Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Bible Of The Devil Freedom Metal Company: Cruz Del Sur Music Release: 2008 Genre: NWOBHM Reviewer: EC

A metal gem that has been done time and time again

Maximum metal readers will probably find me seemingly rehashing a review I did last month for Midnight Idols' new album "Nightrulers" with this review. I try to fully embrace this NEW new wave of British heavy metal sound that has taken the underground and mainstream by force, but my seasoned ears still have a hard time accepting it as truly valid. Here we have another showboating twin guitar hound in Bible Of The Devil, who unleash their new power via "Freedom Metal" for Cruz Del Sur Music.

Bible Of The Devil have been blazing the fronts since 2002 with their brand of NWOBHM with their own mid-west USA stamp. The Chicago natives have released four albums prior to "Freedom Metal" and have enjoyed some moderate success that reaches the same level of popularity as another Cruz Del Sur labelmate, The Lord Weird Slough Feg. BOTD pound the masses with big 'ole melodic hooks that beam with twin guitar fury that sounds somewhere between Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, and Q5 (remember them?). The twin melody is all over the place, fully taking control of each track and almost providing too much ear candy all at once. Sure these boys can play with the best of them and showboat their skills between every verse. But at the end it leaves me a little weathered with so many GOOD guitar riffs. I wish the band would throw a filler riff or clunker in just to separate the goodness.

The band builds a huge intro with riffs galore before bursting up to speed on album opener "Hijack The Night". "Night Oath" and "Womanize" are just furious in their delivery, with tons upon tons of lead work and hooks. Thin Lizzy is on stage with the band's original cut "Ol' Girl" that pays homage to the great Irish band. Vocalist/guitarist Mark Hoffman and Nate Perry really trade off nicely and the battery of Amaya and Spalding try to hold the band nice and tight while trying to ground the act to an extent. Hoffman has a decent voice, coming across with a vocal tone that sounds like Paul Stanley with a pulled tooth. Other great cuts include "The Turning Stone", which could have been lifted right off of a Q5 or Sound Barrier album, and the Jethro Tull like "Heet Feeler".

Bible Of The Devil deliver a real metal gem here, but again, seasoned ears are going to treat this as excess baggage. The serious metal head will find bands like Wolf, Mercyful Fate, Tokyo Blade, Quartz, Fist, Grim Reaper, etc. have done this album time and time again. New fans should put BOTD in the same listening pleasure lists as Tokyo Dragons, Midnight Idols, Zero Down, and Endeverafter. It is these types of bands and albums that really can bring two generations together...or split them further apart as one side sees it as pure imitation and another as entertainment genius. Whose side are you on?