Dere Moans, a veteran nobody of this digital wasteland, offers up his harsh and messy perspective on 21st Century plunderphonics with "Doom Royale"-- a blistering torrent of early 2000s nü-metal/death metal samples juxtaposed with 80s/90s pop. You may recognize certain segments, but they will disappear into the fray of tempo-manipulated sludge as suddenly as they appeared.
Reviews:
"I’m going to be honest with you guys – if I wanted a “blistering torrent of early 2000s nü-metal/death metal samples juxtaposed with 80s/90s pop,” I could’ve just stuck my head in an industrial-sized blender. Because I actually don’t want it. Never did. I could get the exact same effect, probably, from doing the blender thing. Sure, I had nü-metal streak, I went to public high school, but man, that is one segment (now purged) of my record collection that I never want to go back to.
Still, Dere Moans… you intrigue me, you whippersnapper, you. What does the answer to the question (more an exclamation) “You only listen to ONE heavy metal song at a time?” sound like? (By the way, thanks for that great perspective, Houdini Mansions, I wish I’da thunk it.) I have no idea, and as terrible an idea as finding out might be … let’s frickin’ find out! The Minnesota producer, fortunately, doesn’t follow the lead of a project like Splice Girls, where the samples are really obvious and the result aligns more with pastiche (and I enjoyed “Spliceworld,” don’t get me wrong). Nope, on “Doom Royale,” I can’t pinpoint a single song. This realization – that I wasn’t THAT deep into the macho nü-metal quagmire – ends up doing more for my sense of self-worth than I had any right to expect from Dere Moans so… bravo, sir?
The repurposed metal samples clang and bash against the insides of speakers like electrons with roid rage, revving their motors and spinning their wheels in the sand until smoke begins to pour out of the engine block. And just to throw another metaphorical log into the stew, the snippets glitch out like Max Headroom in paroxysms of wordless Tourette’s. You guys remember Max Headroom? God, I’m old. But I had you at “glitch” and “wordless Tourette’s,” didn’t I?
So what DOES it sound like? Noise? …Sort of. Industrial? …Maybe. “Digital hardcore”? …Um. Nü-metal? …Oh, guys, this is so hard. It’s certainly nothing if not a brain scrambler."
-Tabs Out Podcast (Ryan Masteller)
"Dere Moans asks one simple question: "You only listen to ONE heavy metal song at a time? Foolish humans! Why not experience all of metal at once, in a solid wall of chaotic sound?" This brilliantly searing injection of plunderphonics and scrambletronics is likely to be the end of you. The very end - your Doom Royale, if you will. Just imagine all of the hard sound of the world's best nu-metal, without any of the pesky rhythm or melody - just pure blocks of digital noise!
This release is not only a complete mind destroyer, but doubles as a fun party game where you and your more adventurous friends try to pick recognizable bits out of the turmoil. Extra points are rewarded if you don't look at the list of source material first. Whatever method of annihilation you prefer, get ready for the jumbled and tumbled fun of Doom Royale."
Hard to pick a favorite track. Back2ThaSky for the dreamy feel plus interesting chord progression. Generally, the album vacillates between ambient, pop and folk, which are held together by a lo-fi, minimal style as a common theme. theblankholidays
Colin Andrew Sheffield (Elevator Bath) repurposes heavily manipulated jazz samples into gorgeously eerie soundscapes. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 20, 2023