Somewhere along the way Jarvis Leatherby turned Night Demon into something more than just a NWOBHM throwback, because “Hallowed Ground” was successful entirely on its own terms. It wasn’t that the track was super original, because it was definitely not and its antecedents were obvious from the jump. The difference this time was that Leatherby didn’t make a point of overtly telegraphing the references, instead letting the tune play without calling attention to its influences. And when listened to just as a song, “Hallowed Ground” was a pretty awesome traditional metal banger, ebbing and flowing within a reasonable runtime and hitting its marks with hooks that felt endemic to the track and not deliberately recalling something else. It went a long way towards legitimizing Night Demon as a functioning band as opposed to a tribute act.