DEAD SOUL TRIBE

This is the debut album from Deadsoul Tribe. A band created by former progressive/ psychadelic metal pioneers Psychotic Waltz frontman Buddy Lackey. I don´t know for what reason but he has changed his name to Devon Graves. I´m a big fan of Psychotic Waltz and therefore found it natural to follow Devon Graves new band Deadsoul Tribe.

The music on this album doesn´t have much to do with the Psychotic Waltz that I love though. Devon still has a beautiful voice but he is much more restrained on this album than he was in the days of heading Psychotic Waltz. It´s like he has growned up ( there is nothing worse IMO) and somehow learned to sing in a more controlled ( boring) manner. If you liked the more uptempo rockers from the last couple of Psychotic Waltz albums like Dancing in the Ashes and Skeleton you might enjoy this album more than I do. This is heavy metal with a slight psychadelic touch and IMO it´s allright. It´s just not excellent or very recommendable. The only song that stands out a bit is the short acoustic Under The Weight of My Stone but that doesn´t make it more special than any of the other songs. In fact the most exciting songs on the album is the bonus tracks that you only get if you have the digi-pack edition of the album like I do. Into the Spiral Cathedral and the Intro to that song are the only songs that reminds me of the good Psychotic Waltz songs that I love. I also like the opening song Powertrip but it´s mainly due to the fact that Deadsoul Tribe use samples from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thomson which is incidently one of my favorite movies. The samples suit this song perfectly.

I know it´s wrong to bash Devon because his new band doesn´t sound like Psychotic Waltz. There is probably a reason they broke up in the first place and it seems like creative differences could have been an issue as Devon is clearly more interested in a more simple approach than was the case with Psychotic Waltz elaborate and complex music.

The musicianship is good on the album. No flaws even though I could have wished for more personal touches to the music.

The production is allright. It´s good for the time.

I can´t say that I listen to the album very often, but the quality isn´t bad at all and I will rate it 3 stars. This is the kind of album that will appeal to many people into metal. Most Psychotic Waltz fans will be disappointed IMO though.