THE JANUARY TREE

My interest for Deadsoul Trime arised from the fact, that I know Deon Graves as Buddy Lackey from my favourite progressive metal band Psychotic Waltz. Another fact is that this is still my only Deadsoul Tribe recording, so you can guess, that I am much less impressed by DST than by the quintett from San Diego. However, this album is far from being bad. Devon created some sort of "Jethro Tool", but unfurtunately for me there is more focus on Tool, than Jethro. Devon is still a very good singer and lyricist, and we certainly must give credit for him for playing all instruments on this album, except the drums. Basically, the magical guitar playing of Dan and Brian from Waltz what I miss the most. Devon is competent on the guitar, but his riffs are rather monothonic, and he is just rather unremarkable as a guitar player especially compared to his psychotic ex-collegaues. The music on The January Tree is pleasantly heavy, and melodic but none of the songs is truly outstanding. The better ones for me are Spiders and Flies and Just like a timepiece. The beutiful artwork deserves a special mention. The January Tree is a mostly enjoyable, even if not very rewarding album. I think a 3 star rating is well deserved.