There hasn’t been much word out of the camp of Athens rockers The Dive since they released their impressive self-titled debut in 2011 (review here), but it seems the band, which formed all the way back in 2000, have been active all the same. This weekend, they sent over notice of a limited vinyl issue of their first album through The Lab Records and nonprofit Greek collective Spinalonga Records and a mini-tour supporting the concurrent release of their sophomore outing, Zo’e, on the latter label. I guess sometimes a band can be busier than they appear.

News came down the PR wire, and you can find it and their current dates below, as well as the self-titled in full, in case anyone needs a refresher:

THE DIVE – ZO’E (new album out now!! + mini tour!!)

Primal, organic, instinctive playing. The Dive release their second full length album named Zo’e. Detecting the flow rather than defining it. Roaming rather than wandering.
Out now on spinalonga records!

At the end of May the band is hitting the road for a mini tour including stops in Germany, Netherlands Turkey and Greece.

Dates booked so far:
1/6 @ Rotormania Fest, Germany
6/6 @ Mukkes, Leeuwarden, Netherlands.
8/6 @ Kastanienkeller, Berlin, Germany
14/6 @ Peyote, Istanbul, Turkey
18/6 @ K44, Athens, Greece
..more info soon..

* Also, The Dive’s debut s/t album out now on limited edition of 275 copies in 180gr black vinyl. By The Lab records and Spinalonga records.

http://thedive.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/thediveband
http://www.soundcloud.com/thedive
http://www.twitter.com/thediveband
http://www.spinalonga.net

The Dive, The Dive (2011)

They formed in 2000 and released their self-titled debut full-length earlier this year through Spinalonga Records, but if you told me that Athens four-piece The Dive spent the whole of those 11 years working on the cover art for their album, I’d believe it. The 11-plus-track CD comes in a gorgeous fold-out digi-sleeve, six panels on each side, to unveil the full picture of which the running wildebeest cover art turns out to be only one-twelfth. The artwork is a narrative in itself, and with it, the band immediately sets a high bar for creativity. It’s not every album that has to live up to its cover, but The Dive’s The Dive is clearly working to attain a standard, and for the most part it does. The band specializes in a kind of progressive desert rock, at times inflected with a grown-up punk feel, as on the perhaps misplaced Social Distortion-esque opener “Fresh Blue Coffee,” and rounded out through the fuzz tones and interplay between guitarists Titos and Monkey J. – the latter also vocals – and the sometimes Toolish rhythmic churn of bassist Livy and drummer Taz. If it’s taken The Dive 11 years to put a record together, they’ve got a complex creative range to show for it. I don’t know the disparity in how old some of these songs are versus others, but despite a few missteps here and there, they by and large remain consistent atmospherically and in terms of quality.

The reason I say “Fresh Blue Coffee” is potentially misplaced because it works outside the tone of much of the rest of the album, which is more rock-driven than punk-based. Certainly those elements show up again later on “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” but even there, the effect is more like Totimoshi taking on Fatso Jetson than trying to shirk off the desert aesthetic as much as the opener does. Right from “Lockjaw,” The Dive takes a different turn, Monkey J. adopting a different hue for his melodic vocals – he stays clean for the most, though a few choice screams in “Fabio, Fabio…” to well to play up the dynamics – to better match the darker and more cerebral overall vibe of the music. His and Titos’ guitars complement each other well, and rarely get locked into the same riff or break when they don’t want to be. Noodling abounds on “Lockjaw” and continues through “Billie Jean” (not a Michael Jackson cover) and most of the record, adding to the prog feel. At times, they come off like a sped up Kyuss, and “Lockjaw” definitely has a ‘90s atmosphere, but particularly after “Fresh Blue Coffee,” it’s hard to get a handle on where The Dive are headed next stylistically. Maybe that’s the point. Either way, “Lydia and the Pigheads” finds Livy stepping to the fore as the guitars drop out, and his Justin Chancellor-style runs prove a solid foundation for the song, Taz filling the space creatively on his toms. The earthy tones of The Dive’s artwork suit well the deep atmosphere and the dark but by no means bleak vibes of the music, and though “Desden” is one of the more forgettable tracks on the album, that might be due in part to its being situated next to the standout “Fabio, Fabio…”

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They’re part of the burgeoning scene in and around Athens, Greece, and true to form, double-guitar four-piece rockers The Dive inject their heavy rock with a ’90s-style alternative feel. The band formed in 2000 — that’s about all the biographical info they’re willing to give — and their self-titled album (released on Spinalonga Records), is available for listening in full via their Soundcloud page.

Their influences are pretty well in order, and The Dive runs a gamut from Tool-style riffy churn to Monster Magnet‘s “how are they coming back from this one?” spacing out, never seeming to totally lose track of the rhythms driving the songs. Finale “Fresh Blue Coffee” even works in a little garage rock, reminding of Baby Woodrose or one of Eurostoner’s many like-minded acts. “Iguana”‘s cadence makes it something of a misstep, but the bassline in “Floating” makes up for a lot.

You can find The Dive on Thee Facebooks here, but I basically just wanted to post the tracks for anyone who might be into checking them out, so here you go: