DITHERAMB ()

Reviewed by Spyda on (Monday, February 14, 2005) Rated 6.9 / 10
Category Rating
Track Structure 8
Interest 8
Melody 7
Performance 7
Lyrics 6
Enjoyment 7
Recording Quality 6
Commercial Appeal 6
Overall 6.9

‘Crushed To Dust’ – a few wordies from Spyda

 

I was asked to add ‘Crushed To Dust’ to my Feb 5 review thread on behalf of Ditheramb, because being based in Australia & due to the difference in time zones they miss out on review threads here on MP3Unsigned.  So here goes.

 

Before I joined MP3Unsigned in April 2004 I would never ever have given the rock & metal genres a second glance on any music site, let alone listen to any of the songs uploaded under those genres.  As for downloading & saving them to my HD, well what can I tell you, my ignorance had gotten the better of me for far too many years.

 

Now more & more I find I’m making time to actually listen & experience this type of music.  My mind & ears have opened wider to some fantastic sounds & songs & to some very talented bands & artists.

 

One such band I’ve now had the pleasure of hearing is Ditheramb, who state that they have a “style like no other” & are a “melodic metal band with a twist”. Unfortunately, I’ve not yet experienced or heard enough rock & metal bands to dismiss their statement.  What I would say though, is that listening to ‘Crushed To Dust’ they appear to be quite a talented, very progressive upfront metal band & I don’t wish to do them any injustice by decrying their statement.

 

The band consists of 4 members apparently from very different musical backgrounds.  Steve & Scott Kinghorn (who I assume are brothers) on guitar & vocals, Glenn Townsend on drums & Jack Greenhill on bass and are based in Brisbane Australia.  The band formed in 2003, have been very busy recently having built their own recording studio, The Shed giving them the chance to re-write & re-record some of their earlier works.  They have also released their first demo CD – ‘Tempt’ which includes ‘Crushed To Dust’ & ‘Fell Apart’, also featured on their page at MP3Unsigned.

 

‘Crushed To Dust’ is an original song with music & lyrics written by the band.  The arrangement, ambience & overall feel of the track is well structured, played & produced.  However, the vocal arrangement & production, (to my ears that is), is lacking in dynamics & could benefit from a little re-mastering.  I’d like to hear Steve’s vocal levels brought up much more, giving extra power to the song.  He possesses a very strong voice that is at times lost within the main body of the music.  I also think the backing vocals could be addressed slightly too giving them more definition therefore enhancing the lead vocals at certain points.

 

Personally, I think the song has all the right things going for it, but still needs a few fine tweaks here & there.  Slight modifications that could maybe give it more of a commercial edge.

 

The instrumentation levels, stereo panning & EQ are cool, but the intro FX (thunder & rain) definitely needs more exaggeration & enhancement IMO to set the mood more prior to the opening first line of the song.

 

I’d definitely welcome hearing ‘Crushed To Dust’ again if the vocals are fine tuned & made clearer.  (Upload the lyrics to your page guys please, for us hard of hearing old codgers’ lol)

 

I’m also confident that, given the right opportunities & venues in which to perform, Ditheramb would quickly gain a large fan base within the Goth scene in Australia.  They’ve already performed live at a local centre in their home town of Beenleigh in Brisbane & I believe are due to perform again on 16th Feb at the Hard Rock Café – I wish them good luck & would welcome hearing back from them as to how the gig went.

 

Clive aka Spyda

To listen to the track Click Here