The wait for the THE DEVIL'S BLOOD debut is over. And the expectations are in high level. The main reason was the bombastic masterpiece, the previous year's Come, Reap EP, being so good that it seemed very difficult to be approached. Well, to end this once and for all, yes, the Holland's magicians are not a pyrotechnic. They have it. The Time Of No Time Evermore is in the same quality level, only this time the great songs are more (the previous EP included four cuts and a cover) and the pleasure is bigger.
Their music still has the occult elements from COVEN and BLACK WIDOW but here we have something bigger. THE DEVIL'S BLOOD are miles away, they drunk their blood, took the ancient power and left a havoc behind them. I still believe that they have a lot of N.W.O.B.H.M. influences. In some parts the crystal riffs have something from DEMON, a little of WITCHFYNDE and ANGELWITCH. Here is where a lot of metalheads will find common points with this band. All the above have been sewed and create a solid body under the guidance of Roky Erickson's guitars as their main influence.
In a very simple way, and in the same time being essential, the band takes the listener to a state of blissfulness and felicity. A Dionysian orgy, where any fragment is broken, any causality losing its meaning; a chaotic plethora of euphoria feelings suffusing every inch of your body. This magic is something that very few can transform into music and notes. And for this reason THE DEVIL'S BLOOD is a great band.
I was talking about the Dionysian element. For example, the horror in House Of 10000 Voices has been studied in each detail. Maybe this is because of the producer or because of the talent that the group has, who knows. The thing is that here we don't have any chaotic explosion. So we end in an Apollo version. Maybe THE DEVIL'S BLOOD is the concord for both of them. Dionysian lust given with method, sardonic or evil but with method. The first Nietzsche book can find an appropriate musical version here.
Christ Or Cocaine and The Anti - Kosmik Magick will return (the band's friends already know these songs from older demo versions) with the second one being in a dilation version better than the previous. The female vocals are awesome. It would be a sacrilege if we include THE DEVIL'S BLOOD into the female-fronted fashion. Here the vocals are the mesmerizing voice of Satan. The call of chaos. The sin's caress.
There is no use to analyze the songs. Let yourself into a place with no limits. It could be the basic matter behind. Freedom. Passion for spiritual elevation. Any morality's rule is lost for the human's completeness. Have they sold their souls to the Devil? Are they chanting Enochian psalms? Did they found the secret of John Dee's Hieroglyphic Unit and learned the art of alchemy? Questions don't matter. Things are simple: one of the greatest bands of our time just released its full-length. The art of music in all its glory.