|
Right from the opening track “Spiders And Flies”, you get the
feeling you’re dealing with the strongest Dead Soul Tribe album
ever. Different themes in one song and less obvious compositions
make the CD much more exiting in its entirety. This gives the songs
a bit more a Psychotic Waltz touch then the previous DST albums. And
odd as it may seem, this is a step forward, in my opinion, without
being detrimental to the two other albums: ‘Dead Soul Tribe’ & ‘A
Murder Of Crows’.
Just like on the other albums, the rhythms aren’t ordinary at all.
The propelling songs drag you along, without compassion, on their
musical adventures and after a few rides you are addicted. More than
once, we could witness the great vocal capacities of Devon Graves (aka
Buddy Lackey) in the past, but this album certainly proves how great
a musician he is. Except for the drums, he’s playing all the
instruments. And that’s not evident, just listen to “Why”, and you
know what I mean! Even ‘industrial metal’ hasn’t been left aside.
Some Psychotic Waltz songs already had a ‘techno’ touch but on
“Wings Of Faith”, the electronic beat immediately leaps to the eye
(ear). It’s not a bad track but less successful than the rest.
 But
the moments that Devon takes his flute still are the most
intriguing. This instrument gives the track “Toy Rockets” an extra
dimension. The second track with the flute is the re-recording of
“Just Like A Timepiece” from his solo album ‘The Strange Mind of
Buddy Lackey’. The track, that has a Jethro Tull feeling about it,
was already an excellent song, but the new arrangement and the
quality of the new recording are much better than the original from
1993. Lucky for us, Devon realised this song needed a better
recording to avoid it from falling into oblivion. If you’re not
familiar with Dead Soul Tribe or Devon Graves, I want to point out
that Devon was one of the three voices, that putted their stamp on
Ayreon’s latest, “The
Human Equation”. Devon played the part of ‘Agony’ on that
album.
‘The January Tree’ is really an album that needs to grow on you.
Each audition reveals new details and helps you to get to know and
to appreciate the songs. But you feel the zeal of this band from the
first time so you will want to give it some more auditions. So this
third album is the best balanced and strongest CD of Dead Soul Tribe
and is certainly worth purchasing!
|
