Artist: Devil (Norway)
Title: Time To Repent
Type: Album
Label: Soul Seller Records

Hot on the heels of their January EP), comes the follow up album from Norway’s latest retro metallers, Devil. Unlike the first release, ‘Magister Mundi Xum’ with it’s Latin title and minimalist devil horned cover, the new album from the independent label Soul Seller has a very retro, and dare I say it, Rise Above, style that is a truer reflection of the contents. ‘Time To Repent’ builds on the foundations of the earlier EP which could arguably be considered a sampler, two of the original offerings, ‘At The Blacksmiths’ and the title track having been transferred across with only the minimum of polishing, making sure none of the original energy and immediacy was not lost. Indeed, if you ignore the new short intro and outro, what you have here are six new tracks.

So, how do the new tracks stack up against Devil’s stunning debut? Very well thank you very much. ‘Break The Curse’ pounds out with a low-fi sound and dirty growl that makes the track sound like it was recorded in a garage in the seventies, rather then in the modern age of computerised engineering and auto tune. For track after track, Devil has a formula, and a damn good one: the guitars produce riff after riff that are simple yet compelling; the rhythm section pounds out with a stripped back intensity that bespeaks of a drum kit without unnecessary accessories played to the utmost; and the passionately sung lyrics are still littered with Hammer Horror style references.

What is apparent is that the touring that the band has managed to squeeze into the couple of short years of their existence has honed their playing and solidified their style, a style that is solidly anchored in the slow early doom of Black Sabbath and Pentagram. But not all is doom and gloom by any means. Thrown in the middle of the wall of distorted guitars and Satanic chants is the short and snappy ‘Crazy Woman’, a positively upbeat rocking tale of love and lust, its foot tapping riff bringing an instant smile to my face.

Every part of the album, from the maniacal laughs that opened it to the wall of reverb and chants that closed it hit home, and had me wanting more, the ten tracks only just stacking up to an all too brief 35 minutes, demanding that the replay button is hit. Yes, it’s retro, yes, the sound is old, but damn, it is good. I’ve sadly missed Devil’s all too brief forays to these shores, but I’ll damn sure be looking to catch them live.

www.devilband.com

http://www.myspace.com/devilband

Spenny Bullen

MTUK HOME