Vantage Point
Proggy Belgian band go commercial. Sort of.
Edwin McFee, 02 May 2008
If you can get past their penchant for prog rock, Belgian five-piece dEUS are a good band that deserve great things. Vantage Point is their sixth album and, given that it’s their most accessible and focused release in an age, it might actually see them finally bring their twisted vision to the masses.
Taking a leaf out of Queens Of The Stone Age’s book, dEUS have roped in some of their musical mates to guest on Vantage Point, a move that’s helped them make some of their best songs to date. Elbow’s Guy Garvey lends his lush vocal style to ‘The Vanishing Of Maria Schneider’, in the process lifting a pretty bog standard track into the stratosphere. Mintzkov’s Lies Lorquet also flits in and out of most of the album, giving some beautifully understated performances, but star of the show has to be Karin Dreijer Andersson from the Knife, who sings on the sexy and seductive ‘Slow’, which is the album’s stand-out track.
Of course it’s not all sunshine and lollipops in dEUS-land, as they can still get quite self-indulgent and wilfully obtuse at times, but all in all it’s reassuring to hear that after the sludgy mess of their last few records, they can still come out with something that is fresh and surprising.
Key Track: ‘Slow’
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