Demoncast – Narcissus

ock band from Israel. Demoncast’s music is a clash between by skinny puppy, david bowie, nine inch nails, puscifer, early 90s grunge rock and trip hop, ministry, a bit of slayer, and many more. Band members are Ptyl Dragon (programming, vocals, production), Ariel Aviad (vocals, acoustic guitars), and Roi Illouz (guitars). 

Narcissus is Demoncast’s debut album, consisting of 5 years of work (2012 – 2017). The album was mastered by Maor Appelbaum, whose previous work includes Faith No More’s “Sol Invictus” and Yes’s “Heaven & Earth”, among others. Musically, the album varies in style between industrial rock, alternative, experimental, trip hop, ebm, stretching the boundaries of genres, yet retaining a unique style. 

Still, Narcissus is not about rocking or dancing. The name of the band “Demoncast” is a concept taken from Ptyl’s 2010 book “inconsistent”. The book explores the inexplicitly inherent to our reality, beyond quantum indeterminism, and into the chaos penetrating our psyche, our demons. “Demoncasting” is the way we convert this chaos, into something of real value, the pinnacle of our ingenuity. With this album, the band lived up to its name, discovering the role of narcissism in the molding of contemporary social, technological, and political reality, out of the disturbing aspects of banality.

In Narcissus, nothing is what it seems. The songs mimic the treacherous nature of a narcissist, convincing the listeners to think they are one thing, just to reveal the opposite, with further listening. This cycle of inversion will continue. It’s the listeners’ choice when to stop, but as long as they stay, Narcissus will keep on giving. This is not by coincidence. The album was crafted like an onion, be it in its lyrics, the musical choices, the beats, and even the mastering. Every aspect of Narcissus was “casted” to facilitate this prolonged dive into its abyss, the narcissistic demon inherent to all of us, the Jezebel, the demon this album attempts to cast away.

Demoncast was formed by Ptyl and Ariel in 2012. In 2013, the band released its debut ep “livewire” on Danse Macabre Records. In early 2014, Roi joined the band, and in late 2014, the band toured europe with bands “Stoneman”, and “Otto Dix”. After, the band continued to write the album, while moving back and forth between Israel and California. In late 2015 Ptyl and Ariel got married in Las Vegas, and have since relocated to the states.

Each band member comes from a different background. Ptyl’s origins are in industrial music. Prior to Demoncast, Ptyl released several industrial sounding albums on Danse Macabre (Hell Sounds, Loki, “V”). For the release of Hell Sounds, Ptyl was chosen as newcomer of the month in German music magazines “Zillo” and “Sonic Seducer”, and continued to perform in festivals, and tour with Das Ich. Ariel comes from a classic rock background. As a singer songwriter, and with an official music degree, she worked both solo and with rock and metal musical projects in Tel Aviv. Roi’s passion has always been in metal, and more specifically “Slayer”. He plays lead guitars in Jerusalem based metal band “Sintax”, which released their debut album “Sway for a Better Day” in 2015. 
 
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/sptyl
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/demoncast
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/demoncast