“Take the raw pulse of ’70s and ’80s hard rock and glam metal, and mix it with our fascination for the macabre and the dramatic,” explains guitarist Henrik Westergren. “That’s where The Devil Wears Nada lives.”
That description gets remarkably close to summing up In Lust We Thrust, the second album from the Swedish quartet. It is loud, theatrical, unashamedly nostalgic and frequently as daft as its title suggests. Crucially, though, it is also supremely well done.
“96.2 FM Postalgia Radio” introduces proceedings through a fake radio broadcast. There seems to be something of a trend for records beginning this way lately. Maybe it is nostalgia for a time when finding a song through the static felt more exciting than asking an algorithm to play it.
Whatever the reason, it leads into “Brat With A Baseball Bat”, and while melodic rock seems to be everywhere right now, The Devil Wears Nada give theirs a noticeably tougher edge. Ludvig Alfvén’s drums hit hard, Fredrik Svensson Carlström’s bass gives it considerable weight and Westergren’s guitars make sure this is never merely glossy.
“Last Forever” offers the classic combination of ’80s synths and hard-rock guitar, but most importantly contains the line “I love rock ’n’ roll.” Sometimes there is no need to overthink these things.
The sense that The Devil Wears Nada genuinely adore this music is all over In Lust We Thrust. “Misery Is You” is never going to win prizes for originality, but it might earn a few for its enormous chorus and soaring solo. The title track follows with proper fists-in-the-air arena rock, designed for stages far larger than the ones the band may currently occupy.
Given the name of both the group and the song, nobody should expect them to be taking Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize any time soon. That really isn’t the point.
The point is that despite having heard variations on this material a million times before, and despite most of it sounding like it should have been released in 1985, it is incredibly difficult to resist. “Elephant In The Room” understands exactly what it is supposed to do and accomplishes it with gleeful confidence.
“Victoria” features Evan Stanley and provides further evidence that the record has been assembled with exceptional care. Make no mistake, In Lust We Thrust sounds like a million dollars. The production is vast, polished and perfectly suited to the band’s ambitions without sanding away the guitars.
Then comes “Dead & Breakfast”, which is perhaps the best distillation of their sound. Imagine South Of Salem feasting exclusively on AOR for several months and you are somewhere close. It is theatrical, macabre and entirely ludicrous, yet once that chorus arrives, resistance feels pointless.
“Shotgun Wedding” enjoys the cartoon violence so much that it does the whole thing again, this time telling the tale of a bloke who marries a woman who kills him on their wedding night. Somewhere between Alice Cooper, Tales From The Crypt and a particularly extravagant melodic-rock video, The Devil Wears Nada appear to have found their natural home.
The keyboards anchor “Wednesday”, providing another reminder that the sonic quality here is absolutely top drawer, before “Ms. Black Widow” closes the record in the same extravagant, horror-soaked spirit with which it began.
The Devil Wears Nada are completed by vocalist Linus Johansson, whose performance throughout possesses the swagger and range the material demands. Alongside Westergren, Alfvén and Svensson Carlström, he sounds completely committed to every outrageous second.
In Lust We Thrust is not concerned with reinventing hard rock. Instead, it takes familiar ingredients, adds a taste for the dramatic and delivers them with huge choruses, excellent musicianship and absolute conviction.
Original? Not especially.
Fun? Completely.
Rating 8/10
