IN A BAR, UNDER THE SEA

The second album from this Antwerp band was still released on Namur-based label Bang! and it came as major confirmation for both. Many singles were issued from this album all of them gaining major continental airplay and healthy sales to match it. From a personal point of view this is maybe my fave album of theirs and also maybe the most progressive of them, too regardless of the commercial success it had. The artwork is again from Trouvé.

One of the major changes from the debut album is that this one has a more Frank Zappa feeling somewhere between some Captain Beefheart and Red Hot Chilly Peppers with great ambiances, unusual twists sometime hypnotic and almost Beefhearty vocals laced with minimalist rythms (Themes From The Turnpike - one of their "hits" - or A Shocking Lack Of Thereof) and Radiohead-styled tunes (as Little Arithmetics - another hit) or jazzy Nine Threads and Zappa-esque Supermarketsong (a bit of GonG zaniness) or punky Memory Of a Festival. Guilty Pleasures (yet another hit but less successful than others on this album) has some great violin work that can remind you of Caravan's Geoff Richardson. For The Roses is another highlight with the great cello lines underlining the slowly increasing tempo up to an awesome climax. The album ends on aptly titled Before I Sleep track.

The album is more dominated by Tom barman than the debut although Stef "Kamiel" holds his own too. While a more exciting album this is , dEUS is one of those intelligent alternative rock groups that found its place on our Archives, I still would not recommend this album unless you have a strong interest/affinity in other such bands.