Short Reviews [Deafening Opera - 2021 - "Driftwood"]

Here we have the fourth album from German band Deafening Opera, and given they were previously described as a heavy prog outfit we have seen a major shift from where they were to now. In fact, this is not prog at all but instead we have a band who are now heavily influenced by the likes of country and folk, while there are also some jazz influences. I note with interest that they no longer have a keyboard player, but don’t know if he departed due to the change of direction, or if it was his departure which had the band undertake a rethink. Consequently, it is probably best to think of this as a whole new group, and not compare them at all to anything they have done in the past. When I first listened to this I was quite confused as it was so far away from what I expected, and consequently was quite negative about it, but once I made the decision to treat this as a brand new band I found I enjoyed it much more. There is a lot of acoustic guitar in this, gone is the heaviness we used to expect, with arrangements designed to keep the vocals front and centre. There is a lot of space within it, and while often commercial it is always interesting, with “As Night and Day Collide” featuring some lush harmonies and gentle drums providing some structure to the piano (care of guitarist Moritz Kunkel). Some of the numbers are beautiful, but if this a solid new direction for the band, as opposed to a one-off then they should really consider a name change as they are moving very much into a different audience than the one they had before. Alexandra Stovall provides some lovely supporting vocals on “Farewell Kiss”, one of the few songs which has prog elements, yet it is still very middle of the road, and one would be hard pressed to describe it even as crossover, as there is both banjo and lap steel on this, giving it very much a country feel. If you are looking for the band which has already released three albums in a heavy prog vein then they have left the building, but if you want something which has strong acoustic elements then this may well be of interest.