DEUS

Third or fourth album ever since the band came back from its two-year break, but dEUS never seemed to regain the momentum of their early days ? a momentum they'd lost before going on holidays anyway. Don't get me wrong, none of their albums are bad or even average, but they simply don't have what made WCS or IiBUtS so special. Indeed when listening to the present FS, it's kind of difficult to point it out quickly as a dEUS album, despite some fine and subtle songwriting. Armed with a passé-partout artwork and booklet that don't seem to have much relation with the album's title (other than a few maritime references here and there), FS keeps the band's fans happy, with more of the same, despite being a bit drowned in the over- flooded ocean.

Opening with the French-sung Quatre Mains (a small radio hit on French-speaking radios, I believe); the band cruises smoothly along with some typical soundscape of theirs with sirens and the spoken Hidden Wounds. Somewhere between Radiohead or some other Britpop of the 90's, the album is fairly linear sonic-wise, but sufficiently varied to avoid repetition, but doesn't avoid the déjà-entendu feel. Highlights are Girls Keep Drinking, Quatre Mains, the vocal-filtered Fire Up. Anti-climaxes are the aptly-titled Nothings, the nearly-U2 Soft Fall, the predictable Crazy About You and the album closing About Waves.

Never really understood hat this band was doing on PA, but since they're here and I seem sufficiently interested to borrow their later albums from the library, I thought I might as well tell you that you progheads won't find much susceptible to tickle your prog fancy, but this "alternative rock" disc is hardly a bad album? just another one that followed the train to sea of oblivion.

dEUS are a little known quintet from Belguim, never afraid to try something new. "The Ideal Crash" is a beautifully layered art-rock album, where you discover more with every listen. The lyrics are often very mature and poetic, telling wickedly insightful stories about murder, lust, undeserving friendships, lost loves and hope. It is a record that can, and does, mean many different things, to many different people.

The music has some infusions of jazz and funk with emotive rhythms which can be strange, elegant as well as calming and dreamy.There's plenty of great trippy keyboards and lovely stings, creating a relaxed mood.

The song structures are inspiring too. The opening number "Put the Freaks Up Front" in particular, starts off with a dark guitar riff. Just when you think they consume themselves with loud rock, it breaks into lounge styled verses with some subtle jazzy horns. These kind of surprises pop up a lot throughout, sneaking up when you least expect it.

Sister Dew' is one of my favourite tracks. It's actually about a killer, though I can't help but feel touched by the words. Listen and you may know what I mean.'The Magic Hour,'is an enchantingly slow piano ballad and also a highlight. And you won't miss the banjo and string tinged 'Instand Street.' where its optimistic lyrics and word play reverse the songs meaning, half way through.

This is very interesting stuff indeed. It's an intelligent, quirky, charismatic, infectious record which has a complexity and energy well worth checking out. As I said earlier, it does need repeated listens to appreciate fully. Four solid stars.

dEUS is Belgium's most acclaimed indie band. 'Indie' meaning something entirely different here then the smooth pop of Muse or Oasis. dEUS is a very adventures band that incorporates simply anything that will work in a song, sometimes that is indie avant-garde, punk, jazzy synths, scruffy Captain Beefheart vocals or experimental noise rock, at other times it's simply blues or a ballad à la Tom Waits.

Even with all diversity this is one of dEUS most consistent efforts with too many songs and too many highlights for an in-depth song by song review, but let me at least mention the crazy avant rock of Fell of The Floor Man, one of their best songs, also the cinematic Theme from Turnpike is a little masterpiece, with very prominent Tom Waits "kettle-music" influences. Also the more mainstream tracks like Little Arithmetics and For the Roses are songwriting marvels. And if you dig a bit of soothing lounge jazz then Nine Threads should do the trick. It's only a short selection out of a 15 song adventure.

In a Bar Under the Sea is the ultimate dEUS album, it's wild, adventurous, willful, and rough, but at the same time it's catchy and fun. For melodic Prog fans this will be a most challenging listen, but if you dig the wilder side of Prog as evident in kraut rock, eclectic prog or avant, you might end up with a surprise.

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!

dEUS are little known outside Belgium so their pages here are a sure way to find fellow countrymen. I even suspect Belgium must have 'someone on the inside' or 'on the board' of PA. I mean, there are little reasons to associate dEUS with classic prog so some serious lobbying must have been needed to add them here. And good they have been, because they are a wonderful band.

dEUS are an exceptional alternative rock band with a very eclectic sound borrowing from a wide range of influences, from guitar rock, folk and punk to jazz, kraut and art rock. Depending on your background you may find one song reminds you of Sonic Youth, another of Velvet Underground or David Bowie, Tom Waits or Velvet Underground. To add a reference to a more recent band, I could add Dredg to the list, but with a less pathetic type of voice.

Generally, I find this album drenched with the spirit and influence from kraut rock. Especially Can comes to mind. By the time of Pocket Revolution, dEUS had shed off some of their earlier excesses and concentrated on the songs instead. To good effect.

To single out a few songs I would of course need to start with Bad Timing. This 7 minute track is an outstanding crescendo that might certainly appeal to space rock fans. It's effect is entrancing and deeply moving to say the least. What We Talk About has a similar vibe to it.

Up-tempo rockers like Stop-Start Nature, If You Don't Get What You Want and Nightshopping should convince Muse fans that with more restrained singing, other bands are better at doing what they do.

