https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Tre: Salting the Earth

Posted in Reviews on April 2nd, 2019 by JJ Koczan

the devil and the almighty blues tre

The Devil and the Almighty Blues‘ third album, titled simply Tre, arrives through Blues for the Red Sun Records almost exactly two years after its predecessor, II (review here). That in turn came out two years after their 2015  self-titled debut (review here). They are, it would seem, like clockwork. And just as II showed up and demonstrated a marked growth from the first record, so too does Tre push the Oslo, Norway, five-piece to a new echelon in their craft. It shares some methods with the preceding outing, including opening with its longest track (immediate points) in the 12-minute “Salt the Earth,” but finds the band — a returning lineup of vocalist Arnt O. Andersen, guitarists Petter Svee and Torgeir Waldemar Engen, bassist Kim Skaug and drummer Kenneth Simonsen — refining their style to a point of moving beyond their influences and truly stepping into their own style.

Oh, there’s the devil, and there’s the blues, and if you hold your breath long enough, you might even get a glimpse of the almighty, but much of what the band does so well throughout Tre can be heard in the eight-minute side B opener “Heart of the Mountain,” which finds the perfect tempo so that the measures of its verses don’t even seem cyclical so much as an unfolding line, and which bleeds soul from Andersen‘s vocals as well as the lead guitar and metered groove. The Devil and the Almighty Blues aren’t in a rush, and even when they offer up a bit of boogie, as on the hook-laden “Lay Down” or the penultimate “No Man’s Land,” they do so with a sense of poise that speaks not only to the confidence of their delivery, but how well they know what they want out of their songwriting. To listen to the background gospel vocals in second track “One for Sorrow” or even the quiet break in “Salt the Earth” that follows the chorus at about the 6:40 mark, one of The Devil and the Almighty Blues‘ greatest assets on Tre is the sense of space in the recording, and almost as important as how they fill it is how and when they choose to not fill it.

The verse of “One for Sorrow” wants nothing for sounding full. Its lead and rhythm guitar and bass tones are rich, its drums are understated but not absent, and its vocals are forward in classic fashion, yet even when the song — which is the shortest on Tre at 5:13, so well paired with the opener before it — sweeps into its more raucous solo section in the second half, there is still a bit of what seems to be space in the mix. Mastered at lower overall volume for vinyl, maybe? If that’s the case, then the adage about doing so letting a more natural and classic-style dynamic shine through certainly holds, as The Devil and the Almighty Blues have never sound so in charge of their direction as they do on this 48-minute six-tracker, but either way, the impression isn’t that the band are somehow holding back, but almost like they’re struggling against something bigger than themselves.

the-devil-and-the-almighty-blues

“Salt the Earth” very much sets the tone for this, from its soft opening to how its memorable chorus playing out in an echo cutting through held-out lumbering progression with a layer of backing vocals behind, a depth that seems only to go deeper in the aforementioned break, which they build up to a consuming place and still remain well in control, as shown in the melancholy guitar harmonies that take the place where a grandiose apex solo might otherwise show up. This is the band serving the song, the song serving the album and the album serving the expression. Tre casts the most resonant vibe The Devil and the Almighty Blues have yet conjured, and whether it’s the particularly Scandinavian-sounding classicism of “No Man’s Land” or closer “Time Ruins Everything” seeming to lose itself — but not actually getting lost — in the downtrodden soul of its chorus before it breaks à la “Salt the Earth” in order to set up the last push, which does feature the solo that might otherwise have come too soon in the opener.

Everything has its place, the band have a place in the moody aspect they create throughout Tre. The performance they give throughout “Lay Down” and “Heart of the Mountain” as side A gives way to side B isn’t to be missed, for its naturalism as well as the fluidity of the band’s conversing with aesthetic, and the atmosphere that results isn’t ever forced or overly dramatic; it just is. With subtlety and care, The Devil and the Almighty Blues build the world in which their tracks inhabit — and, I’d argue, thrive — and even more than two years ago, those tracks are able to affect the listener in multiple ways, whether its the well-placed upticks in motion with “Lay Down” and “No Man’s Land,” the crescendos in “Heart of the Mountain” and “Time Ruins Everything” or the organic feel that serves to tie it all together as a single work.

One thing to note. I went back and looked at the review for II, and it was laced with comparisons to other bands. I have none to make for Tre. One can hear shades of this and that, but nothing stands out so much as the level to which The Devil and the Almighty Blues have left their own mark on this material. Listening to the album, it is easy to believe this is to what their work up till now has been leading, and that may be the case, or Tre might just be another step forward on their path, but the sense of arrival here is palpable, and in kind with the quality of the songs, it makes The Devil and the Almighty Blues come across as all the more powerful in their approach. Not because they’re the loudest, or because they’re the most aggressive, or they have the nastiest tones, but because they give life to something that is theirs entirely, and because you can’t hear it and imagine you’re listening to someone else.

