Deadsoul Tribe & A Murder of Crows

After the release of “Bleeding” in 1996, Psychotic Waltz imploded, leaving their status of a cult band in the dust. Buddy Lackey, the group’s frontman, relocated to Austria, changed his name to Devon Graves and formed a new project. Its first offering, the self-titled “DeadSoul Tribe” is not without its ties to the compact detailism of “Bleeding”, but already showcases an aural evolution that took place during those six years. DeadSoul Tribe is built upon the more subtle, yet riff-centric songwriting that Psychotic Waltz employed on their swansong. At the same time, as is audible from the opening sample, this is a different beast with a different goal.

In essence, the styles that dominate this record are groove and industrial metal. However, there is more to DeadSoul Tribe then that. It’s just that this record mostly seeks to create some sort of a trademark sound. There is a lot of a quasi-Sabbath trudging going on, amplified by a variety of doomy industrial effects and prominent basslines. Also, Adel Moustafa on the drums seems to focus a bit more on standard beats, rather than his free-flowing style on the following albums. In stark contrast to this musical background, Devon Graves’ vocals retain a strong sense of melody, sounding almost fragile in the higher registers. He shows that his voice can be actually very soothing in the short “Under The Weight Of My Stone”, but given the lot of the accompanying music, Devon manages to successfully sound hypnotic and creepy.

Interludes/half songs aside, the doomier character of “DeadSoul Tribe” is rarely broken, though. And since the riffwork is fairly standard (no Iommi to be found here, that’s for sure), you find yourself waiting for the little moments to pull you out of the slight lethargy. Some big vocal hooks in “Coming Down” and the desperate-sounding “You” definitely stand out, as does the chilling sample in the brooding “One Bullet”. There are also some piercing solos scattered around, most notably in the crescendo of the almost-epic closer “...into The Spiral Cathedral”, which has Moustafa playing in a more percussive style and adds some effective keyboards/piano.

Production-wise, this album is definitely sub-par. The vocals and bass sound good enough, sure, but the drums get a tinny sound that sounds very cheap. Also, the guitars are very, very tame - some riffs could definitely bite in a different mix, rather than creeping along in the background. That and the slightly monotonous character of the record do hinder the overall experience a lot.

There are several interludes and short songs scattered around this record, and it seems they were some leftover ideas the band wanted to include, but not develop into complete songs. which is a shame, because they are not bad. “Into...” busts out the flute to set the stage for the closer, and “Under The Weight Of My Stone” hints at what kind of ballads you could expect in the future from the band. The rest is pretty much forgettable.

Still, this album’s different take on groove metal is not much more than a decent backbone for further evolution. While some of its highlights still make it a worthwhile listen, it would seem that Devon Graves wanted to cook up a formula similar to “Bleeding”, but forgot a part of the recipe. It’s not bad by any stretch, just unspectacular, and pales very much when compared to everything the band released afterwards.