SeaofTranquility review of "thirty pieces" Devil To Pay : Thirty Pieces Of Silver Featuring plenty of crunching guitars, a driving rhythm section, some capable drumming and heaps of heavy but fairly elementary Black Sabbath styled riffs, this band will have you tapping along in no time at all. Vocals, while reasonable, are fairly sparse and it is not until well into the second track you realize some that someone is actually going to grab the mike. Thankfully, these guys don’t go for the growling type of vocals and take a stab at what would have been pretty much in vogue a few decades ago. Sure they have augmented their overall sound with some modern technology and there is even some great phase shifting in the 5th track which sounds cool today even if it was overdone a bit eons ago. The overall theme of their songs as one would expect with such a name, is pretty heavy, moody and full of anxt. Surprisingly, there is no outrageously intense lead guitar which would seem to go hand in glove with a band following this tried and tested format but I guess they make up for it in other ways. Their songs sure have that immediately satisfying edge even if they are not doing anything seriously original. Their riffs engage the listener with that feeling of Déjà vu whereby you could have sworn you had heard the songs somewhere else. Rest assured, however, that these are all self penned tracks. This is not a bad album by any means, but if I was going to listen to this style of music, I would still prefer to stay with the vintage sound of the great stalwarts like Bloodrock, Blue Oyster Cult, Captain Beyond, Road, (yes, that’s the old 70’s band with Noel Redding at the helm), the old Australian heavy rock band called Buffalo or even some Black Sabbath who were all able to engage the listener with some more compelling hooks and ideas. A little bit of this band goes a long way, however; as the songs tend to adopt a fairly predictable, been there, done that, type of format. At the end of the day, you can’t help feeling this has all been done so much better before and with a lot more imagination. However, for a straight forward head bangin’ good time down at the local pub wiv yer mates where the beer’s a swilling, the steaks are grilling and the babes are willing, this could be your ticket to paradise. Added: June 7th 2004 Reviewer: Greg Cummins Score: 3 stars