Released a year after the release of their debut E.P,
Orph,
dredg’s second release, shows some progression in the band’s songwriting and introduces their experimental side that would later be developed on their debut album
Leitmotif. That’s not to say the angry alt-metal sound that drove
Conscious is completely gone, as two of the three songs on offer still contain those elements in a big way, those being
Is Not Everything and
Kayasuma.
The title track however is more akin to the interludes later seen on
Leitmotif,
El Cielo, and
The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion. It starts out with a catchy mandolin riff and later goes on to feature xylophone and pipes sections, however it never really goes anywhere and seems to serve no purpose other than to show that the band are capable of more than just ‘nu-metal’. I’ll admit, it’s interesting to see the starting point of dredg’s experimental side, but as an actual song it doesn’t quite cut it.
As mentioned, the other two tracks on offer,
Is Not Everything and
Kayasuma, are very similar to the songs on
Conscious,
dredg’s first E.P.; that is, angry alternative metal with an abundance of screaming and crunchy chord-based riffs. The difference between these two tracks and those seen on
Conscious however, are the small progressive elements that would later develop on their full-length albums. For example
Is Not Everything, instead of diving head-first into the main riff, takes time to slowly build-up and create some atmosphere with a hammer-on/pull-off guitar riff and groovy drumming before exploding with the traditional chord-based crunchy riff.
Kayasuma on the other hand starts out heavy but has several laid-back clean sections and a great juxtaposition of Gavin’s soothing clean vocals over heavy distorted guitar lines, a technique they would later employ on songs such as
Penguins in the Desert,
Sorry But It’s Over, and
Ode to the Sun.
Orph sees
dredg building upon the alt-metal foundations they laid on
Conscious by showing their experimental and progressive side, although a lot of the better ideas wouldn’t fully realised ‘til the release of
Leitmotif two years later. As such, this comes across as a practice record more than anything; a chance for the band to test their new ideas to see how they work in the context of an album. And while the songs themselves aren’t bad, they just seem redundant seeing as how all the best ideas used are executed a lot better on
Leitmotif. Still, that’s no reason why you shouldn’t check this out, especially if you’re interested in seeing how
dredg have progressed over the years; just don’t be surprised when you realise how painfully average it is compared to their full-length debut.
