This is my review and reflection on the first album from the new band Dramagods named Love.

Rather than go into generalizations of the album, I will list details, per track and allow you to come up with your own general idea of the way this album makes me feel. But I will say I already love this album very much and it will stand as a very important album to me from now on.

1. Megaton

Drop C tuning. Very King’s X sounding riff starts out the song. The guitar’s effect is like an organ sound with a leslie spinning, a sound from the 60′s and 70′s. The verse/lyrics are almost all 16^th note upbeats, which plays off of the drum and bass beat. Very cool. At The pre-chorus section is very open, lyrical with “ohs” in the background.

3:09 – The bridge leading to the guitar solo is actually the band “trading fours” like in a jazz quartet or trio, when all instruments play for 4 beats or 4 bars, depending on the song, and the next four beats or bars are either a drum solo or another instrument soloing while only the drums play…In this case it was the guitar and bass trading off. They don’t do this for too long, since this is not jazz, but just enough to make the track sound very playful and allowing the musicians to have some fun with it. I can’t think of a single rock or metal song that used this device in a song.

The guitar solo begins with the same note played as 4 16^th notes, changing notes every 4 16ths over the minor key. The leaps in pitches for this part of the solo and the rhythm remind me of Missing Persons’ Windows (listen to the guitar part playing straight 16ths and leaping 5ths and 4ths like in this song). It is somewhat doubled / harmonized by the synth, giving a deep texture to the track. The drums get a chance to do some closing fills or mini-solos at the very end.

2. Lockdown

There’s a Moog in my Metal! This song absolutely rocks!
This song has one of the best drum intros I think we will hear in a very long time. The 16^th note funk feel is established in the very first 2 bars without. The chorus sounds a lot like most of the “alternative” rock out today, which is not my favorite, but this song makes the whole thing sound so fresh, that it may just be what I needed to get into that sound. I imagine that people who are into bands like Puddle of Mudd would relate well to this song’s chorus. The bridge slows the whole song down a bit in feel at least, since the rest of the song is so constant of a 16^th note drive. Then the wicked guitar solo ensues with quarter note cowbell banging away in the background.

3. Bury You

This song could be considered a catchy rock ballad. The vocal on this are very silky and smooth, over a relatively standard andante (walking) swing-rock groove á la Aerosmith. The pre-chorus and chorus allow singer and guitarist Nuno Bettencourt to sing in his upper register, which is very strong and clear. He does not use vibrato at all which lends to the silky smooth sound.

The chords used are not the standard 3 power chords. They stretch the tonal center enough to make it more interesting but not so much that it becomes indulgent and loses half its listeners.

4. Broken

I can’t help but think of Led Zeppelin’s The Battle of Evermore, the one with the mandolins playing 2 against 3 meter; the beat drifts back and forth between the two. It’s a great acoustic piece to offset the massiveness of the other really heavy tracks. Even the ballads can get loud and heavy, so this brings it all down to a very intimate level. The bridge uses some synth to give it a little texture, and at the end it even sounds a little like the intro to the Beatles’ Strawberry Fields Forever, thanks to what sounds like the mellotron synth. A very “mello” string/flute sound. It gives it that throwback sound…60′s/70′s all over again.

The acoustic guitar playing is excellent and quite refreshing, not only for this album, but in general in the current state of rock and popular music. The drumming is very subdued, as if they only allowed the drummer to use brushes and sand bags to play on this track. It lets the guitar and vocals shine while lending a folk-sounding but driving beat. The vocal on this track is very bluesy. Well done.

5. Pilots

This track begins with a pipe-organ intro that is reminiscent of Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet, but much more mature sounding. Then comes the syncopated guitar riff that makes the song what it is. The guitar strokes dance around the 4/4 beat. Anytime you break up the beat into 16ths and make accents or beat patterns in groups of three AND use the 2^nd 16^th beat of the first quarter-note beat…you have what I call the classic “King’s X” floating beat. It is prevalent in their music as well as in much Earth Wind and Fire and other funk music. It is very 16^th note-funky, although in this song they are able to make it seem flowing and rocking rather than just funky. The great vocal and harmonizing soars over the syncopation. The lyrics are somewhat subtly about an infatuation with a stewardess on a redeye flight.

6. Interface

This is a sad song about heartbreak and separation “I’m tired of what we are, I’m tired of all the pain, I’m losing you and you are losing me”

The great thing about this song are the nuances. Every now and the then the drums just stop for a few beats, as if it hurts too much to continue, like it’s difficult to get through the song. Also, the guitar on the vamp or pre-verse part plays these harmonics with lots of reverb (doubled by the synth) painting a picture of teardrops falling, hitting a puddle (at least, that’s what I see.)

The vocals during the verse are low in register and volume, keeping the feeling personal, drawing the listener in. The chorus is in a higher register and strong, the wailing almost of a tortured soul. The chorus harmonies sound a LOT like Nuno himself when he sang “More than Words” with Gary Cherone in Extreme. The guitar solo is minimalist in its simplicity, heavy fuzzy distortion, with lots of feedback and simple but tortured lyrical lines.

