• New Music Reviews
• |
• Archives
• |
• News
• |
• Submissions
• |
• About
• |
• 
• |
• 

December 2024

• After Lapse: Pathways
• Illusion Force: Halfana
• Powell-Payne: Voilá

November 2024

• Sunstorm: Restless Fight
• Storace: Crossfire
• Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
• Lionville: Supernatural
• Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
• Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
• Lonerider: Down In The Dust
• Seventh Crystal: Entity
• Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
• Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
• Impellitteri: War Machine
• Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter

October 2024

• Casandra's Crossing: Garden Of Earthly Delights
• DGM: Endless
• Daytona: Garder la Flamme
• Fate: Reconnect 'N Ignite
• Frost*: Life In The Wires
• Aries Descendant: From The Ashes Of Deceit
• Fans Of The Dark: Video
• Radioactive: Reset
• House Of Lords: Full Tilt Overdrive
• Cleanbreak: We Are The Fire

September 2024

• Sinner's Blood: Dark Horizons
• Serious Black: Rise Of Akhenaton
• Eclipse: Megalomanium II
• SteelCity: Reverence
• Hydra: ReHydrated
• Heartwind: III
• Gabrielle De Val and the Dragonlords: Tiger
• Find Me: Nightbound
• The Nail: The Nail
• Timeless Fairytale: A Story To Tell
• Stryper: When We Were Kings
• Phil Mogg: Moggs Motel
• Pure Reason Revolution: Coming Up To Consciousness
• Jordan Rudess: Permission To Fly

August 2024

• Siege Perilous: Creation's Call EP
• Paralydium: Universe Calls
• Mike Tramp: Songs Of White Lion Vol. II
• Bite The Bullet: Looking For Paradise
• All For Metal: Gods Of Metal (Year Of The Dragon)
• Hammerfall: Avenge The Fallen
• Jim Peterik & World Stage: Roots & Shoots Vol. 2

[ More Music Reviews ]

Bible of the Devil:
For the Love of Thugs and Fools

(Melodic) Hard/Heavy Rock

4.5/5.0

Website Facebook
Cruz del Sur Records
by Craig Hartranft,  04.23.2012

Chicago's Bible of the Devil are one of those curious anomalies in the world of hard rock. They continue to develop and mature their sound, seeming ever so, well, themselves. Yet, listening to their sixth long player, For the Love of Thugs and Fools, you can't help to also hear much of their peers and their past in the music.

Bible of the Devil: awesome facial hair.

Clearly, and fundamentally, BotD remains a rock band. For the Love of Thugs and Fools is strong measure of Seventies heavy rock, a pinch or two of stoner stuff, maybe even some psychedelic, and a whole lot of classic melodic hard rock.

Mostly the album is rumbling and rowdy; heavy with a strong rock groove as on Raw and Order, The Parcher, and I Know What is Right. The band worked hard on the vocal arrangement, being almost anthem-like. Yet, vocalist Mark Hoffmann is nearly uneven on the album. He sounds like his gargling while singing on the opening piece.

As for those echoes from the past, at times I hear Thin Lizzy. Notably in Raw and Order and especially in Anytime. But that only betrays how past informs the present, and vice versa. Ultimately, For the Love of Thugs and Fools is Bible of the Devil doing rock n roll their way: melodic and catchy, heavy and formidable, daring and diverse. This could be the most accessible Bible of the Devil to date. Dig it.

For the Love of Thugs and Fools is Bible of the Devil doing rock n roll their way: melodic and catchy, heavy and formidable, daring and diverse. This could be the most accessible Bible of the Devil to date. Dig it.

Alphabetical Index

The Powell Payne project, created in 2022 is the collaboration of Mark "Penfold Powell (ex-drummer of Psycho Kiss) and Adam Payne (former vocalist of Airrace). With guitarist Adam Davies and keyboard player ... [ Read More ]