DEVIL (Eng.)
– Hi, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to? How is everything doing right now with DEVIL?
Hi, Sergio! At this very moment I’m checking out the musical escapades of Crispin Glover. Not very good, so no I’m putting on Roky Erickson – Don’t Slander me, to accompany me through your interview. Devil is as Devil does, as always! Not much happening, we’re inhaling the fine reviews on the album, and working with new songs as always.
– You have just released your new album, entitled «Gather the Sinners». How is its feedback being so far?
Very good! We were so frank to say we’d turn everything up a notch before the release, and it seems the media is agreeing on that.
– Your debut album, «Time to Repent», was simply superb and it good an overwhelming response so, do you have higher expectations on this new «Gather the Sinners»?
Well, thank you! I don’t know if it’s fair to compare those two so much, the one being a no budget release lasting only 35 minutes, whilst the new one is much more worked through and 20 minutes longer. I think maybe we have the same expectations every time. It’s more a continuation of Time To Repent than a brand new thing. After all, we’re constantly writing material, and whether it ends up on this or that album could be almost coincidential.
– Getting a bit deeper into this new opus; who are those «sinners»?
It’s pretty much a reference to the biblical sinners, the ones doing one or more of the seven deadly sins. Hence the seven creatures on the globe on the cover. But according to the bible, you’re born into sin, which would kill you. However, someone alreade got killed for that, so you might go to heaven instead. I’m surprised people aren’t even more confused than they are, haha! So I guess the sinners are everybody and nobody. Do you feel like a sinner today, sir?
– After giving the album some spins, I could say you have gone a step forward in all senses. Could you say you have now found your true identity and your «climax», so to speak?
That’s impossible to say, man. We do hope we can do even better, of course. But I think it’s a more even album than the first. Obviously we had At the Blacksmith’s and Time To Repent on the first album, which became somewhat of underground hits. We don’t have that now, I think, but we got all the songs of higher quality.
– I specially noticed a changed on songwriting terms so, has this process been different this time around?
Not very much. But we have done as we said a year or so ago, we’ve been working on getting together and jam out songs. So I think there is more of everyone in these songs, even though we’ve all been important for the sound of Devil since the start.
– Still talking about such, on this effort there’s a huge musical variety, having mixed elements from Doom, Rock or Heavy Metal among others. Is this veratlity something important for DEVIL? As I guess beside keeping things fresh and interesting for your listeners, it may also keep things interesting for yourself, both as musicians and composers.
Now you’re talking about something I find very interesting. I think we’re very lucky to be able to release an album with doom, heavy metal, garage rock and even some punkish speedy stuff, without losing the identity. That must mean we’ve found our own thing. So yes, I’d say it’s very important, and definitely helps us keeping the interest up.
– Production is also subtle different and I think is one of the elements that makes this «Gather the Sinners» even better than your first record, being this time rawer I could say, crispier, organic, sounding really low-fi and old school I could say. Was this the kind of sound you were looking for? And would you mind to elaborate on how did this process go?
I don’t know if I find the production this time around rawer or more lo-fi than the debut, but there’s absolutely a difference. The main thing is that this time we sent Ronny (drums) and Thomas (bass) in a proper studio to get both a better sound on the rhythm section, but also to make them work together as a pair. Being a fan of Ward/Butler, Cream, Captain Beyond, etc, I think there are amazing results of having a bass player and drummer that works like a little team inside the team. Kinda like a good pair of central defenders in football. That can do wonders for a team, and in this case for a band. So they are our Fabio Cannavaro/Alessandro Nesta, if you’re interested in football. The rest was done in the rehearsal room, as earlier.
– All in all, «Gather the Sinners» feels to me like a really mature effort but, is there always room for growth and improvement?
Always. One can never allow oneself to be content. That leads to CRAP! You have to carry on, and be certain you can top your earlier work.
– On the other hand, the cover artwork really manages to get the watchers attention since the first moment. Could you please tell us how did you work on it and what does it depict?
Initially the idea was to continue with the style from Time To Repent, with the minimalistic two-color design, but we couldn’t get hold of the artist from then, so we looked a little around and found Adrian at Coven Illustracion. He was very keen on helping out, and we just described the idea as you see it, and after a little back and forth we ended up with the cover you now have. It’s really only a visualization of the Devil and the seven deadly sins.
– And is it linked to the lyrical themes covered on the CD?
There is a mention of the title somewhere on the album, but none of the songs is dealing with the concept on the cover.
– All this about «Gather the Sinners» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
Catchy, retro, heavyrock. (Heavyrock is in one word in Norwegian, so that is allowed!)
– Finally; what are your near-future plans?
I’m gonna go home and make dinner for me and the wife. Haha. But seriously, not much. Doing promo for Gather the Sinners, work on some new materiale and playing Beyond the Gates in Bergen in August. We’re still hoping for some festival invitations, but guess all the booking is done by now.
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
The pleasure was all mine! Thanks to you for giving a blast review of the album, and to you, Tania and all the others at Queens of Steel for supporting Devil almost since the very beginning. Keep up the good work, and give our best to your lovely girlfriend and the rest of the staff!
