DRIDGE — Curing (review)

DRIDGE — Curing album cover Album · 2021 · Sludge Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Curing" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based doom/sludge/hardcore/noise rock act Dridge. The album was released through World Gone Mad Records in June 2021. Formed in 2011 Dridge´s preceding releases are the 2013 "Gritual" EP and the 2020 "Ruby" EP.

Dridge started out playing death/doom metal on the "Gritual" (2013) EP, but they significantly changed their style and sound on the "Ruby" (2020) EP, which features an experimental noise rock/hardcore/sludge/doom metal style, which is very hard to define. The material on "Curing" continue in the same "hard to define" sound of "Ruby" (2020) (with some additions and alterations, which will be described below). It´s noisy, heavy, dark, angsty, depressive, hypnotic, and almost ritualistic in style. I hear influences from early 80s post-punk artists (especially from Killing Joke), but unlike the material on "Ruby" (2020), Dridge have opted to include more distorted heavy sections again, which means that "Curing" occasionally is a pretty hard-edged, aggressive, and heavy release. The heavy distorted sections often remind me of Fudge Tunnel. Heavy, groove laden, and fuzz toned riffs, which make you want to bang your head and enter the mosh pit.

The vocals vary between angsty singing/speaking type vocals to aggressive shouting hardcore vocals. While the music style on "Ruby" (2020) certainly was intriguing, the addition of distorted and aggressive heavy parts to the atmospheric hypnotic post-punk sections is a wise move, as it makes "Curing" a much more varied release, and ultimately also lifts Dridge to a level where they deserve a lot of attention. So the songwriting is both adventurous, varied, and memorable, and add to that strong musicianship and a raw and powerful sounding production, and "Curing" is upon conclusion a high quality release from Dridge. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
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