Reviewing friends = hard. Reviewing a band I love to bits and released their last EP = even harder. It’s a good job ‘Deceivers United’ is an absolute belter then, making my job so much easier. And I know I’m not alone – everyone I know who has already heard this has commented on just how good it is. To say these boys from Spain have grown since ‘Unmasking St Minver’ would be an understatement; ‘Deceivers United’ sounds HUGE in every sense and working with Romesh Dodangoda definitely worked out for them. If you liked the last EP you will definitely love this one.
‘Winners and Cheaters’ actually starts off a little like Mayday Parade‘s ‘Kids In Love’ but when it kicks in it blows them out of the water. The vocals sound enormous and the three-way vocal melodies work better than any band I’ve come across since Midtown did it. Seriously. This album is a lesson to any new band in how to have your vocalist sing like he/she means it. The power and feeling that blasts out of your speakers from that first track sets the tone. ‘You Don’t Really Mean It’ chugs away with a huge hook, while ‘American Professional’ is a fantastic pop-rock song. The guitars sound massive, the vocals bigger still. By the time ‘How To Be Wrong’ rolls around you’ve had six relentlessly, energetic tracks banging away at your brain. Each of those songs is a hit. ‘Deceivers United’ is also a lesson to any young band that if you base your songs around strong melodies and singalong choruses you need a good producer and one that knows what he is doing. The arrangements and the mix is perfect. It’s seriously LOUD.
My major criticism is that the final third of this album is much weaker than the first two thirds. While the opening tracks are hit after hit after hit, it does tail off a bit towards the end. ‘Those You Forgot’ is a good track but not as good as some of the earlier ones, while the acoustic ‘195010’ just doesn’t really hit the spot for me. As a seven track EP this would gain a solid 9/10, maybe higher. Still, this is one of the best releases of 2010 so far and I have no doubt that if DOR were American they’d be the critics’ darlings. Pick this album up and love it…