Murther

The popular and ever-increasing and diverse sub genres of heavy metal can be fans favourites, with a bounty of wonderful bands to choose from. Within these genres there are the well-known, top tier bands leading the charge, followed by the second and third tier bands who with each album strive to reach those top rungs. Then scattered around all these bands are the newcomers and the unknown bands; yet to be discovered by the wider population and usually just hold a small fan base in the band’s country of origin. These are the bands I like to seek out, as they could be a goldmine waiting to be discovered or, if anything, at least something maybe new and fresh.

One such band is Italian natives, Deva, who formed back in 2006 and released their debut album 'Between Life and Dreams' in 2010. Since then, however the band has come under some re-structuring and the once 5-piece has now become a two-piece with session members to fill the gaps. The two remaining members are guitarist/composer Federico Salerno and female vocalist, Beatrice Palumbo.

Deva is not your ordinary metal band as I heard when spinning their latest album entitled 'Murther'. The sophomore release, despite having the restructurings of the members, is a well put-together CD with a lot of progressive and symphonic metal influences throughout the disc; which entwines well with the mild gothic sounds and overall is a fresh approach to the norm of either genre. Federico Salerno has done extremely well with the writing side of the album and has come up with an entertaining and free-flowing array of tracks that are tied up in a concept about a woman named Elizabeth, who’s inspired by the goddess Lilith, who killed her baby. Elizabeth knows that she’ll be saved by the goddess, but she is persecuted, imprisoned and sentenced to death at the stake.

The album does show improvements from the previous CD, including musicianship, song-writing, and overall the band’s continuing maturity. 'Murther' was definitely written with the same influences like Nightwish, Within Temptation, and Epica in mind, as well as progressive metal bands like Until Rain, Anathema, Dream Theater, and Threshold. All previous bands mentioned their influences do come out in the final product.

With 'Murther' clocking in at 63 minutes, Deva have definitely put everything into the disc, with tracks having a wonderful blend of emotion, musical complexities, melodic segments, atmospheric elements, well-placed harmonies, and well-balanced song structures. All that this album is missing is a much needed dose of speed, as I found there to be a few too many slow-paced tracks and maybe one ballad too many as well.

While some tracks move into some darker melancholic areas, the music is still quite beautiful and has a definite impact. There is plenty of memorable and powerful guitar work all throughout the album (although I wish the production of the guitar parts gave it more crunch and heaviness), while the professionally trained soprano vocals of Beatrice Palumbo is also a highlight. Her voice is strong, passionate, harmonic and bold, and stands out from the symphonic elements bellowing from behind her. However her delivery and range still needs some work, but that will come with time and practice.

Overall the forging of opera with progressive metal, symphonic and gothic metal, with classical music thrown in as well, plus orchestras, acoustics and a decent amount of synths works well on this release; and just goes to show the level of maturity and song-writing prowess the band has shown in constructing this eye-opening CD.

Also playing important roles in the making of this album are the session members, who include keyboardist Davide Barbieri, drummer Federico Paulovich, and bass players Ruggero Accardo and Tony Corizia, and the many more who contributed in any way, such as choirs, etc. The tracks on 'Murther' are all well-presented with their own identity and diverseness, and don’t all just sound the same as the others, a trap many young bands fall into unfortunately. The quality of this album completely surprised me, but being unaware of who they were before this; I came in with no expectations whatsoever.

While on a whole the album is quite good and kudos to all involved, there are still improvements in some areas that I found and needs to be addresses before the next album (a second guitarist is a must for their next release), but this is expected when the band is still young and yet to fully entrench and immerse themselves into their very own niche. Add to that the setbacks and distractions Deva encountered that almost split them after the first CD, to put out an album as solid as this is a great achievement by the band, shows their growth together as a band, and lastly something they can be proud of.

Just noting down some songs for you to punch into YouTube before going out and handing over your money for this album, I would recommend stand out tracks like the intricate and energetic “Can I Be Saved”, the technical progressive number “Dust and Shadows”, the fast paced and synth-laden “Delirium”, the goth/prog track “Confession” and the uplifting “What Have I Become”. It must be said that I consider Deva is more a progressive metal band with gothic metal elements than the other way around; and fans of gothic metal but not progressive metal may find this album hard to get into. With that said, fans of prog metal should enjoy what Murther has to offer, particularly if you don’t mind two minute instrumental interludes, piano ballads and softer songs with not too much heaviness included.

If anything, 'Murther' will lift Deva higher into the upper tiers of the more popular prog/gothic/symphonic metal bands and while adding many more new fans, hopefully they can be signed by a bigger label (Napalm Records or Seasons Of Mist are the first two that come to my mind), where their music can reach further across the globe and the band can achieve the success they deserve and all the accolades that come with it.

Originally written for www.themetalforge.com (2014)