I always take look at the band's photo before starting the listening sessions an album and write a review about it. I like to get the visual aspect of the band that will eventually guide me to a better understanding of the music. With DEVAR my initial feelings and thoughts were a little bit confusing mainly due to the looks of Devar. In particular, his long side-swept bang covering one of his eyes rung two bells inside my mind; one for MISFITS and one for the emo scene. So, with trembling hands I placed the promo CD in my player trying to concentrate that a record label with such a cool name (Code666) could not have done such a mistake...
After the moody keyboard-based intro The Siren a mighty blast-beat welcome the Black Metal oriented H.M.H. kicking away all of my emo fears. This song does not stay on the Black Metal path but introduces several music elements that give the band from the very beginning the advance of diversity (for originality I cannot speak since I feel out of my league here). Cold Feline tempo break with the cleaner vocals brought Japan's DIR EN GREY in mind especially through the Avant Garde  musical structure and -yes- through the Rock sounding clean guitar melodies. The plot thickens with the even more melodic Shadow Feline and the Wednesday 13 vocals revealing some well hidden Goth finishing touches. The Rock guitars make a glorious appearance in the clean guitar solo of Scourger. Even if I may sound blasphemous here, I state that during this song Chris Isaak's guitar signature popped in my mind but then again these are the 50s Rock influences I was reading in the band's biography. There is no doubt that listening to Alternate Endings is not a walk through the park; you have a lot to chew and additional time to digest with this strange blend. For example, ...of My Dead Skull where the heavy guitars riffs give their space to some electronic sounds while the clean vocals slow down the tempo until the faster climax comes near the end.
Alternate Endings sounded kind of overloaded to my ears and I have to admit that following the song structure messed up my judgment and my rate decision. So, if you are one of those metalheads who like tasting different cuisines and experiment a lot then DEVAR is a nice plate. At least you can visit the band's myspace page and see what is going with this Norse band.