Labels: Genin
Review by: Ian Carter
Ever since Cave In and then Dillinger Escape Plan started to tow a line that aligned the hardcore/progressive sound with something more akin to alt-rock, there have been many attempts to capitalise on this sound, most of which fall flat on their arse.
Thankfully, Djevara’s sound is far away from the American style that has become typical of bands of their ilk. The more progressive elements on display throughout “The Rising Tide” bring to mind Beecher at their least schizophrenic whilst the rockier aspect gives a slight nod to Therapy? and even Fugazi.
My main criticism of these songs would be that it’s usually the most straight up riffs that receive the most repetition, which is a bit of shame as this really made me lose interest at points. Although, this fact probably wasn’t helped by my aural titillation at some of the more complex arrangements and rhythms.
This is a pretty diverse album with Asian inspired melodies and acoustic guitars punctuating the ugly and aggressive riffs, riffs that wouldn’t seem out of place on a Converge record. Somehow the album manages to remain cohesive, mainly thanks to the vocalist who refreshingly refrains from sounding like a banshee all the time (although I swear he could be the guy from Dead After School). If I would level one big criticism at this album, it would be the inclusion of some pretty whimsical riffs that made me want to skip ahead to the next track in fear of it all descending into SOAD- esque stupidity. The album is supposedly written around a suicide the band knew, which translates into some utter desperation that’s communicated equally well through the frantic riffing as it is in the elongated vocals phrases.
I’m not too sure how I really feel about Djevera; looking at the band on paper, I feel like I should really like them a lot more than I do after giving this CD a few spins. Although I really enjoyed parts of the songs a lot, their isn’t a point where everything is killer, its almost like they’re incapable of awesomeness in unison. However, this is not to say that the album is anything but a solid offering, I’m just not completely sold.