Coming from Greece, Death Metal-heads DIAVOLOS released their first ever, full-length album "You Live Now Die" in December, last year. This manifest was published under the name of Hells Headbangers Records.

Looking at the album art work of a Satanic creature tearing into a Marshal amp leaves little to the imagination, so imagine the shock of hearing Opera in the opening bars of this debut album. Don't worry this haunting intro sets up the twin guitar build that leads to the fierce pace riffage I was expecting from a song called "Diavolos Rising." Between the vocals and the well-crafted dynamics in the music the songs sets the standard for the rest of the album.

"Come To Salem" meets that standard with macabre guitar leads and ominous vocals thanks to the multi-layered effects, a band that can use the studio as an instrument is easily twice that of a band that can't. The Solo can be summed up by 'very 80s' on "Hail All Evil" in the context of such dark material it oddly feels original and refreshing. As an Atheist (always wanted to say it) "Piss In Holy Water" is a fun playful track, but taken seriously could get kicked out of your nephew's christening. The title track "You Lived Now Die" reminds me of CRASS due to the vocal speed and is a true brutal anthem to be listened to at neighbour bothering volumes. The Duo of "Baptised In Vomit" and "Demonwhore" are exactly what you expect, short vile songs to offend to civilised humanity done right.

Moving towards the end of the album "Curse, Bleed, Die" displays the tightness of the rhythm sections underneath the barrage of great guitar solos, whose style you don't hear much in modern metal enough. However, such a strong album was going to have some pitfuls: "Totencorpse" recycled the idea of the sampled intro and "Death Metal" clichéd rain storm and church bell to start with. Besides that though, both songs are good enough to forgive the overuse of that motif.

The experience of the individuals who have all been in other bands makes this debut feel extremely mature, no over use of over the top instrumentation or wasted vocals. Hopefully this band works out for all those involved and we'll get some more great metal over the years.