ALBUM REVIEW: Tre – The Devil & The Almighty Blues

Self professed blues rockers THE DEVIL & THE ALMIGHTY BLUES have set about toying with guitar driven soundscapes on their new album Tre. Comprised of only six tracks – though length tracks, at that – the five-piece have striven to marry a vast array of sounds stemming far from their home in Norway; forming a record that at its core is steeped in darkness. The band are intent on harnessing the poignancy and romp of the delta blues, marinating guitar rhythms associated with stoner-rock all the while stepping into the murky waters of doom.

Rumbling to life in twelve minute opener Salt Of The Earth, layers of washed out guitars repeat the same melody over and over again, joined ceremoniously over the course of three minutes by fuzz laden bass grooves and crashing drums to drive their atmospheric soundscape forward. It sounds a hell of a lot like something derived straight from the San Franciscan underground psychedelia scene, only to plunge into the realm of doom as the volume increases. It’s at this point that THE DEVIL & THE ALMIGHTY BLUES’ foundation is joined by vocalist Arnt O Anderson; whose clunky lyrics and Scandinavian drawl sits somewhat uncomfortably above the mix.

In One For Sorrow, a group of voices echo across the chorus to offer an off kilter juxtaposition to the fluidity of the instrumentation so far — its repetitiveness becoming more addictive as the minutes trudge by. There’s no lack of groove on Tre. No Mans Land delivers a bewitching use of rhythm that at points  threatens to descend into the romp of the 12 bar blues without ever crossing their own sonic boundaries. The distortion quality – as present throughout the whole album – drives the idea of stoner rock home, while the guitar solo at the peak end of closer Time Ruins Everything is an epic climax that is as achingly beautiful as it is heavy.

THE DEVIL & THE ALMIGHTY BLUES penchant for amalgamating their riff and lead sections on Tre are what plunge their musical imagery into darkness rather than tracing an east coast sunset. The joint attack from Petter Svee and Torgier Waldemar Engen work together as if they are one body, a force that playfully twists and turns to re-imagine themes from earlier in the record to present them as something entirely new. Couple that with crashing onslaught of Kenneth Simonsen on drums and it’s a concoction that threatens to explode at any moment – without ever actually going off.

THE DEVIL & THE ALMIGHTY BLUES seem to have landed on a formula that is comfortably their own on a third full-length outing. Wrapped firmly in the intricacies and technicality that make such respective genres face melting, Tre pulls together blues, prog, doom, stoner rock and hard rock to offer something a little more sombre, yet still providing one hell of a ride.

Rating: 7/10

Tre is out now via Blues For The Red Sun. 

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