Reviews: Oceans Of Slumber, Dead Lord, Devilfire, Cobra Spell (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Oceans Of Slumber: S/T (Century Media Records)

Over the course of their career so far Oceans Of Slumber have established themselves as one of the most emotive, explorative, progressively minded bands on the scene currently. With Cammie Gilbert's evocative voice at the forefront their EP Blue (2015) has been followed by two full lengths Winter (2016) and The Banished Heart (2018) each album adding more depth to their musical dexterity, with the band exploring soundscapes that move beyond the extreme doom metal sound they cultivated early on. On this third record they have lost half the band but the songwriting partnership of Dobber Beverly (drums, piano) and Cammie Gilbert (vocals) remain the core trying to move away from specific conceptual pieces on their previous albums into more broad lyrical themes, Gilbert especially using her bouts of extreme depression as inspiration for a more introspective sound. 

Musically there's a sense of renewal as Beverly is now joined in the instrumental section by long term keys player Mat V Aleman along with new members Semir Ozerkan (bass) and the guitar duo of Jessie Santos and Alexander Lucian, they drive the death doom foundation of this record but also handle the changes in style where black metal, ambient, post-rock, shoegaze, even folk and soul all creep into this stunning third album from this Texan band. Now you'll notice I said stunning which kind of gives the game away but with my expectations so high OOS have smashed them on their self titled record. Opening with the dramatic Soundtrack To My Last Day which shifts between lilting acoustics and those beautiful echoed vocals, it's got that Opeth-esque sound to it especially when the destructive blastbeats and growled vocals kick in. It's a 6 minute plus opening track that draws you into the world of Oceans Of Slumber again as we are whisked away into the more pastoral realms of Pray For Fire, though keep an ear out for Beverly's drum fills that are spread throughout. 

So you get the first two songs that nod to their past, a mixture of crushing death/doom and progressive ambience but it's with A Return To The Below where Cammie gives us her first proper blast of soulful, you could say poppy, vocals as things get more than a touch of Anathema-like introspective anthemic rock cut with piano and synths, the use of synths continues with the gothic, industrial instrumental Imperfect Divinity (the first of two on the albums) a song that acts a bridge between the more melodic A Return To Below and the devastating progressive death assault of The Adorned Fathomless Creation. Along with September (Momentaria) the instrumentals shift into the songs that follow each other display the schizophrenic nature of this album, as A Return To Below shift again into the industrial buzz of To The Sea and goes into the impressive Total Failure Apparatus. At 12 songs it's a long album with some elongated runtimes yet it never feels like a slog. 

The last of which is a stunning cover of Type O Negative's Wolf Moon  their latest in a long line of covers, the most recent being that haunting version of Strange Fruit. But by the time you get here there is an urge to go back and play the record again to unveil the nuances on mini-masterpieces such as I Mourn These Yellow Leaves, the excellent duet The Colours Of Grace and the incredibly moving The Red Flower. Once again Oceans Of Slumber is a magnificent record, harrowing, exciting and at times deeply affecting it's the best record of the bands career carving them a lovely furrow as one of the most unique bands around. Album of the year, no contest. 10/10     

Dead Lord: Surrender (Century Media Records)

Black Star Riders. The band formed by Scott Gorham and Brian Downey two former members of Ireland's greatest rock band Thin Lizzy (that's right shut up Bono), after recruiting new members including Ricky Warwick they toured as Thin Lizzy for a bit until starting to write their own music, it was here they turned into Black Star Riders and the music they played moved away from those glorious twin guitar harmonies and sexy grooves into generic hard rock. So where does the discerning Lizzy fan get a little bit more Irish in them in this day and age? The answer of Stockholm, Sweden shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that knows their rock n roll as the Scandi countries, especially Sweden, love to indulge their retro side so much so I'm surprised they have colour TV! 

Surrender is their fourth studio album and it once again is a homage to the twin axe attack of Lizzy, UFO and Iron Maiden. Led still by the ravaged yet soulful vocals and screaming lead guitar of Hakim Krim they have approached this record as one that has, as Hakim puts it "A bit of heart break and a reflection of the times we live in" they are trying to reflect the ethos of "Rock now, cry later". Rock now they do right from the offing the pedal never comes from off the floor as Krim lets his six string fly at any opportunity such as the opening and throughout Letters From Allen St. where there's also that choppy rhythm strut from Martin Nordin along with the groovy bass and drumming from Krim/Nordin and Adam Lindmark respectively. (Live bassist Ryan Kemp has joined since). 

