Artist: DMBQ 
Album: The Essential Sounds from the Far East             
Label: Estrus Records
Tracks: 10
Length: 47:38
Review by: Luke Kruse

 

DMBQ’s Essential Sounds from the Far East is one of the more intriguing albums I’ve ever had to review.  When I first picked the record up and saw a psychedelic pink horse on the cover, I knew that the album would be out of the ordinary.  After doing a little research on the group, I found out that DMBQ stood for “Dynamite Masters Blues Quartet,” and that the group hailed from Tokyo, Japan.    Supposedly, DMBQ is one of the bigger bands in Tokyo’s underground scene, and has been a mainstay there for quite some time; however, Essential Sounds from the Far East is their American debut album, put out on Estrus Records.

           

The psychedelic packaging is a strong clue as to the type of sounds that DMBQ produces.  Drawing heavily from 60’s and 70’s guitar rock bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, the first aspect of the album the listener will notice is that DMBQ are talented musicians.  The guitars have a fuzzy and thick “classic rock” tone, and are clearly the focal point of the bands arsenal.  The vocals are incomprehensible, but fit in well with the music.  There is a lot of howling and, to be quite frank, I’m hardly sure if the singer is singing in English or his native Japanese. 

           

There are some really great riffs and sounds on the album; listening to songs like “Nowhere,” make the listener want to pick up the nearest object and rock out some serious air guitar.  Unfortunately, the album begins to sound like homogeneous noise as the album progresses.  DMBQ’s songs are quite unstructured, and there are few, if any, memorable choruses for the listener to grab on to.  A lot of the songs feel like the band just went into the studio, came up with a decent riff, and jammed along with it for four to five minutes. 

      

I give credit to DMBQ for their obvious talent as musicians.  This album all-out rocks harder than anything I’ve heard in a while.  One can only imagine that the band would something to behold in a live setting.  Unfortunately, the lack of memorable songs keep this album from warranting repeated listens.