When I first saw Pretty Picture from DJ Devious I felt a little strange. What the hell a work from DJ doing in a metal/rock eZine ? When Pretty Picture start playing the answer come immediately from the first song.

The album starts with a series of powerful and fast song. Furious Styles is a combination of Anthrax and Public Enemy. “Dirty” riffs and heavy drums with scratches in the background. All of Heaven, Drifter and Pretty Picture follow the same pattern. In the following songs the style of the album continually changes. From the dark The Hole the album changes to the more dancy (!?) Op:Unseen and next to the ironic soft rock Loud Bitch From Hell, which reminded me the Valley Girl from Zappa.

Unfortunately, it is really hard for a single person to write the music for 15 tracks. As a result the ablum has a huge hole. Not Now, Now He’s a Pervert and Lucy the Depraved Monkey are all on the same style: “happy” soft punk with DJ effects. In the last part, music is accelerating again with songs like Drive, Chasing Song and Fast Getaway

In general Pretty Picture has many references to Beastie Boys. Heavy music, samples, DJ effects and dirty riffs. The bad thing is that some ideas are repeated over and over again and as a result the album, although is good, in some parts becomes tired.

Rating: 67/100

Tracklist

1. Furious Styles
2. All of Heaven
3. The Hole
4. Drifter
5. Op:Unseen
6. Loud Bitch From Hell
7. Pretty Picture
8. Not Now
9. Now He's a Pervert
10. Lucy the Depraved Monkey
11. Another City Tale
12. Drive
13. Chasing Song
14. Fast Getaway
15. It Only Takes 1