For every new band it’s difficult to find an audience in the international music scene. You just have to put a lot of time and effort in a lot of things. Most important is of course that people notice you. A good record company behind you is very important, but as a band you have to do a lot of things yourself. The internet is a very important factor. First a great looking band website. Secondly a My Space and Facebook account might also help to attract listeners. The Italian band Deva has it all and that’s why I noticed them. After watching a couple of their videos and listening to some of their Mp3 files I wanted to find out more about this band. So I decided to contact them myself. They were so kind to send me a copy of their debut album Between Life And Dreams. First some band history before we move on to the music. It seemed that they became more professional when opera singer Beatrice Palumbo joined the band. This student from the Milan Conservatory became friends with guitarist Frederico Salerno and female bassist Miriam Stallone. They got the idea to combine female opera vocals with progressive metal. After keyboardist Marco Castigione and drummer Thomas D’Alba joined the band they had enough material to record their first CD. The recordings were completed at the end of 2009. Finally early 2010 the album saw the light of day. When you hear the album for the first time you might say that we are dealing with another Gothic band, but that would be too easy. Sure, when you have a fantastic female opera singer in your line up, you will most of all hear things you have heard before in bands such as Within Temptation, Nightwish or Epica. That’s also the case on Between Life And Dreams, but Deva has more to offer than being a copy cat. Their mix of opera and classical influences with elements taken from metal and progressive rock work very well and are from time to time very original. It is obvious that you can not always be original. For example, when you see the cover of Between Life And Dreams you might think about the first single made by Evanescence. On the video of Bring Me To Life you also can see their lead singer Amy Lee climbing the walks outside a building. Music wise I also heard certain things that reminded me of this band. But the same I can say about a band such as Dream Theater. They must have been an inspiration for guitarist Federico Salerno. His sound reminded me very much of John Petrucci. Talking about Mr. Salerno means that we are also talking about the most important person in the band, together with Beatrice Palumbo. Together they wrote all of the music and lyrics for this album. The lyrics are certainly important on Between Life And A Dream , Federico explained to me. They are not used as a concept, but they deal with the images of life, dreams and death. For example: Your Voice is about drugs, Out: In Fog about a road accident and the Karma Saga is about a generation that can’t avoid the foolish things. This last title is probably also the highlight on the entire album. In this song the band finds a good balance between fast and mellow parts. And most of all they show that they are fantastic players on their instruments. I can only put my thumbs up for this fine first release from Deva. Hopefully they will grow even more on their next releases. They are certainly capable to write more strong music like we already heard on their debut. Read the interview we had with Deva: click here *** Henri Strik (edited by Astrid de Ronde) Where to buy? |
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