The Devils Of Loudun were definitely one of the more interesting discoveries of 2015 – Their EP, “Entering Oblivion”, was memorable due to the innovative combination of Death Metal and dark-flavored Classical music. A bit more than a year passed, and Devils Of Loudun strike again, bringing us a brand new EP, entitled “Enduring Creation”.
To give you a brief introduction, Devils Of Loudun play a mixture of Technical Death Metal and Classical music, creating a gloomy medieval atmosphere. The composition of their songs deviates from the common verse-chorus pattern in favor of a more classical style approach, putting melody as the primary element of their music, and if you want to dive further, you can read the review for their previous release – “Entering Oblivion” – Or even better, just listen to it here.
With “Entering Oblivion”, Devils Of Loudun managed to set pretty high standards of musicianship and technique for their music, so before even listening to their latest release- “Enduring Creation”, one could expect that the band will develop their musical concept further, and make an even more impressive release. Not surprisingly, they didn’t disappoint.
The immediately apparent leap forward made in “Enduring Creation” was the production. “Enduring Creation” sounds much clearer and more tight than it’s predecessor, which works in favor – not only, but mainly – of the rhythm section: The drums sound much more massive and solid, and they add some power that was missing in “Entering Oblivion”. The guitars also sound much more clear and focused, and the vocals got deeper and more intimidating. With all this combined, the listening experience of “Enduring Creation” significantly surpassed it’s predecessor.
The rhythm section got more attention in the composition as well – Although melody is the undisputed driving force in the Devils Of Loudun’s music , “Enduring Creation” contains more rhythmic breaks and riffs “per se”, just in the right dose – They don’t get in the way of the melody, but add some more power and energy to the composition, yet again compensating for something that was lacking in their previous release.
Overall, the music that Devils Of Loudun make is rich, complex, atmospheric, and requires some concentration from the listener to fully comprehend it. “Enduring Creation” makes the listener dive into medieval darkness, making him experience the atmosphere of those dark times. It also comes to show that Devils Of Loudun gave more attention to aspects that were overlooked before, thus making their music better from release to release – And the expectation for their next release – Which hopefully, will be a full length album – is already building up.
-Timur Sizov
