DEVIL GONE PUBLIC
Sarasota-based Floridian metal crew Devil Gone Public apparently "united under the guidance and mentorship of Brian Johnson" and "spent a lot of their early years jamming with the likes of Johnson, Scotti Hill (Skid Row) and Donald 'Duck' Dunn (Booker T, The Blues Brothers)." That instantly primes expectations of a blues-based, AC/DC-stylised, hard rock sound... but that's quite a way off the mark. The music on 'Smokehound', the band's debut album, eight years after forming, is characterised by down-tuned, Southern grooves across a range of tempos, that shift from sludgy stoner right through to fast-paced thrash, and punctuated with flourishes borrowed from other rock/metal subgenres. There are even bursts of metal extremity, such as during 'Poison the Well', with its blast-beat, tremolo-picked passage towards the end of the song. At times, it can all be incredibly infectious, such as the headbanging, foot-tapping stomp of the title track. It can also be fleetingly perplexing - for example, just take the technical bass runs on the outro of 'Aether Way', and sporadically introduced rhythmic curveballs throughout. However, at core, it's generally all about the grooves; this is the album's true essence. And the grooves are plentiful, and have been skilfully crafted on guitar, bass and drums.
Vocally, the album remains an interesting listen, if a little inconsistent in quality, throughout. Singing ranges from punky dissonance, gruff rock, screams, growls, death snarls, and more melodically driven vocal lines. Certain stylistic choices over certain passages of music do come across as a little mismatched at times, such as the snarled growls over the last third of 'Euthanation', where it becomes ambiguous whether it's the quality of the delivery, or precisely where the vocals are posited that make it a disconcerting experience. Then again, maybe that's Devil Gone Public's intention. I guess it's their whole ethos of not playing it safe, and taking a few aesthetically unconventional chances, that makes 'Smokehound' worth your time in the first place.
I like the fact how this album both can and can't be pinned down to any one style... and, just when you think you know where songs are headed, they take intriguing divergences into completed unexpected territory, yet sustaining the stylistic familiarity at their core. It's quasi-diverse, I guess. Overall, though, I can't help but feel this debut offering from the band is born from their pre-pubescent stage of development. Maybe they'll show a greater maturity on their sophomore work... then, they'll be Devil Gone Pubic!
Vocally, the album remains an interesting listen, if a little inconsistent in quality, throughout. Singing ranges from punky dissonance, gruff rock, screams, growls, death snarls, and more melodically driven vocal lines. Certain stylistic choices over certain passages of music do come across as a little mismatched at times, such as the snarled growls over the last third of 'Euthanation', where it becomes ambiguous whether it's the quality of the delivery, or precisely where the vocals are posited that make it a disconcerting experience. Then again, maybe that's Devil Gone Public's intention. I guess it's their whole ethos of not playing it safe, and taking a few aesthetically unconventional chances, that makes 'Smokehound' worth your time in the first place.
I like the fact how this album both can and can't be pinned down to any one style... and, just when you think you know where songs are headed, they take intriguing divergences into completed unexpected territory, yet sustaining the stylistic familiarity at their core. It's quasi-diverse, I guess. Overall, though, I can't help but feel this debut offering from the band is born from their pre-pubescent stage of development. Maybe they'll show a greater maturity on their sophomore work... then, they'll be Devil Gone Pubic!
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Self-released
Album
SMOKEHOUND
Review by Mark Holmes
RUNNING TIME:
42:29
RELEASE DATE:
12th August 2016
TRACK LISTING
1) Aether Way
2) Euthanation
3) Satan, Hold My Hand
4) Smokehound
5) Blood Debt
6) Poison the Well
7) Chillin' Killin'
8) Language of Fear
9) Galactic Amnesia
2) Euthanation
3) Satan, Hold My Hand
4) Smokehound
5) Blood Debt
6) Poison the Well
7) Chillin' Killin'
8) Language of Fear
9) Galactic Amnesia
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
USA
"I can't help but feel this debut offering from the band is born from their pre-pubescent stage of development. Maybe they'll show a greater maturity on their sophomore work... then, they'll be Devil Gone Pubic!"
