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Deaf Havana - 'Rituals' Review

"I'm absolutely looking forward to seeing what the future holds for these boys and their music."

By . Valentine .Published 6 years ago 4 min read
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This is an image of the album cover (ie. not mine).

Deaf Havana, if you're not familiar, are a British rock band from Norfolk, England. They've been around since 2005 and in recent years have started to make the climb up the charts. As said themselves, they're not chasing the numbers, but their work is showing their love and talents each time. Rituals is now album number five for the lads and it's proving they're getting stronger as a band as time goes on.

There is something wonderful about this work they're releasing just now. It feels like this suits them, like it's been a work in progress over the past three albums prior to this one. If you were to go back and listen to their first, Meet Me Halfway, At Least to Rituals, it's like two entirely different bands. You can hear the progression in their lyrics and yes of course they always do have a dark side to them, but nevertheless, there is something simply captivating about how these guys put their stuff together and how addictive it is. Rituals is an album where you could listen to it three times straight and still hear something you didn't hear on the previous listen. When it comes to the likes of Deaf Havana, there is always something incredibly honest about their music which, as a listener myself, I've found that's what's kept me buying their albums all these years. It's lyrics that are relatable and music that is so thrilling you almost find it difficult to turn it off.

This album is something different. From very first listen of the single "Sinner," you can really hear they were straying from their previously more rock sound to this rock/pop thing they have going on this album. Not that it's a bad thing, because in fact yes, it could have gone dreadfully wrong. In this case, it's absolutely working to their advantage, down to even their repeated use of London Contemporary Voices. This is something that flows so well with their progressing sound and makes the listening even more pleasurable because to remain the same would only land them in the bottom

Rituals very much feels to me like it's telling a story from beginning to end. I'm not entirely sure if it's intentional but either way it works, especially knowing bands have gone out of their way from the beginning to do this sort of thing and it's been a failure. I mostly enjoyed the fact the track "Evil" is a continuation of the track "Pure." This is something I wasn't expecting on first listen but it works wonderfully well and is incredibly well done. The third track on the album like the title, "Ritual," is another song that strays into a new genre for them. It almost has this 80s vibe to it which could push them into an older audience. It's never without its risks releasing new music, especially when you look at the roots of this band. Their first prominent single was "Friends Like These" and since then members have come and gone, and so of course they have different ideas. Listening further into the album, the track "Worship" shows yet another side to this album. The song is very early 2000s pop/rock and who doesn't love that vibe? To break the album down into pieces, you'd hear that as much as this is a new sound for them, lead singer James has never changed in his way of writing. This is what draws a lot of people to certain bands. There's something about being able to relate to a specific song no matter the situation that people around the world love. I also find it particularly interesting that the first song on the album, "Wake," is the voices of London Contemporary Voices and the chorus of second track, "Sinner." This sets up "Sinner" beautifully as a wonderful start to the album. There is nothing more powerful than a flying start to these kinds of albums—not to mention the ending. They ended the album with the song, "Epiphany." This doesn't sound so much like a song as much as it sounds like a list of things James wishes he had done. This is something you don't particularly hear often and it's an interesting route to go down. Nevertheless, it finishes off the album wonderfully with its slow tone, and bringing it down a few levels from the pop of "Wake' & 'Sinner" at the start.

In terms of anything fault-worthy in this album I would say that it is a small sadness that they are leaving behind the hard rock sound they started with. However, around the end of "Fools and Worthless Liars" the run into "Old Souls" is where their fanbase really started to take off. So it seems like it's been the right move overall.

In all, it's without a doubt a positive review and I can say that I'm absolutely looking forward to seeing what the future holds for these boys and their music. It's been an interesting journey so far.

Album. 10/10

Last but not least, there are some tracks here in the list below of some songs from the new album that I think are ones you should pay particular attention to.

  • "Ritual"
  • "Holy"
  • "Fear"
  • "Worship"

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About the Creator

. Valentine .

I’ll be writing mostly fiction. Some based around real life incidents and some well from the deep corners of my mind. I will occasionally do reviews and personal information. Keep tuned to find out 🦊🍁

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