FIVES: THE BEST WONDER YEARS SONGSThis week Lansdale, Pennsylvania’s The Wonder Years released their fourth album - ‘The Greatest Generation,’ a record that sees the pop punk quintet reach their creative peak in a number of ways. With a wealth of material in their discography, Already Heard's Sean Reid and Tom Knott took on the tricky task of picking out the five best songs from The Wonder Years. Find out what we picked and let us know if you agree or disagree?
INTERVIEW: MALLORY KNOXFollowing the release of their superb 'Signals' album, Mallory Knox have certainly become ones to watch in recent months. We caught up with the band to discuss joining Search & Destroy Records, how vital the festival season and touring are, what it feels like to be a part
of the expanding British rock scene and much more.
ALREADY HEARD RECOMMENDS: OVER THE OCEANOver The Ocean have crafted a compelling, brooding record with their latest effort ‘Be Given To The Soil.’ With intense specific precision and delicate accuracy that echoes the likes of Explosions In The Sky and Sigur Ros. Jesse Hill from the band to discusses how the
album came together, the importance of precision, being compared to post-rock pioneers and more.
VERSUS: BRING ME THE HORIZON - 'THERE IS A HELL...' VS 'SEMPITERNAL'After a top ten UK album and an outstanding UK tour with festival dates on both sides of the Atlantic to follow, Bring Me The Horizon are having a fantastic 2013 and are now featured in the latest edition of "Versus." It's ‘There is a Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There is a Heaven, Let’s Keep it a Secret’ vs the bands latest release, 'Sempiternal.'
ALREADY HEARD TRACK GUIDE: ALEXANDER - SAY HELLOWe catch up with Newcastle Indie Rock quartet Alexander to find out more about their debut album 'Say Hello' for a “Already Heard Track Guide” feature.
INTERVIEW: TITLE FIGHTHaving briefly returned to the UK for the Hit The Deck Festival before starting a European
tour, we caught up with vocalist/bassist Ned Russin to discuss the bands progression in sound, differences between UK and US festivals, their recent split with Touché Amoré,
having friends on tour and more.
Album Review: Devil Sold His Soul - Empire Of Light
Here’s a little secret; I’ve never listened to Devil Sold His Soul. They’re one of those bands that I’ve heard mentioned quite a lot but I’ve never actually heard them myself. I’ve never had a friend who’s played a song to me, recommended them or anything like that. That’s quite surprising, actually, considering one of my friends has this grey hoodie with a blue print of the logo on it…
With this in mind I take us on this journey (aka my review) of Devil Sold His Soul’s latest album ‘Empire Of Light’ which is their 3rd album after ‘Bless & Cursed’ back in 2010. From what I’ve heard, Devil Sold His Soul also take listeners on a journey with their ambient influenced post hardcore/progressive metal and after listening to ‘Empire Of Light’ I’m pretty sure I could have heard any of their songs and known it’s them. Such a unique sound, merging all of those together rather than having heavy sections and then an ambient section such as with bands like Misery Signals.
Vocalist Ed Gibbs helps to deliver the contrast of styles and situations with his shift between his raw throated screams and his high delving clean melodies. And I can only imagine the energy onstage. Personally, I do prefer the screams. They both work, but I prefer the aggression that the screams prevail and there can be plenty of ambience provided by the rest of the instrumentation.
Despite how slow some of the songs can be, they’re still pretty darn heavy. Sometimes simplistic chord progressions with just 3 changes sound unbelievably heavy when the drums are crashing away and the electronics and that other subtle layer to an already large sound.There’s something about this sound that Devil Sold His Soul have crafted that feels utterly triumphant and optimistic, despite coming from a metal/hardcore territory.
But don’t be alarmed. There’s plenty of moments that you’re going to bang your head to, although you’ll feel like you should be on top of a mountain, or on top of a pile of enemies after you’ve just defeated them all, or doing something else that shows bravery, heroics and courage.
Like I said before, I didn’t know Devil Sold His Soul, but I’m certainly glad that I do now. And I’m pretty sure my friend will enjoy this album.
4/5
‘Empire Of Light’ by Devil Sold His Soul is out now on Small Town Records.
Devil Sold His Soul links: Website|Facebook|Twitter|Tumblr
Words by Mikey Brown (@MikeyMiracle)
