DEAD SOUL TRIBE

Those who read my reviews will notice I hardly ever make comparisons to other bands. That is because mainly I grew up in the neo-prog timezone, rather than the classic prog period like YES, ELO, PINK FLOYD, CAMEL and GENESIS. And secondly, it's because I feel every band has its own sound and feel, and I feel it unfair to compare them to others. That's also why I'm not going to compare Deadsoul Tribe, one of my favorite neo-prog bands, to the "legendary" TOOL. Let's take a look at the debut, shall we?

The album opens powerfully with "Powertrip", a song about drug use, I'm guessing. A pretty morbid theme, fitting to the atmosphere and the band name. Devon Graves' distorted vocals sound quite menacing. This song goes on in more or less a straight line, as if speeding on a long highway with no other car in sight. Follow-up "Coming Down" leaves some room to breathe. Spooky guitar howls, leaning on a solid guitar/bass riff. Graves shows the wide range of his voice, going from almost fragile melancholic to a powerful presence. Overall a decent song, but not overly exciting.

"Anybody There?" is a short 1-minute spooky ambient track, in which "Anybody There?" are the only vocals (which Devon also sang in the previous song). It goes over into "Haunted", which features a catchy bass-drum riff, and quite a bit of guitar variation. I love Devon's higher voice use in several parts of this song, and also the guitar solos are haunting ones. The next one is "The Drowning Machine", that starts off quite creepy and basically stays that way throughout the whole song, though it does get louder. The whole song has something twisted, which will either appeal to you or make you click 'next'.

The next song is "You", and to be honest, it stands out to me somewhat. Musically this is a very creative song, and maybe that's why it feels a bit "off" on the album 'till this point. Speaking of "off", "Under The Weight Of My Stone" is a soft almost 2-minute acoustic song, with Devon singing a sensitive song. A nice ballad and a good way to catch your breath after the heavy "You". "Once" is mid-level in loudness, and has a somewhat sad feel to it. It's not my favorite piece on the album, but it's definately not a bad piece of music, no sir. It might not be the most original piece of music, however.

"One Bullet" has to be one of my favorite tracks of the album. It features a heartbeat effect, with a haunting atmosphere at first, leaning on a lovely bass tune. The chorus is rough and emotional, and especially the "Remember me this way..." at the end gives me goosebumps. Some keyboard effects are added to the start of the song, making up the middle. The guitar solo goes along the same veins, with some vocals screaming "Lies!" and "I don't wanna live!", making it quite dramatic. The third time the main part comes by, Devon's voice sounds very haunting, and the guitar howls its pain. *le sigh* A depressing song, but often it's depressing that really transfers an emotion, I find. Beautiful.

"Empty" features another catchy rhythm, and a flute!!! Devon's finally picked up his trusty instrument. It's another of those 1-minute musical breaks of the album. Unlike "Under The Weigh Of My Stone", this one's catchy and fun, and over before you know it. "Cry For Tomorrow" is more or less along the veins of "Powertrip", a long repeating rhythm, until somewhere mid-way it changes for a little while. It's some nice straightforward piece of progmetal.

"Into..." is merely a 1-minute introduction to the album closer, "...Into The Spiral Cathedral". It features a nice flute, though, and has a great enjoyable suspense to it. Now, the Spiral Cathedral itself. I can really picture a big old twisted building with lots of spiral stairs. The use of keyboards give it a feeling of "grandness", and is a nice touch to the song. Devon's vocals song higher-pitched and are lovely to listen to. There's plenty of change in the song too, as it slows down in the middle, speeding up a little again later, featuring quite a beautiful guitar golo supported by piano.

And with that, the album is closed. Still, I feel obligated to point out several minor negativeness about it. For one, the short album breaks like "Under The Weight Of My Stone", "Anybody There?" and "Empty" stand out quite a bit, and seem somewhat unnecessary. They just can't compete with the other longer songs, it seems. This with the exception of "Into...", as it's connected to another song, which the others aren't. They kind of take the tempo out of the album at times, which may appeal to some, while others will usually skip them. Also, the music may sometimes sound a bit repetetive, which is fine by me, but it may be "too much of the same thing" for some.

Well, that's that. I give it 4 stars, since I quite enjoy the album, and am only bothered by several minor things.

Yours, Tailscent