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Dreadnaught

Have a Drink with Dreadnaught

Review by Gary Hill

I reviewed an earlier disc by this outfit and liked it a lot. The thing is, this one is different than that. It’s a lot more mainstream in many ways. That said, it’s still killer progressive rock. This is an extremely strong release that combines modern and classic prog with psychedelic rock, jazz and much more.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2014  Volume 1 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review
Corrupticus 5

Guitar dominated, that doesn’t mean other instruments, particularly keyboards, don’t show up here. This has some elements that make me think of early Yes. Yet there is a grinding kind of roots rock energy to the rhythm section. It shows off plenty of classic progressive rock sound while landing pretty thoroughly under modern prog. The vocal arrangement is classy and yet some great instrumental sections lend some real variety. Indeed, at times it works towards fusion and at other points in other more rock oriented directions. Different sides of that Peter Banks era Yes sound emerge, too.

Surface Raid
This piece definitely has a lot of symphonic elements at play. It manages to do that without losing any energy and guitar driven intensity. It’s full of killer prog shifts and changes. It feels quite jazz like at times.
The Bear
This is a bit odd. It’s also cool. It has a bouncy kind of off-kilter psychedelic rock vibe to a lot of it. There are little jazzy excursions. Yet, it still manages to rock out and soar a bit.
JPF
Jazz, mainstream progressive rock and more are heard on this killer track. It seems to be constantly shifting and changing. There are definitely some moments here that make me think of Steve Howe in terms of some of the guitar work. There is also some pretty funky bass work at times. They even include a short percussive interlude. There is a killer multi-guitar section that comes in to take the piece to its close.
Trophy Bride

In some ways this is the strangest and most off-kilter number here. Yet it manages to rock and groove at least as well as anything else. The usual suspects are present and this has some great musical moments. It’s an excellent way to end the disc in style. .

 
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