Dropsonic – Insects With Angel Wings / 2005 Rowdy / 11 Tracks / http://www.dropsonic.com / Reviewed 17 August 2005
The mixture of rock into a jangly brand of pseudo-jam band (think Radiohead meets Phish) is how Dropsonic decides to open up their “Insects With Angel Wings”. By incorporating catchy guitar riffs into a super-sonic type of vocals (Dan), the mixture of chaos and order is perhaps the dynamic tension that allows this disc to succeed. “Spiders” shows a band that is just as influenced by Primus as Janes’ Addiction; the brutal guitar riffs belie a much more soft-spoken vocal direction. When Dropsonic allows the experience of playing in the same band for over a decade to take over (Wedding Day), the result is a track that transcends genre or time categorization; moments are present on the track that sound like Alice in Chains, “Pablo Honey”-era Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age and even more current acts like The Forecast.
Moving onto a blues-influenced guitar arrangement for “My Girl”, Dropsonic skillfully transfers into the genre (while still keeping the shrill vocals that are such an audible presence throughout the disc) without any of the growing pains typically associated with this shift. Even more impressive during the disc is the first really experimental sound to come out of Dropsonic; the epic-length of “Headless” allows the band to take on the convention of time signature and dictate exactly where they wish listeners to be. The density of “Headless” deserves a comment; individuals can groove during this track on a number of distinct wavelengths, whether it be Dan’s guitars or the straight-forward, workhorse-like role of Brian’s drums during the track. More accessible than what passes for “epics” in this current era (one calls to mind the very difficult “Francis The Mute” album), Dropsonic creates something magical in “Headless” that does not lock itself into any one genre; fans of prog-rock will be just as apt to pick this up as the bleeding-edge indielitists will.
Those fans into Southern rock should not feel slighted, either – the last few minutes of the track features lines that would seem just fitting on a Molly Hatchet album. Nearly two years marked the creative process for “Insects With Angel Wings”; this gestation has birthed one of the farthest-reaching and fullest albums to come out in recent memory. Not content to merely ape the most famous bands of the moment, Dropsonic came to the studio with their own ideas and will gain success on their own terms.
Top Tracks: Headless, When You Die
Rating: 7.2/10