Dorje – ‘White Dove’ [Review]
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A common complaint amongst music fans is that new music sucks, because it all sounds the same as/lacks the passion and energy of music from decades past. The funny thing is, that kind of golden-age thinking is not new in itself. People thought the same way ten years ago, twenty years ago, even a century ago. Golden-age thinking just isn’t valid.
Technically, Dorje aren’t a “new” band. They’ve been around for a good few years, racking up hundreds of thousands of YouTube views for a single video (Aeromancy), and launching one of Indiegogo’s most successful crowdfunding campaigns back in 2012. But, they’re still new enough (and unfamiliar enough to those who only visit YouTube for cat videos) to fall under the banner of “new bands who suck because they’re new”.
Do Dorje suck because they’re new? No. The only downside to mention is their current lack of on-record epicness, with EP release Primordial Audio Chronicle having dropped almost three years ago, and a debut album still in the works. Single track White Dove is their latest offering – and again, no, it doesn’t suck because it’s new. What it does do is showcase a band who’ve spent the last three years not only building a fanatical YouTube-centric fanbase and working hard on external projects, but also evolving in spectacular fashion.
Dorje have always had a style of their own, blending influences as diverse as Extreme, Incubus, Alter Bridge, Porcupine Tree, Karnivool, and Tool. White Dove leans hard on the Extreme end of things: it’s punchy as fuck, full of tastefully-placed guitar harmonics and fuelled by intense tones. But more than that, it demonstrates just how far frontman Rob Chapman has come as a vocalist.
At TMMP, I get a lot (read: fucking thousands) of submissions from underground rock bands who claim their vocalist’s vocals to be “uniquely idiosyncratic” and suchlike. Sometimes they’re on the money – but most of the time, they aren’t. The safest creative path to tread is the one well-travelled by artists of the past, the path of pastiche. It’s safe because it doesn’t involve sticking your neck out and being vulnerable, presenting your personality to the world knowing full well that some people will dig it, and some won’t – and the ones who really won’t, the trolls and haters of the world, will rush to tear you down as fast as digitally possible.
More than ever before, when you listen to the Dorje of 2015, you will know, without a shadow of a doubt, that it’s them. You’ll know in the same way that the tiniest fragment of Morning View identifies its makers as Incubus, and a single moment from Ænima tells you it’s Tool. And this is due in large part to Rob Chapman’s vocals. Right now, nobody sounds like this guy – and that’s a rare thing to be able to truthfully say about a rock vocalist. Rob Chapman has had technique and feel down for a long time – but more than ever, the personality that’s driven a YouTube channel and guitar company to peak after peak is finally fully present in Dorje’s music with 4K-grade clarity.
Meaty grooves, big riffs, solid musicianship, positive and self-assertive lyricism, winning songcraft, and a vocalist capable of commanding respect from someone as jaded as me? Get clicking on the linkage below already!
TMMP RATING: 92%
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