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Deville, Make it Belong to Us: So it Does

Posted in Reviews on December 28th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

deville-make-it-belong-to-us

Symmetry, structure and momentum. The tools put to use by Swedish heavy rockers Deville on their fourth full-length, Make it Belong to Us, aren’t exactly unfamiliar, but the record works quickly to live up to its title, offering a rich, coherent sonic personality and cutting a blazing, straightforward path through its 10 tracks/37 minutes. It’s the Malmö four-piece’s first offering through Fuzzorama Records after a vinyl reissue of their 2007 debut, Come Heavy Sleep, on Heavy Psych Sounds, and follows 2013’s Hydra (on Small Stonereview here) and 2010’s Hail the Black Sky (interview here) in being a next logical step in the ongoing development of what’s become a formidable songwriting process and all-charged, riff-led thrust.

Also Deville‘s first full-length since adding guitarist Andreas Wulkan to the lineup of guitarist/vocalist Andreas Bengtsson, bassist Markus Åkesson and drummer Markus Nilsson, who also produced and recorded with Tobias Ekqvist at Sunnanå StudioMake it Belong to Us is three-tracks deep before it seems to take a breath with the chugging stomper intro to “Mind on Hold,” but really it’s a front-to-back run of hooks and craftsmanship across these songs, and while Deville bask in a mostly sans-frills approach, hooks like those of opener “Make it Belong to Me” and the subsequent rush of “Chief” would make them superfluous additions to such a solid foundation. Very much a successor to Hydra in its sound — Nilsson helmed that recording as well — Make it Belong to Us emphasizes the steady growth of the band’s style and even in a track like “Chief,” which is just under two and a half minutes long and pushes past quickly, they keep a keen eye for melody and a purposefulness to everything they do.

Thoroughly modern in its aural crispness and the fullness of its impact, Make it Belong to Us nonetheless takes on a classic form. Its 37 minutes divide neatly onto two vinyl sides, and the better part of its forward reach comes in the back half, with a closing salvo of four tracks that each offer some marked shift or evolutionary next step. Preceded by affirmations like the Mastodonic stomp of “Mind on Hold” or the beats-its-way-into-your-head chorus of the preceding “Out of the Black,” this later material is even more resonant, but even it holds steady to the core accessibility underlying Deville‘s songwriting. As far out as they go, they only touch four-and-a-half minutes once, on closer “What Remains” (for context, it happened twice on Hydra, one song reaching 6:30), and it’s in the overarching tightness of cuts like “Chief,” “Lever” and “Dying to Feel” that Make it Belong to Us makes its most lasting impressions.

deville

There is a tension at work in the twists of “Lever,” but the melody remains a grounding force, and even when they seem to be their most explosive, Deville are never even close to being out of control, as much as the near-destructive swing in the bridge of “Out of the Black” might work to convince otherwise. “Lever” is also noteworthy for being part of a two-song centerpiece section, both tracks in which have one-word titles — “Lever” and “Drive”; I’m a little surprised they didn’t call it “Revel” — and for its balance of an airier verse with a stomp-into-nod apex that rounds out in an impressively efficient 3:41. All tied together, all neat and flawlessly executed. Beginning with an immediate burst, “Drive” follows suit in its open verse, but hits even harder when it decides the time is right, and though symmetrical to “Lever,” is ultimately even more of a standout.

As the launch point for the aforementioned four-song finishing movement, “Life in Decay” is particularly notable, but it’s more the insistent rhythm and snare punctuation that mark it out as the beginning of a sonic turn, rather than simply a matter of its north-of-four-minutes runtime — though these last four songs work shortest to longest, between 4:12 and 4:30, so purpose and structure abounds even unto the placement. As to where that extra time goes, it’s dedicated to a soaring melodic apex that blindsides the listener and, at least for me, has me wondering why Deville aren’t the Queen of heavy rock. “Dying to Feel” picks up at a verse-chorus run like nothing ever happened and bounces its way through terrain not so far off from earlier pieces like “Out of the Black,” except for a guitar solo that bleeds into an extended, crashing finale that holds its final feedback into the stomp-happy opening of the penultimate “Reflecting Surface.”

Surface can be reflecting, fine, but it’s also thick as hell. Dense riffs are cut through by Bengtsson‘s echoing vocals, and it’s a reminder that when they want to do so, Deville have the ability to conjure serious weight in their riffs. Even here, though, they pull together a memorable hook, and complement it with a righteous nod of an instrumental finish that seems to wink in the direction of Come Heavy Sleep‘s “Rise Above” without directly repeating it. “What Remains” is somewhat brighter, but has a larger groove in its chorus, capping Make it Belong to Us with another of the kind of ultra-catchy stretches that seem to come so naturally to (and from) Deville across their fourth LP’s deceptively brief span. The drums take off at about three-minutes in, but the band quickly turn around and come to a point around a final chorus in “What Remains” and end the record cold with the same level of pretense they affected all the way through: none. That prevailing bluntness of intent lets Make it Belong to Us get right to business at the start of “Make it Belong to Me” and leave its audience wanting more after “What Remains,” so to call it effective seems perhaps like understating it, but what one really takes away from Deville‘s latest is the band’s clearheadedness about what they want their material to do and their ability to bring that to light. No question they’ve grown, and no question they’ve done so in the right direction. They’ve made it belong to them.

