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Written
by David Shouse, posted by blog admin
New
Jersey’s Dust of Days has returned with their second studio album and first
release in four years, Analog Mind Bender. The promise of Thomas and Grace,
their 2012 debut album, is fulfilled and the future is laid out by this new twelve
song collection wrought from personal upheaval and fueled by an inspired spirit
willing to wrestle with enormous questions and issues. There’s a heavy pallor
hanging over the album and light-heartedness certainly comes at a premium, but
it never fails to be musically entertaining thanks to their powerful two guitar
attack and the harnessed thunder of bassist Scott Silvester and songwriter/vocalist
Frank Lettieri Jr’s drumming. The production really captures the rough, soulful
spirit of this band while still depicting them as a distinctly modern unit.
Influences are, likewise, represented quite well in the songwriting without
ever lapsing into self-indulgence or outright imitation – the music has obvious
reference points allowing listeners to locate it within a specific school or
tradition, but the band thankfully never considers themselves hidebound to
follow formula.
Even
on songs where the band is clearly making some concession to genre, like the
title track that opens things up, Dust of Days wisely sprinkles something
uniquely their own into the mix that gives the performance an imaginative twist.
“Aurora” takes things in a more outsider direction with its mix of singing and
talking and the knife edge sharpness of the guitar attack gives the performance
plenty of bite. Labels ultimately mean nothing, but this is one of a few
examples on the album where what Dust of Days is doing clearly leans in a much
more metal direction than anything one might associate with “classic”
alternative rock sounds. You hear a whiff of Seattle asserting itself in the
music, however, on tracks like “Mustang” and “My Dear”. If for no other reason,
the songs are notable for the clear illustration they provide of how adept Dust
of Days is at shifting gears from the white knuckled rock fury of the earlier
songs into something more nuanced. Both songs are real brooders with
deceptively simple and evocatively arranged guitar parts perfectly complemented
by the rhythm section.
“Death
Vibrations” erupts with ear-piercing feedback before slipping into a thrashing
punk rock jaunt with a rugged and clinched fist vocal. Despite the punk rock
influence running through the track, listeners are treated to a particularly
good guitar solo near the song’s end. “Gamma Ray” returns the band to a more
traditional alternative rock setting with its direct riffing and occasionally
skewed guitar passages. The refrain might turn some people off if they hear it
as whiny, but you have to take the whole song in to understand what the band is
going for here. “Porcelain” is cast from the same mold as the earlier “My Dear”
and “Mustang”, but even slower and more focused on atmospheric. There’s an
universe of moods coming across on a performance like this and the dream like
way it wafts past a listener is quite memorable. “The Shore” goes even further
in showing off how well rounded Dust of Days truly is with its inclusion of
strings and the quiet intensity of its piano playing. This is a four piece
willing to go places few bands of their ilk ever would and Analog Mind Bender
is testimony to their talents for pulling it off.
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