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Devian: Ninewinged serpent

16/09/10 || InquisitorGeneralis

Oh boy, looks like Sweden’s black metallers are finally seeing the light (haha) and following some of their Norwegian cvlt comrades; turning in the corpse paint and bad blasts for things more thrashy and melodic. Young Norwegian lads from Immortal, Emperor, and Enslaved have all made the switch. Now it is time for their Easterling neighbors to follow suit. Devian is an interesting but uninspiring side project powered by members of Marduk…a band I have happily stayed away from over the years.

Sorry, if there is one thing I am NOT it is trve, cvlt, or grvm. I severely dislike pure Black Metal. Heard me sing this tune before? I know it’s getting old. In the same vein, I think I am getting a bit sick of Black/Death hybrid bands. Besides Behemoth and Zyklon who I have been a big fan of for years, an assload of these type of bands has come across my radar (and been reviewed subsequently) in the past few months. Satan’s Host, Blood Tsunami, and The Funeral Pyre have all impressed the Inquisitor.

However, with Devian’s “Ninewinged serpent” I think I have reached my limit. It is not because “Nineinched penis” is a a bad record. Not at all actually: it has good production, quality musicianship, and a few interesting songs; especially the slower, pounding “Gemini is the snake” which kicks ass big-time. The problem here is that not much sounds original or inspired. You can tell this is a side project and it feels like something different just for being different’s sake.

There are more pluses than negatives on “Ninewhores I sleptwith” I must admit and if you like your death metal with thrash and black influences you should check it out. Even though though many losers around here skip album intros “Serenade for the fallen” is pretty damn cool. Legion of Marduk and now Witchery fame does a good job on vocals: his raspy growl fits the tunes well. The guitars are well-played with lots of fast riffs and whammy bar’d out leads. The solos (there are two good ones) on “Instigator” and “Remnant song” shows that Devian can throw some decent melody into the mix when needed. Don’t worry though; Amorphis or In Flames levels of melodic pussyness are not reached on “Ninetoed syphiliac”, not even close. The drumming is technical and impressive; exactly what you would expect from a dude who also is in Nominon.

I don’t know why I don’t get as hard for this record as I have for similar shit like “Disintegrate” and “Grand feast for vultures.” This is well-played, great sounding death metal for sure and maybe in time I will come to appreciate it more. I am not throwing this record anyway though, but I think I may have to sit on a bit until blackened death/thrash stops being my flavor of the week.

While this may not be the best side project ever, there is definitely potential for Devian if they can manage to create a more distinct sound for themselves. One thing is for sure: this is a hell of allot better than Marduk. Audio tape of Lord K farting into former-staffer Smalley’s face would sound better and would certainly be more entertaining than most Marduk songs. Meh, I’ll save my anti-black metal ramblings for another day. Check Devian out, but there is certainly room here for improvement.

6,5

Information
Released: 2008
Label: Century Media
Website: www.devian.se
Band
Legion: vocals
Joinus: guitar
Marcus Lundberg: guitar
Tomas Nilsson: bass
Emil Dragutinovic: drums

Tracklist
01. Serenade For the Fallen
02. Dressed In Blood
03. Heresy
04. Scarred
05. Suffer the Fools
06. Fatalist
07. Gemini Is the Snake
08. Instigator
09. Remnant Song
10. Ninewinged Serpent

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