Track By Tracks: Deva Obida - Rudiment (2019)

"Rudiment" is the second long play, released by Russian band DEVA OBIDA on March 1st, 2019 with the assistance of the record label ПОЛИГОН RECORDS. The band decided to refuse, on principle, the complex art and chose minimalistic design of their release - just a shoot of band members that accept DEVA OBIDA as unifying factor, the rudiment of youthfulness and awareness, being true to themselves and their ideas through many years. Song titles, written in Latin for better international readability, now look simple and friendly in contrast to earlier releases. Every title, every theme is a rudiment. The relic, vanishing imprints of the past; the shades of primary fundamental human values. That's the thrust of a whole album that ties all the songs together. The hallmark of an album is its wide genre range without affecting its stylistic integrity. The band feels confident in heavy, slow and dark sound as well as in prog- and even pop- arrangements.

Folk instruments, percussion, and tunes are used more certain than ever. For its part, there's almost no electronic component, synths and samples, the musicians explore real sound. The exploitation of extreme vocals is minimal, that feature let the band focus on different vocal arrangements, backing voices and choirs involving all the band members. 

1. Plemya:

That was agreed to throw off the traditional long intros and other preambles and open up the album with one of the main release's bangers in our opinion. With this track, the record hits a listener immediately and encloses him in an atmosphere of tribe wilderness and freedom. Something tribal, rudimentary, lurking in essence and nature of human. The mixture of conventional rapid metal riffs, melodies, percussion, involving of gusli (Russian folk instrument) and bagpipe let us maximally convey the essence of a song. Lyrics tell about some tribe in grotesque, as an opposite to "city", symbolizing the confrontation between natural human's lifestyle and urbanized artificial world.

2. Pulse:

The second track, according to the feedback, is also one of the favorites. That was born with strictly "non-metallic" acoustic tune leading up to the 1st verse. That sounded very trance-like, something in the melody was of house music. That seemed to be rather intriguing and asked for some evolution. As a result, that became verses besides harmony. Even keyboards appeared here exceptionally. The track was supplemented by rather trad melodic metal chorus, a bridge with a complex vocal arrangement and final solo that includes even something of country thanks to the whole arrangement. That's, in general, one of the most melodious songs of an album, having the highest broadcasting potential.

3. Litsa:

Litsa firstly had a harmony/chorus. While jamming, Aleksandr played an existing riff and Artem covered it with his part. Further, there were added drum part with double kick and vocalizes highlighting the epic. So the spirit of the future song was clear. Associations led to something historical and martial. At first, we thought that would be a song in Viking metal style or something about that. Later, after finalizing all the parts and forming the whole track, that became a more complex and lyrical, sure thing. One can feel that in the ending. The song really turned out to carry a martial message, but that was slightly different. That's the first time band addressed a subject of WWII and exactly it's a trail on the native land of the musicians. Also, thereafter, the first video from "Rudiment" was shot exactly for Litsa.

4. Zov:

Perhaps, the most structurally elaborate and diverse piece from the album. However, maybe that's the most interesting one. Starting with kinda trip-hop sounding, walking through classy ballad choruses and metalcore breakdown, the song drowns into doom metal bridge and returns with a long beautiful punch line including solo, been recorded by our guest musician Alex J.G.K. Despite such sophistication, the song was born easily, with no contretemps. Even though the bridge was different in the beginning, the song stayed almost unchanged.

5. Impulse:

The first instrumental. Frame-like structure, straight drum parts, vivid and catchy tunes, folk arrangements bringing ethnic notes with the help of bagpipe - all these aspects make Impulse, maybe, the most lucid track of an album. Although, prog- and post-metal riffs are present here as well. From the very beginning, the track was intended to be a complete song, but some time later it appeared to be a self-sufficient one without adding lyrics, so it was decided to leave it in that way. Impulse is a certain pulsing signal, taking place at the beginning of times, the basic source, permeating the space and being the reason for all existing and all the life including our planet.

6. Relict:

As an opposite to the previous track, Relict is the heaviest point of an album. Lovecraftian meanings of lyrics, death metal riffs, and gothic doom melodies. One of the most powerful and favorite moments is an intro riff, one of the most beloved to play alive. There's a throat singing part before the second verse, that's a traditional voice practice of different eastern peoples. The riff was the right point the song was born from. Also, that was the firstborn of Rudiment record. Unexpected outro, monotonous and a little psychedelic, with the use of jaw harp and recorded samples of marine animals.

7. Zmey:

Zmey is a fun, a romp. It's similar to Plemya in that way. Two fastest and most driving tracks. It feels perfectly especially alive. The song starts with riff and dance drum part and massive percussion. That was some kind of experiment for us - Deva Obida never sounded in such way before. This part really drives dancing. Although everything gets a bit serious for a while. Here we can find different black metal and Finnish melodic metal influences. Further, there is one more actor in this song, Russian folk instrument - balalaika, it's easy and fervent part recalls the images of Russian settlement, reiterating love of the people to a fun time with a great dose of mischief. Anyway, everything is pretty eclectic and innovative, and those features are typical for Deva Obida, as you see. There's a choir including all the band members, sounding again as well as in Plemya. The choir as an epitome of a many-faced "Serpent", hiding inside every human and appearing to be his elemental, savage substance. Kinda brute archetype, the bestial unconscious.

8. Pereval:

Probably, the most intricate song having an uneasy plight. Structural multiplicity and strangeness, delicate vocal solutions made it pretty challenging but rather exciting for playing alive. This is the only song that's live performance differs from studio variation. The theme in the middle based on percussion, psaltery, and acoustic guitar, can be heard on the album exclusively. That's an extremely meditative minute that we, unfortunately, cannot recreate alive for now. The track starts with a monotonous acoustic roll and leads guitar in like a David Gilmour way and further bursts with heavy ropy verse. Prog rock solo and quite lite, almost pop-rock second verse stand in contrast with following sludge bridge. The complex musical component is emphasized by very personal and emotional lyrics. Here one can find a reflection on the way of life, backbone and motivation making you create, progress, act, move on. That's about turning points where you lose your goal and it's merit. An image of endless hill climb and delusive passes in the way.

9. Deva Zarya:

An epilogue to an album. The final semi-acoustic instrumental. One more sound experiment for the band. The track was born like some chords for gusli. Thereafter there were composed lead guitar pervasive themes, rhythm guitar part and common harmony all held together by the bass guitar. Although there are electric instruments heard, the track sounds very natural and mainly acoustic off arrangements on the whole. Percussion, silently coming into compo up from the start and reaching its apogee in final, plays an important role. Music presents the daylight circle, diurnal Earth's motion from awakening to sleep, as an embodiment of general life and universal cycles with their initiation and imminent end. Starting in the night, walking through the dawn, it reaches its zenith, its peak and fades out with sundown, so does the whole album itself.