Devil Sold His Soul - Blessed and Cursed (2010)

Century Media, July 12, 2010

Tracklist

1. Tides

2. Drowning/Sinking

3. Callous Heart

4. An Ocean of Lights

5. Frozen

6.The Disappointment

7. Crane Lake
8. A Foreboding Sky
9. The Weight of Faith
10. Truth has Come

This entry is one in a series of ten-year retrospectives from my favorite albums of 2010. The placement of a band named Devil Sold His Soul might seem a little ironic immediately following the section on Haste the Day, but this post-hardcore/post-metal group from the United Kingdom has a sound that is far more angelic than devilish.  Somewhat under the radar, Devil Sold His Soul is probably one that deserves more attention as well.  In 2010 they toured with fellow U.K. – based group Architects and released an intricate and beautiful album on the Century Media label.   

Blessed and Cursed marks their second full-length release.  The title alludes to the duality of the post-hardcore sound they explore here, but I feel like this one has more going for it than one might expect.  Additional instruments, including the piano, are layered along with the guitars in a way that enhances the mood and never feels generic.  Here we have hooks that would feel at home on a modern rock/post-hardcore band paired with song structures that are often lengthy and structured differently from the typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge format.  So while the vocal approach is fairly typical of this genre with a transition from an angry rasp to smooth crooning cleans, the track lengths and progressive song structures give these songs a refreshing novelty.  "A Foreboding Sky" is a nice example, starting as a piano-driven song and gradually building up across the song's eight and a half minute runtime.  This is the longest track on the album, but the majority of the songs on Blessed and Cursed exceed six minutes and take their time to build up to a satisfying finish.  

Devil Sold His Soul is clearly a band that knows what they are doing.  The vocal melodies and hooks are pretty enough to make the songs immediately accessible, and together with interesting progressions and atmosphere you get nothing short of a winning combination.  Thus, this album receives a score of 8/10.