My eyes were immediately drawn to this title when it came up for review because of the band’s name. Evidently derived from the same linguistic root, Diavolos is a name staggeringly close to that of my favourite style of pizza: the diavola. Blistering heat, hell-spawned salami and molten cheese are the hallmarks of this culinary fiend. When it comes to the traits of the Greek band Diavolos, if we replace ‘salami’ with ‘imagery’, and ‘cheese’ with ‘metal mania’, then the two disparate concepts truly do share more than just a name in common. Formed this year by, among others, Taz Danazoglou (Satan’s Wrath) and Taneli Jarva (ex-Impaled Nazarene, ex-Sentenced) the early signs for this debut album all point to a consummate lesson in old school satanic violence.
Somewhat unexpectedly the record begins with a sophisticated piece of classical/operatic music although in no time the ingredients mentioned above shatter this momentary calm. ‘Diavolos Rising’ drips with blackened ’80s styled thrash mania: Danazoglou’s vocals echo as riffs cut back and forth and drums thud unstoppably in the background. Aside from the impacting nature of the musical storm, two things stick out: one, it’s compositionally simplistic – as you would expect from this direct proto-black metal style; and two, the modern production values – as great as they are – almost inevitably don’t inspire the same level of mania as if these tracks had been recorded in the mid-eighties. Still, there’s elements that certainly can’t be argued with throughout the first half of the disc. The sheer force of the riffs in tracks like ‘Hail All Evil’ and ‘Piss in Holy Water’ is inescapable, and combined with little harmonic parts and ritualistic asides, it’s a good, good stuff.
Come the ending part of the title track however, and cracks start to appear in the Diavolos formula. Where this one goes on a bit, the greater part of what follows really feels like a recycling session. Not only are tracks such as ‘Baptized in Vomit’ repetitious in the sense that the riffs sound almost indistinguishable from those corkers we were assaulted with at the beginning, they obviously also fail to have anywhere near as much impact. Another example of this phenomenon is ‘Totencorpse’, which is a real head-banger but one that sadly fails to leave any long-term impression. The sound of marching boots at the end of this WW2 inspired tune may also have had more shock value if the music itself played it less safe. Elsewhere, things look up a bit in ‘Curse, Bleed, Die’ as a few early Maiden-isms rear their head although the track never really lets itself go beyond its ‘Show No Mercy’ template. The one exception to this second-half malaise being spontaneous closer ‘Death Metal’.
It’s a shame things play out as they do, and believe me, I’ve tried again and again to get excited beyond the midpoint but it’s just not happening. Whether the band ran out of steam in the writing process, I’m not sure. What is clear is that the early portion of the record never loses its appeal or novelty, instead offering the listener no choice but to be embroiled in its musical cauldron of old school devil worship. Embodying the less good side to ‘You Lived Now Die’ is ‘Demonwhore’, a quick blast which frankly feels more like a half-developed idea than anything else. Perhaps if the band had taken a bit more time before committing to a full-length, things would have turned out differently.
(6/10 Jamie)
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