Devilspit – Grim, Hateful, and Drunk
Black metal punk continues to be well-explored in the modern era, but rarely has the style been fleshed outward enough to hold my interest long. Around comes Brittany, France’s Devilspit with a heavy enough dose of originality for me to keep my finger away from the virtual ‘stop’ button on the available stream of it’s second release (and first for Caligari Records), Grim, Hateful, and Drunk. While a linking vibe of necro-debauchery drips from each fetid track as its title implies, you will be pleasantly surprised by sole member Körpserizer’s inclusion of early ‘80s post-punk guitars and vocals (displayed prominently on opener ‘Dedicated to my Enemies (Prelude to Ignorance’) and that style’s accompanying solemnity, adding weight to the alcohol-infused delivery of grim guitars and mid-tempo drumwork. And in the midst of dark punk stompers like ‘A Tout Les Faux’, don’t be surprised to hear a somber, dark synth interlude with a reverb-laden, roving-medieval riff carrying out the latter portion of the song. Körpserizer just plays upon expectation well, for while you’ll hear the familiar three-chord beer-guzzle on ‘A.R.P.M.’, as the song nears its end, a melancholy melody-line rides over said riff, seguing into what sounds like bagpipes being played by a hammered-on-Springbank Scotsman. It’s as if Devilspit sonically tells honest during-and-after tales of over-indulgent nights spent in seedy metal/punk dives of choice: there will be Satanized-frivolity in the moment, but all shall be eclipsed afterward by the hellish hangover awaiting the next day.
The final two tracks, ‘’The Witching Stone’ and ‘Mon Caveau’, give themselves fully over to the eeriness hinted upon in earlier tracks, each driven by strange, reverb-drowned guitar-realizations that creep into the mind but have little in common with albums of the black metal punk ilk. And the resultant feeling that, taken on the whole, Grim, Hateful, and Drunk is indeed something uncommon will resonate well after the final sound you’ll hear on the album – namely, that of (fittingly enough) Mr. Körpserizer actually ‘devil’-spitting.
Caligari Records
Worm Gear 
Sounds cool but please… Only cassette tape? This nostalgia trip is getting out of hand…
We are living in an era where CDs are considered unhip. This of course is a really dumb trend. CDs are still the faithful workhorses of the music world. I still buy them.
Glad you agree. What’s next? VHS? 8-track? Floppy disc?