Saigon Kick
Devil In The Details

LA RECENSIONE

I think that with this album, Jason Bieler wanted to get a little revenge after being left in the lurch by Kramer: in the middle of "Water," the guitarist had to be a jack-of-all-trades and write all the songs himself without much support from DeVile and Varone.

The fact is that "Devil In The Details" from 1995, two years after the previous "Water," still remains an excellent album and represents a perfect union between "Water" (from which the best parts are taken) and the masterpiece "The Lizard." 

With DeVile also out, the lineup returns to 4 with Jason Bieler as guitarist and singer, Phil Varone on drums, and the unknown Chris McLeron on bass and Pete Dembrowski as the second guitarist.

The addition of the latter makes it an album that is quite intense and with songs that are nothing short of engaging, as in the case of the beautiful "Killing Ground" or "Flesh And Bone," but there are also episodes where Bieler's songwriting fully unleashes a fusion between keyboards and guitar, which previously did not create the same atmosphere, such as the initial "Russian Girl" (which comes after a brief intro with spiritual choirs!), the superb "Eden," with Bieler clearly inspired also on a vocal level (much more calm and reflective compared to Kramer), or the sweet and intriguing "Edgar."

However, the album is quite varied and never trivial or predictable: just listen to the Buddha-Bar-like song "Spanish Rain" (which will even be covered in an acoustic EP by the progsters Vanden Plas!) or the sixties flavor (never hidden) of "Victoria." On the other hand, I am not entirely satisfied with the clichéd rock of "Everybody" and "So Painfully."

There are pleasant acoustic diversions, and indeed "Sunshine" captures in a decisive manner; the pleasant and nothing more "Going On" does its job. In the rest of the album, we also encounter a hint of punk madness ("All Around"), pop ("The One"), industrial-rock ("The Sky Is Falling") or even ambient ("Afraid").

"Devil In The Details" offers this: everything and more, but this time done well and with many interesting cues that make it a little, albeit underrated, masterpiece.