Divertigo - Gentle Chaos

Year of Release: 2003
Label: Xensori Media Corp/Just For Kicks Music
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 54:13:00

Divertigo is a one man project, with guest musicians, and the one man behind this project is Steve. As he states on his website: "One of my strongest musical beliefs is that every musical form has its own profound expressive advantage that no other type of music does. I try to harness all these modes of expression from different styles in my writing." Gentle Chaos is his third release; however, the previous two albums are not available anymore. About the name he states: "Divertigo began in 1993, during a high school lunch hour when I was trying to think of a band name and came up with "Divertigo" ... The name was to suggest diverse music that promotes an alternate way of thinking ... to craft honest compositions which are not afraid to transcend any musical boundaries necessary in order to convey the idea." This explanation pretty much covers the sound of Divertigo.

Not limited by boundaries, Gentle Chaos sounds at times very experimental and a mixture of styles, which sometimes comes as a bit of a shock. Like in the first tracks on the album: "At The Gates," which is a truly gentle track, is followed by "Meeting In The Valley," a song with shredding guitars and pounding drums. Here I also notice the drums sound a bit hollow, unfortunately. "Mother's Arms" is a sort of concept piece, existing of 4 parts, and this is a very nice, mellow song, with some heavy riffs, especially part II, "Everbleeding." Part III, "Brink of Enlightment" is the opposite again, a gentle track with soft vocals and piano arrangements. "Saving The World" is a fairly catchy song, with harmony vocals by Steve. A total contrast, but one of the better songs on the album is "Hand Of Fate," which starts out as power metal, but then paces down to almost a ballad, with fantastic guitars and again great vocals. "Grey Skies To Golden" closes the album, on a gentle note, with some new age influences.

Gentle Chaos is a fitting name for the album, as the styles follow up on one another and sometimes one song holds different styles. Although the production could use some work, it is a very good album. Varied, experimental, but well composed. If you want to make sure this is your kind of music, check out the Divertigo website, with various sound samples. But if you like experimental music, this one should be yours.

[This review originally appeared December 2003 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]
Tracklisting:
At The Gates / Meeting In The Valley / Fall Together / Mothers' Arms: I. Goodbye / II. Everbleeding / III. Brink Of Enlightenment / IV. Between Friends / Saving The World / Hand Of Fate / Peril / Soul On A Screen / Relapse: I. Fear / II. Liberation / Grey Skies To Golden

Musicians:
Steve Douglas - everything (w/guests)

Discography:
Integral (oop demo) (1998)
Human Chemicals (oop demo) (2001)
Gentle Chaos (2001)

Genre: Other

Origin US

Added: December 12th 2004
Reviewer: Marcel Haster
Score:
Artist website: www.divertigo.com/
Hits: 3070
Language: english