DEEZ NUTS – Saudade

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7.0

• Bands:
  DEEZ NUTS
• Duration: 00:31:12
• Available from: 10/31/2025
• Label:

• Century Media Records

Streaming not yet available

The history of Deez Nuts is connected to that of I Killed The Prom Queen, an Australian metalcore group that in the early 2000s had a burst of international success together with compatriots Parkway Drive and The Amity Affliction. With the dissolution, drummer Jj Peters, lover of hardcore and hip-hop, founded Deez Nuts, a group that since 2007 has combined genres on a musical, attitudinal and aesthetic level in a very fun, foul-mouthed and hedonistic mix of genres.
Over the years, Deez Nuts began to water down their Australian origins with the permanent addition of New Yorkers Matthew 'Realbad' Rogers (guitar) and Alex Salinger (drums), permanently joining Century Media, finding their reference market in continental Europe and, unfortunately, losing bassist Sean Kennedy, who took his own life in 2021.
The suicide of Kennedy, bandmate and lifelong friend of leader Jj Peters, profoundly changes the artist's philosophy, who says goodbye to alcohol and drugs with a consequent impact on the group's partying and self-destructive side.

After the painful stop, however, it's time to go back to making music, so six long years after the previous “You Got Me Fucked Up” comes “Saudade”, with the most international lineup ever: Apolinário 'Poli' Correia (Devil In Me, Portugal) and Jesse Labovitz (No Warning, Canada) arrive alongside the stainless duo Realbad/Jj.
We do not hide that the abandonment of the party and debauched component – one of the prominent stylistic coordinates that defined the identity of Deez Nuts – was one of the main concerns in listening to the first chapter of what can easily be defined as a new course, but listening to the first pieces sometimes we can rediscover the irreverent energy of the group, the swag and the bluster typical of hip-hop soul.
Confirming Andrew Neufeld of the Comeback Kid to the console from a technical choice gradually transforms into a clear stylistic influence, especially in the second part of the tracklist, where we find a more marked search for melodies, evident in songs like “Uncut Gems” but also, in general, in the inflections of the delivery by Jj, always rhythmic and close to rap but in a certain sense 'in tune', often stuck in a melodic line. Even the sound of the guitars, with riffing always without frills, becomes more metallic and compact, in line with that of Comeback Kid.
As we were saying, there is more introspection in the lyrics, touching on sensitive themes such as loss, anger and resilience, but the added lyrical maturity and emotionality manage to coexist with the bounce and street energy of DN, all in all satisfying those who have followed them since day one.

Of course, someone may clash with the new path of the band and with the new sentimental and emotional vision of Deez Nuts, which at the beginning seemed to completely exclude the possibility of a mature evolution, but in this in many ways necessary evolution the artistic soul of the leader is reflected, which introduces new elements confirming that contagious energy and determination that has always characterized the group.
It's not a perfect center as some songs in the new direction may still seem a little generic, but in its brevity the album is direct, enjoyable and easily assimilable, with that 'plus' that conveys unprecedented emotionality.
The truth is that the years pass and considering the experience of the band leader this turn can be considered the most honest and real of possibilities. “Stay True” said the DN, and so we find them again, honest and true to themselves.