Devil’s Heaven – “Heaven on Earth”

Okay, this is now bordering on the ridiculous. Melodic rock/80s AOR  is one thing but how come I’m now devouring melodic metal like tomorrow is the end of the world? I mean, come on, double kick drums hammering away, technically brilliant but somewhat tedius guitar parts – what is to love about that? Well, I am starting to discover that the answer to that is, often, everything. So what of this offering from Devil’s Heaven (available now via Helldiver Records), does it fall in the hit or the miss pile?  One of the things about this review was that I picked the album purely on the genre tag, I have a new found interest so let’s see what a band new to me sound like (could this develop into another borderline stalker, totally immersed obsession like Eden’s Curse?).

Devil’s Heaven is Swedish metal group from the Malmö region, consisting of accomplished pro- and semi-pro musicians. The style is melodic metal of the eighties with a mere comtemporary guitar sound armour. Lyrically, they move between subjects like sex, religion, violence, and biblical revelations, paired with elements of mysticism and ockultism. A non conformist, anti political correctness attitude is a significant part of their image – and they’re not wrong! “Wine Me” has lyrics that could have been lifted from Steel Panther’s “Illustrated Guide to Single Entendre” but that is no major issue – I do, after all love Steel Panther. The sound is a strange blend (accurately matching their own description) of 80s hair rock, elements of thrash, elements of metal to create what to some will no doubt be a very strange recipe for disaster. They would be wrong, this is clearly a band having fun with what they’re doing – sure a little derivative in places but, heck, how much music that we know and love can fall into that category? 

I loved the 80s hair rock because it was fun – “Heaven on Earth” has that in big, dirty dollops. Perhaps not the most essential purchases of the year but well worth checking out when you need some brillaintly, fun metal in your life.