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Band: Dreadlords
Album title: Reapers
Release date: 28th April 2017
Label: Urban Yeti Records
Track List:
01. Daughter Of The Night
02. Black As Hell
03. Blessed
04. White Sabbath
05. Across The River
06. A Sea Won’t Hold Me Back
07. War
08. Heavens Afire
09. Up From The Grave
10. Reapers
The occult dark blues band Dreadlords from Pennsylvania (USA) released their second album via Urban Yeti Records. The band is featuring members of Panther Modern and T.O.M.B., and in December 2014 came to light their debut, Death Angel, highly acclaimed by critics and released on Not Just Religious Music, the label founded by the dark/folk singer King Dude. The Dreadlords' songs are in a way very alike to King Dude's own music. The new album, Reapers, is no different, it is dark, ritualistic and a haunted album by souls from the deep threshold of despair.
Dissonant melodies and beats, swampy atmosphere, slight gothic tone sometimes makes me feel in the middle of that swamps in a little boat surrounded by alligators! My first contact with the album sent me directly at the 2005 movie 'The Skeleton Key' and of course, an inevitable and brilliant resemblance to King Dude's dark ritualistic blues music. So much that when I was looking for the first album to compare the development of Dreadlords music, it was no surprise to me that the record label of this first release was from the master himself. If I compare, and I go, Dreadlords' music is grittier than that of King Dude, it's more unrefined.
The lyrics are about insane acts as murders, they are wrapped in magic rituals, that summoning evil forces to take the heart and obscure the mind. Another interesting line I found was a kind of Nick Cave style to sing and recite. The singer beyond this approach is a post-punk vocalist that sometimes goes too far in dissonance and untunes the whole thing in some points of the tracks. The music sounds as played in a cold chamber, enchanted guitars and the piano are crushing my soul and it pleased me a lot.
The first track "Daughter Of The Night" opens up the album with strength, it's pleasurable to hear the heavy bass with a faster guitar leading you to a deep trance. The energy I tapped from "Blessed" continues to be good and resonates quite well. Vocals carefully committed to keeping the atmosphere cold, moist and malevolent, yet enchanted. I had chosen "White Sabbath" as my favorite track, I found it quite attractive and sexy. Unfortunately for my taste the banjo should have a variation of notes and not just play the same rhythm, the same loop from the beginning to the end of the album. This sounded very distressing and annoying to me and for sure to Lucifer. He told me!
The band composed a very atmospheric album in the ritualistic sense and certainly very well placed in the dark blues, in this I have no doubt at all. I think fans are enjoying this album a lot. I believe that the next work will be more refined and with all the edges trimmed, Lucifer will send his most terrible mattes to accompany his disciples in the recall of human souls.
Review written by: Felin Frost
Rating: 7/10
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