Wilmington, NC’s Ten Ton Devil is essentially a studio project led by Kevin Caputo, and “Tooth and Tongue” drops March 17th as a follow-up to their debut single “Centurion,” which has been picking up traction on Spotify. Recorded at Born Wrong Studios in Wilmington, the song occupies a space in death metal and industrial metal territory, with a nu-metal and metalcore sensibility underneath. The influence list Caputo cites reads like a graduate course in heavy music: Meshuggah, Pantera, Black Sabbath, King Crimson, Car Bomb, Candiria. Thematically, it’s a vengeance track, built around the moment when someone has been pushed far enough that the hatred just comes out. Caputo’s own description of the recording process is that the music doesn’t get written so much as unleashed.
This song legitimately took me by surprise. The rhythmic displacement is unbelievable. This is an intense ride from start to finish if you zoom out, but if you zoom in, it’s like an infinite collection of ridiculously heavy sections grouped together in a way that flows perfectly. The usage of a phrase like “We’re influenced by Meshuggah” is something that gets overused quite a lot, but this is a thousand percent earned. Ten Ton Devil are able to stand on the shoulders of giants and then scream their message from the top of that mountain, and I personally hear them loud and clear.
For a studio-only project, “Tooth and Tongue” has a rawness to it that a lot of bands lose the second they try to tighten everything up in the mix. I am excited to hear what else Ten Ton Devil have in store because they have the passion and the execution to rise above the saturated metal scene.
