May 30, 1999 - Dredg and Leitmotif

Five days after my last release a new band joins my library when Dredg released their debut album "Leitmotif" on May 30, 1999. But who is Dredg? They are a four-piece alternative rock band from Los Gatos, California consisting of bassist Drew Roulette, drummer and keyboardist Dino Campanella, guitarist Mark Engles and lead singer/guitarist Gavin Hayes. Dredg play an interesting style of experimental/art rock and there's also some progressive elements, including a 20 minute track.  Let's see what Dredg is all about!

The album begins with a Chinese character, but since it's not in our typical alphabet it is typically known as "Symbol Song" and it has a slow and trippy opening before some heavy bass comes in and we hear some cool guitar overtop as well as some solid percussion in the background. The percussion changes to a normal drum kit, but things still sound cool and Hayes finally comes in to sing the first verse. He's got a sort of high voice that is decent but nothing special honestly. The chorus has some heavier and louder guitars and it sounds pretty good. They don't stray from this verse and chorus, but things sound solid and pretty interesting and I think it's a good choice to open the album. Up next is the first of five movements on this album, the minute-long "Movement I: @45°N, 180°W". It's instrumental and it really just feels like an outro to the first song: it's right along the same beat and has similar guitars: one guitarist going heavy, and the other playing the cool lighter lead riff. Track 3 is "Lechium" and Roulette's bass forms the backbone while the two guitarists play some different stuff that goes together pretty well in this light but decent opening. Things eventually get heavier as we apparently hear the first verse and chorus with no vocals before Hayes finally comes in. He sings another decent verse and chorus as they continue with the light-to-heavy progression. After a couple more goes through Hayes shows us a different side by screaming a little bit and I'm a fan! It's not the clearest or best scream, but it sounds heavy still and it sounds way better than his singing, in my opinion. This middle part is pretty sweet, then they return to the main riff to nicely tie things up. The next track is "Movement II: Crosswind Minuet" and Campanella plays a catchy drum beat to start us off. Bass follows next and then some piano for the first time as Dino plays some slow but cool stuff. Guitar eventually comes in as well and then the piano picks up and sounds pretty cool. A nice little interlude that leads right into track 5 "Traversing Through The Arctic Cold We Search For The Spirit Of Yuta". It starts with some slow bass and guitar, but the drums are faster and upbeat and the other guitarist plays some acoustic guitar that is also faster and it sounds good overtop the slow and low backdrop. Hayes adds some wailing vocals that stay in the background and all in all this makes for an interesting but very strange main riff. After four minutes of this the song seems to end and we move into a super trippy new part with all kinds of psychedelic and crazy noises. This whole song is very unique and out of character with the rest of the album, but it does sound pretty trippy, like everything is going haywire inside a spaceship. It fades to a close eventually and this was one weird song! Up next is "Movement III: Lyndon" and one guitarist keeps the pace with one riff while the other plays some more cool acoustic guitar overtop. The drums are decent as well and while it's a little repetitive, it's another solid little interlude. The end of it sounds really cool, and this cool riff turns out to be the main riff of the next track "Penguins In The Desert" as the roll right in with this catchy guitar riff ready to go. The other guitarist helps out and adds some cool extra bits and Hayes comes in screaming again, and again things sound heavy and pretty sweet! Hayes alternates between singing and screaming for most of this song and I really like the mix as both parts sound good overtop the heavy and catchy main riff. Things get really quiet suddenly as they shift into a new riff that sounds pretty good with Hayes singing lightly to match the mood. They nicely return to the main riff and Hayes screams one last time before they nicely finish things off. A new guitar riff trails off at the end and it becomes the next track "Movement IV: RR". It's got the same guitar eiff that finished off the last track and Roulette plays some groovy bass and Campanella plays some catchy drums as well in this solid little instrumental interlude. There's even some violin near the end that sounds fairly dark and epic. Track 9 is "Yatahaze" and it starts slow but a fast guitar riff ramps things up until they hit a nice heavy main riff with Hayes singing decently overtop. They nicely jam out this heavy riff for a bit until Hayes switches to yelling/screaming near the end and once again I think he sounds way better and much more fitting to the music when he yells. Things shift for the end as they switch to a much lighter riff to awkwardly finish off what was a pretty good tune. The final track on the album is "Movement V: 90 Hour Sleep" and it's over twenty minutes long! It starts very slowly with one guitarist playing a slow riff to keep the pace while the other one plays some high, trippy stuff and they go together pretty well. The rhythm section nicely falls in behind and they slowly but decently jam this part out with the guitar and drums picking up as we go. This lasts for a little over two minutes and then the album would appear to be over as we hit a lengthy bout of silence that lasts for seven minutes. Some trippy noises start to come out of the silence and after some pretty psychedelic stuff a drum beat settles in and we hear a verse, but it sounds like it's way off in the distance. One ear of the headphones plays this faraway riff that sounds decent enough, and if it weren't so quiet it would be pretty heavy! The other ear continues with the psychedelic noises and together things sound very strange indeed. The noises are all over the place, but the verse sounds heavy as fuck, it's a little annoying they did it like this because this could've been the best track on the album! The left ear continues to sound pretty sweet despite it's low volume and words cannot properly describe the noises heard in the right ear, it's suuuuuuper trippy. This part is so long and so crazy and the pitch eventually reaches piercingly high, so high that we hear the guys gasping and laughing in the studio to finish things off. What a very weird and unique song.

That is the end of "Leitmotif" and it was certainly an interesting album. Of course I loved the heavier parts and Gavin Hayes is a decent singer but his screaming upsets were definitely my favourite. They play a unique and interesting style of rock that is all over the place and I thought it was a solid but not amazing album. I hope Dredg will keep up the heaviness, and the weirdness, next time!