![]() When they don acoustic guitars, they cax92t help but rip off \x93Paranoid Android\x94 the Latin accents and slower tempos are as authentic as a Zorro movie. As exotic and svelte as Dredg want to sound, they havex92t found a way to do it without watering down their music. You cax92t fault the rest of the band, when they stick to melodic hard rock at least they nail the punchy clean riffs on \x93Sanzex94, and tracks like \x93Convalescent\x94 and \x93Eighteen People Living in Harmony\x94 burn with the urgency of painting flames on a classic car, but they lose their edge when they soften the mood. ![]() Then wonder fills his voice as he sings, \x93Babies are born/ In the same buildings where people go/ To pass away.pass away.\x94 Yes, Gavin. ![]() \x93All you need is a modest house in a modest neighborhood/ In a modest town where honest people dwell,\x94 he states at one point, with a naiveté that's neither affected nor effective. Mostly, he just sounds weird: his lyrics are like getting trapped at a party by a guy who wants to talk about dolphins, or Ralph Nader. Leitmotif, he's still in an awkward niche: he's too sincere and hopeful to sandpaper our eyes with visions of horror, yet too smooth to let his guard down. Painfully earnest and sounding more assured than on their previous record It's too diffuse to match its scope, and all of the influences melt down to a bland sheen.Īlthough frontman Gavin Hayes could have set the tone here, he's a hard man to read. I dox92t mean the lyrics or the central concept, which are enough of a Rorschach test to let any devoted fan dig out whatever they want from this album (post-millennial dread, musings on the conflict between the real and the unreal, the active and the paralyzed- all your favorite themes are here), but the hundred and one ideas thrown onto this record dox92t hang together. There's just one problem: El Cielo makes no sense. Veering between ominous dirges and wide-eyed big sky anthems, they play massive art metal that's been treated to multi-layered, intricate production in the vein of Radiohead and Pink Floyd and for a band that can smash and roil like waves against Pacific beaches, they frequently take the subtler road, softening themselves with atmosphere and world music flourishes. This California art metal band resembles Tool raised by hippies, encouraged to finger-paint all day. For more info and tickets, call 965-8676 or visit 's just the first puzzle in Dredg's latest full-length. Known for their high energy and hard-rocking live shows-not to mention their legions of devoted fans-the band are sure to draw quite the crowd. This Saturday, August 29, Dredg makes a stop at Velvet Jones (423 State St.) with fellow tourmates Rx Bandits and As Tall as Lions at 8 p.m. ![]() Rushdie references aside, the band are very much hard at work, having recently hit the road in support of The Pariah. We are extremely excited and flattered to share an evening with such a talent.” “Salman Rushdie is a living example of such courage and one of the reasons why we chose to use his essay : as an outline and inspiration for our new record and its artwork. “Progress has always relied on bold and courageous efforts to cut the ties to old traditions, trends, and beliefs,” Hayes said in a recent press release. Oh yeah, and the whole thing is inspired by Salman Rushdie’s essay, “Imagine There’s No Heaven: A Letter to the Six Billionth World Citizen.” In fact, the band are slated to pair up with Rushdie this fall for an AIDS/HIV fundraising event called Liner Notes at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in New York City. The 18-track record draws from the band’s more prog-minded roots while remaining surprisingly listenable, incorporating everything from spiraling instrumental tracks (“Stamp of Origin: Pessimistic”) to pop-infused rock-outs (“Saviour,” “Pariah”). Now, some four years later, the Los Gatos four-piece (made up of singer Gavin Hayes, guitarist Mark Engles, bassist Drew Roulette, and drummer/keyboardist Dino Campanella) return to the fold with The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion. And in 2005, the band’s Catch Without Arms attempted to conceptualize contrasts and opposites in its two-part format. In 2002, the band released El Cielo, based on Salvador Dal- and his struggles with sleep paralysis. In 1998, the band’s first full-length, Leitmotif, followed one man’s global travels to cure his unnamed disease. Since busting onto the alt-rock scene way back in ’93, Dredg have never shied away from experimentation.
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