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Written
by Larry Robertson, posted by blog admin
New
Jersey based four piece Dust of Days has released a blazing sheet of modern
guitar rock colorfully titled Analog Mind Bender and the title, in crucial
ways, is oddly reflective of their aims. There is certainly a throwback vibe
surrounding their reliance on rough hewn guitars and a rambunctious rhythm section
while they prove themselves equally capable of confounding expectations and
bending minds thanks to the personal qualities inherent to the songwriting and
their thoroughly modern presentation. This is rock, revamped for our modern
age, and lays down the gauntlet for novices and those intimately familiar with
the genre. The dozen songs on this collection marks the band’s second full
length album and third release overall but, unlike earlier efforts, this one is
born out of personal pain and tackles weightier subject matter than we’ve thus
far heard from them. The impressive production adds ample punch to the band’s
musings and few who stick with the album through its conclusion will walk away
from it unsatisfied by the experience.
They
definitely conjure up the storm of sound so emblematic of alternative rock but,
as the opener and title track illustrate, are adept at sprinkling little
melodic touches over the arrangements that spin them in different directions.
The straight ahead riffing underlying the title song is further distinguished
by chiming guitar fills interspersed into the track. It gives the song a small,
but significant, added lilt. “Mustang” has a bit of a dark, dissonant undertow
casting a shadow over its mid-tempo pace. It has a relatively unusual and
definitely dramatic structure that the vocal makes the most of. There are no
instrumental breaks in this song, per se, and the melodic touches heard on the
opener are forsaken here in favor of dynamics. “Heavy” sports one of the album’s
best riffs and the revolving, hypnotic feel of both the guitar riffing is
complemented well by the lead vocal. The raucous guitar breaks in the song pull
the guitars into jagged thrashing that locks into the song’s mood quite nicely.
The light and dark of “Little Angel” is another example of the band making
dynamics work for them and the rhythm section is particularly effective. This
is, arguably, the album’s most atmospheric number yet and there’s no sense of
the band straining for effect.
The
airy gravity of “My Dear” is streaked with more than a little melancholy and
builds on the atmospheric potential we heard in the previous number. The
near-hushed lead vocal is quite memorable, but the lead guitar coming before
the two minute mark and near the song’s conclusion put an exclamation point on
the performance like nothing else can. They are extraordinarily sympathetic to
the song’s mood and stay dialed into it throughout. “Porcelain” is very reminiscent.
The expansiveness they achieve in less than four minutes is far greater than
what many bands can manage in twice as much time. This is one of the album’s
indisputable highlights and an all around fantastic performance, particularly
from the guitar work and vocals. Analog Mind Bender’s conclusion, “Ghosts”, is
interesting for a number of reasons. The song, structurally, is fragmented into
two distinct halves with a brief interlude separating them. The first part of
the song runs a little over two minutes and features whispered vocals alongside
a foreboding acoustic guitar figure. The second half begins a little less than
a minute later and has a distinctly different texture. It’s primarily centered
on electronic backing with a dramatic, glowering vocal looming over it all. It
ends the album on a dark note, but the impressive overall musical statement
they’ve made with this release supersedes our comfort with its emotional tenor.
Analog Mind Bender is substantive, challenging, and full of surprises. It
represents Dust of Days’ finest moment thus far.
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