Written By Kevin McSweeney
Let’s address the elephant in the room straight away, and no, your rotund reviewer is not referring to himself in the third person.
When I first received this new release by DA, the London-based purveyors of: “chorus-driven heavy rock music,” to quote their YouTube channel, my initial thought was: it’s an odd name for a band. It’s even more odd that it’s doubling up as the title of their debut album, which was released independently on April 10th.
But this DA by DA album review quickly became more interesting than the name alone suggests.
I did wonder at first if it was “DA” as in “District Attorney”, or “Da” as in an informal word for “father.” If they added a third “Da”, they’d have the title of a 1980 hit by German new wave band Trio.
On closer inspection, the name seems to be a nod to the former parish of guitarist Robin Brancher, where he resided on-and-off from 1981 to 2020. The unorthodox nomenclature certainly piqued my interest, in fairness to them. Is the music worthy of such interest? Let’s go through it, track-by-track, to find out.
Daisy Chains
With a clap of thunder, we’re off! It doesn’t explode into action as such a dramatic opening might suggest, however. Instead, it’s almost subdued, with arpeggiated guitars and a drumbeat that is solid rather than pummeling.
The musical lineage quickly becomes apparent, This is bluesy 1980s hard rock from highly-skilled musicians giving tantalising glimpses of their talent – note Brancher’s busy but rarely ostentatious fingerwork, drummer Dan Smith’s deployment of the elaborate Neil Peart ride cymbal pattern in the chorus, and Neil Craddock’s steady but unassuming bass work acting as the glue holding the whole thing together.
There is a dark and sombre edge to it, however, which is more akin to Alice in Chains or even Audioslave. It’s like hair metal filtered through grunge, if you will.
Matt Oakman’s raspy vibrato is the perfect vocal vehicle for this vibe, conveying grace and raw emotion equally well. He hits some high notes on this album that would give Justin Hawkins a run for his money.
It’s a good song, but it doesn’t seem like a natural album opener to me. It’s the sort of cut you’d tend to find a little deeper into the runtime. Also, it could be shorter. It feels like it’s been elongated unnecessarily, and it’s not the longest number on the album. One track in, and already so critical! I’m enjoying it, honestly!
Higher
The initial riff of Higher toys with sounding a bit like Ratt’s Round and Round, before opening up into the kind of upbeat and paradoxically vibrant goth-tinged rock that we got from The Cult as they moved, stylistically speaking, towards Sunset Strip and away from Whitby Abbey at sunset.
Actually, at its most muscular, the track verges on The End of Silence-era Rollins Band, only with strong sung vocals instead of sanctimonious bellowing.
It ends with a spiky punk energy and football-terrace chants – they’re from the UK, so they’ll call it football and not soccer! – and it has me wondering why they didn’t open the album with this song instead. It’s an absolute belter!
Snake
Snake was selected as the album’s first single, and it’s easy to see why. Its hooks are as sharp as a serpent’s teeth.
The Enter Sandman-style tom-tom intro leads to vocal harmonies reminiscent of Alice in Chains, with the chugging riffs to match.
Oakman really does sound like Layne Staley at times, and whoever is harmonising with him is doing an excellent job of emulating Jerry Cantrell.
On a personal note, I appreciate this track because Dan Smith is given scope to furnish it with some fancy stick work. Regular readers of mine, if indeed such elusive creatures exist, will know how much I love drums.
The guitar solo has an almost Middle Eastern quality to it, and is deployed with the disciplined restraint of an experienced hand. I don’t want to labour this point, but this also would have been a fine choice as an album opener.
Pillars of Death (Desolation)
I note with interest the word in the brackets, and how it relates to the illustrious CV of the band’s best-known member. Curiouser and curiouser!
The track starts with a twangy riff over a tribal beat. When it kicks in fully, it’s moderately fast and energetic, but with a darkness to it that evokes The Cult, or maybe even Disintegration-era Cure, albeit with more gusto in the vocals.
I liked the deployment of the football terrace vocals – Again, they’re British! They don’t say soccer! – over a Chris Haskett-style riff in the middle section.
That’s going to be fun live. The title does leave me wishing I had a lyric sheet, however. I find myself wishing that particular wish a lot these days.
Rock It
I can confirm that this song is neither a cover of Rocket from Def Leppard’s Hysteria album, nor is it a tribute to a form of leafy green vegetable, and I have to say: one of these things pleases me more than the other.
The dramatic organ sound over kick drum crotchets gives the intro to Rock It a glorious air of melodrama, evoking the early stages of Ozzy’s solo career.
This is perhaps the most overtly “Eighties” of the offerings so far, with its brute of a bluesy verse riff and key strokes to rival David Bryan’s handiwork on New Jersey or Slippery When Wet.
Oakman’s vocal performance is more like that of Joe Elliott on this track than the singers I’ve compared him to previously, the solo is brief but brilliant.
As much as I’ve praised Brancher’s discipline, I did find myself wishing he’d knocked a few more bars out of it. He’s an excellent lead guitarist. Show it off, Robin! Show it off!
At this point in the DA by DA album review, it’s clear the band knows how to balance hooks with atmosphere.
Angels
I thought for a horrifying moment that this was going to be a cover of the Karaoke “classic” that resurrected the career of Robbie Williams. I know it’s Easter but not all resurrections are welcome!