7. Heavy

Heavy, indeed! The guitar/bass riff on this song is right out of Rage Against the Machine or King’s X, Audioslave or Moke. Very hard, steady and very cool. Add to that the synthesizer and it’s a fresh take on the whole sound. With the chorus and Nuno almost yelling “On your mark, get Set, Go! Go! Go!”, it has a very positive, energetic vibe.

The drums play in half time to the constant steady 8^th note guitar riff (making it a slow 16^th note riff, if you look at it that way), making it very groovy.

The verse sets the dark tone, relentless in its groove’s repetition, then at 1:24 something completely amazing and unexpected happens: the song just opens up to higher register, strummed jazzy 13^th and 7^th, suspended 4^th and 9^th chords, with synth strings backing, giving it a completely refreshing new sound, and it hits you that you are listening to a new genre of music. The drum pattern is basically the same through this part, keeping the song from sounding like someone simply slapped a chunk from a different song altogether into this one, and it unifies it while allowing the rest of the music to “depart” temporarily to a more tonal and beautiful place. Absolutely amazing the first time I heard it.

In the middle of the song, a second theme/chord change structure is used. This theme is then layered on the first. The repeated chords sound like Yes’s Starship Trooper at the end, when it loops and loops and just builds. A bridge lyric then a guitar solo ensues over these changes. The synth in the background here is like Led Zeppelin’s “All My Love” off of In Through the Out Door.

Overall, this is one of my favorite tracks on the album because of the completely new sound they have managed to come up with here and for the positive vibe it exudes.

8. Something About You

This song is the most mature of the set of songs. It has something about it…that makes it seem like it could last a long time and be covered by other bands later, etc. Fender Rhodes lends a folky sound to the otherwise standard rock ballad instrumentation. Later, rock organ adds texture. The vocal phrasing is clever and almost Dylan-like. The bridge goes over some very refreshing chord changes, breathing new life into the song and sending back the standard chord changes for the bluesy guitar solo. The song is overall very sensuously sung and could easily get a lot of airplay.

9. Fearless Leader

This is the black sheep track of the album for me. It has great analog synthesizer sounds throughout and a rocking beat. The turn-off for me is the lame “hey!” and the almost rapping vocal part in the verses. The closest thing I can compare the singing on this track to is Moke’s Slide on the verses. It also could be compared to many Rage Against the Machine vocal stylings.

The song in the end is not nearly as memorable as the others, but is still a rocking song if I can get over the couple of hang-ups I have about it.

10. Sometimes

I really liked this song when I heard it the first few times. Then I read the lyrics and I was blown away. Here is the chorus:

You plus me relentlessly
We’re taking on the future
I’m not about to lose you

You plus me insanity
Ride the storm before the calm

I totally wrote a poem like this for my wife a long time ago. I’ll have to dig it up for proof, but I could not believe it when I saw these lines. That feeling you get when you hear a song and you feel like it should have been you that wrote it, well this one hits me right to the core, for sure.

The second verse is very romantic and honest like just barely overcoming the fear of the prospect of a huge step in a relationship:

Sometimes it’s real
Sometimes it feels like a pre-recorded life

Sometimes you might forget to breathe
Use my lungs and breathe in with me

The 6/8 flowing 2-beat feel of this song is infectious and purposeful.

The synth solo (using a square lead patch with portamento – one of my favorite synth sounds) is amazing. It releases the tension built up in the bridge, which uses more dissonance and tribal-like drumming. The solo carries you away above it all and gently places you back down into the chorus later. This synth solo reminds me of Styx and Yes music from back in the 70′s when it was more common to use that type of synth sound in an improvised manner.

As if it weren’t enough, I was absolutely blown away yet again by the “outro” to this song. There are two things about it that are very cool:

One . Ok, the tonal center for the chorus is a very strong Bb major. The melody itself is “You plus me” 3, 5, 1 in triad speak, making the Bb major key as solid as it can be. Then the outro plops the listener right into D major with the flat 7^th (also known as D7). The D, A and C in that chord all fit nicely into Bb major, BUT the one note that makes it a completely different tonal center is the F, which is the major third in the D triad. As some may know the 3^rd of a triad is one of THE most important characteristics of any triad. It lets us know if it is a minor or major triad. The fifth of a triad is usually a perfect fifth in much western music, but F in the key of Bb would be known as an augmented fifth, a very unstable interval/chord. Since the listener’s brain is freshly pounded with Bb as the tonal center, it is then almost surreal to hear the F over D droning on during the outro. It blew me away. I LOVE endings like this, where the tonal center completely shifts.

Two. I also love how this outro seems like a tribute or is reminiscent of King’s X. They have a couple of songs that end with a looping droning mellow guitar part over snare drumming, just like in this song. (Listen to the outro of King’s X’s The Burning Down and Picture for comparison)

I am totally in love with this song.

