It’s incredible, but I had never heard of Dredg before this album. I was seriously missing out, but I am so glad that I found this album. Inspired by Salman Rushdie’s Imagine There Is No Heaven: A Letter To The Six Billionth Citizen, the album is an eclectic mix of experimental and art rock. Every song brings something to the table, but the entire album is marked by impeccable production and great musicianship.

A large number of tracks comprise the album; some shorter instrumentals and breaks intersperse longer, more traditional songs. Drunk Slide is the first of these, and even though it’s less than ninety seconds long, it is still a worthy listen. Ireland, the track that immediately follows, is one of the highlights of the album. It’s one of those tracks that makes you want to sing along, even if you don’t know the words. That quickly becomes a theme of the record.

There are so many eclectic styles of music on this record that it’s hard to sum it up. The album is definitely meant to be listened to as a whole, but that doesn’t mean that each song doesn’t stand on its own. Take Mourning This Morning, for instance. The peppy palm-muted guitar that plays throughout the song almost makes you want to dance. The preceding track, I Don’t Know is a poppy little rock groove, and a couple tracks later comes Long Days And Vague Clues, a song that could be straight out of a seventies spy flick.

Pariah certainly requires the listener’s attention, but it is well worth every moment.

Dredg dedicated the album to Deftones bassist Chi Cheng, who was left in a coma after a horrific car accident in November 2008.