Release
date: Sept 1st 2015. Label: Argonatua Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
Devil's
Village: Tracklisting
01
- The Curse Of Elizabeth
02
- The Witches' Sabbath
03
- At The Hour Of 13
04
- Starting The Ritual
05
- Whitewood
06
- Burn The Witch
07
- Tonight Begins The Ritual (Bonus Track, CD ONLY)
08
- Moonlight Through The Trees (Bonus Track, CD ONLY)
Review:
Mysterious
One-Man Down-Tempo/Doom/Sludge Metal artist AKA Beneath The Storms is
back with his 3rd release – Devil's Village and it's
perhaps his bleakest and disturbing release to date. Expect long
drawn out drone based nightmarish riffs that have a sinister edge to
them.
Opening
track – The Curse Of Elizabeth – is an eerie tale about the
undead and other disturbing things going on. The music is firmly
rooted in slow-paced Doom/Sludge Metal territory. Beneath The Storm
slowly builds the atmosphere with lashes of doom matched against
pitch black vocals that I've come to expect from the Beneath The
Storms. This song sets up the tone for the rest of the album. It's
dark, violent, thrilling and packs a lot of chilling moments within
it's 51 minute running time.
I
forgot to add this is a concept album based on the cult classic movie
“City of the Dead” (starring Christopher Lee as “The
Professor”, and Patricia Jessel as “The Infamous Witch”). The
album ventures into more extreme territory that some Sludge/Doom
Metal fans may not be used to. The vocals have a slight Death Metal
vibe to them though sung at a slower pace.
Second
track – The Witches' Sabbath – creates the perfect balance of
Occult Rock/Doom theatrics against the sinister and deadly tone of
the recent “torture porn” horror movies. It's very unsettling at
times as the riffs are played at a slow pace but with layers of noisy
sludge metal to crank up the tension. I still find it hard to believe
this is the work of one person even after reviewing all of Beneath
The Storm's records over the last few years. You got to hand it to
him though as this album is his most diverse and experimental yet.
The
album uses actual soundclips from the film - City Of The Dead on all
of the songs to give you a sense you're actually experiencing the
movie yourself. The guitar work is quite frantic at times especially
on tracks such as At The Hour Of 13, Whitewood and Burn The Witch.
The lyrical content as you can imagine is bleak and desolate through
out. This is the perfect album for all you doom and gloom horror
fanatics out there.
The
production on the album is good. There's a few moments where the
volume could have been louder to get a more dramatic effect. The
final few songs on the album is where the album truly comes to life
as the music becomes slightly faster and more frantic especially on
Burn The Witch and Tonight Begins The Ritual.
My
final thoughts on Devil's Village is that's an unrelenting attack on
the senses. It's perhaps one of the most highly atmospheric
Doom/Sludge Metal albums you'll hear this year. The best way to
experience this album is perhaps on Halloween and watch some classic
clips from the film on YouTube to get the full effect. A superb and
well rounded effort from Beneath The Storms. Lets see what he
releases next....
Words
by Steve Howe
Thanks
to Barbara at NeeCee Agency and Gero at Argonauta Records for the
promo. Devil's Village will be available to buy on CD and Vinyl from
1st Sept 2015 via Argonauta Records.
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