The Devil and the Almighty Blues on Thee Facebooks

The Devil and the Almighty Blues on Bandcamp

Blues for the Red Sun Records on Thee Facebooks

Stickman Records website

Tags: , , , , , ,

The Devil and the Almighty Blues to Release Tre March 29; Touring Europe in April & May

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 12th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

the-devil-and-the-almighty-blues

Maybe you know this and maybe you don’t, and maybe I’ve said it before and maybe I haven’t, but it bears repeating: The Devil and the Almighty Blues are hot shit. I was fortunate enough to see them live when they played Roadburn supporting their second album, II (review here), and if the gods are generous, I’ll be able to see them again in their native Norway this Fall at Høstsabbat 2019 supporting their third, Tre, which is due out late next month on Blues for the Red Sun Records. Cue me sending an email to try and chase down a track premiere without even having heard the record yet in three, two, one…

And why, you ask? Because The Devil and the Almighty Blues are, as noted, hot shit. They own the stage and their records bring together classic songcraft with a heavy blues rock mentality and a willingness to stretch out of the confines of genre that only makes their work less predictable on the whole. Sign me up. Seriously. I’m in. New record. Let’s do this.

Before I forget, here’s album info from the PR wire:

the devil and the almighty blues tre

Heavy blues conjurers THE DEVIL AND THE ALMIGHTY BLUES return with new album ‘TRE’ this spring ; European tour announced!

Oslo bluesy quintet THE DEVIL AND THE ALMIGHTY BLUES unveil details for their third album ‘TRE’, coming March 29th on Blues For The Red Sun. The band also announced a European tour, including Desertfest appearances and dates with Stoned Jesus and Earthless.

Heavily inspired by Delta blues, and standing at the crossroads of both American and British blues-based rock, The Devil and the Almighty Blues hail about as far from that unmarked place where Robert Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil as one can be: Oslo, Norway. By infusing all the world’s other sub-genres of rock, from punk to garage rock, and from heavy psych to southern sludge, The Devil and the Almighty Blues sounds heavy without becoming too metal, slow without being doom, slow and raw, fucked up and bluesy without being predictable, or losing the blues’ muddy origins. – Walter Hoeijmakers, Roadburn.

With their third full-length ‘TRE’, the Norwegian five-piece conjure up some of their finest bluesy licks and heavy grooves while keeping their trademark mid-tempo songcraft — the very one sound that has held all crowds spellbound and made the band stand out from the underground heavy rock scene. Each one of the songs on ‘TRE’ is as soulful as it is filled with electricity: from stomp-inducing anthems (‘No Man’s Land’), bewitching female vocals (‘One For Sorrow’) to tenebrous and emotional ballads (‘Heart Of The Mountain’), it arouses such a wide range of emotions that it instantly gets the listener all speechless and fulfilled at once.

THE DEVIL AND THE ALMIGHTY BLUES – ‘TRE’
New album out March 29th on Blues For The Red Sun

TRACK LISTING:
1. Salt The Earth
2. One For Sorrow
3. Lay Down
4. Heart Of The Mountain
5. No Man’s Land
6. Time Ruins Everything

The Devil and the Almighty Blues European tour:
28.04.19 – Hamburg (DE) w/ Stoned Jesus
29.04.19 – Groningen (NL) w/ Stoned Jesus
30.04.19 – Dresden (DE) w/ Stoned Jesus
01.05.19 – München (DE) w/ Earthless
02.05.19 – Wiesbaden (DE) w/ Earthless
03.05.19 – Berlin (DE) Desertfest
04.05.19 – Nijmegen (NL) Sonic Whip
05.05.19 – London (UK) Desertfest
08.05.19 – Wien (AU) Arena
09.05.19 – Salzburg (AU) Rockhouse
10.05.19 – Stuttgart (DE) Universum
11.05.19 – Cologne (DE) Helios

TDATAB IS
Arnt O. Andersen – Vocals
Kim Skaug – Bass
Petter Svee – Guitar
Torgeir Waldemar Engen – Guitar
Kenneth Simonsen – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/thedevilandthealmightyblues/
https://thedevilandthealmightyblues.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/BLUES-FOR-THE-RED-SUN-645295312258485/
https://www.stickman-records.com/

The Devil and the Almighty Blues, II (2018)

Tags: , , , , , ,