ALBUM REVIEW: Stress – 24/7 Diva Heaven

It’s hard not to think about the 90s when listening to 24/7 DIVA HEAVEN. Stress, the Berlin-based trio’s debut full-length, evokes a whole host of sounds from the alternative rock scene of that era. There are moments where it draws comparisons to the scuzzed-out grunge of NIRVANA. At others, it leans more towards the noisier tendencies of a band like SONIC YOUTH. There’s even points where a combination of sweet melodies and heavy distortion brings to mind WEEZER at their mid-90s best. All this is then put through a decidedly political Riot grrrl-esque filter for a record that seeks to be both fun and fiery.

The band make their noisy arrival with the album’s opening track Potface. Comparisons to NIRVANA are inescapable here, especially from vocalist Katharina Ott-Alavi‘s pained Kurt Cobain-esque screams. Musically, they keep things pretty straightforward, as they do throughout the record, with simple drums and driving power chords. Potface makes for a fine start, but Bitter Lollipop which follows is much better. This one has more melodic verses, while its choruses bite much harder. It’s one of a few highlights on the record, as is the album’s fourth track Everything Sucks – a piece which wouldn’t feel wildly out of place on WEEZER‘s Blue Album.

As mentioned, 24/7 DIVA HEAVEN are often a proudly political band. Alongside their music, they’ve founded the Berlin GRRRL NOISY movement – a safe space for female and transgender musicians and fans. On Stress, this political edge comes to the fore perhaps most obviously on the album’s fifth track, Head On Collision. Here, Ott-Alavi spits lyrics like “billions and billions and billions of innocents treated as criminals” with a genuine bile that’s well-matched by the band’s noisy brand of punk rock. The same is true of the album’s tenth track White Swamp, where the trio take obvious aim at white privilege in particular.

One problem 24/7 DIVA HEAVEN do run into on Stress is song length. The tracks on this record are raw and primal, with relatively derivative chord progressions. That doesn’t have to be a problem – for starters, it works for many others. What it does mean though is that some tracks might have done better to be a little shorter. Even the already-mentioned highlight of Everything Sucks falls into this trap to an extent. The song reaches what feels like a natural conclusion at just under three minutes, but then the band kick into a final double chorus which extends proceedings for a full extra minute. A similar thing happens on Head On Collision with another double chorus and final riff adding a relatively unnecessary 40-50 seconds to the end of the song.

While this does mean that Stress can start to wear on its listeners, there are still some highlights peppered throughout the record. Sixth track Everyman, for example, is a song which does justify its longer runtime. It’s a lot slower than many of the others on Stress, with lilting vocal melodies backed by scuzzy guitars. This makes for a nice change of pace, and even evokes the more delicate side of THE SMASHING PUMPKINS at points. Elsewhere, eighth track Death To kicks things up a notch for one of the album’s wildest and most raucous offerings. The same is true of Topped With Cheese after it – another fun and significantly shorter track. Finally, album closer Outro wraps things up nicely, with its massive and hard-hitting half-time choruses providing a solid final sing-along.

Ultimately, while slightly flawed, Stress is still an enjoyable record. A couple of the songs are forgettable, and others could definitely do with a trim, but there are a fair few good ideas here. There’s also a sense that, with some refinement, 24/7 DIVA HEAVEN could go on to great things. For now though, this record offers just about enough in terms of nostalgia and moments of quality that it’s at least worth a listen or two, even if the best is yet to come.

Rating: 6/10

Stress is set for release on March 19th via Noisolution.

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