Hellspell - Devil's Might (1999)

Another forgotten album that haunted the Invasion Records roster, Hellspell's Devil's Might was a one-off Swedish black metal effort which resembled a lot of its peers for the day. The band's name was rather a catchy one, but perhaps it was the completely awful digital artwork of the devil himself that held fans back from checking this one out, or a saturation of Satanic black metal by the close of the millennium when the audience was starting to seek out something different. I feel confident though, that had this album dropped 3-4 years earlier, and been better-looking, it would be one of those gems we froth over akin to a Sacramentum, Lord Belial, or Setherial. That's not to say it's in any way unique or remarkable, but it's one that I can break out from time to time and enjoy listening through.

Part of that is the great production, which highlights every evil riff, snarling vocal, and the intense battery and blasting of the drums. Hellspell is like a more compact Dark Funeral, the songs tend not to wear out their welcome like some of their more elongated Swedish peers, they hone in on just a few riffs, dowse them in wicked chords and atmospheres and growling, and entertain. It's never just mindless blasting, the bands is fully capable of doing so, but always chooses to service the riff and structure rather than go on muscular tandems with no payoff. When they do opt for a longer tune, like "Reconstruction of a Lost World", the riffing goes wider and more adventurous, they play around with some slower tempos and mood over the more conventional black metal aesthetics, but you can already tell that it's starting to stretch itself a little thin, and thankfully there are fewer cases of this, and the nearly 6 minute closer "Devil's Might" is one of the best tunes on the whole album. The male clean choir to open "Demon Lord" is also sweet, but I wish that tune was a little more substantial to support more of them.

All told, though, Devil's Might is a scorcher that never really dulls other than perhaps that one longest track, and certainly strong enough that it should have garnered more attention than it got. Again, this might have been a question of packaging or the limited reach of the label, I personally found Invasion to be a fascinating way to connect with underground European black or melodic death metal acts that were new to me over in the states, but not a lot of bands emerged from that roster with much success. Still, they had a good ear for the second-stringers or third-stringers and I often have nostalgia to listen back to a lot of these, which is why I'm covering so many. This sole Hellspell album is no classic, but it's also got an evergreen feel to it that sounds just as potent today as it did when I first heard it, and it was also the work of a duo that was also responsible for another band on the same roster, Non Serviam.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]