22062011

dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion (2009)

(progressive rock / art rock)

With the dawn of their new album, Chuckles and Mr Squeezy, I had to get back into their older production as well. The aforementioned album is hideous and I was in the need of a sanctuary to satisfy my musical expectations from dredg. Their '09 release is, in my opinion, much stronger of a release than they a re given credit for it. The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion tells stories of a desperate lover who is chasing constantly for the love of his life. The feelings are depicted as emotions of trial, triumph, and departure. The love described in the lyrics of the songs seems like the kind of love, which carves your heart slowly with tiny needles. You're looking at the world but you can only see the target of your affection. I think we've all been there once, or twice.

Realizing how lonely you actually are in this world, the feeling that you only want to be home (change) the chase after love, the wait for love, the first disappointments, the feeling that you don't know about your own feelings anymore, the separation, missing your loved one

The Stamps of Origin are short interlude tracks, which balance the album out excellently. dredg has always been intriguing on the instrumental side more than it has been on the lyrical side. The melodies they are able to provide us with seem to be from a foreign country no matter where you're from. Supported by Gavin Hayes' soft, mellow vocals the melodies gain a new level and dredg's music adds attributes of vocal talent to itself. Gathering Pebbles speaks of how the desperate lover is chasing for his love, collecting all the pebbles the loved one leaves, meaning to eventually catch up. It's one of the strongest tracks on the album and with its follow-up, Information, they tower in the middle of album. Information tells of a situation where the lover has caught up but is not yet sure of the emotions of his counterpart.

Saviour shifts the atmosphere into retaliation, revenge and anger. The riffs of Engles turn rougher and drag you through the pain you've been suffering for long enough. From here start the feelings of not knowing what to feel and dredg guides you through these feelings like a ship through a brutal storm. I Don't Know and Mourning This Morning open up the thematics of the album further and close the lid on the musical strength of this album. The guitar work is captivating and Hayes sounds like he's still living the times of Catch Without Arms. The atmosphere can be grasped with bare hands, touched with red lips.

In the end, the lovers fall into the downward spiral of drug use. I had hopes for a love that would last despite all the harsh trials and the effort they put into it, or at least the desperate lover did. I find the lyrics in Quotes to be relieving - they show a promise of something good, safe. Yet, they only mean escapism by drugs. That's somewhere we all haven't been to, not even once. This escape only ends at the edge of a dark abyss, an abyss which you're about to step in.'

dredg at their best, I can't deny it after this album touched me somewhere quite deep.

.it's your one and only chance.