ALBUM REVIEW: Dream In Motion – Kirk Windstein
Kirk Windstein has, over the years, proved himself to be one of the most impressive guitarists within metal. As part of DOWN, KINGDOM OF SORROW and the frontman of the excellent CROWBAR, he has made a lengthy career out of crafting some of the more memorable guitar work on classic sludge records. Dream in Motion, his first solo record, finally sees the light of day nearly thirty years into his illustrious career, but if you are expecting to hear something akin to CROWBAR or DOWN, then you are in for a pleasant surprise.
The album’s opening, titular track, is a great way to kick this album off, with catchy, groove-laden guitar hooks and soaring harmonies drawing the listener in immediately, with Kirk Windstein‘s trademark ferocious vocal deliveries adding plenty of depth to the proceedings. It’s a song that is in equal parts crushing and epic, making for a memorable and hair raising start to the record. Hollow Dying Man is an ethereal piece of music, making use of beautifully distorted guitars and vocals to give this a softer feel, punctuated by vast, beefy rhythms and slick, minimalist lead flourishes that help give this song a sublime and grandiose sound.
Once Again continues in much the same vein, with some more adventurous drumming and haunting vocals giving this a more lively feel that, when coupled with the murky yet glorious guitars, provides the album with an early highlight that shows that Kirk Windstein is just as capable of producing compositions that are angelic as he is at coming up with ones that are punishing. Enemy In Disguise has some noticeably more prominent bass hooks, which compliment the warm guitar sound and powerful vocal deliveries incredibly well. With its huge sound, the intricate musicianship ebbs and flows, with various elements within the song interweaving and giving this a more layered and eclectic approach to songwriting. The World You Know steps away from the more measured way that the last three songs have gone, bringing in meatier, bleak lead guitars and dense, juggernaut rhythms that give this a great, monolithic edge that doesn’t sacrifice any of the lighter aspects that have characterised the album for the most part up until this point. It’s a brilliant blend of sludgy riffs and emotive elements that takes the album back into decidedly heavier territories.
Toxic takes the music down a significantly darker and more powerful route, with meaty lead guitars and authoritative drumming giving this a very strong, sludge orientated sound right out of the gate. Kirk‘s acerbic vocals carve through the mix and add a fierce, acidic roar to the proceedings, which only serves to make this already huge track sound monolithic throughout. It has some of the slickest and catchiest guitar work on the whole record, and proves to be one of the stand out tracks of the album. The Healing has a almost shoegaze feel to the tone and approach to the musicianship, with the guitars having an airy, atmospheric feel, which quickly gives way to a monstrous rhythm section. The contrast between the beguiling leads and the granite heavy rhythms works extremely well, making for another diverse and engrossing sound that draws the listener in immediately and keeps you transfixed until the very end.
Necropolis utilises soaring vocals and glorious guitars to create a song that is majestic and emotive, deviating from the intensity that marked the previous two songs, proving to be a brief yet brilliant change of pace that works incredibly well at this point in the record. The Ugly Truth follows in much a similar vein, with a sharp and crisp guitar tone giving this song a magnificent sound that complements to the gargantuan vocal passages perfectly. It’s got the slight air of a ballad about it, without straying into the realms of cheesiness even for a second. It’s a fantastic piece of music that has great, bombastic edge, and it’s easy to assume that a song like this would go down really well in a live setting.
As stated at the beginning of this review, if you go into this record expecting to hear a CROWBAR or DOWN album, then you’ll no doubt be in for a surprise. Other than the title track and Toxic, with a few notable flourishes spread throughout the record, there’s not a lot on here that is very typical of the sort of music Kirk Windstein is known for. Much of the tar thick, sludgy hooks that listeners may have expected from this album are replaced with equally impressive and powerful compositions that centre around cleaner guitar sounds and a more atmospheric and hypnotic approach to the songwriting. There’s still plenty of intense and savage tracks on the record however, and the diverse scope of music on offer here, from sludge to hard rock to the more atmosphere heavy material, makes this an engrossing and memorable album from start to finish, with the bar being set at a fairly lofty height for his future solo albums to surpass.
Rating: 8/10
Dream In Motion is set for release on January 24th via eOne.