Review: In a bar, under the sea
From: Allstar March 1997
By: Aidin Vaziri

Rating: 4 (out of 10)

With their 1994 debut album, Worst Case Scenario, these Belgian noisemakers delivered an imaginatively splendid set of songs, balanced by whimsical sonic flourishes and disjointed musical arrangements. In theory, the vision should have carried over to the new album, which juxtaposes distorted John Barry-style string numbers ("Theme From Turnpike"), violin-driven raps ("Guilty Pleasures"), and silly acoustic pop songs ("Little Arithmetics"). Despite their creatively ambitious chutzpah, Deus fails to conjure the same ecstatic pleasure this time around. In a Bar, Under the Sea suffers from sluggish tunes, misfired irony and, most of all, homogenized charm.