Band:	The Devil's Blood
Album:	The Thousandfold Epicentre
Style:	Hard rock
Release date:	November 11, 2011
A review by:	Doc G.

01. Unending Singularity
02. On The Wings Of Gloria
03. Die The Death
04. Within The Charnel House Of Love
05. Cruel Lover
06. She
07. The Thousandfold Epicentre
08. Fire Burning
09. Everlasting Saturnalia
10. The Madness Of Serpents
11. Feverdance

Retro-esque bands are always a touchy subject. On one hand, you've got the obvious downside; it is quite derivative. On the other hand, when it's done right, you've got a celebration of past greats. There's absolutely nothing wrong with digging up the past, so long as you do it with some creativity and personality. Let's just say The Devil's Blood do it with class; a blatant nod to the past, combined with a little bit of harder-edged modernization and just enough of their own flavour to make it distinct.

We're living in an era that is celebrating the modernization of classic rock - The Sheepdogs, The Black Keys, and maybe to a slightly lesser extent Rival Sons & The Answer have all seen their share of praise from mainstream media. While these bands achieved their accolades by creating some easy flowin', radio friendly rock n roll, The Devil's Blood chose a path that nods more toward the dark, menacing, noisy psychedelic. They pull off the psychedelic in a fashion that's equally experimental as it is accessible. It's the noise found in 70's LSD-soaked experimental rock, put through a heavy 2000-whatever era studio, interwoven with melodic riffs that sound like Quentin Tarantino's wet dream.

Oh, and those vocals! Man, do they ever tie the whole thing together; bringing in mind something along the lines of Janis Joplin. So the timbre might only rarely sound similar, but the delivery is along the same stream; a somewhat controlled wailing, that sounds more natural, and emotive than focused on being as technically precise as possible (not say this lady doesn't have the chops.)

Sure, you're probably not going to hear The Thousandfold Epicentre on the radio alongside many of these other retro bands popping up these days, but The Devil's Blood are offering something a little less moon-spoon-june, creating music that makes a nice & friendly crossroad between derivation and innovation.