Devilfire are a 5-piece hard melodic rock engine from Birmingham, England formed off the back of an early studio session between long term friends, Alex Cooper (producer) and drummer, Lars Wickett. Their working project, then known as Devilstar, took 3 years to gestate before things fell into place on a lengthy tour of Eastern Europe as guests to Tarja Turunen. That tour cemented a growing reputation as a live force and what followed was the undeniable power of their debut album, Dark Manoeuvres, released in 2017 to high acclaim.

So to their next release, the band have been slipping us teasers over the lockdown with the singles, Chasing The Pain, Dead Man Walking and Dream Evil from their new album Black Soul Vendetta due out on Friday 4th September 2020.

This is an album that sounds comfortably familiar without sounding like anything else in particular. Twelve/Thirteen great rocks songs (depending on format), not a single skip track on here. There is a classic late 80’s/early 90’s feel to this album with a nod to the heavier side of the Hair Metal/Glam Rock scene of that time.

What I do love about the twin guitars of Baz Blackett and Kieran Topp throughout the album is that every note is there for a reason, there is no showing off, overplaying, just great melodic solos and meaty rhythmic riffs.

The whole sound driven by the rhythm section of Jay Downes and Lars Wickett on bass and drums respectively and Alex Cooper’s consistently great vocals.

Cruelest Animal opens the album, putting a marker in the ground, letting us know what this album is about and where it’s going, a little keys intro into a meaty riff, great vocals and harmonies throughout. I’m sucked in as is my 16 year old metalhead son, this was his favourite track on the album. This is followed by the second single to be released from the album, Chasing The Pain, not only does it feature a horn section, Alex shares the vocals with Eric Dover (Alice Cooper, Jellyfish and Slash’s Snakepit) the vocals work so well together to give across the impression of the split personality that is the subject of the song.

Live A Lie continues the driving rock pace set by the previous tracks, with the mood getting a little darker for the next two tracks Vendetta and Dead Man Walking, The latter starting off with police sirens and crackling radio talk really setting the mood for the third and final single to be released prior to the album, a track that reflects on hope vs hopelessness, good vs evil and mainly about being accused of something you didn’t do.

Next up,Dream Evil the first single released all the way back in early April, opening with classic keyboard/strings intro into another great riff and melody and then probably the best chorus hook on the album for me and linking this album nicely to the debut album Dark Manoeuvres as the sequel to She’s Like Fire. More keyboard intro takes us straight into another catchy chorus of Justify another great guitar driven track with a great example of the twin duelling guitar soloing, first one, then the other then both together, playing off each other into the fade, not egotistically but complementing each other melodically.

Sell My Soul is a gutsy bluesy rock and roller, with outstanding vocal harmonies, this album is just full of catchy choruses, there’s a bit more aggression and growl in Alex’s vocals on this. Tubular bells take us neatly into track number nine as we pull up the reins a little and ease the pace with Your Gonna Break My Heart, not quite a ballad, but a love song non the less from what I hear its about the fear of a new relationship whilst still reeling from an old one, ending as it began with those tubular bells.

We are on the home run of this immense album with What You Pay For, I am running out of superlatives this track just keeps the pace and hookiness of all the previous tracks going and leads into my personal favourite track of the album, Black Soul Bones, The tubular bells are back, this track stands out to me as the vibe switches to proper old school swagger, that you just cannot help moving your feet to. The eery, mystical guitar sounds blend brilliantly with the dirty chuggier riffs. As for the vocals, on my first listen I was like “this song needs some female vocals on it” and bang there they are, complimenting Alex as he stretches his range more than on any other track on this album. Love it.

The pace quickens again for the final track on the Vinyl and penultimate track on the digital and CD packages Decadence, this is literally the sprint for the finish line, and the decadence is that the twin guitars are let loose, in the rest of the album they play amazing melodies and great catchy sing a long solos, on this track they just give it some, proper rock god style. For those who choose to buy this on CD or digitally you will have the pleasure to hear that the Devilfire boys can switch it around to write a classic 80’s Power Ballad, Wasn’t It Love, Keyboard/Piano led and flowing dreamy soloing. Heartfelt lyrics.

In summary at 13 tracks at 55 minutes with no wastage, this will be an absolute great value for money album. As my son says there are times you go wow at the skills and musicianship and others where you just feel the track. 10/10