Drenge
Undertow
Release Date: 6th April 2015
Having risen to prominence over the last year or so, Derbyshire brothers Drenge have become one of the best two piece rock bands on the scene. Recently, the band released their second album ‘Undertow’ and it is nothing short of a masterpiece of an album.
Coming in at just over 30 minutes, it is a very short LP by modern day standards but that does nothing to mar the brilliance that is to be found here. If anything, the shortness only helps it as the band have really only included the very best sounds and it is packed from beginning to end of clever lyrics, brilliant guitar lines from melodies to riffs and a great use of atmospherics throughout.
The album starts off with the haunting and echoey ‘Introduction’ where guitar chords refract around your ears building and building into ‘Running Wild’ where intermittent grungy strums and huge pounding drums and cymbals come in. With a drawl to the vocals, it only lengthens out the notes adding to the fuzzy and grimy atmosphere of the music.
Next up is all the previous singles starting off with ‘Never Awake’ through to ‘We Can Do What We Want’ and finishing up with ‘Favourite Son’. The first is a drum beat laden, chugging riff charged opus, the verses are full of the quick layers of sound while the choruses are less weighed down, lighter in their delivery but the lyrics are still full of spite. The next track is rock and roll personified with massive riffs from the high pitched end of the spectrum and the lower end those are delivered fast, these are layered over a constant hard hit drum and a quick, aggressive vocal delivery. The last of this trio of singles is another in your face grungy rock track with chaotic percussion, crashing cymbals, rapid guitar and a commanding vocal.
The rest of the album follows in this vein making it a truly exciting rock album something that has been lacking in recent years. The band make a hell of a lot of noise for just the two of them and the experimentation of sounds and rawness of the music, vocals and lyrics makes this an album that begs to be listened to over and over. Clearly, this is one of the albums of 2015.
Check out ‘Running Wild’ taken from the album below:
To find out more about Drenge visit their website, their Facebook page, their Soundcloud page or you can follow them on Twitter – @drenge
Credits
Mixtape Couture 