Now I've made a lot of references to Thin Lizzy, Authority being the most similar to Lynott & Co, it could be a prequel to Jailbreak. But there is also enough variety to keep things fresh with tracks such as the throbbing Dystopia and the more modern sounding Dark End Of The Rainbow. Surrender is pretty much a non-stop rock n roll train from the opening moments, it encompasses all that is joyous about not only bands like Lizzy but also Dead Lord, it's music made for the live arena and when things return to relative normality you can be sure that Dead Lord will be raring to go. 8/10    

Devilfire: Black Soul Vendetta (Escape The Fire Records)

Hailing from the birthplace of hard rock/heavy metal Birmingham. Heavy rockers Devilfire have finally returned with their second full length album off the back of their short-run EP Out Of The Dark which was meant to keep the fans excited as they waited for a new full length. Their debut, Dark Manoeuvres  came out in 2017 to massive acclaim, I gave it a perfect score back then praising their darker rock edge and their ear for a catchy chorus. So what about Black Soul Vendetta? Will it reach the same lofty score as it's predecessor or have I become more critical in my advancing age? 

Well things start out on a slightly muted note with Cruelest Animal a mid-paced stomper where really we should have a fast rocker to kick things off, maybe the single Chasing The Pain which features Slash's Snakepit singer Eric Drover and has the same kind of gutsy rocking that made Snakepit the best thing Slash has been a part of. Devilfire still retain that dark edge to their music, yes there are big euphoric sing-along choruses throughout but with the lyrical content, the blues rock baseline and the orchestral flourishes that are everywhere. What you also notice about this record is that it sounds really polished, it's got that Mutt Lange style of big stereoscopic production to it meaning you need both headphones on or both speakers positioned correctly to get the full impact. The kudos for this can be given to vocalist Alex Cooper who produced the record and wrote nearly all of it, as well as lending his gutsy vocals to the twin guitar attack of Baz Blackett and Kieran Topp underpinned by Jamie Downes bass. Alex explains "We do everything in-house, recording, production, mastering, the lot." 

So when you get some dramatic moments such as on Vendetta which is led by Lars Wickett's cowbell and some great solos scattered throughout you can hear that Devilfire are certainly able to compete with the multitude of modern hard rock bands that will be on heavy rotation by the likes of Planet Rock, here these would be tracks such as Dead Man Walking and orchestrally backed single Dream Evil, which is not a Dio song, along with the ballsy Sell My Soul. So there are some good moments hear yes but sometimes it does seem like the band are trying to do a little too much, adding elements just for the sake of it and at others they are so close to their obvious influences you get a feeling of deja vu. Take Justify which has some buzzing electronics it doesn't really need and final song Wasn't It Love? which steals from Def Leppard's Bringin On The Heartache liberally without ever evolving into that huge chorus hook. That seems to be overly picky but it's not really much of an issue if you love good quality hard rock, Black Soul Vendetta is the evolution of Devilfire and while it's not getting a perfect score this time, it's certainly a top quality hard rock from band who are still very impressive. 8/10 

Cobra Spell: Love Venom EP (Self Released)

Featuring current ad former members of Idle Hands, Burning Witches and Spellcaster, Alexx Panza (vocals), Sonia Anubis (guitar), Sebastian "Spyder" Silva (guitar), Angelina Vehera (bass), Mike "Lucas" Verhof (drums) make up Sleaze Metal band Cobra Spell. A band who sound so much like the Scorpions, Ze Germans' themselves may not be able to tell the difference. With only four songs to show off their metal style Cobra Spell mix NWOTHM with a Sunset Strip sneer that also brings to mind Y&T and Skid Row. Apparently Silva and Anubis were told to follow their dreams by none other that the Godfather of shock rock Alice Cooper and they have channelled this enthusiasm into Love Venom. So then does it cut the mustard? Well it's got the dual guitar attack of Rudolf and Matthias on Come On Tonight which sounds like a B-Side from Love At First Sting mainly due to Panza's Klaus Meine-like vocals. In fact the four tracks here could all be b-sides from that glory era, as they sound so much like the Scorpions it's uncanny. Basically if you like the Scorpions then you'll love Love Venom but unlike the retro nostalgia of a band long gone you get with Dead Lord this veers a little closer to a pastiche, of a band still doing the rounds. 5/10