By: Daniela Patrizi
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Released on August 1, 2015 via bandcamp
Farewell, by We Deserve This, was one of the best post rock releases of 2014. Jan never stopped working –we are talking about 14 releases since the first full-length – and now he is back with a second full-length album titled Pacific.
If you are not familiar with this band, We Deserve This is the solo project founded in 2010 by Jan Platek from Velbert, Germany. From the very beginning, it’s evident that the latest release of the German artist is quite different from his previous works. The eight tracks of Pacific don’t have the melodic post rock that characterized Farewell but are based on layers of crushing guitar riffs, heavy feedback and rumbling bass. In this attempt to go towards the post metal territory, the rhythm is in general slow and crushing but never abrasive and the riffs are powerful and sometimes chaotic but not aggressive. All together, the songs of Pacific act like a giant beast that doesn’t hurt you even if it has the ability to do so.
Jan set the album mood from the opening track, which has a dark metal atmosphere. ‘The Moon, The Stars And Everything Else’ starts with heavy riffs and it’s a good way to present the new essence of the We Deserve This’ sound. The first two minutes of that chunky monster that is the song title, ‘Pacific’, are extremely relaxing before exploding into a wall of meaty guitars and gigantic soundscapes that prove the talent of the artist. The same heavy atmosphere is the core of the following track, ‘Atlantic’, which is one of the darkest tracks of the album. What is missing here is that melody that Jan is very good in delivering and that would have given that necessary depth to make this make this track a work of art.
Pacific is not perfect but for sure it’s an album that has perfect moments. If ‘A Cloud And A Memory’ is fairly unremarkable, ‘Pre Caution/Post Action’ is one of the best moments of the record. ‘Pre Caution/Post Action’ is slow and heavy, it’s grey but it also is peaceful and it seems it takes the grim feelings and slowly transforms them into optimistic and cheerful sensations.
‘12/13/13’ is another highlight of the album and definitely one of the best tracks Jan Platek has ever written together with the closing track ‘A Serious Ending’. As the title suggests it’s really a serious ending that, in a certain way, it’s like a picture show of the artist’s musical evolution. From the calming notes that recall the style of Farewell to the post metal crashing guitars that rule the sound of Pacific.
It’s a serious ending of an album that proves again the talent that deserves our attention and I’m pretty curious to hear where his sound will go from here.
