The Divine Baze Orchestra (TDBO) once again proves that the good people at the Swedish label Transubstans are out to put out some genuine early 70s worship. Looks like it doesn't matter what your source of inspiration is, but as long as it's in the late 60s to early 70s time frame and is heavy and kick ass, these guys would jump on it and put it out. Once We Were Born... is the band's debut album and it definitely looks like they've done a good job rummaging through their parents' vintage collection of all things heavy from this period.

Even though some of the song dynamics, bluesy riffs and the shuffling drums are what you expect from any band doing the tip of the hat to this era, TDBO is very bloated and brings in a few other things to the table. First of all, the music isn't straight forward rock. For every blues based idea they have, they seem to bring in a few of these eclectic and progressive parts to give things a more epic feel to it. I'm talking the earliest of prog rock. It's dirty, raw, oft-improvised, harmonic, heavy, epic, layered, and not afraid of experimenting with non-standard scales, chord progressions and some swinging key and tempo changes, so you have lots of elements that's right out of folk, classical and jazz 101s.

The arrangements are lush with the 70s synths and a helluva lot of mellotrons dominating the mix, and even taking a bunch of solos. Drums are all over the place assisted frequently by these additional percussions that give this record a more Caravan feel. Though not entirely happy with the way the rhythm guitar is sounding, the leads have turned out quite stinging, dirty, nervous and pretty much evoking the feel the early 70s players possessed. The vocalist is not bad, but if there's a drawback to this record, it's the way he's sounding. It could just be the way he's been produced or it could just be his voice and intonation, I don't know.

Suggested listening for all you 70s prog and Heep/Purple fans. This is a label to watch.

Label: Transubstans

Year of Release: 2008