Blood & Ashes is the first album by the Scandinavian band DEVILS WHOREHOUSE I got to hear. As a fan of both Black Metal and various Punk stuff, I always wanted to take a look at this Horror Punk project by Morgan and B.War of Marduk but somehow up to this day it never happened. Ok, let’s get it started.
Right at the beginning Oceans Turn To Blood bashes through the speakers leaving a broad smile on the listener’s face. The really good Danzig-quoting vocals, the snotty-rocking instrumentation and the raw but powerful production fit together just great and without even noticing you will turn up the volume. You got to play this loud! Without leaving time to take a breath Blood & Ashes races on and takes on more and more speed now and then. Sometimes this speed takes away the catchiness to some point but hey – who cares.
Due to these rumbling and speedy songs the more songs on Blood & Ashes slow down to give way for some heavy, nearly Doom Metal like riffs and the better DEVILS WHOREHOUSE get. It’s obvious that in these songs tribute is more paid to Glenn Danzig’s darker solo albums than to the punk sound of the Misfits. Best examples for this are songs like Speak The Name Of The Dead, Snakes Out The Mouth Of Hell and Werewolf Nation. My personal highlight on Blood & Ashes then definitely is the last track Let The Day Begin. Not only a brilliant cover version of an old Samhain song but also a final and deep bow to the musical work of Glenn Danzig.
To cut it short – Blood & Ashes is a highly enjoyable album with the mentioned slower songs clearly topping the more speedy punk ones.