The January Tree

Deadsoul Tribe, featuring Devon Graves, the singer of Psychotic Waltz, brings you their fantastic album “The January Tree.” Hands up if most of that went straight over your head.

Yeah, I thought as much.

Deadsoul Tribe are one of those bands who, despite possessing a number of magnificent songs and being far better than a vast sum of their peers, fail to find any real recognition from both the media and the public, and fall into unfortunate obscurity. Which is a real shame, as, if “The January Tree” is anything to go by, they are a supremely excellent band, dwarfing the majority of other progressive rock and metal bands operating today.

The album excels, firstly, from a musical standpoint. The guitars, bass and drums are all rather good, and work in perfect harmony – there is little in the way of showboating that some talented musicians are guilty of (Mastodon’s Brann Dailor being a prime example). Graves’ singing, however, is what makes the band truly unique, coming in first place by such a large margin it’s hard to see the competition in the distance. His voice is one of the few in metal that could realistically, without using false flattery, or empty compliments, be described as beautiful – it’s actually pleasant to listen to, something that may shock and alienate fans of other, ‘heavier’ genres, as well as being highly emotive. As a package, it makes the act of listening to the album less work, more… enjoyment. It’s relatively easy to listen to, and loses none of its beautiful complexity for it, which is surprising in and of itself.

The first half of the album could be described, and dismissed, as “Tool, but a bit heavier.” While it is undeniably true that there are clear, obvious parallels between the two bands, to write this off as a Tool rip-off would be to do it a grave injustice. Tool has a definite influence on Deadsoul Tribe, but the band have a sound all of their own – they sound far cleaner, more polished, than Tool, and they should stand out from the crowd due to this, as their sound almost radiates brilliant shine.

The first five songs are extremely good, with ‘The Coldest Days of Winter’ and ‘Why?’ standing out in particular. The only real complaint at this point of the album is that, barring the slightly more experimental ‘Sirens,’ all the songs sound somewhat similar on the first few listens. The band effectively establish their sound, true, but there is a mildly off-putting sense that, if you were to nod off while listening, and if you were to wake up a few minutes later, you would be temporarily unable to determine which song you were now listening to, until the chorus came round again. Unless you woke up during the aforementioned song. Or during the chorus. Or… oh, never mind, you get it by now.

Anyway, the next song, ‘Wings of Faith,’ is the album’s weakest song. While some might applaud its bold, experimental nature, as well its strange mixture of prog and industrial, it seems out of place, a stranger in a foreign land, if you will. It’s not that it’s a bad song; it’s just rather jarring, going from the relatively familiar sounding first half to this… thing. If anything, the fact that this is the weakest song on the “The January Tree” should highlight the album’s overall quality.

Despite its flaws, it heralds the start of the second half of the album. The complaint that the songs have the potential to meld into one another definitely does not apply here – the second half is far more diverse than the first, and this is where the band really begin to carve out their own sound, and the entire album benefits from this.

For example, and what an example this is, the next song, ‘Toy Rockets’ opens with a flute. No, I don’t mean ambient noise – the flute plays the role that guitar riffs do in traditional rock music. And it is amazing. It’s hard to describe in words how the band combines flutes, samba-styled drums and progressive rock together into something that’s not monstrous, but they manage to do it and make it sound fantastic. ‘Just Like a Timepiece,’ an improved re-imagining of one of Grave’s previous solo songs, also opens with flutes (though they are far more prominent in the latter), and, strangely enough, those two songs are the best on the record.

Fret not, though, casual listener, this new experimental sound does not take anything away from the album. If anything, it makes it better – the aforementioned two flute-opened songs, and ‘Waiting for the Answer,’ though it is easily overshadowed by the other two, make it difficult to argue that it is anything other than a benefit to the album. As well as this, closer ‘Lady of Rain’ is a short, softer rock song which flirts with the notion of being a ballad; and which also sounds stunning – a fitting way to close a beautiful album, that could transcend music, and truly be considered art. At the very least, “The January Tree” should be considered a necessity for fans of progressive music.