
Be well and stay heavy!


The Dive - The Dive (2011)

There are moments in your life where you wonder (and maybe blame yourself) why you didn't discover something in an earlier time. That's exactly how I felt when I heard The Dive for the first time few days ago.

Although this self-titled album is their first one, they exist in our world for eleven years now. And you know, you can feel it listening to their work. They're a totally solid band with their own identity and a maturity in their sound, things you can find in bands which are together for a long time.

Let's take the trip to their record's universe starting from the artwork. Not much to say except that I loved it. Especially the poster that accompanies the release, is a fine piece of art.

Their sound foundation stones are coming straight from the US scene of the 90's. The one is set in the Seattle's alternative/grunge scene and the other in Palm Desert scene. But their music isn't an imitation or just a copy of these two. They took all the elements they liked, enriched them with a dark garage feeling, a pinch of psych colors, added their own style and ideas and created what we call The Dive.

I believe the best description I have read for their music was in their press release : "Dark in its most cheerful of melodies, sonic even in its silence, this album manifests its own, peculiar soundprint". I can't think a better way to picture their music in a phrase!

The record consists of eleven tracks (as the band's years) and they were recorded basically live. Of course, things were added afterwards but they didn't affect the live feeling of them. The album kicks in with "Fresh Blue Coffee", a quite different song from album's overall spirit and closer to US fuzzy alternative rock bands. Then "Lockjaw" coming with amazing bass lines if you ask me. "Billy Jean" and "Lydia and The Pigheads" are next which are closer to the space stoner rock scene and brings in mind of Farflung, as well as "Desden" (actually, this space aesthetic is distinct in all the tracks).

Reaching the middle of the album with "Fabio, Fabio..." an amazing dark psych passage full of rage that lead us to "Pets In Rabbies" which is a slow-driven tune with some bursts and for one time more bass pulls the strings here. The eighth track, "Iguana", has a more noisy punk attitude giving the record a new aspect. "Plan 9 From Outer Space" is moving in rock'n'roll paths adding more dynamic and "coolness" while "The Field" give a gloomy, ritual at times, feeling where a guitar-driven crescendo perfectly shows the way to "Floating", the perfect ending which guides your finger to push the repeat button. Don't miss the bonus track after a while where you can hear how the band sounds in their jamming sessions!

The Dive managed to release an amazing multidimensional album which surely will shine among others releases of its kind. Maybe it took a long time for them to have the chance to release it but it totally worth it. And I don't think that my enthusiasm keeps me from finding any cons in this particular work but it's their skills of writing and performing great pieces of qualitative music which make me see it this way. Enough said, check it out and I'm sure you will understand what I'm saying.

You can download it from here or straight from Spinalonga Records site.
If you want to buy it, you can contact the band for info at: thedive2000@gmail.com
The Dive

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