Album Review: dredg - The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion
Oversaturation is rarely a good thing. The same could be said about the long wait between albums. In a world of short attention spans, and even shorter memories, bands are swept under the rug quicker than cat hair and Cheetos. It’s been four years now since California prog-rockers dredg last released anything, but nevertheless, they’re back and with their fourth studio release, the overly ambitious, The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion. This massive 18-track effort is stacked with just about everything, from vocalist Gavin Hayes’s ever soaring vocals to the bands’ constantly changing musical styling. The album, however, feels like any other album that take years to put out: over-done and over-produced.
Inspired by a Salmon Rushdie poem, “A Letter to the Six Billionth Citizen” (the band wrote the songs for the seven billionth citizen, said to be born around June), the hour long effort features many of what would normally be considered instrumental tracks. These tracks are anything but filler, and some of which are the stronger listens to be found here. Opening up is “Pariah” which starts off as a quiet introduction to the album, with a group of children chanting before guitarist Mark Engles kicks in with a heavy riff that quickly overshadows all else. Catch Without Arms fans will be immediately pleased by the track as it easily matches up with nearly anything from their previous effort.
The first instrumental track comes in next with “Drunk Slide”. The keyboard heavy effort has perhaps one of the catchiest beats here. Though dark and dance-y, the track sounds like it could have been a fully worked out song, and instead was left behind. “Ireland” comes up next and sounds like a single, but in a bad way. In no way, shape or form should this band ever feel generic. To the band’s credit, they do weave some original and intriguing hallmarks throughout, such as the little vignettes of music labeled as, “Stamp of Origin”’s. Though hardly fully fledged out songs, these minor tracks are more or less audio postcards from distant places. Again, it’s just clever.
“Light Switch” chimes in with some odd blues and southern rock, immediately proving that the band should keep things out west, as the sound doesn’t necessarily fit. Nevertheless, it makes for an interesting listen, especially when the orchestra kicks in, turning things in a very different direction. “Gathering Pebbles” chills things down…a lot. Keeping things in left field territory, the band fiddles about with the piano and churns out what could be mistaken as elevator music. Either that or the daily soundtrack for The Weather Channel. That may sound very strange, but the quick moving piano parts, constantly changing guitar styles, and Hayes singing style keep you listening, waiting for the next shift or heavy guitar riff.
The heavy rocking part of the album kicks in with “Savior”, which starts deafeningly loud before switching to a much more alternative sounding track that could easily be a single, though it was already released as a b-side to first single, “I Don’t Know”. The pounding track eventually leads into the quieter sounds of “R U O K” which sounds like it was produced by a devilish Speak n’ Spell. Drummer Dino Campanella and guitarist Engles are left to their devices here and leave the track very relaxed. Aforementioned single “I Don’t Know” finds the band in a confused state with Hayes singing, “There’s no guarantee of a God or longevity/admit you don’t know anything, and give it up.” It’s all very radio friendly, and frankly, overproduced.
No better example of this comes then with instrumental track, “Long Days and Vague Clues”. While an awesome listen and epic in nature, thanks mostly to a booming orchestra, one starts to wonder if they’re listening to dredg or Finnish metal band Apocalyptica. The songs just keep going and going. The same could be said for “Quotes”, another example of a track fairly drawn out. For the first four or five minutes, the track entertains, but it soon wears thin and lingers on some.
It’s a shame most of the songs couldn’t take notes from closing instrumental, “Down in the Cellar”, or even the album’s last “postcard,” “Stamp of Origin: Horizon”. These tracks are well placed, and because of that they efficiently close out a rocky album. So, what should fans take away from this, this four years in the making effort? For the most part, The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion is a decent listen, it’s just quite the chore to get through. Some fans will eat up the dramatic change ups, while others will probably care less and move on. The latter being the most likely.
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The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion
Anyone who says they love this CD doesn’t know music, or dredg…it is even worse than Catch Without Arms, which is saying a lot. It’s not art, it is dredg trying to create this artifical personna of profundity without the creativity to back it up. Their are a few worthwhile moments at best with this CD. The lyrics seem like they are trying to say something very specific while at the same time leaving it ambiguous…”realize it’s your own fault”? What are they talking about? I have seen them live more than a few times, and El Cielo is still among my favorite albums, but these guys need to wake up, though I expect they will continue to suck…and shut up, by the way.
