Album Review: Dreadlords – Reapers (Urban Yeti Records)

On April 28th 2017, Pennsylvania’s own Dreadlords will release their new album Reapers via Urban Yeti Records.

Reapers is an album dripping with dark bluesy & sludgy rock with ritualistic religious undertones. Its off the wall melodies & beats get under the skin resulting in a fascinating listen. It has a very jam session feel but with a far tighter sound.

What really helps create the sludgy, swampy atmosphere are the sultry sounding vocals that dominate throughout. The slight gothic tone gels with ritualistic nature of the instruments. Many songs sound like a sermon that is being conducted deep within a swamp, a place so deep & thick even the sun doesn’t shine there.

Reapers does take a couple of songs to really get going though. Daughter of the Night is a solid opener thanks to its real bass heavy sound while the faster guitar strumming & darker melody of Black as Hell begins to gnaw away at your senses.

It’s with the sudden bursts of energy in Blessed that things really start to resonate. The echoing vocals having a nice evil edge that draws you in. Things get even better with White Sabbath, the best song of the album thanks to its sexy low groove.

Reapers is a really moody, atmospheric filled record that eats away at the brain matter. Songs like A Sea Won’t Hold Me Back & Up from the Grave increase the tempo offering a pleasurable beat that gets the feet-tapping along.

Ending on the title track, Reapers we get one final hurrah from Dreadlords. The melody that picks up pace throughout is a call to arms, utterly fantastic & all backed up by the best vocal work of the album. An ending that has an air of the epic about it, the sermon is over & the congregation are satisfied, if not sitting as comfortably as they were before.

“we are the reapers, this is our home”

Dreadlords – Reapers Full Track Listing:

1. Daughter of the Night
2. Black as Hell
3. Blessed
4. White Sabbath
5. Across The River
6. A Sea Won’t Hold Me Back
7. War
8. Heavens Afire
9. Up From The Grave
10. Reapers

You can order Reapers now via Bandcamp & find out much more about Dreadlords via their official website & on Facebook.