Dredg treads familiar and similarly fascinating ground with its second major-label release El Cielo.
Following in the footsteps of the heavily lauded major-label debut of Leitmotif, Dredg continue upon the avant-garde concept album rock path. El Cielo yields such lines as “watch clouds peek over the tallest mountain tops, cuz they unveil honest opinions about the stars” from the album’s real opener “Same Ol’ Road”. Although there is almost a whole minute of sound before the album begins, “Same Ol’ Road” marks the start of the journey through the sub-consciousness that dominates the album’s theme.
Drew Roulette —the bassist for Dredg— said that the overall theme of the album is sleep paralysis. He declined to comment further, preferring that the album speak to each listener in its own unique way.
The album’s flow, specifically the way the songs all seem to meld together, reinforces the concept style current of El Cielo. Dredg lists both Pink Floyd and Radiohead as influences, and their affect on the band is made apparent by the sonic texture of this album.
The influences are evident — though not overtly so — especially the late ‘70s intelligence of engineering an entire album to be a cohesive whole.
As with any other band, there is always a main attraction. In Dredg’s case, the ray of light is Gavin Hayes, lead singer.
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Hayes’ vocals shine on this album as they have through Dredg’s history, continuing to be a focal point for good reason. His voice has been compared to that of Robert Smith of The Cure, but Gavin has never been so dominated by depression. Hayes’ range, and the band’s ability as songwriters, has been thoroughly tested in ways that Smith never was. “Of The Room”, track 12 on El Cielo, is as sad as anything The Cure ever wrote, but could The Cure have managed so complex a song as “Triangle” which starts slow, builds to a furious breaking point and all of a sudden changes direction?
Dredg does not like to think of their albums as concept albums, per se.
“Each song on the record is a different country,” Drew said.
To venture from border to border with as much success as Dredg has consistently maintained displays talent that is not yet ready to be recognized by the mainstream, but cannot be held back for too long.
Dredg is kicking off their month long tour in Albuquerque Thursday at the Sunshine Theater.