I used to love Dredg before Catch Before Arms came along. I hated Catch Before Arms, and when I saw that their new album was going to be released I had high hopes for it. At first listen I liked it MUCH better than all of Catch Before Arms. I liked the heavier music in most of this album, it is a good change from boring (in my opinion) Catch Before Arms. My favourite song in the album is I Don’t Know for his vocals that seem to shine. Overall this album is much better than CBA (too lazy to type it again on my iPod) but not as good as El Cielo (spelling?).
Wow! I’m so glad someone else thinks that “Long Days and Vague Clues” sounds like S.G.M. Listen to their ‘Of Natural History’ (I highly recommend it regardless of its similarity to this Dredge song). I wonder if this similarity in sound came from their days of touring together? A tribute of some kind? I will say that the content of S.G.M.’s ‘Of Natural History’ fits perfectly into the story arc that ‘Long Days’ occupies on this novel of an album by Dredge. So Good!
I forgot to mention that I didn’t hear Apocalyptica in “Long Days and Vague Clues.” Not at all actually. It sounds (I’d say exactly) like Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.
I don’t think I’ll purchase this dredg album. I wasn’t impressed with their last one. It was a huge disappointment. From the bits I’ve heard from this one, it isn’t any better.
Thanks for the honest review.
This band lost ther momentum after El Cielo. I loved that album at the time, but in retrospect, i’d call it somewhere in between ‘good’ and ‘really good’ and nothing more. The band have a cool sound and can write some great parts, but I can’t stand their songy-songs. Catch Without Arms is nearly unlistenable to me with the exception of certain parts in certain songs. This album also has some cool bits, but this band isn’t and never will be nearly as cool as they were at the time of El Cielo. And this is from a guy that has seen them 6 or 7 times.
Mmm, I see…I like a lot of bands, and I respect every effort; i couldn’t never give an album less than 3 stars or less than 6.5; it’s insulting for the artist. I love Tool, Deftones, Muse, amongst different artists from pop, hip/hop to Metal and Hxc…Of course i have listened to some regular albums, but regular means ‘repetitive’, not bad. Dredg is one my favorite bands ever, and this album is just the growth of the band. It’s more pop, it’s dark-brigh, progressive, catchy cometimes…that’s why i don’t understand this review. I mean, could you please tell me better records than this in the last year!!! there are, but how many?
Diego, I love dredg actually, but found this to be my least favorite of their albums, and a fairly average listen, it’s not like I think it’s anywhere near the worst album of the year, it’s definately not.
As far as my musical taste goes, I love everything, well except country music (no offense just not my thing). Some of my favorite include Muse, NIN, rx bandits, mars Volta, radiohead… along with several hundred others.
For the record I think five star reviews should only be given out on extremely rare occasions or we water down what truely great music is.
I’m sure the band works extremely hard as every band does, and can’t wait to see them on the upcoming tour!
What a lame review!!! this man does not know about music!!! ‘over-produced’ hahahahah..what a loser and ignorant you are…This album is beautiful, from start to end!!! it’s just a piece of art. I have listened in my life thousands of records, and of course, i enjoy all the effort from an artist, and i realize when an album is oustanding and different, made from the heart!!! The pariah… is unique and deserves nothing more than be praised!!! NO matter if the reviewer has the right to give an opinion, just give it right!!! 2.5 stars!! are you kidding me!!!??? what do you prefer? Lady Gaga ( no offense, the music is good)
I will admit that the first time hearing this album, it felt weird to me, but that is because the sound is completely different from the rest of their albums and I simply wasn’t expecting the sounds that I was hearing. By the time I got to listen #2 & #3, I realized how amazing this album is from start to finish. Not sure if the Stamps are better than the Brushstrokes though, but then again it is pretty hard to top anything from “el cielo”, that album was an hour of pure perfection. As for Light Switch, this is an amazing song, I was at the show a few weeks ago in ATL when they played it live for the first time and it blew me away. This album is arguably better than any other album released this year so far and will certainly stay in my CD player for weeks to come and I am eagerly awaiting the next time I get to see them live 7-25-09 in ATL because it will be yet another phenomenal show from an amazingly talented group of guys.
