dEUS - Vantage Point
I am please to announce that Belgium has more to offer than their delicious range of chocolate. Soft centred, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, creamy middles that melt in your mouth…wait that is the chocolate and not the point of this review. If I were to review the chocolates though they would get a high score.
The band and the point of this review, is the five-piece dEUS. They have played some amazing tunes in the past and this fifth release ‘Vantage Point’ is about to push all boundaries. The band built their own studio to work on this release as it gave them the freedom to express themselves in whatever way they felt free to do. They created an album more adventurous than their previous work, something that isn’t fixed within one genre as they have incorporated a wide variety of styles, including Pop, Folk, Punk and Heavy Metal to name but a few.
‘Eternal Woman’ is a mellow, soft and gentle track with an acoustic opening; ‘Smokers Reflect’ has a more country-sounding element and the remainder of the tracks range from indie rock to pop rock. The electricity that runs through ‘Oh Your God’ is static; there is a vibration of music going though it, ‘Favourite Game’ has an edgy beat and a guitar riff that catches the listener’s attention and ‘Is A Robot’ may be plain at times but the instrumental is heavy.
The band has always sung primarily in English so it is no shock this album continues with the same path. Tom Barman and Mauro Pawlowski take to the microphone for the vocal contributions to the tracks present on this album. ‘When She Comes Down’ has slightly eerie vocals with a rolling tone about them, those present on ‘Slow’ are deeper; the female presence on the harmonies is from Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife and are barely noticeable. The harmonies of ‘The Architect’ however are low and eerie but with the obvious rhyming very effective. ‘Popular Culture’ is a track where the vocals really stand out and the harmonies sound like children; they become very radiant.
One track that actually has a meaning about it comes in the form of ‘The Vanishing Of Maria Schneider’, based on the French actress famous for acting opposite Marlon Brando in the flick ‘Last Tango in Paris’ in 1972.
Since forming in 1989, dEUS has become one of the most successful (and influential) Belgian rock bands ever.