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Exclusive Premiere: Prepare For the Curve Ball That Is Dreadnought

Confession time: I’ve been sitting on this band for way, way too long. Dreadnought are one of those bands that I would never have heard about if I wasn’

9 years ago

Dreadnought_BridgingRealms


Confession time: I’ve been sitting on this band for way, way too long. Dreadnought are one of those bands that I would never have heard about if I wasn’t writing for the blog and for enabling me to reach this absolute gem, I thank both you the readers and the absolute fantastic people at PR firms all over the world, slaving away to get these smaller acts out there.

Enough gushing though: what exactly is Dreadnought? Damned if I know: have you ever taken a dive into a black hole while dropping acid, all the while listening to post black metal and stoner? If you haven’t, then there’s no real metaphor for me to use when trying to introduce you to this album: Dreadnought’s Bridging Realms is all that, and more. It fuses classical sensibilities, old school prog and post everything into one seriously approachable whole. Just head on over the jump for an exclusive track premiere and see for yourself.

Is this a tall enough order for this album? I’m still not sure. Let’s try and break it down: on the vocals we have two feminine masterminds, true professionals with exceptional ranges. Their different and unique timbres are one of the central points of experimentation but the forward thinking, out of left field approach doesn’t stop there: the album, and indeed the track above, blend piano, rich bass, punctual drums, trippy guitars and just a hint of insanity into a bewildering concoction.

While opening with a relaxing enough passage, the track takes its time to build up its speed. Along the five minute mark, everything begins to change and fast. Faster instrumentals are introduced (a good time to mention that the drumming work on this album is out of this world with how varied and talented it is) while the vocals blend two different types of screams into an oppressive, yet endearing vocal barrage. Nor has the track had enough: it quickly changes again, turning back towards some of the stoner/sludge influences that were present in the beginning. And again, as if it hadn’t already shifted on us twice, it still has one more trick near the end: Camel-like strings, wood instruments and piano over blast beats that finally culminate into a last, furious crescendo.

I was super happy to hear that this is the track we got to show you all: it has everything I love about this album. Its chock full of exactly such moments as we described above: effortless turning points between genres, natural and organic shifts in pacing, tone and vibe. Its perhaps the number one quality that makes it one of the best albums I’ve heard this year: it’s simply its own album, whatever it does. Couple that with excellent musicianship and production that does the material great service, and you have one of the best releases of 2015, hands down.

Bridging Realms drops August 11th. Make sure you head over here to snag it. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t.

-EK

Eden Kupermintz

Published 9 years ago