Blues Pills - Devil Man - EP

(CD EP Review)

****
Awesome EP from Blues merchants.

Again we find ourselves with a retro release from Nuclear Blast but like the awesome Vintage Caravan this group are far from a cardboard cut out. You could easily lump Blue Pills in with the Doom crowd but the band have as much in common with Cream, Led Zeppelin and Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac as Witchcraft or Candlemass.

The EP opens with the awesome 'Devil Man' you hit straight away by the awesome voice of Elin Larsson she's simply a fantastic singer and her voice suits the music perfectly. Next we have 'The River' which starts off slow and builds to some hypnotic guitar work. 'Time is Now' is a bit more immediate and has a real groove to it. 'Dig In' is a nice mellow track that quickly turns to an improvised jam at the end.

I was really against the retro trend at first, well I suppose retro will always be trendy to a point but there was a massive wave of bands coming out that sounded forced and contrived but it seems the gold is starting to shine through. As far as female fronted Doom bands go at the moment Avatarium pretty much are leading the way but this group are hot on their tails if this material is anything to go by, it's a shame we only have an EP for now but we wait with baited breath for an album from this group.

Review by Joe Denby