Opening track “No Sense of Rhythm” starts this album off promisingly with propulsive drums and taut New Wave guitar, culminating in an arena-era Police-esque chorus.  Considering Chris DeVito learned drums to record this album, it’s impressive how percussion-centered the album is. 

Local reviews: Chris DeVito

By
April 9, 2013

Local Music Reviews

Chris DeVito
Of Life
Self-Released
Street: 11.09.09
Chris DeVito=The Police + Pearl Jam – Eddie Vedder
Opening track “No Sense of Rhythm” starts this album off promisingly with propulsive drums and taut New Wave guitar, culminating in an arena-era Police-esque chorus.  Considering Chris DeVito learned drums to record this album, it’s impressive how percussion-centered the album is.  Unfortunately, the rest of the album doesn’t live up to the first track’s promise—I suspect it has to do with DeVito’s creative energy being spent on learning drums when it should have been used to come up with more interesting guitar riffs.  Additionally, DeVito tries to project an arena sound from too small of a platform.  It’s not impossible to cram classic rock into an independent release—Robert Pollard helped invent a genre doing it. In order to carve a place in such uneasy territory, an artist needs to be brilliant, not merely talented.  Of Life isn’t a bad starting point, but that’s all it is.