God to the Illfated

Devian work hard: the band of former Marduk Legion (at the screams) and Emil Dragutinovic (at the beats) has already got to the second album after just a year from the debut.

And they always try to get the best out of them: one year ago they entrusted their tunes to the Fredman Studios, this time it's been Peter Tagtgren to give some help for the production duties, and with good results, I'd say.

The album is not that different from the previous chapter actually, it's evident their intention to refine and smooth the same sound matrix. Matrix which is rooted into the traditional Swedish black metal but with a decided stare backwards, towards some more thrash oriented rhythms and some melodies and arrangements of NWOBHM tradition ("South Of Halo" is a clear example, but also "Saintbleeder", with some atypical clean lines).

In short, being naughty we may say Devian try be as catchy as possible without becoming sellout, and the shot is clean. "God To The Illfated" is straight enough for the thrashers, violent enough for the deathsters, wicked enough for the blacksters, melodic enough for the defenders, and so on.

Sure, they do not offer or promise to revolutionize anything, but the work is quite successful, and there's also a sure improvement in the songwriting in comparison with the debut.

Originally written for Silent Scream http://www.silentscreamzine.com/Home.asp?Lang=ENG