Thankfully, my fears were allayed by the celestial but sombre synths of the intro that give way to a subdued opening riff with a pulsing bass drum beat that reminded me, just for a moment, of Alice Cooper’s Poison.
I note the lyric: “desolation is our history” in the pre-chorus, followed by the chorus: “Angels cry/just as our world starts to die.” Bearing the song’s title in mind, I think it might be about that parish I referenced earlier.
It’s mature, mid-paced, minor-key rock with gloomily arpeggiated riffs and a vocal narration that looks dolefully to the past. Most importantly, it has absolutely nothing to do with Robbie fucking Williams!
Forever Enslaved
I believe this track is earmarked to be the second single from the album. It alternates between sombre, subdued verses and a bold chorus delivered with gusto.
It reminds me a little of Dokken’s Dream Warriors, from the soundtrack of the third installment of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.
It’s also not entirely dissimilar to The Darkest Side of The Night by Metropolis, from the soundtrack of Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. I guess what I’m saying is: it should be on the soundtrack of a slasher film, though I didn’t set out to make that point.
We get a lovely, languid solo in this one before we return to the aforementioned bold chorus, only with Oakman going up an octave and threatening to shatter every pane of glass in the vicinity of the studio.
His range is truly impressive, and he demonstrates it in full by going down through the gears as the song draws to a close.
Spiralling Nowhere
There’s a notable increase in the heaviness on this track, with a distinct flavour of Judas Priest coming to the fore, and Oakman hits some high notes of which Rob Halford would be rightly proud.
The riffs bear more venom than on any track hitherto, and we get a hint of double-kick drumming from Smith.
The chorus is proper old-school air raid siren stuff, which is great fun! The solo is immense, as Brancher shreds like I’ve been willing him to all the way through.
It’s gratifying to hear them move beyond rock and assert their metal credentials, as Skid Row did on Slave to The Grind. More of this sort of stuff on the follow-up, please!
The Devils on My Side
…and yet they open the song with an organ sound you’d expect to hear in church! It works very well in conjunction with the bluesy riff and slow groove in the intro. It’s all very Black Crowes!
The vocals that greet us in the verse are as soulful as Chris Robinson’s and the hooks on display are as big and sharp as Satan’s horns. The chorus has an almost psychedelic sound to it, which reminds me of Love/Hate, if you remember them. They were the best late-stage hair metal band in my opinion, and they had their psychedelic moments. (Blackout in The Red Room is a great album. Well worth checking out!)
What we have here is a sumptuous slice of Americana, with its blend of southern blues, LA attitude and San Francisco vibes, all delivered by a band from Britain. The last two songs have been personal highlights. They’re finishing the album strongly. Let’s see what the apparently lengthy closing track has in store for us.
You Gotta Believe It
We are guided into the epic final number by cinematic strings with an ominous edge. This led me to expect something slow and stately, like the colossal tracks Guns ‘N’ Roses used to close albums with, such as Coma or Rocket Queen.
I did not expect the kind of high-octane, organ-led rock that greets us a few minutes in, which has much more in common with Night Train or Right Next Door to Hell.
I have to say, I admire the sleight of hand! The refrain of the title in the chorus is going to be great to chant along to, fists aloft, in a live setting. You might think it would be difficult to sustain that level of energy over a near 13-minute runtime, and you’d be absolutely right.
The song appears to be wrapping up just after the five-minute mark. What begins then is a seemingly distinct track, rather than a different stage of the same song as you would get with regular practitioners of lengthy numbers like Dream Theater or Type O Negative.
Is this an old-fashioned bonus track of the kind you got when CDs were the most popular format? That might be the most retro element of this album! It’s a gentler song, with clean guitars in the verse and a hint of a Middle-Eastern melody, like that in Beck’s Steal My Body Home, and it might well have you reaching for the hookah pipe.
So, that’s a fun way to close a debut album, and it’s one with a lot to commend it. There’s one or two bits of constructive criticism that could be made, for what my opinion is worth (It’s not worth much, admittedly!)
I’d maybe suggest opening future releases with the kind of barnstorming track they prove themselves to be capable of later on. I’d also like the bass guitar to be more prominent in the mix, as I feel like I’m not fully appreciating the sterling work being done by Neil Craddock.
These are quibbles, however, and they do not detract from the fact that this is a promising first full-length effort from these desolately angelic upstarts.
Overall, this DA by DA album review shows a debut full of promise
Metal Lair awards DA by DA four out of five devil horns.
Lineup:
Robin Brancher – Guitar
Matt Oakman – Vocals
Neil Craddock – Bass
Dan Smith – Drums
Track Listing:
1. Daisy Chains
2. Higher
3. Snake
4. Pillars of Death
5. Rock It
6. Angels
7. Forever Enslaved
8. Spiralling Nowhere
9. The Devils on My Side
10. You Gotta Believe It.
Da Online:
About The Author
Kevin McSweeney is Metal Lair’s resident scribe of the underground, eternally rummaging through the global metal scene for riffs worth your time.
As the guiding hand behind Seven Deadly Songs every Friday, he has an uncanny knack for finding the track you didn’t know you needed, usually before finishing his pint.
Equal parts loyal, kind, and quietly razor-witted, Kevin brings deep knowledge, impeccable taste, and a steady, reliable presence to Metal Lair.
Read More From This Author:
Dive into our Green Carnation – A Dark Poem, Part II: Sanguis album review
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