Tuesday 17 January 2023

Daevar - Delirious Rites (Album Review)

Release Date: January 27th 2023. Record Label: The Lasting Dose Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Delirious Rites: Tracklisting


Slowshine

Bloody Fingers

Leila

Leviathan

Yellow Queen


Members


Pardis Latifi - Bass/Vocals

Caspar Orfgen - Guitars

Moritz Ermen Bausch  - Drums


Review


Delirious Rites is the debut album from Psych Doom/Stoner Metallers Daevar and sees the band echo the dark creative path of bands such as WINDHAND, Electric Wizard and Black Sabbath. There's a sense of emotional gloom and WEEDIAN appetite on this album that Daevar navigates with full conviction with the heavy FUZZ based Doom/Stoner grooves. The music can be slightly seedy in all the right places with the glorious vocals from lead vocalists/bassist Pardis Latifi who does bring a sassy and world weary attitude to the album.


Opening song Slowshine offers a Doom/Stoner Metal song overflowing with 90's Alt-Rock and Gothic attitude with the music still being modern by today's underground rock/metal standards. The muffled guitars have a low key effect at first before exploding into areas of LOUD sludgy attitude with the genre's use of LOW & SLOW melodic dynamics allowing Daevar breathe new life and energy into the standard DOOM & GLOOM sound. Quite subtle in places with Daevar bringing a down-tuned and distorted atmosphere to more powerful heavier levels towards the end of the song.


Second song Bloody Fingers has an Electric Wizard/WINDHAND approach with the band perhaps moving further slightly over to Psychedelic and Fuzzed Up sounds. Pardis vocals shine through yet again and offer a bewitching after thought with the OCCULT based lyrics. The album has echoes of classic 70's Doom Metal and 90's Stoner Metal working together for a richer and fuller sound. Add the Psych Doom element and Daevar starts to create music on their own hard hitting terms with some mighty fine screeching guitars working the way through for a more unsettling sound.


Third song Leila opens with a Monolord-esque jam before adding layers of distorted Fuzz and gloomy WEEDIAN riffs. The vocals are more in the background with the instrumental work having the stronger presence here but you can easily understand what is being sung on this track. The music is always DOOM based but highly melodic even with that level of noisy distorted sounds being played around everyone.  Leila offers a more OCCULT ROCK and Romantic side to Daevar with it's use of different styles they play here.


 The final two songs Leviathan and Yellow Queen offer different and contrasting styles to each other with Daevar playing more Leviathan being the standout track on the album. Perhaps where they deliver their most original, heaviest and most exciting music on the album. Heavy down-tuned doomed guitars that have a drone based feel to them. Yellow Queen matches the earlier mood of the album where the RIFF rules supreme and slightly emotionally charged lyrics allows Pastis to impress yet again.


Credit should also be given to the other band members Moritz Ermen Bausch (Drums) and Caspar Orfgen (Guitars) who play their part in Daevar in releasing a wickedly spellbinding and superbly entertaining debut album. The band are helped on this album by famed underground musician Jan Oberg (Earthship, GRIN and Slowshine) who engineered, mixed and recorded this album. As it features Jan's trademark sound which does remind myself of GRIN in places. Jan's label (The Lasting Dose Records) are also releasing Delirious Rites. 


Daevar have delivered the goods with Delirious Rites and no doubt the underground Doom/Stoner Metal scene will give this the love and attention it fully deserves.


Words by Steve Howe


Thanks to The Lasting Dose Records for the promo.


Delirious Rites will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via The Lasting Dose Records from January 27th 2023.


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