dEUS
No More Soda For Clarence (Demo Disc)

A special thanks goes to that damn Josi_.

Year: 1993

It seems almost impossible for me to find myself here sitting, reviewing behind the cold and static light of a monitor and in the most pleasant and complete silence, a work which until a few days ago I was unaware of its existence.
There are truly infinite scenarios that lead us, day by day, to perform a certain action rather than another, and in this case, a series of linked circumstances and events has led me to write about "No More Soda For Clarence", the first "serious" demo by dEUS, rather than "Wheels Of Fire" by Cream or the "Live in Scandinavia" by the Doors.

I just hope, given my almost complete ignorance regarding the band's activities and biography, to do it in the best possible way, pouring into typographic characters and without any hesitation those were my feelings that the first listen conveyed to me and the little information I obtained.

In 1993, the year following when dEUS achieved first place at the Humo Rock Rally Festival in Belgium, the band's hometown, the guitarist and singer Tom Barman, the more than genius and technical bassist Stef Kamil Carlens, the violinist Klaas Janzoons and the drummer Julle de Borgher recorded with makeshift means, with extremely low audio quality, this demo which quickly turned out to be their launching pad into the professional world.

"Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday
Your head come on is dead and gone/it might as well be said so long/It's suds and soda, a brain decoder/and can I wait for my decoder"

The incessant and desperate initial yell of "Suds & Soda" is accompanied by the anguish of an out-of-tune and abrasive violin, stumbling upon what transforms in just a few bars into a melodic line made of tight bass, hammering drums, and syncopations. The rhythm accelerates more and more, dragging the listener into a mystical wine vortex, intoxicating the occipital.

At this point, just a few seconds are enough to realize, beyond the strong initial impact, that you are in front of a truly original work, devoid of real external contaminations, although influenced by already known sounds of Velvet Underground or the Pixies.

"Violins and happy endings / Plastic tears in a cup / Aftershave after hours
But swallowing words you threw up / But I keep telling me / it's easy without. . . all of this"

The jump to "Violins And Happy Endings", which happens amidst a noise racket in the background, does not allow the jugular to return to rest. The violin continues to consume, to take command of the neurons. It is a lurking feline ready to pounce. Ready to prevent its prey from escaping. The bass, the undisputed and excellent master of the entire piece, punctuates every single step that accompanies the terrible predator to the final assault.

Then…
…like a livid and abused need…
"Zea"

"Shoulda known it from the start
It's just the way, the way things are
Makes you think, well doesn't it
How I talked to you in this shit

Now the consequences toll inside my head
Now the consequences toll inside my head"

"Zea" is feeling the fingers skillfully running over guitar strings, "Zea" is background voice, "Zea" is the Shangri-La, "Zea" is the unconscious hidden among the grooves of a record. "Zea" is "Zea".
The ferment of the skin is now uncontrollable.
You now have the certainty of having no escape. You are its prisoner.

Prisoner of the most intense Sturm und Drang.

"Tombstone and the damage done / How beautiful the naked skin, how beautiful it glows / This is where the bleeding stops and this is what it shows / It has turned into a scar, the same, just the same, the same / But anyway / This is where the sane will park his foot upon your toes"

A silent caress is given to us by "Right As Rain", dark, yet sweet and profoundly sad.
An acoustic piece of improbable but suspected beauty and strong emotionality. It is really hard not to abandon oneself to the swaying of the notes written on the worn-out staff, not to be involved in what seems a tender hug with too bitter a taste.

"Great American Nude" and "Mute" finally represent the perfect closing chapter of an experimental journey you longed to embark upon. A journey made of Pindaric flights to personal experiences, acidic situations, and never-seen places. It is a journey made while motionless behind the cold light of a monitor. But not in silence. You realize that you have pressed PLAY & SHUFFLE on your old friend without realizing it.

"richard there, richard here,
richard quoting shakespeare,
back and forth and back again,
to be or not to be the man.

lizzy's getting dizzy, she should've known it from the
start being rich is just a lifestyle being alive

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