Dirty Beloved - Letters From A Broken Home
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Explosive stuff Sun Feb 14 19:05:32 2010
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| by Paul Chesworth | ||
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Consisting of Armin Kamal on vocals, Michael Hope on guitars, Todd Jodoin on bass and Neil Grandy on drums, the members of Dirty Beloved come from very different musical and social backgrounds. Armin, born in Germany and then raised in Montreal and Ottawa. Mike, also originally from Ottawa plays lead with a focus on the styling of Satriani and Vai. Todd played bass supporting acts in the blues rock scene as well as delving into industrial electronica for his own projects. Neil hails from Halifax, (not the one in the UK) where he enjoyed a number of years as a drummer in the metal scene before moving to Ottawa in 2001. The band formed in 2005 and the first two years together were spent sifting through the large backlog of material orphaned from a previous project that Neil, Mike and Todd shared.
"Letters From A Broken Home" takes a heavier slant than most, choosing to focus on the darker exploration of inner conflict and frustration surrounding recent world events. Musically, Armin’s vocals express these concepts using diverse deliveries ranging from unsettled intimacy to outright rage reminiscent of the styling of Chris Cornell during his days with Soundgarden or recent UK comeback Kings, RATM. Mike’s guitar sets the tone with a series of technical riffs to perfectly underscore Armin’s singing. The result of this combined effort is a progressive hard rock album. It starts with an explosion and expands outwards throughout the rest of the album right from the first song ’Blind Eye Of God’, an aggressive and frenetic opener, choc full of power and raw emotion. ‘You let Me Drown’ is another bombastic effort, part Pearl Jam, Alter Bridge, with a Vai styled solo with prod tendencies thrown in for good measure. To be honest the pace hardly ever falters from being a high octane energy ride. Bass and drums don’t let the pace drop for a single second, and DB would be a sight to behold in the live arena if they can keep this high speed assault.
Dirty Beloved know how to rock, and deserve to take all the plaudits their music attracts. A highlight is the mega and catchy ‘Homebound’. Honestly, all of it is good, and this album deserves to be listened to. After repeated listens (its why my review is being submitted late) I pick up something different from each and every passing play.
One for my faves of the year. And it will still be in with a shout come December, and beyond. A crackin’ release from this talented bunch. Highly recommended
Track Listing
01 - Blind Eyes Of God
02 - You Let Me Down
03 - Take Good Care
04 - Why Would I?
05 - Homebound
06 - My Days With You
07 - Not One To Save
08 - I Walk Away
09 - Don't Want To Bring You Down
10 - Star Requiem