ORPH

Orph is an excellent debut from dredg. By the material present here it doesn't take a genius to see why they were given a contract for a full length album. Musically this most resembles Leitmotif, strangely having better production than that album. Orph carries the same heavy Tool, and tribal (in the drumming) influence as their first album would. The riffing here is downright aggressive almost in the vein of extreme progressive metal, and Dino shows what a great talent he could have been in the prog-metal scene with his powerful and ever busy drum work, taking the occasional time out for bells or various other percussion. Gavin growls much more than he would on Leitmotif, with his growling being almost equally present as is his clean voice, but he does so much more successfully here. His voice fits nicely instead of sounding strained and empty as it would on Leitmotif.

Even early on dredg show their knack for atmospheric music taking a melodic break with the beautiful interlude to the madness, "Orph". Even in the midst of their aggressive prog-metal they find the time to produce a strong melody when the raw power seems to be becoming too much. In "Is Not Everything" the band doesn't stay still for a moment especially Gavin who really does a fantastic job singing in odd time here. They remind me of a complex, talented, heavier System Of A Down here, emphasis on the talented. "Kayasuma" is the heaviest thing they've recorded circa 2006, and will probably be remain the most brutal in the dredg catalogue.

Great Ep even if a bit short lasting under 20 mins. Not really representative of dredg's sound but this short EP marks the best collection of material dredg has.

Well...this is the beginning of a brilliant band...A really poor ep in my opinion.The production is not so good i must say and the music is pretty much a mix of modern rock with a bit of grunge i should add...(some brutal vocals in there too)...The songs are not bad considering the time that this ep was created and since it was their first attempt nobody can blame them...You can definately notice that there is talent in those guys ,but still it leaves a bitter taste ...So for hardcore fans only(even though it's incredibly difficult to be found...)

Wait, is this Tool?

Dredg introductory song reminds me very much of the first release of another fairly famous prog band, Tool. While the vocals are nowhere near the quality of Maynard, the riffing and tribal drumming qualities that Dredg emits here is very reminiscent of the early Tool sound.

The best piece is the short instrumental and cultural Orph. Very creative and intriguing playing here, unfortunate that the beauty of the song lasts just a bit under two minutes. There's hints of Ireland, the Middle East, and East Asia all over this track, though a bit difficult to pinpoint.

The vocals here are nothing short of pathetic. I can't help but get the feeling that the singer has fallen ill with a stomach virus. There's no beauty in his voice during clean passages, and it's attempt at an angry tone is almost unbearable. If you want to look into this album, I suggest just checking out Orph, otherwise go to El Cielo for Dredg's best and most inspirational material.

Dredg first album (EP in fact) is not an example of what Deddg is now doing. Is an strange mixture of metal inffluences with some Tool and System of a Down elements and just some little drops of the "real" Dredg, that Dredg we know since Leitmotif. Anyway is not a bad debut. From the first notes of Is Not Everything I cen feel that somethings really good is coming. Interesting and syncopated rhythmical bases, attractive guitar sections and some intrincated melodies give the sensation to be listening a band with a great future... and at least for me, that is totally true.

The second song, Orph, is more Dredg style. Short but really athmospherical and catchy. Kayasuma (the last song) is an interesting musical adventure: very raw and hard, shows a furious band trying to find their own way.

An interesting way to understand the history of Dredg from the beginning. Not a great bunch of songs but attractive...

3.0*

Dredg - Orph

A quick little EP that I'll get into briefly. It comes before Leitmotif and features three songs, one of which is just an interlude piece. The first track, "Is Not Everything", contains a frantic, though non-exciting guitar riff as its backdrop, and builds into some cacophonous singing, and yes, rapping segments delivered by Gavin (the band remarkably comes off sounding like the Red Hot Chili Peppers on this track). Track two, "Orph" is but a neat little interlude full of interesting sounds. The final track "Kayasuma", is heavy and interesting throughout--a worthy closer.

A nice little EP that serves its place well as a sort of segue into Leitmotif and what it would contain. For fans of the band, this is highly recommended, but for casual listeners, or fans of their later period exclusively, this one is probably not worth your time. 2 stars--Collectors/Fans only, as they are the only ones likely to care about it anyway.