There’s a sense of a small victory when Dios, formerly Dios Malos, took to the stage at The Troubadour touting new material, presenting an echo-drenched miasma with Epileptic Tunnel Vision, the first song off of “WeAreDios.” It’s great to know that with all the Beach Boys comparisons thrown at the band, they haven’t really changed: they still sit in the dark, still provide heroic chord changes and when they do leave orbit they take everyone along. Lead Singer Joel Morales admits that “WeAreDios” was in the oven for a bit longer than the band would have liked, but the sound, the intensity/unity of it all is like a big fly swatter coming down on all those butterflies they make us feel.

The core band consists of four, but on February 16 at the Troubadour there were percussions, there were a second set of keys, backup singers and someone on an overhead projector providing visuals. Here’s to hoping that Dios, who’ve never suffered from any type of God complex, go on to tour and blast off into orbit and satellite around other continents mellowing everyone out just a bit.

We Are Dios