Devangelic - blasting death metal from Italy

Devangelic

Xul

April 7th, 2023

Willowtip Records

The fourth album by the Italian band is instantly pleasing to audiences of blasting death. Equipped with very low, indecipherable growling, a plethora of blasting rhythm segments and warp-speed guitar blazing, Devangelic gets to the point quickly and stays on point. The first element to notice is the cool guitar work. Sharp and catchy, heavy both as a contemporary and a prototypical death guitar sound, it’s a fun listen of twisting, contorting, zigzagging unmelodic riffs. The second attraction is the songwriting. Compact and efficient, the 39 minutes go by rather quickly listening to the frenzied speed. How they manage to sound fun while going bananas on their instruments is a credit to the band. It’s not all blasting, either, as they have some slow, plodding com-ponents for some variety.

Unfortunately, the band has had some things that keep the death metal crowds from putting Devangelic at the top of their lists. They began with cartoonish, gimmicky artwork for their first album and the follow-up EP. They have moved towards more mythological ancient Middle Eastern topics; sadly, it is the hoax of Lovecraft/Crowley that some metal bands like. Surely, an Italian band should have no shortage of historical/mythological topics if they look towards their own history and mythology from the ancient Italian lands to today’s events, without treading the fraudulent path of the previously mentioned white supremacist, Nazi sympathizing self-appointed “prophets” of the 20th century.

The band needs better vocals. The vocalist seems all too pleased to turn in a just good, standard performance (who knows how much is real and how much is computer effects and auto tune and things like that). There is zero variety in the low growling. It is not energetic nor wild nor unpredictable; it’s just the same monotone, pretty-good “brutal” vocals. More creativity and more craziness is necessary. I would like to see the band to be less afraid to incorporate more guitar solos, more guitar in general, more intelligent and less nonsense lyrics, and much wilder, more unhinged and utterly savage vocals. Of course, I would appreciate it if they use real, live drums, too. Despite these criticisms, I have enjoyed this album. In the ten years since their humble beginning, they are one of the more entertaining bands in the field of blasting brutal death metal that I have heard this year.

Xul by Devangelic

[The first song streaming "Udug-Hul Incantation," a slow track, is not representative of the band's style. This track is a more basic, simpler song reminiscent of Nile's "Sarcophagus" (from 2002's In Their Darkened Shrines album), which also was not representative of that album.]

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