DevilsBridge - 2022 - Sense Of

(52:31; Fastball Music)

Track list:
1. Intro 0:50
2. Illusion 3:59
3. Reality 3:58
4. Space 3:51
5. Life 5:10
6. Seventh Sense 3:28
7. Instinct 5:26
8. Perfection 4:22
9. Pain 7:28
10. Death 4:44
11. Survive 3:48
12. Time 5:27

Line-up:
Steven Drt - bass
Vany Shade - guitars
Dani Nell - vocals
Tom White - guitars
JC Daisy - drums


Swiss band DevilsBridge started out back in 2012, and is one of those bands that have taken their good time to develop their craft before hitting the studio to create material suited for an official release. They released their first single in 2019, their first EP came the following year, and then I presume a certain pandemic stopped the band in their tracks just a little bit. Now in the fall of 2022 the band released their debut album "Sense Of" through German label Fastball Music.

The style of music explored on this production is heavy metal, and it is an interesting take on the style that incorporates a few different elements. The main foundation appears to revolve around two different key elements, with one being passages with circulating patterns establishing a distinct groove to be the main focus and the other being a tight and more repetitive variety of metal that share certain characteristics with good, old power metal. The former with dark, crunchy guitar riffs as a typical feature and the latter with a tighter and harder guitar riff foundation and energetic rhythms as the most important factors. For both of these main orientations we get a liberal array of guitar solo overlays that adds a cutting and contrasting presence that helps maintain tension, contrast and variety.

The band will on occasion toss in some curveballs in their compositions too, and most often those come in the shape of gentler, delicate interludes, at times with a slight touch of post-rock applied to them. This latter feature may well be accidental, but the most important aspect of this is that these interludes function very well to break up the song and add both contrast and tension to the proceedings. Another and very different curveball is that the band occasionally will fire up the intensity a bit and start approaching more of a thrash metal style, and a third is the use of impact riffs of a few different styles and orientations.

That being said, this isn't a highly sophisticated take on heavy metal, and the material here is a bit more straightforward than the description might imply. In part, I guess, to make sure that the band's main asset has the dominating place in the limelight that is needed for these songs to have an impact. That asset are the vocals, delivered with power and passion by Dani Nell, whose voice and delivery are if not similar then at least having some similarities properties in execution to a vocalist like Skunk Anansie's Skin. The more delicate parts of the songs gives Nell the chance to showcase her mastery of a more careful vocal delivery too, and on the calm and sparse ballad-oriented cut 'Pain' she is given an entire song where this part of her repertoire can be explored more in depth as well. Due to the dominating role of the vocals throughout this production, this is one of those albums whose allure will depend a lot on whether or not you enjoy the lead vocals.

DevilsBridge provides us with an energetic and contemporary take on heavy metal, and one that comes with distinct, powerful and emotional lead vocals as a dominating trait and a variation of the style that revolves around groove-oriented patterns and a bit of power metal. Arguably with a bit of alternative rock added for good measure. If that is a description that sounds intriguing, then there's a good chance that you'll find this to be an interesting album.

Olav M. Björnsen, October 2022

Links:
https://www.devilsbridge.ch/
http://www.fastball-music.de/