Dredg Albums (5)
'The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion'
Release Date 5/19/2009
Tracks 18
Label Dredg
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What The Critics Say
In just four albums, California's Dredg have run the gamut from atonal, angular alternative metal outfit to epic, unpredictable progressive rockers with one foot in "loud/quiet/loud" world of emo and the other in genre-defying abyss of art rock. Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion represents the best of both worlds, employing top-notch musicianship, meticulous production, and memorable melodies atop an ambitious narrative culled from (in part) a Salman Rushdie essay called "Imagine There's No Heaven: A Letter to the 6 Billionth Citizen." While weeding through the wreckage of science, sociology, and religion for the quivering individual may seem like heavily guarded Radiohead territory, Dredg pulls it off with the human heart still intact. At 18 tracks, it can be a lot to swallow, but keep in mind that many of these are transitional pieces and rarely overstay their welcome. Obvious singles like "I Don't Know," "Saviour," and "Pariah" may be "modern rock" radio-ready, but they're "mathy" enough for the tech-loving music geeks, highbrow enough for the progressive rock elitists, and emotional enough for bike riding indie rockers. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
'Live at the Fillmore'
Release Date 11/7/2006
Tracks 19
Label Interscope
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What The Critics Say
Live at the Fillmore finds the expansive and dramatic alt-rock band Dredg performing at the legendary San Francisco venue in May of 2006. Included are such tracks as "Bug Eyes" and "Ode to the Sun" off the band's 2005 studio effort Catch Without Arms. Also featured are "Yahatee" off the group's debut Leitmotif, and "Same Ol' Road" from 2002's Cielo. This is an atmospheric, impassioned and engaging performance that should please longtime fans as well as work as a nice introduction to Dredg's sound. ~ Matt Collar, All Music Guide
'Catch Without Arms'
Release Date 6/21/2005
Tracks 12
Label Interscope
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
It makes sense that Terry Date produced Catch Without Arms, Dredg's second record for Interscope. The producer is a veteran of Deftones albums, and it's that band's rich but still rocking palette that's the intent here. And they succeed. Like past Dredg releases Catch has a conceptual flow. But openers "Ode to the Sun" and "Bug Eyes" focus the grandeur and meandering pace of the band's past work around effective melodies and a steadiness in the rhythm. The choruses emphasize the Bono/Chino Moreno in Gavin Hayes' vocal, and when the rhythm drops out for a contemplative piano moment, nothing feels forced because this is what Dredg has been working toward for years. It's not like in the blurry emo world, where string sections crash regularly into soliloquies and it usually just ends up as melodrama. Catch Without Arms looks to groups like Deftones and At the Drive-In, but there's also a tremendous capacity in Dredg for straightforward pop. The title track is a standout, as is "Zebraskin," which with its keyboards and silky beat could be Cousteau or Sweetback. No kidding. And then the churning guitar intro of "Tanbark Is Hot Lava" drops, and you're bewildered again. "Sang Real" features drum processing and treated piano, "Planting Seeds" has the tension/chorus release quality of contemporary Brit-pop, and "Spitshine" has one of the record's strongest melodies. Dredg does lose the thread occasionally. The wandering "Jamais Vu" sounds like a stoned Incubus, complete with undergraduate love letter lyrics. ("I will wait all of this time above you/is that what you wanted?") And the album could've really used more of the band's rocking side, to balance the band's prodigious use of atmosphere. But "Hung Over on a Tuesday" offers just such a blend, and "Not That Simple" opens its chorus with a satisfying distortion crunch that's predictable, but nevertheless irresistible. The influences in Dredg's sound swirl thicker than ghosts above a cemetery. Still, Catch Without Arms works. It focuses the band's exploratory qualities instead of reigning them in completely. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Dredg is one of those rare bands who truly cannot be categorized. Gavin Hayes' vocals cascade like a waterfall over a sea of scratching Latin rhythms, dulcimers, guitars in odd time signatures, and prog rock-inspired drums. Hayes shares his penchant for Bulgarian chants in "Triangle" and "Same Ol' Road." "Whoa Is Me" could provide the soundtrack to all things haunted. Whether it's a piano and strings or Cure-influenced (specifically the Cure's "Fascination Street") guitars, instruments fill the time between songs on El Cielo. They offer a respite from the monotony and the slow-fast-slow style of songwriting. In an odd moment at the end of "Whoa Is Me," a soft-spoken public radio DJ speaks of a jazz number from 1944. The full-throttle rocker "It Only Took a Day" is one of the highlights. El Cielo is unlikely to become a hit on commercial radio, but perhaps Dredg could find their niche on college stations. ~ Christina Fuoco, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
With this major-label reissue of their independent release, Dredg presents an imposing, large-form sound, influenced equally by classic concept albums and contemporary hardcore elements. Washes of distorted guitar course through long, drone-based passages interspersed with low-key instrumental segues, as singer Gavin Hayes outlines a story of a wanderer's search for and attainment of redemption. Much of the message is buried within the roaring din that is something of a trademark for this San Jose foursome, but attention is given as well to seductive, Eastern-inflected melodies and more than a few jazz-inflected but heavy-handed jams. The predominant references, however, are psychedelic: the abstract synthesizer noises and murky guitar abstractions of "Intermission," the somewhat superfluous incorporation of cello on "Movement IV: RR," the haphazard application of the title "Minuet II: Crosswind Minuet" to a piece written in a waltz-like 6/8, the disconnected bits that lead from "Movement III: Lyndon" to the balls-out high point of the album, "Penguins in the Desert," and especially the anarchic doodles at the end of the album, which recall nothing so much as the indulgences of After Bathing at Baxter's. It's an ambitious vision that drives Leitmotif, one that's better appreciated in its entirety than in its sometimes frayed details. ~ Robert L. Doerschuk, All Music Guide
