Devil - Time to Repent (2011)

"I'm back, baby!"

Hailing from Nes, Akershus, Norway, these five Norwegian devil's (Joakim, Stian, Thomas, Kai and Ronny, if you fancy their names) offer us some highly 70's rock influenced stoner/doom metal in the classic vein of bands like Black Sabbath, The Obsessed and Pentagram. Devil themselves tell us they play "Bluesdoom" with riffs made of whisky, wood and wild women, which honestly sounds better to me, anyway. So, will go with that.

What to expect then; classy grooving crunchy guitars with some chuggier parts, feel good rockin' solos, audible heavy bass guitar, decent stickwork and some pretty good lead vocals, which have a echoey sort of effect on them, which makes the album sound rather vintage. The bulk of the albums thirty five minutes is mostly made up of infectious grooving faster songs, with only one slower number, but its still quite a good song.

'Time to Repent' definitely thrills with very little spills along the way, or in other words; these guys don't fuck around. Each song feels familiar in a good way and its really not hard to figure out what these guys enjoy jamming to, but that's good since I don't expect nor do I care for much of a musical revolution within the stoner/doom genre. Also I've found the more I've listened the more I've enjoyed this album. Its a great one to put on when putting back a few brews or when driving fast down the street or just when you feel like listening to some goddamn old school cheerful sounding tunes. I also really dig the album art too. Totally tattooable. Howlin'! I love it! I love these Devils!

It don't matter which song you go with first, because they are all quite good. 'Break the Curse' kicks things off famously and lets the listener know what Devil is all about within a few short licks. 'Blood is Boiling' is superb and I just love the obvious Pentagram vibe this one holds, while, 'Time to Repent' really kind of steals the show with them grooving heavy guitars, strong vocals and that solo, damn! 'Crazy Woman' is a bit more hard rocking in its overall delivery, but still fantastic, also, 'Death of the Sorcerer' would be the slower one I mentioned earlier; acoustic guitars, chanting, slow guitar and bass grooviness, man, but it lightens up and comes to an almost epic climax. Also you gotta love the ultra fun, Howling I & II, which close out the album on a high note.

'Time to Repent' definitely delivers and considering I bought the album mostly because the artwork struck me inside as being brilliant, it was great to also find thirty five minutes of first class stoner/doom metal inside too.