Devoured have a new album out, I know and I’ve been sent a promo of it for a review. However, I think to track their progress better, let’s start to learn about this band with their debut album, The Lost Kingdom. Any objections? Glad to hear there’s none!
This short (slightly over 30 minutes) album, self-released by the band, offers 10 tracks (one of those is the intro). I don’t know about every track here, but at least one (namely “500 Years With Madness”) is dedicated to the legend of Sabdo (alternative spelling Sabda) Palon. Which I’ve had no knowledge about, but the mention in the title of Devoured’s second album – “The Curse of Sabda Palon” – and also the existence of Javanese mythology black metal band Sabdo Palon had prompted me to research this topis further. Who says metal does not contribute towards the increase in general knowledge? Well, in time we’re gonna talk more about it, no doubt!
Musically, we’re in the realm of good ole traditional death metal, with a very rememberable vokills by Sastrawan. The songs are not very long (the longest is aforementioned “500 Years With Madness” clocking in 3:54), and therefore you don’t have to be afraid of getting bored. On the contrary, I am pretty sure you’re gonna finish this album being hungry for more.
If you ask about my favourite songs, it’s definitely “Perpetual Carnage”, with a very USDM approach to songwriting and catchy as hell, followed by “500 Years With Madness”.
All in all, Devoured have brought the audience a very solid debut album. If you are a fan of old school death metal, this one you can look up and get it for your listening pleasure without any doubts. And on the plus side, you can learn something from Indonesian (or more precisely, Javan) history and mythology.
That, in my book, makes The Lost Kingdom more than worth of your hard-earned money.
Official FB page: https://www.facebook.com/devouredband
