DREADNAUGHT: Body.Blood.Skin.Mind

Produced by Dreadnaught

Released: 1996

When people talk about Australian metal bands, for some reason Dreadnaught invariably gets overlooked. Just how much of an injustice this is becomes immediately apparent when the power and emotion of the band's first album is allowed to wash over you. My first experience of this was listening to a copy dubbed onto a cassette that was given to me by their late drummer Sudz; it was so different to so much of the metal I was listening to at the time that I at first didn't quite know what to make of it. But just as the first track creeps and builds under the swirling samples of the TV suicide of US politician Budd Dwyer, Body.Blood.Skin.Mind. took hold of me and now stands as one of my all-time favourites.

Dreadnaught's musical style on this album is far removed from the groove-laden dirty rock n roll they play these days; indeed they would sound like a totally different band if it weren't for the distinctive vocal presence of Greg Trull. From a truly enormous, powerful roar of frustration or rage to a threatening whisper or cry of despair, there are few other singers who exude such a wide range of emotions often in the space of a single song. The haunting "Flowers" is a case in point, a career stand-out for the band and the perfect showcase for Trull as his voice embodies the emotional battlefield of the lyrics. Throughout the album, however, the entire band simply shines, crafting a genius-like combination of early-90s alterna-metal with the progressive thrash of bands like Death only without the extended guitar solos. Here the guitars focus on measuring out melody while at the same time dredging up massively sludgy riffs like those in "Begotten Not Made" or at other times pacy driving metal like in "Harlequin". It really is difficult to pigeonhole Body.Blood.Skin.Mind into a comfortable genre because Dreadnaught makes use of so many of them. There are splashes of the groove rock they would adopt later, some of the industrial element borrowed from Trull's other band Discordia, melodic thrash and dark rock that hints vaguely at the likes of Tool, and all put together with a level of brilliance that remains under-rated even today.

The album is rounded out by "Return of the Astral Traction Bleeder", a 26-minute long ambient track of rumbling thunder and stormy weather that finishes with clashing riffing and rolling drums. Dreadnaught made a fantastic album here, the genius of which should remain overlooked by you no longer.

1. Dripping
2. Distant
3. Mindbend
4. Harlequin
5. Remote Control
6. Flowers
7. Twisted Prayer
8. Begotten Not Made
9. Return of the Astral Traction Bleeder

Rating: 95%