ARCHIVES

DAAL has been busy in the last year. Not only has this duo released two stellar new classics in the form of 'Navels Falling Into A Living Origami' and 'Decalogue of Darkness' towards the end of 2018 but now in 2019 this electric space rock act that supplies beautiful doses of avant-prog and progressive electronic into their cauldron of sonic delight releases a new compilation accurately titled ARCHIVES.

ARCHIVES is just what it sounds like. No, it is not a greatest hits of sort but rather a compilation that consists of the 2011 album 'Destructive Actions Affect Livings' along with the other 2011 release 'Echoes of Falling Stars' and if that wasn't enough it also includes my favorite DAAL release of all: the outstandingly beautiful and haunting 2012 EP 'The Call of the Witches.'

Unfortunately there are no bonus tracks to be had and no bells and whistles. In fact this compilation had to cut off the Pain of Salvation cover of 'Undertow' from 'Echoes of Falling Stars' for the sake of fitting all of this onto 2 CDs. This is not really one for the true fans who already find of these albums in their collection already but rather for those who missed out on DAAL's magical music mojo the first time around and take it from a true fan here, you need to check this stuff out.

Needless to say, this is more of a release for those who wish to obtain a physical release of this material since the original albums are all available as digital downloads on the DAAL Bandcamp site. The albums have been out of print and this is a way to make them available again in a more compact form. This is a must for fans of eclectic progressive space rock and these early recordings are some of my absolute favorites but then again DAAL can do no wrong in my book. It just puzzles me as to why they remain so underground after so much good music released. I guess they are ahead of their time and need several years to float by before they become more widely known. Start now! You won't regret it ;)

The last 12 months have been very prolific for the Daal. Exactly one year ago "Decalogue of Darkness" and "Navels falling into a living Origami" were published, and besides the drummer Davide Guidoni published his first solo album at the same time "Echoes from the undertow " (B-Rain the name of his project). In 2019 the Daal decide to reprint a collection, which includes their second album (now sold out)" Destruktive Actions Affect Livings (D.A.A.L.), and two other discs that came out in limited edition: "Echoes of the falling stars" and "The call of the Witches". "Archives" presents itself in a splendid double package, with many images and descriptions of the material, omitting the details of their second CD (D.A.A.L.) in which, moreover, one of their best compositions is found ("The Dance of the Drastic Navels Part II") I would dwell on the second CD which contains some songs I have never heard before. "The Call of Cthulhu" is an o very dark chapter of their discography...scratchy, hard, desperate, with a final worthy of horror films The Suite "The Fall of the House of Usher" in pure Gothic style, with even a part sung, a very rare thing for the group "Witches" which I believe is part of a tribute album produced by Musea, and finally "Echoes" by Pink Floyd, also present on a tribute album, with the singer of the Bacio della Medusa Simone Cecchini! A record not only for completists, but for anyone who wants to go deeper, the unfathomable secret world of this strange creature!!