Review Summary: Christ or cocaine, The Devil’s Blood is a stronger fix than both.
The Devil’s Blood is one of those rock bands, whose career got a good head start from day one.
Come, Reap EP, their debut effort, got them to be the hot talk topic within the retro rock underground. What made the band so special with respect to its occult 70’s rock contemporaries was not only its partial migration from hard rock towards the midlands of classic metal, but also the divine yet powerful vocals of their priestess of Eosforos, the self-named “The Mouth of Satan”. Enforced and further bonded as a band ensemble through numerous live shows in festivals such as the highly acclaimed Roadburn Festival, The Devil’s Blood lost little time in taking advantage of their great momentum. Only one year after
Come, Reap, the band releases its first full-length effort,
The Time of No Time Evermore, and walks through the same old occult 70’s rock alleys, but with a good sense of originality and freshness.
In a nutshell, the
The Time of Evermore continues what the EP started, yet it adds up on its own as well. The new album is not as intense as
Come Reap, mainly due to the sound production. The latter is more focused on highlighting every possible aspect in the immaculate vocal performance of The Mouth of Satan, although the traditional rock instruments are flawlessly recorded and mixed. Leaving aside the sound production, the awesome and linearly driven mid-tempo ‘70s occult rock groove of their debut EP remains intact. Songs like “Christ or Cocaine”, “Evermore” or the epic album closer “The Anti-Kosmik Magick”, put their money exactly where their mouth is and the listener’s hand in either locking the CD player on repeat mode or putting the needle back in the same vicinities of concentric grooves within the vinyl plate. However, The Devil’s Blood are hunting for more here, as they prolifically develop a superb gloomy/epic side as well. The excellent musical/vocal diversity of songs like “House of 10,000 Voices” stands as clear evidence of progression for the band, while it is obvious that significant inspiration was drawn from the epic feeling of spaghetti western soundtracks and soundtrack composers, such as Ennio Morricone (“The Anti-Kosmik Magick”).
With their first full-length album, Dutch occult rockers The Devil’s Blood prove that they have come here to stay. Although the core of their music is stepping on the shoulders of the giant-size forefathers of ‘70s occult rock, The Devil’s Blood manage to add a good deal of originality and twist in their songs. The incorporation of new elements, the reduction of weak songs down to minimum and the stunning performance of The Mouth of Satan – probably the best female singer within the ‘70s occult rock revival – are attributes of a classic rock record that will be remembered in years to come.
