Review By Andrew Pauley
Friday night in Melbourne Town goes a little like this. Beer + Beer + Beer + Tequila and a can of JD n Coke = Fkn pumped, where are the live acts at?! Turns out that Brunswick at the Stay Gold was where some of the goods were on this night, to be.
After a burger and a parma down the road STM’s own camera man Shane and I stormed the Stay Gold. Neat little venue as in there is a bar, stage backdropped by Deville banner and another bar which pretty much sums up this little space. I’ve got add that the sound for a small space was bang on right across the board. The mix was defknlicious.
The line up for Friday night’s listening feast was and in order Nuada, Oceanlord, Child and headlining were Swedish Champions from Deville.
Nuada was first to wake up the night kicking off with their tune Salvaged from their Beneath the Swamp album. Stoner Bam! Right in the face coming off a sweet subtle intro of strings leading into a big fat bassy riff. Smoke machines licking our faces while these four fellas ripped through Sky so Grey, Sabbath, Cold Dead Black & Monster. Totes worth checking these dudes out, solid four-piece unit. Vocally strong and tight over well-structured tracks.
Oceanlord’s 3-piece Local Doom Dudes reached out to wash the room with slow tempo chunks of psych rock & undertones of UK metal. Out of the dark depths they came to launch their latest album Kingdom Cold. Didn’t know the songs but I believe they were from the new album.
Child, Trio No.2 for my third entrée and well I was not expecting these guys as I was transitioning out of darkness that was Oceanlord! My head nearly snapped right off my lower parts when this surprise packet dropped their nuggety, bluesy hard rock sermon. I say sermon as from their website it states we the lovers of this genre are the worshippers of the electric church!! Amazing performance with so much visual chemistry between the three members. I was a tad brain boggled at times when I could swear, I was hearing a Gibson but looking at Fenders. Switching from that mellow blues sound and then transitioning into raw hard rock. I definitely will track these fuckers down to go and visit their Electric Church again. Most impressed.
Some more Tequila with JD & Coke chasers were had to wash the previous entrees down and I got my shit together for Deville whom by the way are proper dudes which I got to chat to as we watched the previous sets. So, onto Deville, the now four piece unit from Malmo Sweden finally down under after SHITVID19 cancelled their previous tour. Full room thick with smoke machine air biscuit and a crowd ready to drink in Stone metal rock jams.
Busting the set out with Burning Towers, No Sun and Speaking In Tongues came, songs from their 6 album catalogue whipped Stay Gold into a grunge metal stoner frenzy. I could tell these guys were on and amped to pull the stage apart with high energy and left nothing in the tank. Even though Michael Odegarden had only brought his sticks with him leaving his kit back home, he jumped on that foreign kit in a foreign land and made it his bitch. It was awesome to watch him play tight rapid chops holding the backline to songs like Serpent Days, Deserter, Wrecked, Imperial and other tracks from the 6th studio album Heavy Lies the Crown.
I lost my shit however when What Remains came on and was front & centre trying to work off the worm from the bottle. Martin, Andreas, Michael & Erik deliver, and they deliver hard!! With galloping chunky riffs that make your nipples hard enough to support a wet blanket. Deville are just one of those bands that when heard live you can’t help but get involved with head nods and windmills.
Finishing their set with Rise Above, Sunset Capricorn & Lava (of fuck yes please Lava)! The band is travelling Oz at the moment and with shows in most states I implore you to get off your bean bag and go see them.
Seriously considering changing my offshore trip to try and catch them in Germany later this year so that’s gotta say something about the class of Deville.
You can still catch Deville on the following dates:
Thu, Jun 22: Finnians Irish Tavern, Port Macquarie
Fri, Jun 23: House of Music and Booze, Sydney
Sat, Jun 24: Indian Ocean Hotel for Spliffs’N'Riffs, Scarborough
Sun, Jun 25: Port Beach Brewery for Spliffs’N'Riffs, Fremantle
Tickets are onsale now through