Devil Electric are from Melbourne, Australia. I have no idea what might in the water to make them so doomy. I also have never been to Australia, but from what I know, I'm pretty sure that it's warm there. Like, the temperature stays a pretty comfortable degree ALL of the time, for the most part. So, what part of Australia is cold? It seems like they live in an icy climate with all of their dark and dreary "woe unto us this Winter mourning"- sort of thing. Maybe they just feel chilly with that wind generated by all of the applause they must receive from their awesomeness. Whatever weather phenomenon is going on down there, it's churning up good things.
Their first (now sold out) 7" EP The Gods Below Vol. I came as quite a surprise. There are lots of doom bands around. And definitely lots of female-fronted doom bands at that. It's nothing new. But Devil Electric are something else.The sultry nastiness and ballsy delivery of vocalist Pierina O'Brien is really a thing to behold. Really. She can actually sing.
"Devil's Bells" opens everything with a kick in the ribs. O'Brien immediately rips into the opening with a huge presence, winding in and out of the main riff with her powerful melodic lines. It keeps everything in check with a slow, plodding, head-nodding tempo, devil-ish lyrics, and thunder-y bits.
"The Dove & The Serpent" has some obvious moral questioning going on. Perhaps a cry for help, or an ode to the dark lord of whatever: "I think about the Dove, the Serpent, and which I've felt I need more".... Either way it has the darkness that mercilessly pounds away with the swaggering tempo and Sabbathy chunka-chunkas.
Second EP 7" The Gods Below Vol II continues the fracas with the very NWOBHM-inspired "Confusion Of Mind"... this is almost white knuckle driving music. You'll get a ticket for sure if you play this while cruising.
"Holy Ghost" caps it off with more of the Sabbathy doom that seems to be their specialty.
So... why so dark in Australia? Well, it seems that they have been listening to the right stuff and it's translating into something special. Not to mention, just a little poking around will also point out that the other members of the band are all actively involved with other bands, as well. So, seasoned musicians all getting together to make something pretty cool...
When
ol' Scratch pokes away at doom/stoner, he eventually gets tired. So,
these folks take over for a while. That's awful nice of them to do,
wouldn't you say? Female-fronted stoner/doom that, when played at high
dB, has been shown to open up demonic portals, and peel carrots. I
approve.
Check It Out Here
