I tend to see this album as one big song, so it would be hard to write about individual tracts. By the next album and onwards Dredg would become a lot softer and after El Cielo a lot more suck. Occasionally we even get vocals that aren't clean to contrast the usually melancholy nature of Gavin Hayes' voice.

Leitmotif is often a legitimately hard music style driven by the drums and distorted guitar. The sound of this album would be completely lost to the band with their second album El Cielo. Sadly, this album doesn't feature some of the variety of instruments found on their next album. Occasionally we see other instruments making their way in, including a cello, synthesizer, and theremin. The album seems to flow from song to song, occasionally coming to riffs that remind you of earlier songs-the name leitmotif is almost fitting in that sense. I still can't even distinguish one song from the next without really paying attention. As well, the verse chorus verse style is not used through most of the album. The story is included with the album, but it would probably not be too difficult to find it online. It is based on a story written by the bassist Drew Roulette in which a man with a spiritual disease looks at different cultures around the world in search of a cure. For starters, it's as pretentious a concept album one can find. You might be wondering, then, where the prog comes it. Yet, the sometimes Eastern or jazz-influenced music is engaging, catchy, and dynamic. Any of these songs would be easy to learn and preform, and most of them stick to generic rock instruments. The instrumentation is very simple-one of the things I really enjoy about the album. The album is generally considered to be progressive alternative, a fitting label. Now I finally get to say 'Here, give it a listen.'Īnd how does the album fare to my ear after four years of not hearing it? I still think it's great, and a very refreshing listen. Somehow I kept mentioning that I thought it was a great album, but didn't actually download it again until about three weeks ago. Dredg's Leitmotif was one of my favorite albums from high school, but the summer before college my copy was essentially destroyed.

After all, I've been plugging it for years. Now, posting this album isn't exactly telling you guys anything new.

Leitmotif dredg