ALBUM REVIEW: Perseus War – Dez Dare
What we have here is the third outing from Australia-born, UK-based artist DEZ DARE: Perseus War, a swift follow-up to last year’s Ulysses Trash and originally intended to be a companion EP to that record. DEZ DARE himself has been a part of the punk scene since the 90s after playing in a long list of bands, including but not limited to WARPED, THE SOUND PLATFORM and THEE VINYL CREATURES. Under this current alias, he has released music that doesn’t stick to any rules and is a blend of punk, alt-rock and psychedelic elements. It might sound appealing, but on this record it feels like a bit of mess in all honesty.
As the album opens with Bozo, things start out promising with an energetic intro that on first listen almost sounds like a live recording of a crowd. The style sounds like it would perfectly suit the soundtrack of an 80s action movie before the track suddenly shifts into punk when the shouty vocals kick in. Ok, interesting. But then this is when interesting turns into confusing as listeners are suddenly greeted with a twinkly sound that doesn’t really suit the track at all, and soon enough it starts to merge genres again as this gives way to blurred industrial rock.
That’s the main issue with this album. It has all of these interesting elements that should make it good, but the overall result is just plain confusing and at several points lacklustre. There are so many examples of this: Myopic Tropic has all the potential it needs to be an incredible dark industrial song, but it’s ruined by some weird twinkling and vocals that just try too hard to be edgy; recent single A Chimp, A Tricycle, New World Order is more on the alt-rock side where it tries to be fun and bouncy yet overall it just feels a bit unexciting; and I Know Why You Cry At Adam Sandler Films blends grunge, punk and industrial rock, and again it could have been incredible, but it feels so dull and faceless, and of course there’s an electronic section that lets it down further.
And to be honest, we could go on and on. It’s so frustrating as you can see what DEZ DARE is trying to do and this album definitely has the potential to be something incredible, yet it ends up being confusing and, as mentioned, a bit of a mess. Furthermore, the record, more specifically during the more punk-based songs, just feels a bit forced. No doubt there will be people who do get it and enjoy this record, but honestly this is quite a frustrating listen.
Rating: 4/10
Perseus War is out now via CH!MP.
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