Bible of the Devil - Freedom Metal

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Bible of the Devil - Freedom Metal

Music

Written by Srikanth Panaman

Sunday, 11 January 2009 18:06

Bible of the Devil went into the studio as usual to record another album with Sanford Parker sometime in 2008. While if you're already a fan of their brand of old school dirty-and-raw metal with precise twin harmonies on their Gibson Flying Vs, gruff vocals, razor sharp riffs and some beerbang-worthy songs, this new one (and their fifth so far) titled Freedom Metal is for you, no contest. But let me tell you something right at the start - there's nothing usual about what they've managed to pull off here. Agreed, their run so far has been nothing short of splendid. Their last album Diabolical Procession though, was a bit too slam-bam metal leaning towards the darker side. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I've come to expect a Cocaine Years every now and then in their albums. The good news is, Freedom Metal has got that and more.

Hijack the Night is an instant winner as the album opener. It even possesses a chorus that wipes the floor with most of what Blackie Lawless came up with during his peak. Night Oath shows off their more thrashy palm muted riffing style but with Hoffman's gruff vocals laid on top of them and with the galloping harmonies providing the more 80s vibe, this ends up sounding like no one else but this band. The Turning Stone oozes cool yet again. These guys prove that they're not just experts in nailing the biker-metal attitude, but also that they're not content with rehashing tried and tested ideas or quoting classic riffs for full nostalgic effect. What you see here is completely fresh, yet classic. They always bring in interesting riffing ideas, changes, melodies and never seem to repeat themselves. Their knack of writing non-cheesy singalong choruses is astounding as proven on this song, the song that follows it and pretty much throughout the album. Womanize shows yet another dimension of their rhythm playing and how they put them together to make the final product. The fast picked riffs, the more spaced out pre-chorus part and back to the fast picking for the chorus, and then juxtapose the rhythmic riffing with some amazing twin harmonies. Brilliant!

The next two songs is what I was talking about earlier. For Heat Feeler, they break away from all the badassery and dig out some classic Blue-Oyster-Cult-isms till the chorus-outro kicks in for a great heavy ending to the song. Ol' Girl on the other hand is just what the doctor ordered. This might just be the best Lizzyesque song that Phil Lynott never wrote and has truly climbed right to the top and taken Cocaine Years' place as my favourite song by the band. Hoffman also goes through a complete transformation as a vocalist on these two songs and brings out his more soulful style. Greek Fire is back to business as usual. Greg Spalding slamming away like he's playing in a garage band over some of the most energetic nwobhm type songwriting we've seen so far on the album. The album closer 500 More puts them squarely in the epic metal ballpark ala Colossus, though with their trademark bearded drunken dirt.

Sanford Parker's current streak of production/engineering credits puts him right at the top for me and I can just about blindly check out anything that he churns out. But we already know Bible of the Devil and all they've done is to have put out their best damn album yet with Freedom Metal, and one of yours truly's picks from 2008. A must-listen to fans of heavy metal guitars.

Year of Release: 2008
Label: Cruz Del Sur

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Our valuable member Srikanth Panaman has been with us since Friday, 08 December 2006.

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