EL CIELO

I decided to review this because Dredg had been on this site for a few weeks now, and so far there is just one review of the album. I'm guessing this is because many people have never heard of Dredg. Well, hopefully after reading this review and the one above, you'll go out to the stores and purchase this amazing album called El Cielo. Dredg's music is hard to describe but I will give it a go. It's music that you can give repeated listens, it's layered, it's atmospheric, and above all it's filled with emotion. The singing on this album by Gavin Hayes is beautiful, and the songs are driven by a tight rythm section. The drummer, Dino, has a creative style that is both techincaly adept and incorporates many styles. The bass work is well crafted and actually adds to the music, and the guitar is used to give more atmosphere, not as a lead instrument. There are however many instruments on this album, such as piano, trumpet, strings, and even a Middle Eastern styled track called An Elephant in the Delta waves with what sounds like a mandolin.

This a concept album about a disorder known as sleep paralysis. The lyrics are abstract in a way but if you search through them you can began to come to our own conclusions. It's certaintly easier to analyze than a Mars Volta album. There is also a Salvador Dali painting that the album correspnds to. The opening track Brushstroke: Debtfoabaaposba stands for the Dali painting entitled Dream Caused By The Flight Of A Bee Around A Pomegranate One Second Before Awakening. The sound you hear in this opening is the bass player, Drew, painting something. Similarly there are a total of 5 tracks called Brushstrokes that serve as a nice interlude between songs. Some people don't like these so called "filler" tracks, but these are actually worthwhile, especially the beautiful piece Walk in the Park. It also makes listening to the album straight through a rewarding experience. The flow on this album is incredible. Because of this I won't review the album's songs separately, I view El Celio has a work of art, not has a cd of songs. Every track on here is great, there is not anything that drags the album down.

If you can, go purchase El Cielo has soon as possible. I have never met anyone who has heard this cd and not liked it. And if you are just getting into the band, this a great cd to get into them, as well as their best work so far.