The Devil still has the best music

For the past few weeks, I've been absolutely obsessed with a band out of Holland called The Devil's Blood. Quite simply, they are the best new band I've heard in the past couple of years. Call it progressive occult metal if you need a label for it, and they do sound a bit like early Jefferson Airplane, but their sound is really all their own. Their female vocalist (known only as the "Mouth of Satan") has a strong yet vulnerable voice, and the instrumentation is nothing less than fantastic. These are the catchiest songs about old Nick that you're ever likely to hear and the guitar playing is other-worldly with bright-toned solos that are never boring, and it looks like they're using a three-pronged guitar attack a la the Murray/Smith/Gers version of Iron Maiden.

In addition to the Satan-lovin' lyrics, the band has performed in regulation death metal corpse-paint drenched in stage blood. I have a feeling they won't need to use such hoary gimmicks for long 'cos the music really speaks for itself. One caveat: this is definitely not religion-friendly music so all believers need to steer clear or just enjoy the music as is.

Currently, the band have released a great EP and LP (Come Reap and The Time of No Time Evermore), along with a CD single and a 7" and there's not a bad song in the bunch thus far. All of these are available on Amazon U.S. and UK, as well as directly from their German label Ván's website. You can check out their music via the link above and see some performance video on YouTube.

First contact

Even though I'm a writer, I've avoided this whole blogging thing forever. Being bored and unemployed, I've finally decided to take the plunge and add my voice to the millions of others currently clogging up the high-speed cable lines.

My main focus is going to be music as evidenced by the blog title (a song by prog-metal gods Opeth), since nobody wants to pay for music writing anymore. I promise (mostly) not to bore you with the mundanities of my personal life, so if you're looking for detailed descriptions of what I had for dinner last night, sleep habits, or bowel regularity, click away now. If I needed to keep a diary (I don't), I certainly wouldn't want it online for all the world to stumble across while searching for porn. I am an opinionated bastard though, so there will be occasional comments on current affairs, but I'll try to keep my rants relegated to my posts on Democratic Underground.

That's it for now - ta ta!