12. Album Review of Laid to Waste by Donner and the Devil

Originally published July 12th, 2024

About the Band

Per their bio on Spotify, Donner and the Devil is “a prog rock fever dream with elements of jazz, blues, and folk; with plenty of dirt and heavy riffs.” Donner and the Devil has one member, Dan Walsh and this submission of music is entirely instrumental. 

Dan also is a member of New York-based metal bands, Old Bones and Lamora, he is a passionate student of all kinds of music, and he also reviews music. 

Laid to Waste

Laid to Waste is an 8-song instrumental LP, with a run time of 44 minutes. It does not follow traditional rules of popular music. Many of the songs present almost illogical chord progressions. Times signatures vary from song to song and sometimes, within a song. There is a lack of genre uniformity; again, sometimes within a song itself. And I will mention again, it is a rock album with no singer. Yes, it does not follow traditional rules of popular music. 

Neither did Mozart.

I’m not so kind as to label a person a genius with only listening to one submission of that person’s work. I’m more critical than that. In fact, I prefer my music to have singers and this album has none (fourth mention, forgive me). But, after listening to “Laid to Waste,” I would have the conversation because Dan Walsh may, in fact, be a genius. 

For what it’s worth, his release of “Laid to Waste” is prodigious. Every song is different, yet sounds exactly like Donner and the Devil. With every progression change or time signature change, there’s a moment of pause to admire its unique design, then I find myself right back into grooving with the music. Like how “Goncro dy Hun” opens with a heavy rock influence, transitions into a piano lead, then back to rock, adds a string element as if to almost sound orchestral, then back to rock. That’s in the first 60 seconds. Of the album.

“Fiddlesticks,” my absolute favorite song on the album, opens with what sounds like possessed violins playing eerie, illogical melodies, almost like a demonic Irish jig, with a hint of country western influence. BUT this is entirely a rock song. Walsh exhibits an expert level of instrumentation upon each submission this album has to offer. He hears music in a completely unique and beautiful way. With every change of tempo, every accent, every note is arranged in a way only he could have done it. Like in “Stagger,” where the bass is sliding up and down the neck while a fuzzy guitar part wobbles over it, a piano digs through a blues/jazz infused progression, and the drums provide a loose, swing beat. The diversity is, well staggering.

Final Thoughts

This album is so hard to criticize. I don’t think I can, honestly. I don’t want you all thinking I’ve gone soft. I haven’t. I’m looking for things. Not because I’m an ass, but because I believe reviewing somebody’s work dawns a responsibility to the artist to provide feedback to improve themselves. I’m sure Dan Walsh can listen to this record and refer to a dozen things he wished he’d done differently. We all do that. I’d completely redo everything I’ve ever released if the world didn’t think I’d gone nuts. But that is for them. The old “you are your worst critic,” mantra. It keeps us honest about ourselves and our expressions.

What Walsh, through the stage name Donner and the Devil, has done here is so unique, so diverse, and so gifted. I don’t want to criticize it because I don’t want this to CHANGE. I want Donner and the Devil to expand on what they’ve given us in “Laid to Waste,” because this is musical evolution. It’s musical revolution. In a day where independent musicians are at war with everybody, we need champions. Those to show us why it is necessary how to learn how to play an instrument, rather than ask A.I. to create a track for you. Those who love to play for the love of making music, not for celebrity, fame, or fortune. Because they’re the ones we remember. They’re the ones who inspire. So, my note to Donner and the Devil is this; keep it up.

And I might know a singer if you’re ever interested.

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