11. S’OK

The intro to this song is some great double stop hand picking on a lightly distorted guitar, à la Eddie Van Halen on Little Guitars. The chord changes remind me of the intro to Every Little Thing She Does is Magic by The Police. And things are moving along quite nice and mellow, until 0:53 when they break into a massively heavy groove, again not unlike King’s X and Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave or Moke. This time, the synth bass lends itself to an even beefier texture for the riff.

The lyrics are rather vague, but generally say that it’s going to be OK, to overcome fear and so forth. It’s refreshing to hear upbeat, positive music that also shreds the proper sacrifices to the blues-metal gods!

Speaking of shredding, the guitar solo on this song is particularly insane, but not too indulgent (for too long anyway!) and showcases Nuno’s chops quite well, sweeping and false-harmonics flying all over the place near the end of it!

The song leaves you wanting more, so it’s an easy song to leave on repeat for a while. It would be great to hear it on the radio sometime.

12. Replay

This song sounds a bit more like grunge than the others. It is a reflective ballad on the current state of affairs in the world. Colors of 9-11 and perhaps even Iraq are used (I don’t know for sure if that is what they were writing about, but it brings those themes to my mind).

And you see it over and over
In replay it’s never easy to know
That it’s all been done

The chorus makes me think of seeing the planes hit the twin towers over and over on 9-11 and the days following, but again, it may be a completely different thing the writer is going for.

The song has a soberness to it that provokes thought on its seriousness. The vocals for the ending third or so of the song are in a higher register, sounding a bit like Bono from U2, and sounding more optimistic, like things in the world might get better soon. I wouldn’t call the track filler by any means, but it does get outshined by the other tracks.

13. It’s Nice to Meet You

This song is just flat out FUN! It is catchy and rocking and grooving, in a bluesy classic-rock way. It employs rich vocal harmonies that use major 7^th chords not typically heard in rock music, but is so masterfully used in this song.

The vocal harmonies in the pre-chorus are almost pop-like, yet the metal-grooving guitar bass and drums are relentless underneath. The synth adds even more texture, again, and creates a throwback feeling to the late 60′s and 70′s synth prog-rock. Imagine the Black Crowes’s rhythm section from Hard to Handle , Yes keyboards for texture, and John Lennon’s vocal from Tomorrow Never Knows and the tight soulful vocal harmonies of King’s X and voila! This is what you get. And it is fresh-sounding and GOOD!

The guitar solo in this song is very soulful, yet as it is played over the pop-style major 7^th chord structure, it also has pop appeal to it, which you can’t help but love, even if you’re a rocker that’s afraid to admit it!

If that weren’t enough, the clever lyrics are about a bullfight, from the bull’s perspective! I don’t think anyone in rock and roll has been able to pull that off!

14. Sky

This song seems to be melancholy. The writer wants to escape the things that are troubling him. The piano is the main instrument for this song, and adds to the song a sober sadness,. The melody for the verse is beautifully lyrical, with leaps up and down the scale.

The end of the song is reminiscent of many psychedelic Beatles songs with odd chord changes repeating and repeating while layers of other sounds occur overhead.

~
Josh–

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

VAI, the band.. it’s a BAND this time…you must understand, February 21, 2002
Reviewer: “heyjosh” (CA United States) – See all my reviews
This is one of those magical albums with a union of such musicians that the result of the union becomes infinitely more powerful than the sum of the individuals.

We all know how insanely great Steve is (been hooked ever since Flex-able), but think for a moment about the other musicians: TERRY BOZZIO on drums. This guy has a style (especially on this album) that completely blows me away. NOTHING like it out there. (Check out “Still My Bleeding Heart”, especially at the end).

1st time listeners, what just smacked you upside the head was the percussive yet soulful and at times powerfully shrill vocals of Devon Townsend. This Canadian power-vocalist means business. If you don’t care for screaming vocals, fine, but the passion and power of his performances cannot be overlooked.

Add TM Stevens’s funky yet unobtrusive bass chops in to the mix and we already have an incredible band that I would listen to.

Bring it all together with the unparalelled chops and MUSICALITY (here’s the key many reviews before have missed) of Mr. Vai to this band and album, and you have Sex & Religion.

While the thematic content of much of the album is somewhat controversial (ritual suicide, loud disagreements…over morality), it is overall a very passionate album. Each member of this band has completely convinced me that they played their hearts out on this. Yet the grooves and melodies and sweetly crunchy guitar riffs are not sacrificed.

Highlights: “In My Dreams With You” is a beautifully nasty ballad. “Survive” is a great vocal/guitar anthem set to tribal funk that will not be ignored. “Still My Bleeding Heart” amazes me every single time I hear it. Bozzio and Townsend go OFF!! “Touching Toungues” is a moving instrumental that provides balance to the album (also note the vocals used as instrument by Devon. Very nice!) “State of Grace” is middle-eastern flavored instrumental precursor to Fire Garden.

This album pumps me up when I feel down and allows release when I feel angry. But that’s just me. I give it 5 stars. The only thing that breaks my heart is the fact that this band is no more and probably never again will be. Each musician has moved on to many other things and directions since this album. Sure was great while it lasted.