### The Devil: The devil

#### 28/12/12 || BamaHammer

What the fuck is this? Not “What the FUCK is this?”, but instead “What the fuck is THIS?”

I honestly don’t know how to start this review. Quite frankly, this is one of the weirdest fucken albums I’ve ever heard. It also pisses me off with the sheer volume of pretentious bullshit this band and album have managed to cram onto a single disc. Holy shit balls. I mean, you named your band The Devil. The. Fucken. Devil.

Okay, here’s everything I know about Teh Devil. It’s six unnamed, mysterious, totally fucken anonymous dudes from the UK. They just released one 13-track full length album. They don’t have any lyrics or vocals. They wear robes and masks. That’s it.

Is this some ridiculously pretentious shit or what? Pretentious? Yes. Shit? No. And dammit, I love their fucken album.

Here’s the deal. They compose an extremely atmospheric and heavily synthesized and symphonic fusion of plodding doom and black metal. The guitar riffs are very rudimentary and are generally just really repetitive. The drums simply find a groove and make it catchy. And as I said before, there are technically no vocals. None. No growled lyrics about… Satan… (sips wine). No screams of tortured agony. There is only speech.

In place of traditional vocal fare, The Devil has opted to overlay soundbites, fucken soundbites, ranging from interviews and speeches from various US Presidents like John Kennedy or Ronald Reagan regarding UFOs and alien invasions to newscasts and reports (that I even remember) that insinuate conspiracy theories surrounding Building 7 at the World Trade Center from the September 11th attacks in New York. As completely irrational and stupid and absurd as that sounds, the result is one of the most genuinely eerie albums I’ve ever heard. That’s the only word I know that can describe it: eerie.

The music is heavily driven by the swells and pads of the keyboards, which is fine because it creates an atmosphere so thick it will choke you. The most ambient moments are reminiscent of a typical psychological horror movie soundtrack, but when the rest of the instruments kick in, things just get so incredibly groovy that the content of the soundbites becomes much more powerful and moving. And the whole thing is just so… so… fucken… weird.

I can’t truly describe what this album is like with words. No one can. It’s something that you’ll just have to hear. This album is an experience like no other I’ve ever had before musically. Do whatever you need to do to hear this stuff. It’s just fucken surreal.

For as a wise man once said, an error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.

- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: Candlelight
- Website: www.thedevil.org
- Band
- Unknown

- Tracklist
- 01. Divinorum
- 02. Universe
- 03. Astral Dreamscape
- 04. World of Sorrow
- 05. Devil & Mankind
- 06. The Silent City
- 07. Akashic Enlightenment
- 08. Extinction Level Event
- 09. Intervention
- 10. Illuminati
- 11. Transcendence
- 12. Alternative Dimensions
- 13. Ascension