Regarding This Mortal Obligation
The Devil's Blood - Come, Reap
Hard to not post about the passing of Eddie Van Halen on a newsletter shaped around music, but I’m gonna leave that to everyone else clambering to get their two cents in. I’ve been listening to Van Halen almost my entire life; 1984 was the first cassette (along with Mötley Crüe - Shout At the Devil) that I bought with my own money. Go listen to Fair Warning, which has become my hands down favourite Van Halen album over time.
RIP EVH.
I put Come, Reap on recently, having not listened to it in a while. The hair on my arm stood up as the intro began, just as it did the first time it was played for me, what feels like a lifetime ago.
I missed a pivotal tour in 2012: Behemoth, Watain, The Devil’s Blood & In Solitude (in 2013, I’d again miss Watain, In Solitude & Tribulation, for similar reasons). Shortly after, those bands would become more staple for me but at the time, I was still pretty rooted in my love of the sludgy, knuckle-dragging lethargy of bands like Yob, Toner Low and of course, Electric Wizard (Mark I). A huge regret, up there with missing Johnny Cash at the Austin Emo’s, or choosing to see 7 Seconds instead of Nirvana & Mudhoney, pre-Nevermind. I can thank my friends for steering me right again, and remember them telling me I was an idiot to not join them for both these shows.
A mere two years after this tour, Selim Lemouchi, the engineer of this powerful band, would be dead by his own hands, as he’d predicted he’d be when he was ready to go. He was a complicated man, like the similarly driven Jon Nötveidt of Swedish Black Metal band Dissection. Both had made their pact long before, and used their music to relay the three principals of Death, Chaos & Satan.
Nothing about The Devil’s Blood was gimmick, like the stereotypes Heavy Metal hysterics fell for. Nothing was for shock; for example, their playing shows drenched in blood, or rituals performed in service to the dark. They were the real deal. Which is why I still get chills listening to them. These songs are hymns to powers that harken back to music’s origins in magic and ritual.
There a few interesting short documentaries / interviews with Selim on Youtube. He was thoughtful, interesting, and obviously troubled. He knew what he was doing. His musical legacy is short, and he knew that he gave everything he felt was worth giving, and left so as not to poison the well. Come, Reap is the first song from their first EP, and it’s as strong of a self-introduction as any band has ever made. The middle passage with sister Farida’s wails, along with the sinister backwards growls and ominous guitar line should frighten you. It’s an invitation to the edge, to lose yourself in the ecstasy of the flesh, and to open your soul to the power of the dark. It’s exhilarating.
Like what I’m doing here? Let me know by suggesting it to someone else that may like it. Not into this song? Stick around for the next one, it may be what you didn’t know you needed! Remember, there are only two genres of music here at SERMONS!: good and bad, and I have too much to do to waste time on bad music