| Band: Devil Sold His Soul | |
| Album: Loss | |
| Genre: Post-Rock / Metal | |
| Country: England | |
| Release Date: 9th of April 2021 | |
| Released via Nuclear Blast Records | |
| Cover Artwork © Nuclear Blast Records |
Shortly after the turn of the millennium, in the MySpace-Age, there were a whole lot of British bands I fell in love with: Architects, Bring me the Horizon, Johnny Truant (R.I.P.) and Devil Sold His Soul. The amazing thing for me was that they all sounded differently. Even now, most of them are still active and still sound awesome.
Somewhere between Post-Rock and Metal, Devil sold his Soul found their niche and released two EPs and three albums to this date. Loss is the first time, both singers Ed Gibbs and Paul Green are on one release. They both complement each other very well. On a side note, that is a great way of handling such a „situation“ (old singer comes back when a new one is already there): just take both.
Imagine if other bands would do this also…
When listening to this album I get this warm feeling of nostalgia. This band is some kind of little treasure for me because not a lot of people around me know them (which is a shame by the way). Every trademark, that made me like this band in the first place is present here. You got non-cheesy keyboards (“Witness Marks“), anthemic choruses (“But not forgotten“) and the great change between harsh screaming and soothing singing (“Loss“).
This album marks a great comeback for Devil Sold His Soul and will surely stand tall among the other impressive releases in their discography.
Here are ten tracks you need to hear by Devil Sold His Soul aside from Loss (totally subjective of course):
The opener of the first EP with their, then new, singer Paul Green (The Arusha Accord). I can’t tell who does a better job, but surely both can scream their lungs out while being capable of doing non-cheesy clean vocals.
The debut album A Fragile Hope starts out in a crushing fashion. Waves of guitar-riffs hit the listener while you think “How did I sleep on this band?”.
“Drowning / Sinking” (Blessed and Cursed)
Sorry, no Bandcamp-Link:(
Nonetheless this is one of my absolute favourites by Devil Sold His Soul. It is the perfect opening for the great follow-up to A Fragile Hope. The end of the song gets me every time: gang-shouts and soaring guitars equals happiness for me.
“Unveiled“ is a rather short song for a band like Devil Sold His Soul. 3,5 minutes of condensed Devil Sold His Soul.
“The Truth has Come” (Blessed and Cursed)
Sorry, no Bandcamp-Link:(
The closer to the second Devil Sold His Soul album is 6 minutes of great sounding apocalypse.
One of the first songs I heard by Devil Sold His Soul (the first one was “Like it your Last” from the same EP). The siren-like guitars and the banshee-wailing got me hooked from the very first second.
“No Remorse, no Regrets” (Empire of Light)
Sorry, no Bandcamp-Link:(
The opener of the third album Empire of Light. A mid-tempo juggernaut that will stick in your ears long after the song ends.
“VIII” (Empire of Light)
Sorry, no Bandcamp-Link:(
This is another short one. “VIII”hits the floor running and doesn’t stop until it reaches its crushing conclusion.
“The Verge” (Empire of Light)
Sorry, no Bandcamp-Link:(
“The Verge” is slow building, beautiful song in the Devil Sold His Soul discography. A “Power-Ballad” in a good sense.
Released in the wake of Tom Searle‘s (Architects) Death in 2016, this charity-single lives from its dark atmosphere and a refrain that gets stuck in your head immediately.
Pathos without overdoing it. One of the highlights of this great debut-album.
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