Devil

Time To Repent

Soulseller Records 2011

Norway's disciples of old school occult rock, Devil summon an album that hearkens back to a spirit of dark freedom and 70's era esoteric obscurity. A perfect Sabbath-y romp opens the album on Break The Curse.  It's a stomping good time with an intensely catchy chorus.  The highpoint of the album are the trio of tracks Blood Is Boiling, Time To Repent and Open Casket.  Throughout all three compositions there is a similarity to the latest Electric Wizard album, Black Masses.  A driving darkness and a consistency of the rhythmic flow of the songs.  An arcane evil thread is woven through all three tracks.  An ominous, circular riff propels Blood Is Boiling.  I picture the guys playing this song in a dusty dungeon, lit only by yellow candles.  The track gets more apocalyptic as the pace quickens.  Time To Repent is still the strongest song penned by Devil.  The foreboding chorus demands you to sing along with its remorseful notes.  Open Casket however is a more sinister, brooding song.  The riffs have a more straight-ahead trajectory, a quicker, chugging texture.  Death of A Sorcerer brings to mind the desert solitude of The Eagle's Hotel California, only with a more obscure texture.  Howling (At The World) possesses that fat biker riff and bouncy beat which brings to my mind a bare-bones Led Zepplin.  Devil's debut album is a strong mixture of Electric Wizard-esque satanic doom and the hazy 70's occult rock brought back to life by the likes of The Devil's Blood.  Time To Repent sounds as if you could have discovered this sitting on your father's record shelf next to those Sabbath and Zepplin albums, but this still sounds fresh and the youthful vigor of this band shines through.  This has been spinning constantly since I got it and will end up as one the year's best for me.