you’re crazy.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
This is a terrible review from start to finish. People are obviously going to have to ignore this review and just give it some listens on their own. First of all, Quotes and Ireland are some of the best songs on the album, if not the best. They are not overproduced and boring. He then goes on to compliment the great listenability of certain songs such and Long Days and Vague Nights and Pariah, another two of the best songs, and then takes it away by calling it overproduced. Who cares if its overproduced?? If its listenable, then who gives a shit? Moving on, I dont Know and Saviour are two of the cheesiest songs that Dredg has ever written, but yet again the reviewer misses the point and doesnt make that clear. Dredg always has cheesy songs on their albums, people should know that. Bug Eyes was pretty cheesy. Spitshine was even more. He needs to make it clear that fans of those songs will probably also like Saviour and IDK. Along with that Drunk Slide couldn’t have been a more perfect length that it is. If it was longer, then it would have felt oversaturated and he would’ve called it overproduced. This album has the best interludes that Dredg has ever made. They are much better than the Brushstrokes. The album is a full concept album that they put their souls into and it doesn’t deserved to get dished by some douchebag that has an “overproduced” criticism. Review shoud be 3.5 stars to 4 stars judging on your personal scale.
P.S. Grizzly Bear’s new album is fantastic, so don’t listen to the guy that made the first comment.
this reviewer is waaayyyy too critical. I have listened to this album 20+ times already and the album still is growing on me. This album has immense staying power. Great album by a great band I don’t care what anyone else thinks. The person who did this review clearly has sucked a lot of dick in his lifetime
GREAT ALBUM..BUT IT’S ALL RELIGIONY MUCH LIKE GREENDAY IS ALL POLITICALLY
Meant rx bandits obviously, back to “I don’t know”. I probably didn’t even need to say it was radio friendly due to the fact that it was indeed the single.
1. The review has been done for weeks, given multiple listens, and I still listen occasionally
2. Ever since “closer” by nin what are radio friendly lyrics, I was speaking more musically, my fault for not saying that.
3. Definately looking forward I the tour with ex bandits!!
WHile I wouldn’t go so far as the previous comment to say the reviewer absolutely sucks.. i will say he seems to contradict himself in places. Stating that the album is immensely “Radio Friendly” in places… especially w/ lyrics like “There’s no guarantee of a God or longevity/admit you don’t know anything, and give it up”…. what exactly makes that radio friendly? Seems to me from an unbiased standpoint that nothing could be further from radio friendly… what station are you listening to? I will agree that a few of the songs could’ve been a little more concise, as towards the end of the album there’s a bit of drag.. but i would say that’s an effect of the dark themes the album is based on rather than the actual song arrangements &/or length.
Also on the note of the album feeling over-produced… Does the reviewer know what “over-produced” even means? What does that constitute? There’s no auto-tune on the vocals, you can clearly pick out every instrument in nearly all the songs…, The vocals are out in front when they need to be but segue quitely away when they don’t… sounds more well-produced to me.
The diversity on display is another sticking point… as it seems to me, the different music elements that they integrate is a mark of musical progression, adventurism, & fearlessness. Clearly this is a band that REALLY had something to say w/ the entire album, rather than 2 really strong singles on an album of shite.
I really enjoyed the album obviously… & will be trying to catch them on tour w/ Rx Bandits next month.. Also looking forward to actually paying for this album as I think these guys clearly worked their asses off for 4 years to put this great piece of art together.
Thanks Guys!
I admit I am not a huge Dredg fan but I did enjoy this album. I don’t love it but it is ambitious and unique. Will see them when they open up for RX Bandits and I’m kind of looking forward to it.
wow, did you listen to the album once through? it has amazing stay power and just because the band has put their hearts in to hte album and finally accomplished a sound and epic album they’ve been striving for, doesn’t make this album bad. it offers a great story and a TON of great songs, much like el cielo this album has that great advantage most bands now a days will never achieve, and thats full album listenability. from start to finish you can listen through and feel as if you’ve gone on a journey or just read a great book. your crap review really just proves you hardly gave the album a chance and just picked up your “press” realease the day before you wrote it. it’s an amazing album, and puts bands like grizzly bear and any other indie rock outfit you guys drool over to shame