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DEADSOUL TRIBE :
THE JANUARY TREE

I gotta say, "Deadsoul Tribe" posses one of the coolest band names ever! It's one of those freaky ambiguous names that could have worked for anything from a Grindcore act to a Goth-Rock band. However, this new-ish (this is the 3rd album) band from former Psychotic Waltz singer Buddy Lackey (who now goes by "Devon Graves") is nothing like either of those genres. Well, OK, there could be an argument for a Goth comparison... The sound found on "The January Tree", is like a gloomy, more progressive version of Tool. The whole CD is written around the concept of a tree that appears dead in January, and what has to happen for it to come back to "life". There are deep emotional vibes coming off this thing, feelings of doom, dreariness, and loneliness easily top a list that could go on forever. Hell, some listeners may need to pop a couple of Prozacs before spinning this. Devon does most of the work on the CD himself, (although there is an actual band for touring etc.) the man is responsible for the vocals (which are clean), guitar, bass, flute, keyboards, and piano. The percussion is picked up by drummer Adel Moustafa. Devon, who wrote almost all the music, plays around with the time signatures to give the songs a vaguely off kilter feeling (like Tool), that for the most part, tends to work in his favor. There is some cool stuff going on here, but I find the songs lack there own individuality, and that one cut simply bleeds into another. The end result, is that by the time track six or seven rolls around, I'm already siftin' through the deck for the next CD to play. Now, I should also mention that Tool has the same effect on me, so you can take that how you want. The January Tree starts out great, but for me it needs more variation to become a staple in my disc changer. If on the other hand, you got a big ol' chubby form albums such as "Undertow" and "Aenima", then this will probably have the same effect on you. Fore more info, you can find the band's on line lair at deadsoultribe.com.
RATING = 6 Dark Progressive-Metal (Released 2004)

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DEADSOUL TRIBE :
THE DEAD WORLD

Devon Graves has returned with his fourth slab 'o depressing Prog-Rock, delivered under the Deadsoul Tribe moniker. Once again he handles the vocals and plays everything here except the drums. Last year's offering (see above) was alright, but really didn't win me over. This time around, I'm even less thrilled with what I'm hearing. The sound is basically similar, but maybe not as heavy. It's all still mournful, emotional, and very melancholy, but the songs just don't go anywhere or do anything. Sure, it all sounds wonderful playing and production wise, but the songs themselves just seem completely devoid of any interesting, or memorable parts. I've played this disc three times through, and I barely even noticed it was on, it's like a form of white noise. It's too bad actually, because Devon and Deadsoul Tribe are one of those artists/bands that I want to like more than I do. Oh well, you can't force these things, at least I now have an alternative to sleeping pills for those bouts of insomnia.
RATING = 5 Dark Progressive-Metal (Released 2005)

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