Devilfire - 'Black Soul Vendetta' Released 4 September 2020
Album Review
I’ve been looking forward to the second album from Brummie band Devilfire ever since I witnessed them steal the show at Wildfire last year. They’ve been drip-feeding their new music out over the last few months and we’re now within pre-order distance of the official release date.
The lead single ‘Dream Evil’ bridges the gap to their quality debut ‘Dark Manoeuvres’. The video for this is part two of what they’re calling the ‘Dark Vendetta Saga’ which began with the brilliant ‘She’s Like Fire’ from the first album and both films feature Carmen Rox and Phoebe Ewens alongside main man Alex Cooper. Like the rest of the album, it benefits greatly from the twin guitar talents of Baz Blackett and Kieran Topp who harmonise and solo nicely.
Second single ‘Chasing the Pain’ has deservedly been attracting plenty attention including a landslide win in Classic Rock Magazine’s Track of the Week competition on release. This is a superior slice of sleaze-rock featuring guest Eric Dover, a horn section, oedipal swearies and some fine playing from the guys in the band.
There is plenty quality rocking here for the discerning fan to enjoy. Songs like ‘Cruellest Animal’, the melodic ‘Justify’ and the riffy ‘Vendetta’ are beautifully played and expertly produced with some nice intros and other touches which elevate this band above the ordinary.
Don’t be fooled by the devil in the title and the reaper on the sleeve – we’re a long way from death metal here and there is a lot of highly melodic but hard rocking stuff on offer. ‘Live a Lie’ touches on spiritual matters and there’s a nice change of pace towards the end of the album with the not-quite-a-ballad ‘You’re Gonna Break My Heart’. The band even vamp it up to great effect on ‘Black Soul Bones’ which is kind of a gothic horror blues with further use of a swinging brass section and sexy backing vocals from Marcia Lynette.
‘Wasn’t it Love’ wraps up the CD but does not seem to be listed for the vinyl release. That’s a shame as it’s a quality lost-love piano ballad. Lars the drummer plays superbly throughout the album and he gets his chance to do a classic drum fill on this one which should please any lighter-holders in the audience.
Covid-19 has pushed the release date back to September but you’ll want to pre-order this. It comes in a tidy signed package and the artwork by Dan Goldsworthy is superb. I’ll have a T (shirt) please Bob. Hopefully they’ll get out on tour with this as they’re a great live band and some of these songs will sound even better scuzzed up a bit for the stage.