Dinner Music for the Gods - Beautiful and Treacherous
Self released
Instrumental World Music/Jazz/Classical Metal
8 songs ()
Release year: 2014
Reviewed by Alex
Album of the month

If you call Dinner Music for the Gods “metal”, you will probably underestimate them and give a wrong description to their instrumental album. If “metal”, in many of its incarnations, is the only thing you can fathom, then Dinner Music for the Gods is probably not for you. Yet “metal” in many ways is a big part of what Dinner Music for the Gods are and “metal” cannot be taken out of their second album Beautiful and Treacherous. Yes, such is contradiction and beauty of the music Dinner Music for the Gods create. They use a pair of guitars, bass and drums – an entirely “metal” set – without vocals, strange instruments, keyboards or symphonic orchestra to create music which both encompasses and exceeds “metal”.

As a non-technical reviewer for this site, I cannot possibly delve into details how Dinner Music for the Gods create their art. But art it is, and rising above one single style, the band plays world music, jazz and a lot more in between atop of the traditional classical metal foundation. Yet despite the myriad of technical details that probably went into creation of Beautiful and Treacherous the band does not look anything like a bunch of jerky showoffs. The compositions, as multifaceted as they are (title track, The Tower), appear compact and have an incredible, easy-to-follow flow about them. Everything on the album has a backbone and purpose. I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of traditional jazz, the music simply does not accommodate my senses, but the whirlwind of Beautiful and Treacherous definitely put my mind at ease, and allowed for relaxation and flow with the music, be it introspective Wind through the Trees or knee-breaking percussive playful Queenshead.

Dinner Music for the Gods cover a lot of ground on the album, both musically and geographically. Winterfell has galloping riffs and probably what amounts to the easiest melody to be picked out on the album, and it has a guitar hero arpeggiated solo. Ghost Troopers in the Sky starts out with Americana music from something like a Kill Bill movie and ends with Iron Maiden, trust me you will recognize the riffs. The title track and a few other places display some gypsy flamenco flashes, and Sofia takes us on the rumba/salsa trip to a Brazilian carnival. Kashmir, on the other hand, has the extra heaviness, suitable to the tension persisting in that part of the world.

I have to say that while expecting some brain twisting stuff I was absolutely floored by the album and played it non-stop for probably 4 or 5 times. At any given moment I could hear anything from Yngwie Malmsteen to Atheist circa Elements. If just like me, you are up in age, but still struggle explaining to your aging friends why you are sticking with heavy music, try playing some Beautiful and Treacherous for them. At the minimum, you can brag about listening to some “complex music” to your sophisticated friends, and, maybe, if their minds are open enough, you would be able to plant a seed of doubt in there that not all “heavy music” is mindless. The quality of the album is absolutely undeniable and any reasonable person, despite his/her music taste would not be able to resist it.

Killing Songs :
Beautiful and Treacherous, Sofia, Winterfell, Ghost Troopers in the Sky
Alex quoted 90 / 100
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