Dendron – To Save Ourselves
January 28th, 2022
Progressive Metal / Djent
Independently Released
St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Dendron first splashed onto the Newfoundland heavy music scene in 2016 with the release of their first EP, Glass Spire. I gave the EP a pretty positive review though I was critical of the vocal style which I felt was somewhat lacking and incongruent with the band’s style of music. Now here we are six years later and the band has bounced back with a brand new full length record as well as an updated lineup. Peter Burton remains as the vocalist while guitars have been taken over by both Ryann Brophy and Connor Whalen. Bass duties are handled by Quinn Whalen whereas the drums remain in control of Nathan Tizzard.
Whereas the music on Glass Spire was much more straightforward progressive metal, Dendron have seriously upped their game for To Save Ourselves. This record feels like a continuous piece of music, perhaps inspired by some of the band’s contemporaries in the “big metal” world, like Between the Buried and Me or TesseracT. Each song flows into the next, making it feel like the album was intentionally composed as one big song, with motifs and sound repeating throughout. Each song does have a point where it stops before the next one begins, but the way the songs are placed in the tracklist makes it feel as if though it’s one big piece.
The first thing I noticed about this album is how much better Peter Burton has gotten as a singer. Holy hell, this guy can sing. On Glass Spire I was very uncertain about how he’d play out as the band’s vocalist because many of the passages seemed to be off-key or showcased a level of struggle when trying to hit certain notes. It’s clear the Burton has been practicing a hell of a lot in the last six years because he is on absolute fire on this album. On top of that his voice has a certain quality to it that, while I wouldn’t necessarily say is nasally, is definitely in that higher and softer register that reminds me of the clean vocals from other modern prog metal vocalists like Spencer Sotelo or Tommy Rogers.
The guitars on here are also pretty damned good. Brophy and the two Whalens have really upped their riff game, coming up with riffs that are not only quite complex but also catchy as hell. The chorus riff for “THREEPERCENTREALITY” is going to be stuck in my head for quite some time. It’s something that I feel a lot of djent bands kind of forget, but just because you can play staccato breakdowns in a weird time signature doesn’t mean you’ve written a good song, but Dendron does not delve into that territory. These guys can write a great hook while still keeping it weird and out there with regards to the timing of things.
Tizzard is also on fire with the drumming on this album. As comes naturally with the complexity of riff-writing in the progressive metal genre, the drumming also has to be up to snuff, and that’s definitely the case here. Every change-up, and transition on this record is tight as hell, with all kinds of different time signatures locked in perfectly with the guitars. It’s not all flashy, of course. Slower sections like the chorus of “Pull Guard” are appropriately simple for the kind of big, loud and emotionally heavy moment the band is trying to present, but he also has some pretty deadly fills throughout the record’s runtime.
The production on this thing is also just absolutely nuts. Everything on here is so crystal clear it’s almost annoying. I do prefer my metal to have a bit of a gritty edge to it when it comes to the production but for this style of modern progressive metal I know that’s not what most people are going for. Rather I think the clarity works in Dendron’s favour as you can hear every little intricacy of the guitar and drum work. My only issue with the production is that I feel like the drums sound a bit too electronic for me. I know they’re not programmed, they are indeed organic, but I wish there was just a little bit more dirt on the mix specifically for that instrument.
This is a pretty damn impressive album, even for progressive metal. The songs on here are memorable and emotive, with hooks for days that result in tracks like “THREEPERCENTREALITY” becoming earworms, while others like “Refrain” serving as moments of quiet catharsis before the ending 13 minute long behemoth that is the BTBAM-esque “Cambyses”. On top of that it’s so obvious that the musicians involved in this band have improved so much at their instruments as well as at songwriting in the time since Glass Spire. If this is where Dendron is at right now, I can’t wait to hear what they’re going to do next.
Final Verdict: 9/10
Awesome
Favourite Tracks:
“Dodging Glances”
“THREEPERCENTREALITY”
“Pull Guard”
~ Akhenaten
Where Strides The Behemoth? 