Metal has been waiting for a band like Dub Trio. After decades of countless bands mining the same themes, the same sources and the same sonic motifs, the genre was in desperate need of new blood in order to keep from getting so inbred as to be hopelessly impotent. Dub Trio has no choice but to be unique though; with no singer to howl or grunt the same tired lines by rote, the band has had to find new ways of menacing listeners and they do just that on Another Sounds Is Dying.
The easiest comparison when trying to explain the sounds on this record is that of an ominous shadow that doesn’t threaten to jump out and wreak havoc on eardrums but sits seething, collecting itself and absorbing anything that enters like a black hole into a world of pain. Guitarist DP Holmes, bassist Stu Bassie and drummer Joe Tomino have immersed themselves in the static oblivion that intersects a half-dozen genres of music—most notably reggae, grindcore, the instrumental mood-building of prog and good ol’ fashioned metal—and pulled out something incredibly compelling and unique for a genre that has been so brutally over-examined. Songs including “Funishment,” “Felicitacion” and “Not For Nothing” all reinvent the pre-conceived notions of metal and demolish the band’s peers by designing new ideas (sludge-core over dub rhythms? “Mortar Dub” is a revelation) every other minute that no one with any visibility is even coming close to. When ex-Faith No More singer Mike Patton steps in to lend a hand on “No Flag,” the band cements its status as the brightest of bright new rising stars in metal. The chops are there—if the band hires a full-time singer, they have the very real chance at being a global concern. If they don’t, they’ll still get a lot of attention, but under the radar and on a smaller scale. Either way, Dub Trio seems to be destined for greatness and Another Sound Is Dying is the album that serves notice that the band has arrived.
More on Dub Trio here: http://www.myspace.com/dubtrio
Another Sound Is Dying is out now on Ipecac.
