Dredg
Catch Without Arms

THE REVIEW

Three years have passed since the release of the indispensable and majestic El Cielo.
Yet it feels like yesterday. Perhaps it's because I still listen to it on a weekly basis. Just like their debut Leitmotif. If these guys remain trapped in my CD player, there must be a reason, right?!?!
I ask myself this, of course rhetorically. I know perfectly well what Dredg has that very few from today's and past's musical chaos do.
Originality, sensitivity, and a coherent evolution.

And obviously, the narrative isn't interrupted with "Catch Without Arms," fresh off the press. It's alarming how Dredg manages to produce only wonders... maybe that's why at the moment there's only desolation and musical flatness in the landscape, all ideas land only on planet Dredg.
These tones may appear excessively enthusiastic, but I feel confident in guaranteeing à la Muzio Scaevola that the disappointment of the purchase won't even brush those who will enter their musical orbit for a second. A precious and diverse product of immense quality and excellent production, crafted in the smallest detail, both in packaging and arrangements.

The sounds leap and alternate on the two paths of my Bose speakers without allowing me to have any point of reference: it feels like a perpetual chase between my eager eardrum and the musical score that flows liquid and fast in all directions.
Like the zigzagging start of 'Ode To The Sun,' unexpected and sharp like a snare, unfolding on a continuous series of emotional climbs and descents. A few minutes in, and the register changes abruptly with the "zebra's coat" (track #5), a fluid composition whose sound ranges without encountering obstacles, until the moment the first notes of the syncopated 'Tanbark' begin to play: it's another lightning strike. And then all 12 movements flow quickly, among which it's truly difficult to identify a composition that stands out among them all, so high is the average level of this work. Certainly faster compared to previous productions, yet recognizable among a thousand other albums in seconds; this is called style, and these guys have it in spades.

It's a work that should be listened to in one go, each track is improved by the presence of the others, all remarkable also thanks to the strength and common soul that embraces all 12, nevertheless intimately different due to influences and times (from the electronic Moby, to the early U2, passing through the more melodic Deftones with some deep toolian and filter influences).
Electro, rock, ballad, and hard, tinged with wave: in short, among the most convincing products that one can ask of music at the moment.
They play, and that's all that matters.