Metal Underground.com

“In the Devil’s Days” is a bit like a good cup of diner coffee: it’s sludgy, dirty, more than a little addictive, and best enjoyed in dim lighting late at night. For anyone who loved the atmosphere and direction of The Devil’s Blood or Ghost, but wished it was heavier or more eclectic, then The House of Capricorn’s new album will be a god(devil?)send. There’s a little bit of everything to be found on the disc, from head bobbing melody to slow motion doom destruction.

The album’s production is fuzzy and muddled, with the guitars landing in the distorted background beneath everything else, but it feels like this was more of a tactical choice to create a certain mood. The vocals are varied across the album but generally match the grungy sound, with a harsh stoner metal feel that doesn’t actually go too extreme on the growling aspect.

After the somewhat melodic and extremely catchy opener of “All Hail to the Netherworld,” the album shifts into the 11 minute “Les Innocents,” which slows way, way down to an apocalyptic crawl and the vocals suddenly start channeling Peter Steele in a big way. Much of the album goes through this alternating pattern of varying the tempo and direction of each successive track, so while there is a constant atmosphere, there’s always something different not far off.

With how much is going on, fans of occult rock, stoner metal, doom, sludge, and more can probably find plenty of The House of Capricorn’s sophomore full-length to keep attention consistently running high. It may be dirty and fuzzy, but for more than an hour these Type O Negative-meets-stoner doom tracks latch on tight and don’t let go.