And outstanding melancholic ballads like Include Me Out, The Real Sugar or the beginning of the title track before it turns into an ecstatic gospel, should sure appeal to everybody liking the introspective and gentle moments of Porcupine Tree or recent Anekdoten. Damn! Nothing Really Ends even has xylophone!

dEUS have always embraced experimentation in their sound so the tag art rock would suit them quite well. If you feel like stretching your wings outside symphonic progland for a change, and if you like diverse albums that are still coherent even though not one song resembles another, then this album comes highly recommend. If you can't find the album I'll be glad to help you.

Latest dEUS' release "Vantage Point" is one complicated review, the fact is that i like it, i like it very much! But it is so inconsistent and has such weak points, not mentioning the fact that it couldn't get farther from progressive rock, that I can't help myself considering this a weaker effort than their previous one's.

The album starts off really bad, "When She Comes Down" is not the worst song ever, but, excluding the chorus, it is very uninteresting, but, "Oh Your God" is even worse, a straight forward rocker, with absolutely no melody, and quite annoying. The good thing is that the worst is over and we get four fantastic songs in a row, "Eternal Woman" is a quite different ballad for dEUS, but really really beautiful once it grows on you, then "Favourite Game", another grower, really cool mood and great moments. It is followed by "Slow", and this one great, atypical song, is my favorite on the album, such cool groove, such perfect lyrics, such epic moments, such good music, essential! And then you have "The Architect", this is mind-blowing funk, impossible not to sing along, and it is one fantastic song.

At last, I have to talk about "Popular Culture", this is absolutely fantastic, epic, gorgeous, cheerful, really majestic music, this is larger-than-life, this is dEUS!

Great album ,but not regular, and that's a shame, this is could've been so much!

Well, this is the most hated effort by the dEUS' fan community, it was their comeback, after six years of not releasing original material, so the expectations must had been high, well, I don't know why it seemed so disappointing to everyone, it is my favorite dEUS album! The fact that this was the first one that I listened to, and immediately fell in love with it, might have affected that but, nevertheless, it is my favorite.

"Bad Timing" is the perfect, slow, dynamic opener, it is a constant crescendo with beautiful melodies, a really nice piece, very well done. "7 Days, 7 Weeks" was the first single, a really graceful tune, very passionate lyrics and singing, a really great song. "If You Don't Get What You Want" is a true groovy rocker, really cool music, and another one of my favorite dEUS songs.

This album has my absolute favorite dEUS song, "Include Me Out" is one of the most perfect songs I ever heard, beautiful poetry, stunning melodies and a really moody ambient, gorgeous music! Another beautiful song is the closer "Nothing Really Ends", one more passionate ballad, just as beautiful as it can be, dEUS can't fail in the ballads!

Another moments worth mentioning are the epic "Pocket Revolution", ridden by a cool groove, rocker "Cold Sun Of Circumstance" and one more beautiful ballad "The Real Sugar", "Sun Ra", the most experimental tune in the album also deserves to be mentioned, but pales in comparison to other dEUS' experimental tracks.

Overall, a great album, very very cohesive, and that's why I appreciate it so much, it flows wonderfully and has some real great music, not prog, but still nice.

"The Ideal Crash" is the album where dEUS took a new direction and went, well not mainstream, but rather not weird, though much more creative and original than their future releases.

This album is, in fact, great, though not progressive at all, it has some catchy rockers and beautiful ballads, absolutely worth listening to. "Put The Freaks Up Front" is a real cool song, very straight forward and with nice melodies, a raw and groovy rocker, then comes "Sister Dew", a sweet ballad, really emotional and one of the highest points here, in the same vein is "The Magic Hour", one more spacey ballad, really beautiful, and though not prog at all, these are the moments that are really worth listening in the album."Instant Street" is probably the most popular dEUS' song, and it is great! It's very catchy, very pop-ish, but it's truly fantastic, beautiful and addictive, optimistic and refreshing, some great music indeed!

On the experimental side of the album, we get the spacey "One Advice, Space", a soft song with a great mood; "Everybody's Weird", the weirdest piece, very addictive and entertaining; and "Dream Sequence #1", the rather minimalistic electronic effort, and one absolute gem, absolutely beautiful.

So, despite this not being progressive rock at all, it is great music and would appeal to most prog fans, I guess, if you want to start off with dEUS, start off with this one, it IS their most enjoyable one.

dEUS' debut is the only one of their releases that could be thrown into a genre in PA, the Avant-Prog genre, the music in here is absolutely weird, unusual and creative, and that's the only reason this album reaches the 3 star rating, because when talking about quality and entertainment, this failsa bit.

After the intro, a weird, piercing violin kicks in, "Suds & Soda", it slowly builds into the greatest song in the album, the weird constant vocals, shouting "Friday!" all along the song, at different times in the song structure is pure genius, and I think it's very creative, also, the creepiest voices come in the cacophony after the chorus are great.

"Morticiachair" is another very imaginative moment, the beginning is very unusual and builds into a very catchy song, really wonderful. The Frank Zappa influence is very clear here, with the eccentric touch to the music and use of some unusual instruments, in fact "W.C.S." contains a sample from Zappa's "Little Umbrellas".

The album has some more great moments, "Right As Rain" is my personal favorite, a creepy, dark ballad, really beautiful; "Secret Hell" is one more creepy slow song and "Mute" is very much alike "Suds & Soda", with crazy screams during the chorus and unusual vocal melodies during the verses, however, the rest of the album is quite uninspired, a lot of "dead" music, where nothing really happens, though it does flow quite nicely, you don't get the feeling you have just listened to a great album, this is my main problem with this, the lack of consistency and cohesion ruins what could have been one great album, full of wonderful ideas and originality.

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.