Dredg
The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion

A journey lasting exactly sixty minutes, hoping it never ends.

These are the sensations that Dredg makes you savor with this new "The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion". It's not easy to explain what you might feel when listening to the enchanting melodies crafted by the Californian band. A crescendo of emotions never banal, never rationalizable. Hardly defined. The sense of disorientation that the first listen may provoke should not dissuade you from delving deeper into such an extraordinary and complete work. Yes, because once you enter their world, it will be difficult to return to the harsh reality and the usual everyday songs.

The progressive and alternative rock matrix typical of the band perfectly blends with the Pop and melodic nuances that already made an appearance on the excellent "Catch Without Arms". Here we talk about song form and an extraordinary ability to create melodies and killer choruses that do nothing but increase the final judgment.
The stellar production brings to maximum power a sound meticulously curated in every small detail. Only after several listens can one fully realize the compactness and, at the same time, the thousand facets of the offering from the four Californians.

The powerful opener "The Pariah" catapults us into the mood of a complex CD, never banal and worthy of being included among the best releases of 2009. The bridge, placed just before the closure, marked by a pounding bass, takes us back to the debut times of "Leitmotif". Epic.
The bass lines of "I Don't Know", seem to have come from some '80s CD. All this without distorting the band's typical sound, making it, in fact, even richer and more original.
We're not talking about epoch-making tracks, but ones capable of creating melodies with an embarrassingly classic flavor. "Information", not coincidentally chosen as the first single/video, continues the discourse of that wonderful "Bug Eyes". The radiant and sunny openings, painted by the singer Gavin Hayes, are the same. A radio hit ready to create new followers, to the delight of the label and the more open-minded listeners' ears.

The interludes to which Dredg has accustomed us are many and well-structured. Perhaps among the best ever composed.
The more melodic and mainstream-flavored openings (classy, however) are felt in tracks like "Mourning This Mourning", or "Ireland". The whole CD is appreciated without unnecessary fillers.

We're not talking about a masterpiece, but something exciting and brilliant from the first to the last note. "El Cielo" exceeded every limit. This "The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion" comes very close to doing so.