Although they appear to be a full band live, in the studio on these recordings Devil’s Force are basically Swede Pierre Tomkvist. This eight tracker represents singles that he has done from inception to date, a catch up if you like I guess and nicely are kind of in order too.
So, the self-named track opens and this is immediately a heads down blast of speed metal. It sounds fine production wise, lots of low end but that sharp speed running melodic edge and a good line in knowing when to drop a gear. ‘Let It Burn’ starts with a much deeper, lower stomp which seems to highlight their blackened vocal edge even as the melody steps over into almost melodeath territory. I have to say that aspect comes across as less woven in and more placed on top it’s so clean. Hmm. Not sure. ‘Unholy Night’ though is back to the black thrash meets speed metal for the most part and the melody isn’t so jarring.
‘Cold Hard Steel’ takes us halfway and to 2018. It’s a good hard stomp of a riff, precise despite its gruff sound until the melodic passage and lead break which if you strip out the vocals would have it gracing a power metal album! I kinda get what they are trying to do, but again something about it doesn’t quite flow for me. This is pointed out by the next track, a spirited, determined cover of Bathory’s War. Blackened speed excellence. ‘Black Heavy Metal’ gets the balance better for me, the melodic part rises from it rather than just drops and more heavy than power.
The last two, ‘The Firestorm’ and ‘Theos’ are the most up to date. The former has a Viking metal feel, a mid-paced ride from maybe the mid-nineties, a little Mithotyn to it. The latter still has that vibe but a bit more muscular. It’s a curious step. But on the plus side the melody is absolutely woven into the DNA of these last two songs, which is excellent.
I don’t know. It may be down to your own taste. When they were full on blackened speed I was on board. The mid period melodeth melodies slapped on not so much but the final two, yeah, they are very good slices of heavy metal with that blackened sound but a Viking metal style swagger.
It’s nice to see the progress in their sound and there’s much to like here. Still none the wiser as to what an album would sound like though, but it would be great to hear.
(7/10 Gizmo)
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