"The dead word" CD by Deadsoul Tribe

by Oliver Kube (September 2005) Already in the '90s, Devon Graves secured his place in the hearts of the Progressive Metal fans with Psychotic Waltz (when he still sang under the name of Buddy Lackey). Yet, if the American living in Vienna meanwhile should go on like this with Deadsoul Tribe the good memories for his ex-band are in danger of fading sooner than expected. With every album, the quartet presents an unbelievable progression. While the 2004 "January tree" had already been a true milestone, this successor album can only be called monumental. The biggest strength is the enormous diversity. Beginning with the rythmically highly interesting "A flight on an angel's wing", "Let the hammer fall" brings about the most classic metal-guitars in the band's history, while "Waiting in line" celebtates brilliant Art Rock. "The long ride home" is extremely spherical and is only outlived in terms of dreaminess by the unfortunately much too short "Someday", a beautiful piano-track. And so on and so forth. Grave's vocals, in its intensity sometimes close to Tool's Maynard James Keenan keeps all this together perfectly. It seems impossible to bring in more ideas in only 47 minutes. (Oliver Kube - October 2005)