Ex-Delain guitarist Merel Bechtold’s quest to express herself as a composer and musician continues with the newly formed band Dear Mother. Together with her partner-in-crime Joey De Boer and a new friend and vocalist David Pear she wrote Bulletproof, the debut album from this mainly Dutch band coming out on 16/7. She already tried before with the band Purest Of Pain but that project was discontinued. With the online help from the metal community they found enough money through crowd funding to start all over. The big difference you ask? Well, let’s find out.
the Dutch review can be found here
The band was originally founded by Merel Bechtold (ex-Delain, MaYan, ex-Purest Of Pain) and Joey Marin de Boer (ex-Delain, ex-Purest Of Pain). Their strong common bond and ideas made them want to go their separate ways. I remember seeing Merel perform with Delain at Graspop a few years ago. For some weird alien reason I believed there was more to her than just participating in a band. It might have been the attitude on stage. I already thought that we were going to hear more from her specifically. So drums and guitars were covered but they did need a vocalist. They wrote a song (“Vertigo”) and asked vocalists do perform this online. In came David Pearl Hruska, a Russian singer with the voice of a few angels and one demon, and probably something in between. There you have your first difference.
On Bulletproof, Dear Mother gets straight to the point by revealing (almost) all of their secrets right from the start: varied melodies, great riffs and tight drumming, only surpassed by the beautiful vocals.
On opener "Vertigo" the band shows what we can expect. This is as said the song that was used for the application of the open vacancy "singer". And in addition to the obvious vocal qualities, he fits the other two band members in terms of personality. Some of you might have seen the interviews, they’re really connecting on a personal level. The song itself gives away all the aspects of Dear Mother’s sound. Very melodic, catchy riffs, emotional vocals and an excellent sense of timing in a song that changes its tempo often enough to keep your very awake. Merel's solo after a nice bridge should also be mentioned. Technically clever but it's mainly about the feeling that was put into it. There’s that dude with the high hat that knows how to do that too. I believe he’s called Slashor something like that.
Although that song surely reveals the rest of the album you won’t get bored easily. The remaining eleven songs are all very catchy and keep your attention easily. After some thirty listens, I can conclude that this is because of the use of thoughtful timing of the individual songs and the beautiful flow throughout the album. It shows the class and experience the band members carry with them, because it is by no means their first attempt.
Most of the songs follow the same concept but each captivate in their own typical way. The variety in timing is often very good so that the attention is permanently focused on the song itself. Whether it's about nice little bridges, strong riffs, emotional melodies or the rock solid vocals or just everything at once, you never have the urge to skip a song. As far as I'm concerned, that's one of the biggest compliments I can give.
And what about those lyrics? Bulletproof sounds quite positive and energetic musically but the songs don't shy away from heavy subjects at all. I hear suicide ("The Ones Below"), substance abuse ("Satellite" and "Symbiosis") and depression ("An Eye For An Eye") pass by but the music that surrounds it sound like a holiday. This contrast works quite well. David also knows very well which tone to use. Sometimes he sings very clean ("Palace", "A Soul For Hire"), then aggressive ("Fade In") and then emotional again ("The Ones Below") or all in one song ("12 Years in Exile"). It's the second singer after "Trim" from King Goat that I've heard perform that perfectly in the last decade. Kudos.
In the middle of the record, Dear Mother manages to surprise everyone by suddenly featuring a mix of their slower side and some electronic music Carpenter Brut style (their softer side). "A Soul For Hire" is also strategically well placed as it breaks the album into two pieces. This is clearly an experiment but the result is very strong. The band members themselves agree that for them this is the best song on the album. An omen for later?
Dear Mother ends the album with the simple ballad "Palace". It’s a good idea to use this in the end. A simple tune with a single guitar brings you to rest and literally turns off the lights. If you listen carefully, you can hear Merel singing along. But the song could just as well not have been there, it doesn’t really add something specific, I guess we all need a rest after an emotional holiday.
Bulletproof is a very successful and particularly emotional debut album from Dear Mother. This is an album that grabs your attention with a strong opener, manages to keep your attention simply by great riffs, catchy choruses and the casual agressive parts you'll get to hear. After 30 runs I'm usually sick and tired of an album, not so with this Dear Mother debut. With every new record by any artist, I always pick the 3 best songs to drop into my Spotify playlist. A very difficult task in this case but I chose "Vertigo", "The Ones Below" and "Satellite". Respectively because of the summarizing sound, the most powerful melody and the strongest emotion it manages to evoke in me.
I am very curious about the live performance of some of the songs and in particular how they are sung. After all, the bar is set quite high technically on record. The future's bright for these 3 buddies, but a sophomore album is quite a task when your debut is this good. Let's hope they find the means and motivation to build a successful story. I dare to suspect that on a successor we will find more songs in the direction of "A Soul For Hire". But I am open to surprises.
Tracks :
Meer info :
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Songs written by DEAR MOTHER
Co-producer Jimmy Alexander
Mix: Mantis Audio
Master: Niels Nielsen
Recordings: Drums at Mantis Audio, all other recordings at home
