Arson Cafe: Devangelic

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Devangelic - Xul Review

There is overpopulation in every extreme metal subgenre today, which makes it an even bigger relief to find a solid band among the tons of new music one can go through during each year. Such quality band is Devangelic from Rome, Italy, who have started their activities in 2012 and have offered a handful of highly enjoyable records in the brutal death metal territory, as it was executed by its founders 25 years ago. The band’s debut Resurrection Denied in 2014 had a strong blasphemous character, but since then they have switched to a more occult lyrical theme around Sumerian legends and mythology, which continues on the latest album, Xul.

Devangelic draw arrows from the same quiver like they have done so far and they aim well, as this new work thrives upon compact heaviness and intimidating brutality. It is fairly technical in terms of musicianship, throwing multiple either perplexed, or straightforward groovy riffs, the solos are frequent and the tempos change often, making Xul complicated enough to show the merit of the band, but pleasing to follow without your head exploding.

The production is less crystal clear than what it was on the previous record Ersetu in 2020 and this time, the band aims to feel a bit less modern than before, giving out a strong Disgorge worship here, adding enough samples and extra elements that would bring Nile in mind, or at least a brutal death metal version of them. I like this sound transition a lot, because it grants Xul a very potent presence, which is supported by the furious material it contains and presents an album almost of a different time, solid through and through, and amazingly barbarous.

Vocals are almost solely limited to deep growling, with a few high pitched screams here and there, and sometimes it’s possible to follow the lyrics, but they perfectly fit the music on Xul altogether. Another excellent aspect is the drum work, which keeps up to whatever the guitars throw wonderfully, it maintains a healthy amount of blast beats and is varied enough throughout the record without showing off, but more like serving the composition itself.

There is an abundance of parts at frenetic speed and some slower, almost breakdown-like intersections, while Devangelic often employ unusual time signatures as is characteristic in brutal death metal, all executed accurately. Xul reaches the higher steps of the ladder for this year’s competition in the genre, and is to me, their most complete work to date.

Out on April 7th, 2023 | Willowtip Records

DAMAGE: 4/5 [Excellent]

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Reckoning

From all the hills came screams. A piece of sky beside the crescent sun was detaching. It was a loosened circle of evening sky, suddenly lighted from the back. It was an abrupt black body out of nowhere; it was a flat disk; it was almost over the sun. That is when there were screams. At once this disk of sky slid over the sun like a lid. The sky snapped over the sun like a lens cover. The hatch in the brain slammed. Abruptly it was dark night, on the land and in the sky. In the night sky was a tiny ring of light. The hole where the sun belongs is very small. A thin ring of light marked its place. There was no sound. The eyes dried, the arteries drained, the lungs hushed. There was no world. We were the world’s dead people rotating and orbiting around and around, embedded in the planet’s crust, while the earth rolled down. Our minds were light-years distant, forgetful of almost everything.