Ah, the seventies. When men were men and trouser legs were wide. When Uriah Heep 'whoo-whoo'd' their way to global notoriety, Hammond organs were de rigeur and the ladies would faint at the merest whiff of a sideburn. Well, if those were the days for you my friend, then Divine Baze Orchestra could be your new best friends, as they unleash their ten-track debut album, chock full of guitar solos and mellotrons.
There seems to be a resurgence of organ heavy prog at the moment, mainly emanating from Sweden, a country where you are legally obliged to be in a band. Black Bonzo put out a cracking album last year, Sound of the Apocalypse, that was working in the same milieu, and although Divine Baze Orchestra isn’t quite at that level yet, there is a lot for them to be proud of here.
Apparently the whole thing was recorded in two days, so they're emulating the seventies more than just musically! Most of it was also done live with just a handful of vocal and mellotron overdubs. There is something refreshingly honest about a band doing it the old-fashioned way - not that they had a choice.
The vocals of Alexander Frisborg are certainly distinctive and it takes a wee while to get used to them, but the organ of Daniel Karlsson and the guitars of the delightfully named Oliver Eek are instantaneously impressive, as they fill out and embellish the material. The opening one-two of “Dance” and “Choose Your Green” are a hard rocking treat, almost teetering over the edge of prog into metal, whereas “Trota Di Mare” borrows from the spacerock daze of early seventies UFO.
They also have time to indulge in some jazzier dissertations with “Closing The Circle,” the one track where their declared Mahavishnu Orchestra influence shines through and some of the other numbers noodling away into potential Grateful Dead-like jams. That's something they need to be wary of, as “The Man From My Mother's Brother” caused my attention to wander now and then. “Burned By The Sun,” by comparison, is a lengthy, yet dynamic tune, where the music builds to a climax, taking you along for the ride as well.
It's an accomplished debut that bodes well for any future offerings. The positives heavily outweigh the few times they get bogged down in some generic riffing, but considering the 48-hour turnaround, it knocks many of the major prog players out of the ring. So dig out your loon pants, get your dervish dance on, and make like its 1972. Man.
Article comments
1 - bhattathiri
A.R.Rehman and his universe are one, all parts are but the various players and their instruments. The law of harmony holds all united, each slightest tone having its related sub- and overtones, its essential modulations. The universe is a temple of eternal symphonic harmony, composed of seven Tones. This is the doctrine of the Music of the Spheres, from Lemuria to Pythagoras, showing that there are seven powers of terrestrial and sublunary nature, and seven great Forces. According to this doctrine the world was itself called forth out of Chaos by Sound or Harmony, and constructed according to the principles of musical proportion. Evolution, above and below, proceeds in seven ways; these seven ways or tones are also the seven notes of the musical scale, which are the principles of Sound.
The Secret Doctrine avers that ancient peoples knew more of the secret side of music than has passed to posterity. Adept-kings and divine teachers, at periods too remote for the historian, were the first Instructors of the human family in the arts and sciences. Every ancient legend ascribes magic power to music, "the most divine and spiritual of the arts," asserting that music is a gift and science "coming straight from the gods." A.R.Rehman, more especially, attribute to divine revelation all the arts and sciences. But with them music stands at the head of everything else. Their Mantra Shastra has for its subject matter the force or power of letters, speech, or music in all its manifestations. Sound (tonal modulations) may be produced of such a nature that the pyramid of Cheops could be raised in the air ... or a dying man be revived and filled with new energy and vigor.