Devil
from Norway started in 2010 with old school fashioned doom rock demo
“Megister Mundi Xum”, and its themes were developed just one year
later in debut album “Time to Repent”.
Lo-fi
production, straightforward approach and few nice melodies didn't
create band's reputation, but Devil were soon noticed. “Gather the
Sinners” (2013) improved their position in doom rock underground as
they improved their skills in more effective songwriting, but other
aspects of sophomore album demonstrated that Devil remains the same.
The
band conjured over their sound for three more years, and new record
“To the Gallows” is the album that deserves the attention of
those who are in love with charged NWOBHM and classic doom, even
though the last one presents in lesser scale than before. So let's
have some fun and try to invoke Devil tonight through modern
technologies!
Hi Devil! Who's on
line tonight? What's Devil's current occupation?
Hello there! Stian
(guitar) here. These days we mostly wait for reviews and the finished
products, and doing some nice interviews every now and then. And at
this exact moment we’re making a new email address, as we can’t
get access to our old one. HA HA.
Your previous album
Gather the Sinners was released in 2013, and only now, 4 years after,
you return with the third full-length record To The Gallows. Why so
long?
We set aim for doing an
album every second year, but we actually didn’t have time between
work, kids, other obligations, etc. The songs had been more or less
finished for a long time, but we used a long time before we went into
recordings. But we’re in no rush, so we really don’t mind either.
Devil – To the
Gallows
By the way, did you
feel that Gather the Sinners brought the band some success, some
recognition?
We were happy with it
ourselves, but I think it suffered a bit as “the difficult second
album”. You know, the moment of surprise was gone, and the scene
was flooded with great bands already, and since we don’t do much to
promote stuff either, it never reached out. Then again, I think the
new album is much better too, so I have higher hopes for this, even
though there were some great songs on GtS, such as Southern Sun and
Ladies of the Night.
Did you really feel
that pressure knowing that there is a lot of new bands who play
nearly same way appear in the same period? Did you take it in account
when you were writing new material?
No, we really can’t
let that influence us. You know, these younger guys and gals have the
dreams, ambitions and not least time to put so much more effort into
it than us. We’re happy being kinda the old weird uncle of the
family. But I do hope we influenced someone down the road!
What do you see as
strong sides of Gather the Sinners? How do you see development of
Devil's features from the debut album to the second one?
The songwriting on
Gather the Sinners is on many occasions more advanced than Time To
Repent. Whilst it perhaps lack a little of the “jolly” feeling on
Time To Repent. On the new album we like to think we’ve combined
the good songwriting with the jolly mood that we’ve been more or
less known for. If you can use “known” about a band as small as
us, haha.
With new songs you
go further to classic heavy metal ideals, as the band is tagged
sometimes as a doom metal band. How do you see it?
We started out as
PLANNING a doom metal band, but we soon discovered that we would
genre wise be all over the place. So I think maybe heavy rock is more
describing. But we have some doom songs, of course, such as Beyond
the Gate, etc. I think that the more heavy metal edge to this album
is because of more influence from Joakim. He was totally new to this
band thing when we started, but now he has started to give feedback
and input, and he’s a heavy metal guy. And besides, we listen to
different stuff from year to year, and maybe we were in a heavy metal
place this time.
Are you meaning that
Devil is a democratic band and you don't have a main dude who speaks
that you need to play here and there?
Very much so. As we
talked about earlier, we don’t have the ambitions that demands us
to be pushing anything. If I can’t go to let’s say Wacken one
year, then we won’t play if we’re offered. The harmony within the
group is so much more important than the visions.
To the Gallows have
a better production than your previous works, did you consciously
took this step further? Was this lo-fi sound of previous albums
something that you intended to keep further?