Deville, Make it Belong to Us (2015)

Deville on Thee Facebooks

Deville website

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Deville Post New Video for “Make it Belong to Me”

Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 10th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

deville (Photo by Tom Wall)

Don’t look for Swedish heavy rockers Deville to make an appearance in their new video for “Make it Belong to Me.” The Malmö four-piece release their new album, Make it Belong to Us this week on Fuzzorama Records, and their clip for the semi-title-track is a long way off from your standard band-in-practice-space performance video. No doubt after making a full-length of such rocking proportions, they decided to give themselves the day off when filming was going on. Time well earned.

Make it Belong to Us is the follow-up to 2013’s Hydra (review here), which was a record I don’t mind saying took a while to sink in for me. Its production was so clear and crisp that it seemed more commercially minded than one might usually expect from Small Stone Records, which handled the release, but as I think “Make it Belong to Me” also demonstrates, there’s a sense of aggression under that sheen, and Deville contort that well to suit the heaviness of their purposes, so that they manage to hone a sound at once based on sonic heft, catchy songwriting and every now and again being really pissed off. Not an easy balance to strike, by any means, but Deville do it so well that it’s almost too easy to look past.

I’ll admit my affection for them increased greatly after seeing them live on their inaugural US tour last summer, and while I don’t know if they’ll be back to support Make it Belong to Us, it’s easy to listen to “Make it Belong to Me” and imagine how it would be coming from the stage, which, of course, is another credit to the album.

Video and album info follow. Enjoy:

Deville, “Make it Belong to Me” official video

Official video for the song “Make it belong to me” Taken from the album “Make it belong to us”. Rel. 13 Nov – 2015

Director: Henrik Christoffersson
Producer: Nils Landén
Actress: Chelsea Klikunas

Fuzzorama Records – home to the mighty Truckfighters, We Hunt Buffalo and more – is thrilled to announce the release of Make It Belong To Us, the fourth, and most explosive album yet from Malmö-based rockers Deville.

With previous releases on Daredevil Records, Buzzville Records, Heavy Psych Sounds and Small Stone Records, new album Make It Belong To Us will receive an official release on Fuzzorama Records on 13th November 2015.

Deville:
Andreas Bengtsson – Vocals, Guitars
Markus Nilsson – Drums
Andreas Wulkan – Lead Guitar
Markus Åkesson – Bass

Deville website

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Deville on Twitter

Fuzzorama Records

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Deville Release Make it Belong to Us Nov. 13 on Fuzzorama

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 24th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

deville (Photo by Tom Wall)

A busy couple years have gone by quick for Swedish heavy rockers Deville. The Malmö four-piece will release their fourth album, Make it Belong to Us on Truckfighters-helmed imprint Fuzzorama Records Nov. 13 as the follow-up to their 2013 full-length, Hydra (review here), which came out on Small Stone, and a reissue of their 2007 debut, Come Heavy Sleep, that was put out on Heavy Psych Sounds.

Make it Belong to Us will be the first Deville album to feature the lineup of guitarist/vocalist Andreas Bengtsson, drummer Markus Nilsson, bassist Markus Åkesson and guitarist Andreas Wulkan, the latter having joined since the release of Hydra, which in league with the reissue also served as the impetus for the band’s first US tour last year (review here). Whether or not they have similar intentions to support the new record has yet to be revealed — I don’t think one could really hold it against them either way — but they’ll be out in Europe next month to herald the forthcoming release alongside long-running rockers Mustasch, as well as playing at Desertfest Belgium 2015 and the Into the Void festival in the Netherlands.

As a first bit of audio to be made public, Deville and Fuzzorama have offered up the song “Life in Decay,” which you can find under the quickie announcement and the tour dates below:

deville make it belong to us

Fuzzorama Records is streaming a first song “Life in Decay” of the new album” Make It Belong To Us” out 13th of November. The album is produced by Markus Nilsson. Recorded at Sunnanå Studio by Markus Nilsson and Tobias Ekqvist.

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Deville on Tour
10.10 Antwerpen BE Desertfest Belgium
10.16 Essen DE Turock*
10.17 Leipzig DE Hellraiser*
10.18 Berlin DE Magnet*
10.19 Hamburg DE Knust*
10.20 Koln DE Underground*
10.21 Pratteln CH MiniZ7*
10.22 Munchen DE Backstage*
10.24 Leeuwarden NL Into the Void Fest
* supporting Mustasch

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Deville, “Life in Decay”

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