Release
date: August 12th
2016. Label: Ripple Music. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl
A
Bend Through Space And Time – Tracklisting
On
And On (In Your Mind)
Don't
Give Away The World
Kobold
In The Breadbasket
Laughingstock
The
Meaning Of Life
Recommended
Daily Dosage
Knuckledragger
Kerfuffle
Your
Inner Lemmy
The
Demons Come Home to Roost
Band
Members:
Steve
Janiak (Vocals/Guitar)
Chad
Prifogle (Drums)
Matt
Stokes (Bass)
Rob
Hough (Guitar)
Review:
After
three years from their last album, Fate Is Your Muse (Ripple Music),
the Indianapolis-based quartet, Devil to Pay, back in action with a
new stunning release, A Bend Through Space And Time, out on 12th
August 2016 through Ripple Music.
The
album continues the heavy, riff-oriented and introspective songcraft
journey that have distinguished their past productions, characterized
by great and elaborate vocals and guitar phrases. Devil to Pay are
not just another stoner rock band as well as they don’t play just
stoner rock. They play hard rock mixed with stoner, doom and grunge,
and their sound is a mix of different influence, spanning from Black
Sabbath to Corrosion Of Conformity, passing through Alice in Chains
and Soundgarden, especially for the voice of singer Steve Janiak,
sometimes very close to a mix between Layne Staley and Chris Cornell.
Devil
to Pay are certainly no spring chickens in the music scene, having
more than 10 years of experience behind. Over the year, their music
was heavily influenced by a song-writing characterized by a some sort
of “metaphysical realms of consciousness”, given (in no small
part) by the personal experience of the front-man Anyway, Devil to
Pay play a kick-ass rock’n’roll with no frills and no compromise.
A Bend Through Space And Time is a pure concentrate of heavy riffs
masterfully sustained by a great rhythm section and by one of the
most beautiful and touching voices in the scene.
The
album starts with two powerful tracks, On And On (In Your Mind),
whose refrain will easily fix in your head without leaving for days,
and Don't Give Away The World, a pure “grunge” song very close to
a mix between Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. Kobold In The
Breadbasket and Laughingstock, with their lilting gait are two songs
that spread over more typical stoner, sometimes doom, land, where the
singing of Janiak always add little extra to the final result.
The
jazzy/bluesy intro of The Meaning Of Life reminds me in some ways
typical breaks of some songs of Kyuss, and introduces one of my
favourite tracks of the album, a fantastic song with trippy
atmospheres where, in the middle, the upbeat tempo of the battery
introduces the final ride. The accelerated time introduced in the
final part of the previous track proceed virtually in Recommended
Daily Dosage, a fast and heavy song whose title never been more
appropriate.
Devil
To Pay are such fucking musicians, they know how to play and are able
to displace the listener with kick ass tracks like Knuckledragger and
Kerfuffle, where the sound is more heavy and intense, thanks to the
groovy bass lines and the lilting riffages. It follows Your Inner
Lemmy, the single proposed so far by Devil To Pay. Well, the name
says it all, a song composed before the Lemmy’s death and, perhaps
because of it, an even more true homage in a pure Motorhead style.
The Demons Come closes the album with another great song where the
rhythm gets up and even stronger thanks to a full loaded bass line
sustained by a great drumming and killer riffs.
Now
that the review is over I can be honest with all of you and confess
that I was worried about what I would have expected. The risk of
being trapped under the “speculative bubble of stoner/rock/metal”
(thanks to my friend Matteo for sharing such a cool term with me.
Maybe one day I will be more clear about!) is always around the
corner. Anyway, after the listening I came to the conclusion that
with A Bend Through Space And Time, Devil To Pay still remain
faithful to their last productions, releasing about 44 minutes of
pure and massive hard-rock with no frills, spanning from stoner to
grunge and doom. If you like riffing, loud basses, heavy drumming and
impressive singing, well, let’s check for the next Devil To Pay
release. I’ll do it.
Words
by Bruno Bellisario.
Thanks
to Richard at Sheltered Life PR for the promo. A Bend Through Space
And Time album will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Ripple
Music from August 12th 2016.
Links:
