Detroit hard rockers True Devil offer up a hellraising sound that combines visceral vocals, dueling guitar slayers and fierce rhythms.
True Devil, who we previously featured in our August new music round-up, was formed in late 2023, after bassist Dana ‘Deadly’ Forrester, drummer James Trunko and guitarist Brent Hall’s previous band Dead In 5 went on a hiatus. They put out a call for a new lead vocalist on social media and caught the attention of Mark Stebleton, formerly of Columbus band Sever It All, before recruiting guitarist Jeff Layfield joined them on guitar last year.
Describing the sound they’ve crafted since, Dana told us: “A lot of our music is born out of the challenges and struggles of being human in a complex, changing world. Bashing out an angry guitar riff, adding some massive drums and deep bass line, and finally, a fierce melody that ties it all together – well, that’s our therapy – and hopefully the final song speaks to our listeners as well.”
Our latest taste of this is the band’s fourth single At Day’s End, which was released back in June. It opens up with stabbing guitar chords that continue under a funky little guitar lick. Crooning vocals take over, flowing straight into a big catchy chorus “At day’s end, You’re letting it go, Just focus on what is real, The moment it comes, You know what to do, That’s when all your dreams come true.” It continues straight into a second verse supported by chugging guitars, flowing into another chorus before the pace drops with echoey vocals and drawn-out guitars. A wild scream ushers in harmonic guitars over intense vocals, before a cool section of instrumentals supporting repeated lines “I don’t know what I should say, It’s all but gone away, Bigger still the pain remains, It takes my breath away.” That tees up a final chorus that ends with big drawn-out vocals and a funky little guitar lick bringing the track to an atmospheric ending.
On the track, Dana said: “We are thrilled with the overwhelmingly positive response, absolutely 5 Horns Up! We’re also proud that our song really doesn’t sound like most of the current hard rock and metal tracks being released. So many of them have the same intros, drops and production. At Day’s End slams hard, is melodic and original, while also delivering the devil’s punch!”
At Day’s End follows on from S.D.O.N., released in January, which opens up with a fun stabbing guitar that’s joined by driving drums and flows into a powerful opening verse and a big catchy chorus. That followed on from the lively Divisible and the band’s excellent, much darker debut single Rips My Heart Out, which you can check out in the lyric video below.
The True Devil sound draws on a wide range of influences, from Mark’s love of melodic metal and hard rock like Pantera, Soundgarden, Metallica and Alice in Chains to James being a huge fan of Anthrax and Gojira. That’s contrasted by Dana’s love for all things goth and glam, including bands like Love and Rockets, Peter Murphy, Siouxsie and The Banshees and David Bowie. The guitarists add to that mix, with Brent loving Tool, Puscifer and Jane’s Addiction and Jeff being big into Type O Negative and Zakk Wylde.
True Devil are currently busy recording new material and shooting one or two more music videos while performing gigs regionally, for which they invite you to “come raise some Hell with us.”
You can follow True Devil on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Listen to True Devil and more new bands on our Spotify playlists GigRadar Rock and GigRadar Metal
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