Tom Olesen gives the newest album from the perennially superb Dreadzone a listen.
The mix of styles that Dreadzone pull in to their music is eccentric in that uniquely British, festival field, way. In their music you can hear elements of everything from folk to rave, all tied together by sheer musicianship. Their second album 'Second Light' was so acclaimed it would have been easy for them to rest on those laurels and regurgitate the same style. But they've always pushed their sound forward, pulling in the new and chucking it in to the Dreadzone style-blender with the old, to create a tasty new smoothie of danceable dub.
From the moment the opening guitar rift of 'Tomorrow Never Comes' floats in to your ears, dressed in the perfect amount of delay and reverb, you know this album is going to be a cracker. The core partnership of Greg Dread and Leo Williams is 25 years old this year and it shows. Not that their sound is at all dated; just that the Dreadzone sound is so polished. It's a level of technical skill and songwriting that can only come from decades of playing together live.
There are 10 tracks on this album which seems pretty short, but it's perfect. As soon as you get to the end you want to hear it again, and they showcase their range from the uplifting dubby 'Tomorrow Never Comes' to the ZZ Top-esque, riff-driven, 'Beyond A Rock'. Highlights are the opening 'Tomorrow Never Comes' which I can't wait to see live, 'Yeah Man', which is the most skanky dancefloor number on here, and the absolutely superb 'My Face' which is proper dub with beautifully echoed out rimshots and hooky vocals.
This, their sixth studio album, is one of their strongest to date. It will satisfy the die-hard Dreadzone fans who were maybe a little disappointed by some of 'Once Upon a Time', and create a whole new generation of fans out of first-time listeners. Above all, Dreadzone remain one of the U.K's premier live bands. Studio albums can only give you so much, and if you listen to this album and like it, you must search them out live. It's guaranteed to be one of the best live shows you'll ever see.
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