Review by Felix on February 27, 2022.

Almost 40 years ago, three English jesters were at war with Satan. It was an irony of fate that exactly these jesters created the first “progressive” black metal track, but let’s jump into our present time. Deviltook prefer to be At War with Gods and they shy away from any type of progress. This is generic, rather cheap yet acceptably produced black metal. No frills, no gimmicks, no experiments. Ten songs creep quickly out of a devilish womb and they sound perfidious, mean and misanthropic. It’s not that kind of album which blows you away immediately, but it has an inner force that grows slowly but steadily. One can discuss whether the extremely distorted voice borders on parody, but from my point of view, the performance of the lead singer does not hurt the overall impression. Fans of formations such as Grabak will share my opinion.

Outstanding songs? Well, this is an album in its pure form and no single collection. The song material is not very volatile – and so people like me, who love their black metal raw, pure and straight, will find quickly access to each and every of the ten examples of Deviltook’s art. Nevertheless, the restlessly jostling 'I Spit On Your Grave', the fast-paced, sharp and venomous 'In The Name Of The Lord' as well as the pretty intense 'The Suffering Of Mankind' are surely among the best songs of this album. Critical minds will moan that the band only knows one riff, but this is at least one more than the critical minds themselves are familiar with. By the way, riffs do not characterise the album. Deviltook put the focus on these endless Darkthronian guitar leads that shape tone sequences which create something that is neither totally monotonous nor melodic. Already the opener 'We Prefer To Die' celebrates this special art and I am happy that the horde does not start to die immediately.

Spain has never been the greatest exporter of extreme metal, but shady creatures like those of Balmog, Nuclear Revenge, Körgull and last but not least Deviltook blow some winds of change and it feels good that they do so. By the way, the words “winds of change” reminds me of another group of jesters. But let’s concentrate on a serious summary. Deviltook’s debut, equipped with an adequate and impressive artwork, sounds fresh, evil and courageous, even though they do not reinvent the wheel. Yet that's no problem for musically conservative black metal supporters like me.

Rating: 8 out of 10