The Cruel Intentions

Vains of Jenna fans around the world breathed a sigh of relief and excitement in 2015 when original singer Lizzy Devine announced something big was-a-coming in the form of a new band called The Cruel Intentions. Soon after that, first single “Borderline Crazy” was released and I was hooked.

The riff is infectiously exciting and has you bopping your head instantly. Lizzy Devine has the Midas Touch in his vocal chords, his unique voice is what drew me to VoJ and what set them apart from a lot of the other Scandinavian sleaze bands of the 2000’s for me way back when and it’s awesome to hear him fronting a sleazy glam punk band again.

The next 2 years the band released video’s and singles for a couple more cool songs culminating in last year’s release of debut album “No Sign of Relief”. It’s hard not to compare The Cruel Intentions to Vains of Jenna but this release proves Devine’s new band is not a case of copy/pasting, of-course there’s still the big hooks and choruses in “Sick Adrenaline” and “Genie’s Got a Problem” but songs like “Jawbreaker”, “Reckoning” and “Chaos in a Bombshell” shows VoJ’s big brother has a bit more balls and edge to it.

Their I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude shines and the fast and loose early GN’R style playing makes this record feel unpredictable and exciting. Devine shows growth in his songwriting without the dull pitfall of trying to be deep.

This is music made to party to, loads and loads of riffs and solo’s, lyrics about getting wasted and going crazy and going crazy because of getting wasted too much. Who cares about self righteous douche bags singing about stopping world hunger or ending wars while cashing in on it when you can listen to a crazy Swede singing about a girl throwing up in the shower?

“No Sign of Relief” is an awesome first offering and it fills a void I didn’t notice I’ve been carrying with me since 2010. I’m sure The Cruel Intentions will be around to kick our asses for a long time and I can’t wait to hear more stuff.

The Cruel Intentions are: Lizzy Devine - Lead Vocals and guitar. Kristian Solhaug - Lead Guitar. Mats Wernerson - Bass. Robin Nilsson - Drums

Buy No Sign of Relief here.

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