this is my fav band
dredg - leitmotif
I will try to do something impossible here, that is, try to explain the perfection, the magic behind dredg's "leitmotif". Before you start reading this, please forgive me if in the lines below I write too much of the qualities for this band, but you all probably know by now how much dredg and their music means to me. All I will write here, and I don't even know exactly what it will be, will be nothing but what I feel about this Los Gatos' band's music. dredg is heavenly. It's unreal. It's the perfection in music. God's gift to mankind side by side with GTA2. You just can't listen to it as you do with your usual cd's. dredg's music takes you on a musical trip, and once you get back you'll never see art with the same eyes. It changes all your musical perspective, because it trespasses every single limit you may have for music and reaches what I, at least, can call perfection. dredg is perfect, and I say that with my conscience just as clear as the clearest crystal.
Maybe back in time of the Orph E.P., dredg's previous release, I could call them a heavy band. But even in that time, they already showed touches of what they're doing today, something different, not copying anyone, but instead, taking their own route. A route they're paving themselves. The band's new style isn't heavy, when compared, of course, with the heavy bands we all listen to now a days. It was by no means affected by Korn or any other new metal band. Their music is just SOOOOOOOOOOOOO above it. dredg's music gets inside your soul without even having the decency to tell you, "I'm coming in", and before you realize it, it dopes you with gentle doses of emotion. Once you get back to reality, you just can't believe what you have just experienced, because their music is just so beautiful, so powerful, so intense......it's unique. I've heard Pink Floyd comparisons by the guys at Streetwise, even though I can't see that very much. Someone also said to me once that they sounded like a heavier version of Dave Matthews Band, but since I don't know much of Dave Matthews work, I'm not sure about how legitimate this is. Eitherway, those comparisons are just not good enough, in my opinion. No one has ever wrote music like this, and you can notice that by the first notes of "Symbol Song", the album's first track. Beautiful guitar notes with a coherent use of percussions, and all of a sudden, BAM! Gavin's voice gets in crashing everything with it's unique and distinct melody. "he said: patience is the key for a change to ensue." Remember the first time you listened to Tool or the Deftones (notable influences)? That's how you will feel when you listen to this. You just simply remain there, hesitant, doped, static, numb, trying to believe in what you're listening to. Is it reality? Am I dreaming?
No, I can gladly say you're not. The melody and uniqueness showed in the music Gavin, Dino, Drew, and Mark create is just so astonishing that you'll have to get help to pick your jaw off from the floor. There's a heavy and refined use of dynamics there. Things that call for your attention right from the first time you listen to the album are the guitars and the drums / percussion. The guitar lines are just so impressive, so beautiful and emotional, yet they're not like the guitars from bands like Sunny Day Real Estate or Lifetime. They're different. Most of them are not as heavy. It's almost like the guitars have all the keys to open all the doors in their way until they reach that part of your brain that makes you think: "goddamn, that's very beautiful". There are also songs where they use an acoustic guitar instead of an electric one, as, for example, Movement III: Lyndon, an instrumental song that gives you butterflies when listening to it. The percussion / drums are also a very nice feature in this band's musical banquet. They're not complex, anyone who listens to them can say that, but they're very, VERY creative, and it leaves a clear image that the drummer thought a lot about how the drum beats would be better in this or that part. Not only the drums, but the music as a whole just feels so damn correct, so damn perfect, that it's almost like, if you change a single note or a single beat, the entire thing just lose it's stability and crumble.
Another thing that is notable in leitmotif is how the songs on it never sound the same. I'll give you 10 dollars if you name 2 songs that are similar to each other on that album. They are not. Even the songs change during their time. Penguins in the Desert is the perfect example. The song starts with a heavy ass guitar riff, with Gavin even risking some screams, but halfway through, the music changes completely. It morphs into a mellow tone with a very slow flow, side by side with extremely powerful singing, without losing the cohesion. That special part of the song proportionates one of the most beautiful moments in the entire record. After reading what the band has written in the booklet: "all instruments and sounds are real. no samples", it's clear that they are really proud of what they have accomplished and don't want any misunderstanding about their music. I wonder how it works live.....
leitmotif, just like Fear Factory's Obsolete, contains a story in the booklet, talking about a person who has a moral disease, and has to visit five different cultures to evolve into a higher consciousness, and finally be cured. Thanks to my not so good english, I was not able to understand the entire thing, but it seems like a very heart-to-heart message hinting that people should not live by material things only, instead they should search for beauty and happiness outside the normal standards and limits. The album also comes with the participation of Spike 1000's lead singer, Shannon Harris, and a guy named Gus Farwell, who sounds like an opera singer. Another nice thing to state is that leitmotif plays in your stereo as if it was only one song, not having those pauses between the tracks. Something that bands like Pink Floyd used to do at times.
Usually, a band has to release two or three albums to prove to people how talented they are. dredg, with this album and a couple other mp3's, has proved not only for me, but I'm sure to every single soul who has at least once listened to any pieces of their music that they're probably the most talented band of the moment. Perfect music created by creative minds. dredg is for music what Michael Jordan is for basketball or what Jesus Christ is for christianism. Their music is beautiful. Enchanting. Hypnotizing. Glorious. From the first day Gavin, Dino, Drew, and Mark played their first notes together, music itself has been born again. Only this time, with more strength and better than ever. My hope is theirs, my faith is theirs, my heart is theirs..... |