Well, that’s always a
tough choice. As a musician you seek to evolve and experience in one
direction or another, but the audience always wants you to keep the
little something that they fell for in the first place. It’s like a
relationship. I once heard that a man goes into a relationship hoping
the woman will stay the same, while the woman goes into a
relationship hoping the man will change. Haha. Someone will probably
take offence by that, but shit in one hand and be offended in the
other and see which hand fills up first. However, when recording GtS
we used a studio for the first time, for bass guitar and drums. And
the guys liked that, so we did the same now. Personally I love the
feel of the demo, but it’s no big issue for me. I also don’t
think it’s very polished still, so people don’t have to worry we
suddenly sounds like Disturbed.
What do you seek to
take from NWOBHM era when you write songs for Devil? What are its
necessary elements?
We don’t go for
anything intentionally. But the title song turned out pretty NWOBHM,
so we can’t deny that. Thomas who wrote it was probably in an early
Iron Maiden mood. But the elements are always the riff, combined with
catchy melody lines, and always searching for the rhythm section
adding to the song, rather than keeping the steady beat. I always say
to Ronny that he should play the drums as he would play the guitar.
Play riffs on the drums. And I think it works.
Where did you record
To the Gallows? How did this session differ from previous ones?
Vocals in the rehearsal
room, guitars at Kai’s home and bass/drums in Black Dimensions
Studios in Karmøy, run by Stein, a good friend of ours.
Did you work with
producer or did you trust your tastes enough to do the whole process
DIY?
Stein gave us a helping
hand with mixing and mastering, other than that we trust ourselves.
After all, we have a pretty good idea on how we want it to sound, and
we’re not too concerned about what other people might think.
Your
songs are usually connected with medieval aesthetics, but here for
example you have the songs Trenches. I guess that it is about more
modern warfare. What did inspire you to write this one?
Trenches is about
trying to put oneself into the situation that a lot of young men
experienced in WWI. Of all the nightmarish scenarios during history,
I think that one is one of the most terrifying. As for our medieval
fascination, I think most of our songs could be set in any era, but
there’s something appealing about making the scene for them into
the dark ages.
Did you relatives
take part in WW II? Do you feel that any sort of music needs to rise
up such realistic topics?
Yes,
my grandfather died in Bergenbelsen. He fell out of his watchtower.
No, seriously, I think it’s alright to break out of the dragons,
Vikings and beer dripping universes every now and then. It also adds
more punch to the fun stuff, if you can show that you have the
ability to be serious. It’s not like we’re clowns 24/7, or lives
at the bar.
How would you sum up
the general plot of other songs?
Well,
to take a few; David and Goliath is about the biblical story. It was
actually written for a concept split that never happened. Cemetery
Still is about moon-shining (yeehaw). Regulators is inspired by the
marvelous western movie Young Guns.
Wow! Even western!
Didn’t you ever record a song inspired by horror movies?
Of course. We done a
lot of that too. Peasants & Pitchforks are inspired by
Frankenstein, to give an example. In Southern Sun from the prior
album we even have a reference to the mini series North and South…
I know, we’re nerds.
Do
you plan a tour to support the release? What are the biggest shows
you ever play till now?
We
don’t have any plans yet. I am pretty sure we won’t tour, but
would be nice to do a couple of gigs at home, and a couple abroad. As
you probably remember from tour Sludgelord days, we did some cool
shows around the first album. Roadburn, Hammer of Doom, touring with
ElWiz, Hole in the Sky, Inferno, Karmøygeddon, etc. All of those
were great in their way, but the biggest audience was probably Hammer
of Doom.
What does the image
of Devil mean for you?
Besides
the logo we don’t have much of an image apart from our everyday
look. We look the same at work, at parties, on stage, etc. We are
kinda deep into this heavy metal lifestyle. It’s nothing we put on
together with the guitar.
How
did your relatives react when you told them in which band you play?
:)
Haha! I don’t think
many of my relatives have heard Devil. But I have two nieces and a
nephew that thinks it’s cool their uncle plays in a rock band.
However they think everything from Nickelback to Cannibal Corpse is
Devil when they hear it….
Words by Aleks
Evdokimov and Stian Fossum
You can order To The Gallows from Soulseller Records here:
Links:
