LP REVIEW
DAI LO
1.
VIGILANTE
Available from 28th September, 2003. |
This is a band that has come a long way since their short and
nervous support slot for Earthone9 back in July
2000, where they only managed five songs and had to repeat one to make up a
twenty minute set. But this Nottingham band has genuinely put the work in
and here they’ve produced a debut album that not only shows enormous
maturity but also bestows a huge sense of direction and identity. With a sound and style that that has strong traditional rock roots, you hear Dai Lo stretching that approach to incorporate a broad admiration of rock in the modern age. It’s a marvellous recipe, taking robust and classic sounding riffs, arranging them around a thick layer of melody, while allowing them to be firmly directed with charismatically soulful yet occasionally zany vocals, and then finally adding in their own collectively unique and enigmatic qualities. Highlights are difficult to single out as every song’s a good one but it would be unfair not to mention that “House Of Cards”, “Irresistible Force vs. Immovable Object”, “Close”, "One Man's Meal" and (personal favourite) “The Push” are all classics in the making. The vocals are very important to the chemistry and give you a nightmarish vision of a genetic mutation between Mike Patton and Alex Harvey - and seeing them live does nothing to change this vision either! One of the best things in life is a surprise and this album was definitely one of those; catchy, mature, melodic, emotional, soulful, powerful, refreshing - it contains enormous amounts of each quality and is simply something that any self respecting rock fan should own. With this album getting better with every listen, you just know it’s going to become one of those albums you keep coming back to over the years, time after time after time… Highly recommended.
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- Rigsby (12th
October, 2003) |
