OLE DEVIL & THE SPIRIT CHASERS – Apocalypse Blues

The title of this sophomore offering by the talented Ole Teigen and his band known as the Spirit Chasers is a most fitting one in that the musical content is gritty as fuck. It crackles with restless energy, agony, heartache, loathing, despair, evil, and generally just all the different things out there that make life worth leaving, if you catch my drift. In that sense, this is undoubtedly a wild, fiery, and unpolished blues rock output that sounds as if it was recorded under a leaking roof in a bad place that just so happens to be on the wrong side of the tracks. Simple riffs and melodies are vowen together to great effect, the haunting and ghost-like female vocals complement Teigen’s mournful voice nicely, things are kept organic and loose throughout, and there is nothing traditional or predictable about these ten tunes at all. Truth be told, there are aspects of the disc that bring to mind Unchained by Johnny Cash, Blood Money by Tom Waits, Die Healing by Saint Vitus, and literally anything by Howlin’ Wolf that I can think of. I know how that sounds, but that should tell you that Apocalypse Blues is something else entirely, something musically different and exciting. What it lacks are truly phenomenal songs that will chill you to the bone and change your life forever, but it is solid, entertaining, and strangely touching all the way through. Like I said, you will not find anything resembling this harsh and hellish yet beautiful and stirring slab of blues rock out there. Personal favorites include ‘St. James Infirmary Blues‘ and ‘Long Way Home‘.