DRIDGE — Ruby (review)

DRIDGE — Ruby album cover EP · 2020 · Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Ruby" is an EP release by US, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based doom/sludge/hardcore/noise rock act Dridge. The EP was independently released digitally and on cassette tape in January 2020. Dridge formed in 2011 and released the "Gritual" EP in 2013.

I´m not sure why it took the band 7 years to release something new, but listening to "Ruby", an almost complete change in style and sound might be one of the reasons. "Gritual" was a slow, heavy, and dark death/doom metal release, even occassionally venturing into even more slow and heavy funeral doom territory, but while "Ruby" is certainly also a very heavy release, the death/doom metal elements of "Gritual" are now gone from Dridge music. Instead Dridge now play an angsty, depressive noise rock/hardcore/sludge/doom metal style, which is hard to define and describe correctly. I hear an influence from early 80s Killing Joke and other post-punk acts from that era, but it´s just influences and Dridge definitely have their own sound. The vocals are often sung/spoken in a dark poetic form, and only occasionally burst into more aggressive shouting. Noisy "on the verge" of feedback guitars are one of the key elements of the band´s sound along with the hypnotic and ritualistic drumming.

The simplistic and almost ritualistic approach to playing and performing music is still intact from "Gritual", so in that respect Dridge haven´t changed the core of what they do. But they´ve changed the timbres and the influences (and of course the vocal style). "Ruby" features 3 tracks and a total playing time of 28:46 minutes (the cassette tape version features the same 3 tracks on both sides) and it´s an adventurous and relatively experimental listen. Featuring a well sounding production job, it´s in all departments a quality release and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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