DEVIL (Magister Mundi Xum / The Noble Savage) CD
Rain, thunderstorm, the sound of a galloping horse, the shrill creaking of an old wooden door.....I am at a point where I find even this cliche for a cliche band like Devil annoying. But so be it. This way we get introduced to the re-relase of both the original demo 'Magister Mundi Xum' and 'The Noble Savage' 7". Listening to this compilation I could very well take my review (click here) of their full-length 'Time To Repent' and re-release that. We got a bit of light and a bit of shadow here as well. Seems like the band didn't change much from the demo to the album. The occult Proto Doom/Heavy Metal has a couple of good riffs, a few nice arrangements and a singer who sound likes Jess Cox on a bad day at times.
The songs 'At The Blacksmith's', 'Time To Repent' and 'Blood Is Boiling' are songs that make you nod your head, songs that maybe evoke the spirit of obscure NWOBHM demos, and which made it to the debut album and definitely belong to the highlights here. No wonder that the real highlight on this CD for me is 'Welcome The Devil', a stomping Doom Metal track that is pretty cool, but not to be found on the full length. I wonder why, as it is better than most of the band's other songs. The aame goes for the 7"'s title track 'The Noble Savage'. That one has a few cool straightforward rocking riffs that would put a smile on the face of NWOBHM fans.
On the other side, let's take a song like 'Spirit Of The Cult' - that stuff does nothing for me. But it's still better than 'I Made A Pact...'. That track does something; it makes me want to push the skip button as fast as possible. Moreover, it seems that the total vintage sound sometimes does not do the songs justice as well. If you are not familiar with Devil, I would say you can try the album as well as the compilation. Both got this vintage sound, both got monotonous vocals you need to get used to, both got good and bad songs. If you dig the debut and are a fan of the Devil sound you should get this re-issue for 'The Noble Savage' and 'Welcome The Devil'.
(Thorsten Frahling)