Popular Culture
I’m really not sure quite what to make of the new dEUS LP ‘Vantage Point’. At times it doesn’t sound like dEUS at all, and whilst change can be beneficial, I’m really not sure this is what I want dEUS to change into.
Due to only discovering them at T In The Park in 1999 and the extended period between LPs this is actually only the second dEUS LP I’ve got on release and I confess that, so far at any rate, it is something of a disappointment.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of good stuff here. The two “singles”, the brooding ‘Slow’ and the electro groove of ‘The Architect’ are both excellent as are the more rocking ‘Oh Your God’ and ‘Favourite Game’. ‘Eternal Woman’ is a classic late night dEUS ballad, casting up images of smoke filled bars, whilst LP closer ‘Popular Culture’ works for me too.
But ‘Is A Robot’ actually reminds me of Nickleback in places whilst elsewhere there seem to be attempts to emulate a sweeping Snow Patrol-ish sound, particularly late on the record.
Of course dEUS have always been a band with a range of styles on their records and the corollary of that is that there are plenty of directions that they can head off on. I read somewhere else that this was a return to the dEUS of old compared to the efforts on the last LP ‘Pocket Revolution’ to take the band to the mainstream. But I couldn’t disagree more – this is a band continuing to evolve towards a far less edgy and more commercial sound. And whilst that may be a standard route for bands as they mature it’s not the direction that I wanted to see this band head.
dEUS – Favourite Game (from ‘Vantage Point’) [Buy the CD] [Download it]
I haven’t heard the entire album yet (can’t seem to find it in the USA), but most of the reviews I’ve read have been in line with your impressions. dEUS seems to be less a band now, and more Tom Barman & His Orchestra. I wish it could be 1994 again.
Hi Jon, I think the first side’s reasonably strong but the second just kinda fades away. Tom very much seems to be dEUS now.