Album Reviews

Dredg has always been somewhat of a strange outfit combining art rock and experimental music with a bunch of other genres including nu metal (yikes!). Four years after “Catch Without Arms”, it’s now time to forget what you thought Dredg sounded like and listen to “The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion” with an open mind.

Inspired by the Salman Rushdie poem “A Letter To The Six Billionth Citizen” and made up of a whopping 18 songs, this is not an album that you will soak up in just one listen. Opener “Pariah” starts off cute enough with a bunch of kids singing before turning into a Maroon 5-like song. Next up is “Drunk Slide”, one of many instrumental parts on this album where the band combines electronics with guitar, before “Ireland” kicks in. It’s a solid tune with some great melodies and just enough power to keep it from being sappy. And the band has no problem keeping people interested as they wade through Southern rock with “Light Switch”, the Coldplay-esque “Information” or the rocking “Savior”.

It’s really hard to classify these guys… they share their love for experimentation with Thrice, the more danceable, poppy parts seem to come off of a Maroon 5 album and at their most epic they come very close to sounding like Muse. It sounds las if it shouldn’t work but the guys in Dredg pull it off nearly without flaws making “The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion” one of the contenders for best album of the year for me.