Steamhammer / SPV
All Access Review: B+
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| Kill Devil Hill |
Ever wonder what a confluence of Pantera’s groove-mongering
madness and Dio/Black Sabbath melodic black magic would sound like? Welcome to
the gothic darkness of Kill Devil Hill, brainchild of veteran metal warriors
Rex Brown, carpet-bombing bassist for the former, and Vinny Appice, bludgeoning
drummer for the latter two outfits. Intense, ominous and unrelentingly heavy,
Kill Devil Hill – also featuring vocalist Dewey Bragg and guitarist Mark Zavon
– could be the bastard child of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, were it not
for the obvious doom-metal parentage of early Ozzy-fronted Sabbath. How proud
they must be of their demon offspring.
Tuning up with the violent opener “War Machine,” Kill Devil
Hill unleashes a dense swarm of malevolence that almost swallows the hornets’
nest of activity kicked up in the murderous “Voodoo Doll,” where the foursome
play puppet master with shifting dynamics. The woozy, drug-sick “Gates of Hell”
and “Up in Flames” revisit the twisted psychedelic carnival of “Black Hole Sun”
while Bragg’s ocean-deep, anguished phrasing summons the hoary, hopelessly
addicted ghost of Layne Staley. And with grooves as thick as molasses and
monstrously huge guitar riffs, “Rise from the Shadows” comes off as the
prodigal son of “Iron Man,” while the serpentine “Hangman” slithers through a
jungle of tribal beats before confronting the gallows with supernova vocals and
menacing guitars. As black as night, Kill Devil Hill has all the personality of
a gargoyle come to life, and its appearance on the metal scene just might
herald a new era of evil.
- Peter Lindblad
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