A MURDER OF CROWS

Dead Soul Tribe, A Murder of Crows. This is my introduction album to Dead Soul Tribe, and I must say I'm not disappointed. Though I had fairly low expections, but still. The album has very tense and creepy feeling at times, and the singing of Devon amazed me. The songs link together very well and the same feeling from the first track doesn't vanish, it flows through the album. I fell in love with the drummer, Adel Moustafa. He does great job drumming the songs. Very good and well produced album. Very easy to listen.

The albums is divided into chapters. The first chapter is 'Feed', with parts 'Stone by Stone' and 'The Awakening'. Evil is coming alive in this chapter. 'Stone by Stone' starts with decent riff and the progressive singing of Devon to the "chorus" is great. The voice is very soft and mellow, and then it is bit louder and powerful, and finally it is almost screaming. 'The Awakening' has little bit of flute at the beginning. The track is god example of one kind of progressive track. Though it is short track, the beginning, middle parts and the end are all different. The female voice is beautiful and fits the part very well. Very good start. Next chapters include just one song. The next song is 'The Messenger'. A bit lame, but not bad. Very catchy but not great song. I don't hate the "so American" part in the end: "You are one twisted f***", but I don't fancy it too much. Not bad, but not good. Moving to 'In a Garden Made of Stones', which is perhaps my favourite track of the album. Good metal riffing at the beginning and nice calm voice by Devon. Very emotial track. All is good, not great, but good. Nothing more to say. The next song is "Some Things you can't Return". I like the song, the structure, Devons voice (again) and the music. The screaming in the chorus is nice. Fine track. 'Angels in Vertigo' is very good track, one of my favourites. The riff is good, the verse is good, the tense feel, and Devon's singing is good, all is good. I love the S in the chorus. When Devon sings: "You feel, you taste", I like.'Regret' shows good piano playing by Devon. Very good and cathcy song, the structure is cool. Not very progressive, but intresting. The next two songs 'Crows on the Wire' and 'I'm not Waving' are fine tracks. 'Crows on the Wire' I like better, bit heavier. 'I'm not Waving' is good. 'Flies' I like the least. Bit boring musically and structurally. Not very good track. The last song in the album is 'Black Smoke and Mirrors' shows great flute playing by Devon. Flute is a metal instrument, said someone. Now I believe. Very good track. The bonus track sounded a bit of latino pop at the beginning, but fortunately corrects that. Not the same kind of song, than the others, that is why I usually listen to it separately from the other tracks.

The album is a fine totality. Not always very progressive, but at times it is good progressive metal album. I obviously loved Devon Graves, his singing, the voice, his instrument playing. And Adel Moustafa as well. Great tribal drumming by the guy. I liked the feeling of the album. All in all, this is very good album. Still, it is not essential: a masterpiece of progressive music. But after careful thinking, I will say it is an excellent addition to any prog music collection. Highly recommended to all metal and progressive metal fans. And fans of pure prog should give it a try.