Doublestone Premiere “Solen Sover” Video; New Album out May 5
Copenhagen heavy rock traditionalists Doublestone will make their debut on Ripple Music May 5 with the dually-titled Devil’s Own / Djævlen’s Egn. Their second album overall, it follows 2013’s Wingmakers (review here) and pursues a course of engaging, natural and spirited heavy ’10s vintage-ism, distinguished through its fluidity of rhythm, its organic feel, and of course by its two-language approach. Splitting its tracklisting in half between the acoustic-led “Devil’s Own” and the slower ’70s-chugging of “Djævlen’s Egn,” Doublestone bring structural and conceptual nuance to a record that — at least going by what I can glean from its English side A and translating the titles on side B — traffics in cultish thematics that should be familiar to those among the converted who’ve been exposed to the likes of Svartanatt or Demon Head in the post-Pentagram sphere of retro-minded doom rock.
There’s nothing wrong with that, of course — rock bands have been writing songs about the devil since before they were rock bands — and Devil’s Own / Djævlen’s Egn finds the Danish trio of guitarist/vocalist Bo Blond Daugaard, bassist/vocalist Kristian Blond Møller and drummer Michael James Bruun bringing a sense of persona to establish genre tenets throughout cuts like the six-minute “Man on the Hill,” which unfolds its lyrical narrative atop a blend of heavy psych and vinyl-ready guitar warmth, and the 
penultimate “Fuglene Kalder” (“birds call”), which moves into a call and response during its hook before a boogie rock guitar solo also gives Møller‘s bass a chance to shine, of which it takes full advantage. The scope of Devil’s Own / Djævlen’s Egn as a whole is in part defined by its linguistic swap at the halfway point, but no less so by the lack of pretense on display throughout its 37-minute span. Doublestone carve a niche for themselves within the style rather than make any grand claims about redefining it in their image, and their execution of these tracks lives up to that standard with an immersive flow and cohesive songcraft.
“Solen Sover” (“sun sleeps”) is the closer of Devil’s Own / Djævlen’s Egn, and its position as such reinforces much of what works — in English as well as in Danish — about the rest of the record before it. Beginning with a fluid low-end groove soon-enough topped with soulful guitar and complemented by an easy swing of ride cymbal as it leads to the first verse, it’s a classic rocker in form as well as presentation, with some vocal harmonies between Daugaard and Møller for good measure and a push in its second half to an uptempo apex that basks in a light touch of the psychedelic before rounding out with a raucous last turn through the hook.
In order to herald the album’s arrival, Doublestone have a live-in-studio video for “Solen Sover” that it’s my pleasure to premiere today. And in representing the record as a whole, the fact that it’s a live performance captured here also speaks volumes to the mission of the band, who minimize any sense of studio trickery in favor of an aesthetic as organisk as possible across the LP’s entire duration.
More PR wire info on Devil’s Own / Djævlen’s Egn follows the video below. Once again, it’s out May 5 on Ripple Music.
Please enjoy:
Doublestone, “Solen Sover” official video
Originally formed as a duo in 2011 in Copenhagen by long time friends Michael James Bruun and Bo Blond Daugaard, Doublestone later became the power-trio they are today with the arrival of Bo’s bass playing cousin, Kristian Blond Møller.
Following a brace of impressive releases in 2013 – Set The World Ablaze EP and their self-titled Doublestone – the “cult-boogie” trio joined forces with Mos Generator’s Tony Reed to record their first full-length, Wingmakers, in the basement of an old cheese factory in the heart of Copenhagen. Catapulting themselves onto the international stoner-rock scene Doublestone made sure to leave no rock unturned making an imposing foray into the realms of 70s-influenced hard rock, bewitching psychedelia and southern metal.
Now, in 2017 they are back and signed to one of the world’s leading specialists in Rock, Stoner, Doom and Heavy Psych; Ripple Music. Digging even deeper and going even further underground than ever before, their long awaited second album, Devils Own/Djævlens Egn, was produced and recorded by the band and Andreas Krohn at Wolf Ram Studios – a former World War II bunker – with Tony Reed on mastering duties.
Devil’s Own/Djævlens Egn is released worldwide on 5th May 2017 on vinyl, limited-edition/multi-colored vinyl, CD and digital via Ripple Music.
Ripple Music on Thee Facebooks
Tags: Copenhagen, Denmark, Devil's Own, Djævlens Egn, Doublestone, Doublestone Devil's Own, Doublestone Djævlens Egn, Ripple Music
