CD review DEVIL'S GUN "Dirty'n'Damned"

(7/10) Wohoo, this stuff is a real bad-ass tornado. If you want to be blown away already by the first song, then listen to Devil's Gun. I pressed the 'Play'-button in curious expectation of well done hardrock. But what I met was a three minutes speed train that is a true headbanger.

The label info talks about Joakim Hermansson sounding like a mix of Udo Dirkschneider and Brian Johnson, something that describes it pretty good. This means for the music itself, that they guys can be placed somewhere between traditional heavy metal and kick-ass hardrock.

The guys started in 2012 when Fredde Johansson and sixstringer Emil Holmström kicked things off. In almost no time they found brothers in crime when it comes to metal and "Dirty'n'Damned' is the first countable result.

Devil's Gun is based in Växjö, a smaller city in Småland. Actually the city isn't too big and entertainment possibilites are limited (I've been there several times). So, no surprise that young guys get together for playing music themselves. Bullet comes from this small town, followed now by Devil's Gun.

I mentioned already the fabulous opener, but the rest of the material isn't too bad either. The five-piece spreads a lot of raw metallic power which they captured in each of the track.

"Let em Ride" is another of these Accept-inspired speed tracks that sounds really good and "Wasted" belongs to this group of tunes too. But Devil's Gun has also some more midpaced songs in their offer. The closer "Sacrifice" is such a song. A bit less speedy as most of the others, but still with a lot of drive.

"Dirty'n'Damned" became an excellent rock/metal album that shows that Småland has more to offer than only lakes and woods. Växjö is becoming more and more a homebase for good traditional metal, something that gets proven by this album.

(7/10)

Tracklist

1. Hot Rock City
2. Spitfire
3. Let 'em Ride
4. Run Through the Night
5. Dirty'n'Damned
6. Radio Attack
7. Wasted
8. Break the Ice
9. Born to Lose
10. Midnight Crowd
11. Sacrifice

Label: Black Lodge Records

Genre: Heavy Metal

Release Date EU: April 29th, 2016