 
When James Veck-Gilodi took over vocal duties
and lyric writing for Deaf Havana back in 2010
he was worried that the end of Deaf Havana was
near due to the extra pressure of moving into
the frontman role and having to write lyrics and
new songs yet 18 months on Deaf Havana went and
released ‘Fools And Worthless Liars’
an album which went straight to the top of the
UK rock chart and gained rave reviews across the
board, a year later deaf Havana went on to re-release
‘Fools And Worthless Liars’ which
came bundled with a bonus second disc which features
the whole album re-recorded and totally re-worked
to suit their current musical tastes.
As soon as Deaf Havana re-released ‘Fools
And Worthless Liars’ they started work on
their third studio album and this time around
the whole writing process was breeze for the band
as they started writing material for the album
back in October 2012 and by January 2013 all the
writing was done and the band headed to the studio
and to record their third studio album ‘Old
Souls’ which is now scheduled for a 16th
September release.
‘Old Souls’ once again see’s
Deaf Havana reinvent their sound as with their
debut album ‘Meet Me Halway’ they
went down the post-hardcore route, ‘Fools
And Worthless Liars’ saw them go down a
straight up rock route with deep and meaningful
lyrics whilst their latest offering ‘Old
Souls’ see’s Deaf Havana go down the
stadium rock route with a massive radio play feel
yet still keeping true to themselves with dark,
deep and personal lyrics.
The lead single ‘Boston Square’ opens
the album and what a way to start things off,
the single sounds like Deaf Havana have spent
a lot of time with fellow stadium rockers Bruce
Springsteen and The Gaslight Anthem and this is
technically true after Deaf Havana recently supported
Bruce Springsteen at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic
Park for the Hard Rock Calling festival. Musically
the song is massive sounding and extremely catchy
with a great lead guitar and big pounding drumming
but it is the vocals from James Veck-Gilodi here
which are so strong easily making him contender
for best British vocalist at the moment whilst
also making ‘Boston Square’ one of
the best songs I have heard in a long time.
‘Lights’ see’s the band go down
the indie rock route where James Veck-Gilodi really
does show off his vocal range as croons and his
way through. ‘Everybody’s Dancing
And I Want To Die’ is a massive pop/punk
number with a huge chorus which will have you
dancing along and singing along to the wonderful
lyrics that James Veck-Gilodi lays down, the song
is bound to be a future single release as it sounds
like it was written for the radio with its bouncy
nature, beautiful horn section and general pop-tastic
feel.
With ‘Old Souls’ I feel that Deaf
Havana have gone out to create the music they
like and the music they want to listen to rather
than creating a carbon copy of their last album,
the move is a big gamble as on first listen to
some of the songs featured here the fans are going
to be wondering what has happened to Deaf Havana
, take ‘Subterranean Bullshit Blues’
the song features a gospel singer and Deaf Havana
going down a route they have never touched on
in the past with a massive catchy vibe running
throughout, I personally love the song but don’t
think big fans of their screamy days will, but
then again pretty much every song on the album
sounds like something you wouldn’t expect
from these guys.
‘Night Drives’ see’s Deaf Havana
Deaf Havana go down the soft rock route where
the song instrumentally sounds the same for the
4minute duration but it is once again James Veck-Gilodi’s
vocals and well written lyrics which gets you
drawn in. ‘22’ and ‘Speeding
Cars’ both have the potential to be future
singles as both instrumentally and vocally things
are on top form with an overall catchy vibe coming
through the speakers.
‘Saved’ see’s Deaf Havana go
down the stripped down acoustic route and the
song works well even sounding quite haunting in
places. ‘Mildred’ picks the pace up
again with a fast paced catchy rock number. Yet
it is the epic album closer ‘Caro Padre’
which leaves you with shivers down your spine
as James Veck-Gilodi sings about his absent father
and you can’t help but be drawn in as he
sings out “I am my father’s son, I
am my father’s son, it’s clear what
I have become, I am my father’s son”,
the song is a musical masterpiece running for
nearly 6minutes and it features so much from pounding
drum beats, technical guitar riffs, bouncy bass
lines, strong vocals and a set of haunting backing
vocals which sounds so strong alongside the lead
vocals of James Veck-Gilodi.
At the moment there are so many bands climbing
to the top of the UK alternative music scene such
as Pure Love, Asking Alexandria, Kids In Glass
Houses, Don Broco, Young Guns, Rat Attack, Lower
Than Atlantis and many others but I feel with
the release of ‘Old Souls’ it is not
going to be long before Deaf Havana leap above
these acts and go on to be the most talked about
English band of their era as ‘Old Souls’
is a masterpiece where slight influences of Bruce
Springsteen, Gaslight Anthem, Kings Of Leon and
even Mumford And Sons can be found if you listen
carefully.
5/5
Review by Trigger
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