Album Review: Devil Sold His Soul - Blessed And Cursed

Words: Simon Opie

Devil Sold His Soul - Blessed & Cursed (Release: 12 July '10)

I really like Devil Sold His Soul – think Cult Of Luna plus And They Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and then perhaps early Biffy Clyro. All great influences, of course, but what I most admire is their commitment to a genre that is unlikely to make them multi-platinum recordings or pack stadiums across the USA, however well they deliver it. In fact, they deliver it very well. And they’re British talent too, so hooray for that.

'Blessed & Cursed', their second album, was released back in July and is a great progression on the first, 2007’s 'A Fragile Hope'. It shows maturity and control which is not that surprising since this band is the successor to a band called Mahumodo, which split in 2003, and so most of these guys (four out of the six) have been playing together since 1998. The benefit of working for all that time producing post-metal hardcore has made them pretty expert at their chosen subject.

They don’t put a foot wrong from the shortish opener 'Tides' through the more lengthy explorations of 'Frozen' and the quite majestic, 'A Foreboding Sky'. The album runs about 70 minutes, and there’s not a bad track on it. I guess you can perhaps tell the music by the titles, but there’s a great variety of styles – terrific anthems, uplifting chorales, loud/quiet instrumentation. So even if you might not normally listen to this type of music I advise you give it a try. Maybe you'll like it and be able to catch them live on their UK tour in the new year.

Based on what I've heard, I think Devil Sold His Soul deserve far more recognition than has been the case. 'Blessed & Cursed' is a great album, expertly delivered and I can’t help thinking that if they were from the USA or even Sweden then they would likely be touted as the next big thing to happen in hardcore. So there, now they are.


STREAM: Devil Sold His Soul - Frozen


STREAM: Devil Sold His Soul - Callous Heart

Pick up the limited edition copy of 'Blessed & Cursed' for just £5.99 at Amazon.co.uk.

BUY: Amazon.co.uk (MP3) // Amazon.co.uk (CD) // Amazon.com (MP3) // Amazon.com (CD)

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