THE AMERICAN STANDARD

Did you know that this masterpiece exist? Where great known bands from each genre here gets their fair share of reviews, some bands are left aside and does not get promoted. I would rate Dreadnaught the no.1 overlooked band here at PA, taking into consideration the amount of reviews they got against music quality. Dreadnaught are not new in the prog biz, 'The American Standard' is their third album and their first to go all the way to heavy funky prog rock town. They are a 3 man totally insane american band who seem to be exploring a niche that no man have gone before, although sometimes remind in spirit bands like Primus or Phish. Their music on this album can be described as avant-garde country funk prog rock ( yes it's a genre now! ). But actually describing their sound and music with words is useless cause it seems they are coming from out of space. Basses and electric guitar sound is totally refreshing, they have that crisp sound of new strings on your guitar only enhanced and distorted. guitarist Justin Walton comes out with some weird noises in addition to some groovy fast guitar licks, he does not have to solo because he's guitar is already doing so much, moving from strange chords to quirky runs, always with such great taste and totally rocky too. Bassist Bob Lord comes out too with sounds from hell, he's playing is always noticeable and is a crucial part of the overall psycho sound, together they are incomparable. Drummer Rick Habib has no problem keeping up with his two buddies and adds some great fills along with the off beat rhythm they are creating.

The music like i said has a southern US feel, very complex and progressive moving from beautiful melodic parts to avant-garde to hard rocking funk stuff and punky outbursts coming from god knows where, everything is well balanced and there is no way to know where they gonna go next, one moment they are dark sounding and the other they are the happiest band alive. The album starts out with Ballbuster which is an accurate title for the nuclear bomb dropped on your ears, a full power high voltage rocky tune that grabs you and doesn't let you go leaving you uncertain of what the hell just happened, and in the same time so intrigued to continue. As good as the opener was it doesn't really prepare you to the next exhilarating, brilliant 20 minute piece, divided into 4 parts that takes you on a journey incorporating all of those styles mentioned before. The piece is very dynamic and holds lighter parts against heavy complex rhythms, reminding you some wacky King Crimson Red era fused with Zappa that will make you drool all over the floor. I mean a band that takes some disco beats and turns them into prog rock got to be special enough. The rest of the album continues in that line taking you on a roller coaster of sounds and intricate out of this world tunes, as they incorporate violin and piano notes just too be sure you are still on the train. Vocals seem to be goofy sometimes but sound good and side by side with the already crazy music. It's interesting that the music has a light feel to it but it's all serious too.

Knowing this album for a few years now makes me realize that i haven't heard something so challenging and invigorating in 20 years ( except for a very few albums maybe ) , while other bands are playing it safe and releases the same album over and over again, Dreadnaught seem to remind everybody what's progressive rock is all about, taking all the risks and coming out with an album full of new ideas and sounds. Every genre has to evolve except progressive rock is a statement taken by the band and crushed to pieces. Being compared to other bands doesn't really do it cause dreadnaught is on their own. Their next album 'Musica En Flagrante' see the band evolve further more and is worth checking out too. This is one of the few albums i would rate with 5+ stars along with other masterpieces of the genre. The very high rating for the album is accurate, an essential masterpiece of progressive rock, don't miss it for the world!

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