Inspired by the most classic words of JD Salinger alongside the fresh new lows achieved by the world coming down all-around Cologne, Germany-based stoner/doom metal trio DAEVAR return for their third full-length album in three years, readied for their inevitable breakthrough take. Functioning as a modern equivalency to grunge’s tuneful trauma-rock in excess through thunder-toned guitar noise ‘Sub Rosa‘ is fated as the one where they finally dive in and deliver upon the sub-genre fusion hinted at on their prior LP. It turns out to be a great idea, a cathartic ear-dragging doom-rock album with an incredibly weighted sound. Though I can assure you their work hits deep enough per its sophisticate simplicity they’ve smartly kept this record succinct, sticking around just long enough to leave a profound mark.

Daevar formed as a trio at some point prior to the release of their first couple of singles in 2022, most of their early gear sporting who standout traits: Huge sound via big nuclear guitar tone crushing about some kinda Sleep-esque ventures and a style which was most often compared to Windhand on their debut LP (‘Delirious Rites‘, 2023) due to vocalist Pardis Latifi‘s tone and use of harmonies alongside the ultra-stoner digs rumbling about. While that first record is great it was fairly standard in some sense, a stoner/doom metal record that should impress but not stand out as much as where they’ve gone with it since. The magick truly hit the sword when their sophomore LP (‘Amber Eyes‘, 2024) hit as a combination of longer form gloomier trips which contained a somewhat clear inspiration taken from grunge in developing some of the vocal hooks on a handful of songs, the title track being the vision beyond doom metal shapes that trundled and wandered along. I was a huge fan of that second record, buzzing on it for months as a point of relief and some sublimely catchy melodic pieces. All of that signature developed on album number two directly translates to album number three despite having been reshaped, cultivated down to prime impact.

‘Sub Rosa‘ effectively captures the inordinately monolithic sound of stoner/doom metal at its hairiest, most hulking level of guitar tone. That is to say that it’d been too precious a commodity to fuck with after getting it so right on ‘Amber Eyes‘. Here they’ve give the drums a heavier under-foot register in the mix which allows the vocals and guitars to create their own ethereal blanket across the perceived space, downward-shattering the fine and noisome leads that do show up. What changes here in terms of style is hinted at with a quick glance at the runtime and song count as we face a set of half-length songs (average ~4 minutes) and more of them. While I’d be happy with most forms of music played with this production value in hand it is the refinement of Daevar‘s approach to songcraft which makes this third album more than plainest iteration on an already great gig.

Opener “Catcher in the Rye” does a fine job of easing into this headspace of where the crystallization of grunge and the sleekest roaring temperament of stoner/doom metal meet and in this case the mood is low, surreal in its eased movement. The choices of guitar tones, be it the rich crybaby wah use for the leads or the chorus (?) used for the intro do speak to the noise rock level of feedback and pedal obsessed sounds of popular grunge/alternative rock acts in some sense. I wasn’t sure what I’d wanted from “grunge” rhythms and tones interspersed within this niche of doom metal but I can say for sure “Siren Song” is it. Riffing on some of the sounds introduced by the prior piece and hitting a brain-melting feedback ripped intro before lunging into the riff this is ideal chunk of Nirvana-inspired noise which hits squarely in the familiar-but-unreal category. This is more-or-less what I’d been petitioning for in review of ‘Amber Eyes‘, suggesting a focus on shorter and to-the-point pieces in the shape of the standout title track (“Amber Eyes”). Most all of the seven songs on ‘Sub Rosa‘ lean in that same direction throughout, simpler riff progressions and screaming guitar sounds with a stoney haze hanging over all of it. Though it isn’t the most unheard of or drastic pivot I could think of this change in modus feels like a natural portal skip that doesn’t move too far from the stoner/doom metal burst of their sound.

As the waves hit they change shape and timbre every three minutes or so, the forlorn slow-step of ‘Sub Rosa‘ intensifying as Daevar languish in the complicit nature of modern man, sapped of their action by the prattling stupor of social conditioning. “Wishing Well” has a sort of barbarous swing to its main riff recalling the faster jog of Reverend Bizarre to some degree, a simple punkish shape that otherwise lyrically aims for action, active change rather than wishful sentiment. I’m not sure these songs are light years removed from the simple rocking fuzz-wrecked jam of albums like ‘Bricks are Heavy‘ at the end of the day, some of that tautness exists here on “Daughter” where the doom and gloom is there but the beat is kicking, uptempo and making use of the huge space to land its forlorn and ear-worming dread. At that point you’ve more-or-less gotten the idea of what ‘Sub Rosa‘ is going to explore within its ~31 minute duration, mid-paced rock inspired songs that lean into big, fairly simply stated riffs; They’ve kept on experimenting with different vocal melodies and rhythmic turns taken for the duration of Side B as well via the haunting moan of “Mirrors”, the reverb smoked surround of “Forgotten Tale” and the doom-leaning ache of closer “FDSMD” pulls the stoner buzz back on for a grand exit from the dreariness of the previous ~eight minutes.

Over the space of three years Daevar‘ve quickly honed in on a feasible signature sound through pointed iteration, managing to fuse together a combination of styles which has proven effective palette for their tightly-writ and memorable songcraft here in the well-oiled gears of ‘Sub Rosa‘. While I typically prefer guitar driven music to feature prominent bass guitar performances the minimal-yet-huge impact of this third LP is yet impressive from every angle and infectiously stated throughout. Likewise the visual curation from guitarist Caspar Orfgen continues to impress as their artwork suits the change in style album-over-album thus far. The whole of the experience is succinct, impactful and explores just enough to show what a leaner, more focused version is capable of. This could be a fine point of rest, an ideal sound to continue to toy with in various ways, as I could see more intense experimentation with pacing and vocal arrangements paying off within this cone of sonic excess behind every riff. For my own taste ‘Sub Rosa‘ held up as pleasure listening, a sonically rich record that’d stuck with me after each spin and felt great to return to for countless spins. A high recommendation.

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