Devil's Gate Music
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‘You’re just diluting yourself / To be accepted, corrected and misdirected ‘til you’re just another product on their shelf / One of them, nothing more than just skin and bones’. ‘Smoke & Mirrors’ is a song that instantly clicks with almost any listener, in part due to the reinvention of the Bloody Mary urban myth; ‘I could scream three times / three times in the mirror / and you’ll be staring back at me’. It is, without doubt, one of the heavier songs within the album, and the bass (all too often forgotten in the rock genre) comes through wonderfully. The eponymous ‘Pain. Joy. Ecstasy. Despair’ begins altogether differently, in that it’s acoustic. This continues until, from nowhere, a metal breakdown punches you in the face. ‘God Warrior’ is another clear favourite. The melodies of the chorus serve to give the song a feel that allows one to picture it being played in venues much larger than the band are gracing on their current UK tour. The fact that this song seems to have been used as a platform to illustrate that ‘you’re all brainwashed and forever in debt to an architect of false concepts’ just goes to show how great music can be terms of standing up for, or in this case against, what could be considered majority view. In closing, this album is a banger, and I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy of it. SHVPES are currently touring extensively throughout the UK, and if you haven’t snagged yourself a ticket yet, I strongly suggest that you do. They won’t be playing venues this size for much longer! ‘Pain. Joy. Ecstasy. Despair’ is released today via Spinefarm Records. Review: Amy Jefferies. Follow SHVPES: Website | Facebook]]>
