In a country more famed for its Black Metal scene, than it’s rock output it’s nice to see something with a bit more heart emerge from Norway. A completely new and might I say, welcome entity to these ears The Devil And The Almighty Blues are exactly what their name suggest they are. Sitting firmly on that fence in between stoner rock and blues, the five piece from Oslo have honed their craft to perfection, plucking the best from each genre and are now ready to release Tre upon the world.
Opening with a Hendrix style blues jingle, “Salt The Earth” slowly builds into a stomping rocker that Kyuss would be happy to call their own. “One For The Sorrow” is practically leaking soul, a track with its roots firmly in seventies rock with a hook to die for, but also pours its heart out. This trend continues with the stand out track for me “Lay Down” another head banger with plenty of heart in between. TDATAB have mastered the art of building a track as “Heart Of The Mountain” demonstrates, a heartfelt ballad that ascends beautifully into a crescendo of guitars before collapsing again once more. “No Man’s Land” picks the tempo one final time before “Time Ruins Everything” shows off the bands full spectrum, peaking and troughing with soaring riffs accompanying blues interludes that build into a stomping finale. It really is a great listenTre is a master class in how to play within the best of several genres without sucking the life out of any of them and the songwriting is stunning. When they go heavy, it’s heavy; the blues parts will make your heart weep and all played with heaps and heaps of soul. This album is a great listen.