A LULLABY FOR THE DEVIL

I took particular note of Devon's voice in Ayreon's The Human Equation and eventually came to decide to check out his actual band. What is here is a lot different than what is usually described. Almost everyone that mentions this band mentions Tool. I think that's a very silly thing to do, mostly because this band is very independent from and very different to Tool. In fact, while I make no claims on the quality of Tool's music here, Deadsoul Tribe is a far more interesting, diverse, and well-produced band. A Lullaby for the Devil represents a motion towards heavier music than their previous works. We have the flute here and the tribal drums and some fantastic wailing from their frontman. Basically, we have a sort of massive progressive metal music, atmospheric in its own right--not particularly experimental or post-metal in many ways by this point however.

The album opens with Psychosphere, a fairly simplistic and straightforward song that kicks off the music with a heavy gear and some distorted vocals. Note when I say heavy here, I mean maybe like Dream Theater heavy, with deep and chunky guitars and fast double bass work. The band has no growls, has no particularly heavy vocal structures. These vocals are fairly dynamic (and yes, he does scream a wee wee bit), and they are showcased really well on the second track, Goodbye City Life. It opens with an epic sort of metal feel, something indeed reminiscent of Ayreon or Devin Townsend. After a bit of soft acoustic sounds and gentle vocals, it dives back into gear and Devon releases the inner crazy in a few upbeat screams. Towards the end, the music clears pretty dramatically, and the flute comes in and blows the rest of the song out of the water. The tune progresses from heavy metal to fun rock pretty frequently, making this a nicely progressive tune that changes but still goes somewhere. It ends on a very heavy note. Track three is Here Come the Pigs, a weaker bit with again aggressive vocals in a distortion box and with a lot more double bass.

The next track is the terribly catchy Lost in You, with a powerful chorus. It backs off several times into gentle piano portions, only to kick back into wild motion with that massive chorus. A very good track, though not as progressive as Goodbye City Life. A Stairway to Nowhere wanders on next, opening with a bit of dark ambiance. Gradually, the metal returns. The chorus is marked by interesting backing harmonies. The next song, however, is the true genius of this album. The Gossamer Strand is a showcase for some intense flute work. At the beginning and end, it's mostly just gentle flute and piano, but the central parts of the song are built around some heavy riffs to complement this flute. A guitar solo here and there add to the power, but the true beauty is in this wild whistling that might give Ian Anderson a run for his money. Any Sign at All is another catchy track like Lost in You, except it is more atmospheric and features some dark bass work. Fear starts out rather mellow, but jumps into high gear partway through in a very neat way. Further Down is a particularly heavy track and the title song closes the album much in the way that Goodbye City Life opened it.

Now, the only real problem with this album is that it all kind of blends together and tends to sound mostly the same throughout. Aside from that, fans of progressive metal or Devin Townsend style metal would probably find plenty to love here. Also, fans of high caliber flute playing might just find some tasty morsels within as well.

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