...No beating about the bush, Dedlok are straight into battle with opener Why?', squealing thrash riffs, double kick-drum salvos and plenty of guttural bawling. It's equal parts Lamb Of God, Iron Maiden and Pantera, taking in influences from the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal to 80s thrash and beyond into hardcore.

In fact 'Believe' stomps closer to the hardcore punk of Anti Pasti and Discharge than pure metal. It's a pretty uninspiring month for demos but amid the mediocrity, Dedlok's uncluttered vision and proud single-mindedness is pretty refreshing. Plus, they can swear with far more conviction than certain other bands in this month's demo pile.

The name screams METAL! And so it does indeed come to pass. Dedlok's is a bruising, mid-tempo breed of prog-tinged metal-core and old-fashioned thrash, harking back to Slayer and Pantera, all bulldozing, shredded riffs and chest-beating raging and bellowing. They don't exactly rush into battle, slowly building up momentum, but by the time they get a full head of steam, they're grinding and growling and giving no quarter. The chugging simplicity of "Protest" owes more to early-80s protest punk than metal but soon they're back to the sound of Motorhead kicking it out with no little fury in Metallica's backyard and all is well with the world.