arpeggio on “We All End Up Here” and a really nice psychedelic part on the album’s catchiest song, “Brain Holographics”.
Unfortunately, Demons My Friends end up being their own worst enemy. The second half of Survive/Yourself finds a rather successful formula with some catchy tracks that could almost pass for radio-friendly. However, the band makes some questionable choices that hold it back. As great as “Brain Holographics” is, it stretches on for too long thanks to a long instrumental detour that makes the song almost lose its way. The fun, High on Fire-inspired stoner track, “Smile”, includes a strange growl that tarnishes a rather tight melody. Also, the issue is the vocal performances. Since both Pablo Anton and Lu Salinas have vocal credits, I’m not sure who the culprit is, but one of the two sounds consistently off-key, and his voice is especially strained at higher frequencies (most noticeably on “Last Dance” and “Star Child”). These sonic problems give a sense of raw emotion, but they also distract from the flow of the songs.
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The production, with a DR rating of 10, proves a blessing, but some production choices prove disastrous. The biggest blessing belongs to the guitars. The dense, fuzzy tone is so satisfying as it fires up on “The Theory of Change” and again about two minutes into “We All End Up Here”. Similarly, Salinas’s bass benefits, adding a little funk to “Brain Holographics” and a little ugliness to “Smile”. However, throughout Survive/Yourself there are strange sonic problems that diminish the music. The finale of “The Theory of Change” sounds like someone let their kid play with the recording equipment, as a child’s voice repeats “I” over and over. Other noise effects tricked my brain into thinking I was hearing something outside the music. The raindrop-shaped drum pulses on “Brain Holographics” made me look at the ceiling, afraid I’d see a leak. Vocal idiosyncrasies here and there, like the strange spots heard on “Star Child”, gave me the feeling that someone had sneaked up behind me. Fixing these problems would have resulted in a much smoother album.
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While presenting some nice tracks and nice ideas, Demons My Friends have some demons to exorcise from their repertoire in songwriting. There are aspects of their more experimental side that work well – some exploratory instrumental passages and the varied guitar sounds. However, some of what they do simply distances listeners from the musical experience. They have a clear knack for some great hooks – I find myself humming the chorus of “Brain Holographics” quite often, for example. I’m looking forward to hearing how they manage to evolve their blend of experimental and mainstream music on their next release.
Rating : 2.0/5.0
DR : 10 | Format reviewed : WAV
Record label : Ripple Music
Websites : Bandcamp | Facebook | Official site
worldwide website release : April 17, 2026
