Devil’s Heaven
Heaven on Earth
Helldiver Records/GMR Music
2014
Devil’s Heaven are a Swedish metal group from Malmoe, featuring a few important musicians in their ranks like Jonas Reingold on bass & Richard Andersson on keyboards who have previously been notable for their highly visible memberships in visible bands in the media, maybe even Jamie Salazar on drums who’s been with Allen/Lande could be mentioned here… other than that they’re rounded off by a couple of guitarists one of whom even plays at the Nobel Award ceremonies and another one who used to be a dentist for years, after releasing a sole album! Jake Sanberg & Michael Mansson respectively and a cool ass vocalist in Marcus Nygren who’s a bit of a powerhouse soft rock revelation, with a very capable voice, an impeccable technique and a very pleasant “vocal quality” overall.
The result of this gathering? Nothing sort of wonderful?! Cool ass hard ‘n heavy rock that swings between rock ‘n metal and is lush in melody. Very 80s in conception, but quite contemporary in execution. Lyrically, they move between subjects like sex, religion, violence, and biblical revelations, paired with elements of mysticism and occultism. A non-conformist, anti-political correctness is a significant part of the overall image according to their site, whatever that’s supposed to mean.
“Welcome II The Show” begins with a quick drum roll and an almost Megadeth kick and attitude, before it breaks away from that style and blooms into a rather symphonic chorus, complete with faux “Hammond” into something not to dissimilar to Rough Silk in their prime!
“Demerital Action” is more of a nasty, “cheap an nasty” to be precise, number that seems to mix equal measures of say Whitesnake mannerisms with a style closer to Bonfire, or maybe something like Jaded Heart?! Yeah...
In “Devil Woman” things are similar, if not a little bit heavier and darker but it’s still a decent enough track with nice melodies.
Now “Touched by an Angel”, has in fact, Stratovarius’ “Black Diamond” portions played slightly slower. It’s still a nice enough ballad, as it’s infused with some other parts and melodies as well and quite “religious” in its message...
“Mean Street City” is a total antithesis, pretty mean, with harsh vocals and in your face parts to match the mood it tries to create – in this one – MN, goes from an almost AOR soft vocalist to a Sebastian Bach on steroids meets Charles Rytkönen (Morgana Lefay) sort of scream demon and this “metal-morfosis” is quite interesting to behold...
“Day of Doom” is also a fast paced metallic number with harsh – but not so mad vocals… again quite melodic and pleasant… not bad at all actually!
“Riders in the Sky” is more measured and temperate, but impresses with its advanced sense of melody and maturity.
“Let It All Hang Out” is either a song that talks about having fun or tits!? But one doesn’t rule out the other I suppose! Right?! As you might have guessed it’s a bit of a rock ‘n roll number and it’s fun fun fun…
“Festung Europa” (Fortress Europe) is a two minute long walkathon battle of guitars and keyboards and seems to be some sort of variation on a theme that I’m sure I recognize…
“Cold” begins as a soft ballad, that soon turns into a huge power ballad, with all the marks of a proper epic one, like a long dragging guitar solo and everything! Bon Jovi would eat his own shit to have written something this cool, since in the past few years he only tends up to come up with shit himself...! Go Scandi Jon!
“Stillborn” is almost a bridging piece and it must be there to take the piss, as it’s only half a minute long and it’s done a bit over the top and it comes just before…
“Hot Sex” a rather in your face and possible up your khyber, number about carnal lust and rock ‘n roll. It’s a perverse little rocker that honks and tonks and rock and rolls wildly and not quite so badly...
Lastly “Wine Me” is another silly porny rocker about “wining, dining, 69ing...” that normally wouldn’t go far but is so silly that ends up being funnily adorable, in an almost campy – Wig Wam sort of way!
Overall – not bad at all! Not a tiny, whiny, Bit! Rock & Roll Baby! I’d like to give it a 69, but since I can’t a 7 will have to do nicely...
The result of this gathering? Nothing sort of wonderful?! Cool ass hard ‘n heavy rock that swings between rock ‘n metal and is lush in melody. Very 80s in conception, but quite contemporary in execution. Lyrically, they move between subjects like sex, religion, violence, and biblical revelations, paired with elements of mysticism and occultism. A non-conformist, anti-political correctness is a significant part of the overall image according to their site, whatever that’s supposed to mean.
“Welcome II The Show” begins with a quick drum roll and an almost Megadeth kick and attitude, before it breaks away from that style and blooms into a rather symphonic chorus, complete with faux “Hammond” into something not to dissimilar to Rough Silk in their prime!
“Demerital Action” is more of a nasty, “cheap an nasty” to be precise, number that seems to mix equal measures of say Whitesnake mannerisms with a style closer to Bonfire, or maybe something like Jaded Heart?! Yeah...
In “Devil Woman” things are similar, if not a little bit heavier and darker but it’s still a decent enough track with nice melodies.
Now “Touched by an Angel”, has in fact, Stratovarius’ “Black Diamond” portions played slightly slower. It’s still a nice enough ballad, as it’s infused with some other parts and melodies as well and quite “religious” in its message...
“Mean Street City” is a total antithesis, pretty mean, with harsh vocals and in your face parts to match the mood it tries to create – in this one – MN, goes from an almost AOR soft vocalist to a Sebastian Bach on steroids meets Charles Rytkönen (Morgana Lefay) sort of scream demon and this “metal-morfosis” is quite interesting to behold...
“Day of Doom” is also a fast paced metallic number with harsh – but not so mad vocals… again quite melodic and pleasant… not bad at all actually!
“Riders in the Sky” is more measured and temperate, but impresses with its advanced sense of melody and maturity.
“Let It All Hang Out” is either a song that talks about having fun or tits!? But one doesn’t rule out the other I suppose! Right?! As you might have guessed it’s a bit of a rock ‘n roll number and it’s fun fun fun…
“Festung Europa” (Fortress Europe) is a two minute long walkathon battle of guitars and keyboards and seems to be some sort of variation on a theme that I’m sure I recognize…
“Cold” begins as a soft ballad, that soon turns into a huge power ballad, with all the marks of a proper epic one, like a long dragging guitar solo and everything! Bon Jovi would eat his own shit to have written something this cool, since in the past few years he only tends up to come up with shit himself...! Go Scandi Jon!
“Stillborn” is almost a bridging piece and it must be there to take the piss, as it’s only half a minute long and it’s done a bit over the top and it comes just before…
“Hot Sex” a rather in your face and possible up your khyber, number about carnal lust and rock ‘n roll. It’s a perverse little rocker that honks and tonks and rock and rolls wildly and not quite so badly...
Lastly “Wine Me” is another silly porny rocker about “wining, dining, 69ing...” that normally wouldn’t go far but is so silly that ends up being funnily adorable, in an almost campy – Wig Wam sort of way!
Overall – not bad at all! Not a tiny, whiny, Bit! Rock & Roll Baby! I’d like to give it a 69, but since I can’t a 7 will have to do nicely...