Recorded and mixed during the 2nd and 3rd of june 2003 at the Abyss Studio.
Tracks 14-21 taken from "The Howling" EP.
Line up:
Bass - B. War (Marduk)
Drums - Hrafn
Guitar - Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson (Marduk)
Vocals - Zweeda
Mixed By, Engineer - Tommy Tägtgren
After reading the horribly uninformed review already posted, I felt it was my duty to interject some knowledge and critical insight about this band and their music.
First off, this isn't a metal album. Most fans would lump this in with "Death Rock" or "Horror Punk", which is basically a sub class of punk played by fans of the Misfits and Samhain, and includes bands that were playing around the time of the Misfits in the early 80s like Mourning noise, Rosemary's Babies, and some of the more rocking goth bands. Most of the modern bands in this genre emulate the Misfits/Samhain formula quite blatantly, with the same kind of punk hooks, sped up doo-wop chorus lines, B-movie lyrics, and Danzig like vocals.
I first heard Devil's Whorehouse on a Horror Punk Comp. and wasn't that impressed. I thought they were better than a lot of the bands on offer, showing promise as a band that really "got" the idea of the misfits, but the track "We Live Again" was under produced. As I spent some time looking into the band I discovered that it featured two members from Marduk, and they had actually started as a Misfits/Samhain cover band. Interesting.
Revelation Unorthodox is another beast entirely. Imagine if Glenn Danzig decided to sing for Marduk under the stipulation that they reworked a few early era Danzig songs and made them heavier. Then imagine that this band got top notch production from Abyss studios and Tommy Tagtgren. Then, sweeten the pot with a cover of "Deathwish" by early 80's death rock gods Christian Death. If you’re already smacking your lips at the concept than this band won't disappoint in any way. If you could care less about anything I've mentioned above and think "horror punk" sounds like wank, than you might want to move on to something else.
For the rest of us Revelation Unorthodox holds some really enjoyable music. Tracks like "Pentagram Murder", "Swallow Your Soul", and "Blood Nymphoman" are black metal thrashers complete with crisp abyss like blast beats and driving fast chord changes. The vocals are pure Danzig appreciation and personally I think that's really fun and fresh. It's like updating the old misfits sound with more speed and power. Hoorah.
Then you have tracks like "Bondage Goddess", "Erotkill, "Funeral Dream", and "Blood Angels Recital" that reinterpret early Danzig, with twisted chuncky rifts and evil Elvis like swagger. You don't get quite the blues howl and powerful range that Glenn Danzig could pull off, but the vocals don't let you down. These songs are close enough in style to the original Danzig sound to make sense, but don't fall flat for lack of originality.
The third group of songs are tracks that borrow more from the Samhain era like, "Swallow Your Soul", "The Raven", and "Death From Beyond". These tracks have a post punk churn to them, heavy and wicked. I think the band should really invest in exploring the Samhain sound and melding it with black metal. They could really create something new and unexpected.
Lastly you have "We Live Again", "Howling", and "Blood Nymphoman" which are horror punk blasts of quick chords and frenzied drumming. "We Live Again" sounds like a Misfits outtake from the late 70s, and that's not a bad thing.
The "Deathwish" Cover is a real treat if you ever listened to Rozz Williams or Early Christian Death. It's a heavy surf death/rock classic, with chugging guitar and slipping bass scale back beats. It's not far from what Samhain was doing in spirit and comfortably fits on this release.
I think Devils Whorehouse could really develop into something beyond the sum of its parts depending on how they decide to proceed. Melding horror punk and black metal sounds like a great idea to me, and hey, the corpse paint is already applied for both. In the mean time, this is a hell of a fun album and better than anything Glenn Danzig or Jerry Only (somebody bunker bust the new misfits please!) has released in the last decade. Style up your devilocks and get ready to pound those guitars like fucking jack hammers, Devil's Whorehouse ain't no light weights.
Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
