WORST CASE SCENARIO

When this debut album from Antwerp-origined group appeared, it took Belgium by storm, as the scene was fairly vacant in the Alternative Rock domain in their homeland. Unless really involved in the underground scene, no one had heard of Rudy Trouvé, Tom Barman, Janzoons , DeBorgher and Stef Carlens and they became an immediate success. Whether they are prog is a debate that will of course not be resolved and I personally would classify them as prog-tinged alternative rock as they are for sure one of the more inventive bands to have hit the airwaves in the mid-90's and are likely to please progheads into intelligent rock in the mould of Radiohead and Muse. This band is a rather bizarre (but usual) Belgian twist of fate as dEUS could not find a record deal in home Flanders and had to travel to antagonist Wallonie to find a small and just starting label Bang! to get recorded. Miracles are fairly common in a land where surrealism was born.

Most of you will have heard their hits such Suds & Sodas etc.... But there is much more to them than their more commercial side and if you are listening to the title track or Morticia Chair, you cannot help but be impressed by their multiple sound crossing Red Hot Chilly Pepper with some impressive almost Beastie Boys vocals with great cello and violin lines. Other tracks Jigsaw or Let Go are quieter and more reflective (you could almost say Ambient) or the superb Mute first calm before exploding in a typical dEUS fashion showing amazing maturity for this debut album. Their sense of dynamics may remind you of Mr Bungle or Anekdoten, but the phrasings do not foray too deep and complex to be considered really prog. Other musical references I think of is Dutch Burma Shave (the debut is fantastic) or UK's Eat's sole album Sell Me A God.

However inventive and creative and intelligent their music is, it has also a fairly noisy sound (so typical of 90's sound) that it is hard for me to listen to a whole album in one shot even though the album is only 47 min long. And this feeling is so much reinforced by ending the album with a short but powerful Shake Your Hip and a bizarre twangy guitar tune.

This band was overflowing so much artistic creativity (and not just musical as the artwork is a painting by guitar/KB man Trouvé) that offshoot projects started soon, eventually leading to some original members leaving, but this is later on.

dEUS is the most successful rock band in Belgium nowadays. Filling large venues (Forest National twice sold out) and being appreciated on both sides of the "linguistic" frontier (this is too complex a concept for non-Belgian to explain it here).

Their music is powerful and very much guitar-oriented but some nice violin adds a nice touch to their work. While you listen to "Suds & Soda", some "Smashing Pumpkins" sound is evoked. "dEUS" is not fully progressive per se. But they sounded rather innovative at the time of this first release. Original and creative. For sure.

Still, the noisy and yelling "WCS" is rather weak and is best avoided. Of course, while you would listen to "Jigsaw You", some "Anekdoten" or "Porcupine Tree" similarities are obvious. But these aren't too bad a reference, right? It is one of the best songs here.

Another one of my favorite is the vigorous "Via". Impressive guitar and wild beat. A band like "Hypnos 69" (another good Belgian band - but we have very few of them unfortunately) have definitely listened to "dEUS". But it is normal that they influence the Belgian scene.

This album is a mix between hard and hypnotic rock and soft music ("Right As Rain" is almost spacey at the end). I prefer the latter style. It is honest to say that "Worst Case Scenario" is irritating at times, and that you need to be in some "heavy" music to fully appreciate it.

Good songs ("Morticia Chair", "Lets Get Lost", "Hotel Lounge") sit together with average ones ("Mute" and the experimental "Great American Nude"). This first album is probably not the best to start with but it is interesting to listen how powerful "dEUS" can be and how many bands have been influenced by their sound ("Oceansize).

If you like the bands I have mentioned here, there are chances that you would be interested with "dEUS" offering. But their debut is an average one : five out of ten, upgraded to three stars.

This album just isn't my thing.

It mostly sounds like alternative rock, meaning fairly standardly written songs, with fair musical performances, and below average vocals. On the plus side, the band uses some non- standard instumentation. There is a heavy reliance on violin, and many odd percussion instruments.

Aside from some interesting noises here and there, and some decent violin arrangements, none of the songs on this albun stood out to me as worth relistening to other than "Great American Nude", a weird and funky and oddly likable piece.

And what is the deal with printing song lyrics on the CD label? They are too small to read, and how do you read them along with the song?

Maybe if you like to be shouted at, or enjoy those weak, almost whiny vocals that permeate "alternative" music these days, this is for you. It's not for me.

The majority of dEUS fans (that's half of Belgium) would be quite astonished to find their band on a prog site. Belgium, the Dutch speaking part especially, has a long-standing tradition of anti-prog, so finding out Prog Archives embraces a favoured alternative rock band like dEUS here might be quite a shock.

Still, it's not entirely far-fetched. Their first two albums feature very prominent violin usage and plenty of rhythmic and sonic experimentation and innovation, placing them in the grey area inbetween Sonic Youth and Tom Waits, meaning the best of indie mixed with stubborn dissonance and smart song writing. People who recently enjoyed the addition of Motorpsycho should sure lend their ears to this album. The first 6 songs are simply excellent; the remainder of the album is less strong

Let the 3 stars not frighten you; this is a very interesting album of which the first half is sure worth four!