Artist: Diavol
Country: Romania
Label: Self-Releasaed
Formats: Demo Tape
Year: 2025
Diavol is a relatively new band, hailing from the seemingly fertile Heavy Metal grounds in Bucharest, Romania. It is a duo consisting of Mike Witchspit on drums and on strings and vocals is Vic Nekrohammer, who is also active in both Leather Brigade and Hëllstrike. Those who have heard those two bands might have an idea where this is going, or they should at least have a faint suspicion. Otherwise, of course, there’s always something to be gleaned from the pseudonyms…
The two tracks on this advance promo are clearly recorded live in their rehearsal room, which, first and foremost, add a lot of charm to the songs. At least, if you’re, like me, fond of those old live and rehearsal tapes that were circulating amongst tape traders and underground enthusiasts some decades ago. It is not uncommon for those rough recordings to contain more energy and authenticity than the final studio versions. The eight minutes (and a few seconds) of ‘Advance Promo MMXXV’ are no exception to that tradition, you can almost feel the vibrations of the speakers and smell the sweat. Gotta love that!
On a musical level, Diavol is something that equally fits in the same time frame. The fast paced Black/Thrash Metal is free from too much melodicism or sleazy Rock ‘n’ Roll elements, instead it harks back to the first records of Desaster when they started to add more and more Thrash- and Heavy Metal to their mix. Those late 90s and early 00s Desaster records are not exactly used as a blueprint, but I am pretty confident that Mike and Vic do have some of these in their collections. That means that if you’re fond of Nocturnal’s ‘Arrival Of The Carnivore’-debut album or and ‘Thrash With The Devil’ 12” EP or some of the other German bands from that time like Hellish Crossfire, Witchburner and early Ketzer, or more recent bands like Eurynomos and Diabolic Night, this is something that you should consider checking out.
It is very obvious that this Romanian duo are not here to change the course of the future of metal, nor to reinvent the wheels of steel. On the very contrary, this is an honest homage to the sound of the mid 80s, a time when Slayer was God and Sodom were king!
