Category: Ruins

We’ve got an awesome album review from progressive rock website DPRP.

Here’s a brief intro of the review:

The rather oddly named Downriver Dead Men Go are a “cinematic post-rock band” hailing from Leiden in the Netherlands. The quintet of Gerrit Koekebakker (vocals, guitar), Michel Varkevisser (guitar, backing vocals), Peter van Dijk (keyboards), Menno Kolk (bass guitar), and Marcel Heijnen (drums) have released two previous albums, Tides (2015) and Departures (2018). Ruins, having slipped past the DPRP radar when it was released towards the end of 2022, also features guest keyboard player Remco Den Hollander and promises the band adopting, in places, a rather heavier approach than on their previous albums.

The group eschews the instrumental approach favoured by the majority of post-rock groups but this in no way hampers the dynamism and shifting musical crescendos and lulls associated with the genre, particularly as Koekebakker is an expressively fine vocalist. This is evident on the crushing opener of a title track that over a glorious ten minutes sets out the expansive parameters of the album. Guitars are very much to the fore and although the keyboards can be heard they play a more subservient role fleshing out the musical horizons. It is then straight into the more restrained Secret, the seamless transition between tracks working very well blending the two pieces together in a wonderfully smooth manner. The very realistic cello sound achieved on the latter stages of the song adds delightful light orchestral flair to an altogether rather lovely song.

Want to read the full review? go to DPRP.net.

Great review of our latest album Ruins by Post-Rock Central on insta, check it out! Here’s the full review.

“The band delivers another album that is top notch. More cohesive then it’s previous one. It is also darker and heavier, but still post rock as only DDMG can play. The band has risen to another level and I can only give a compliment for that, because the bar to raise was absolutely high. Every song is an adventure on its own and all songs make the circle complete and tells the story that needed to be told. That this album is only 43 minutes long is possibly the only point of criticism, but I can forgive the guys. I only bow my head and say: thank you for another gem! “

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Happiness is found downstream. say. Which is why said Dead Men are making their way there. However, when you listen to Downriver Dead Men Go, you get the feeling that the band from Leiden (that's fitting!) joins this band. Gloomy, pathetic, melancholic, dead sad, suffering - one actually fears that DDMG have buried themselves a little too much in their badly staged sadness. The title track, which introduces the third album by the Dutchmen, begins with a melancholy metallic sound - pulpy keyboards form the basis on which two guitars can build up. It has a little something of Paradise Lost - this drama, this bombast.

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The group from Leiden in the Netherlands, now labeled as Cinematic Post Rock, naturally lives it out again in the realms of post rock on their third album. However, 'Ruins' does not traverse the usual wasteland. DOWNRIVER DEAD MEN GO sometimes build up the atmosphere of their compositions with cinematic elements, thus penetrating the usual melancholy that could also come from the Scandinavian region.

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The new album is another musical step forward for Downriver Dead Men Go and shows a slightly heavier and darker side of the band. The individual tracks that fill the program of the album "Ruins" have a wide dynamic range: from exploding guitars to a gentle whisper and touch the boundaries of different musical styles. However, to simplify the matter as much as possible, let's assume that it is spatial post rock in the truest sense of the word.

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