- Concord Dawn's latest album Uprising is their third full length LP and continues with their fascination of marrying drum'n'bass beats with hard rock elements - distorted guitars, rock riffs, smashing cymbals and loud, shouting vocals all bursting through the speakers at a mere 168 bpm... minimum. Uprising is, as described by Evan Short - one half of Concord Dawn - half a collection of 12"'s that they've released and the other half a collection of album only tracks.
Morning Light is first off the mark and has been released by classic drum'n'bass label, Timeless, which is home to producers like Goldie. An eerie bassline accompanied by a lazy hi-hat introduces the track before the male vocals and dark bass drops kick in thrusting the tune into supersonic mode. It's been included in Craze's Live In Puerto Rico mix CD towards the end to bring his mix to a climax. Tonite continues on the same dark and mysterious feel, this time replacing the male vocals with a whispery female vocal while it attempts to burst ear drums and rumble bassbins with it's tear out bassline!
Influenced by a Slayer tune of the same name is Raining Blood featuring a guitar riff played by Evan and is one for the heavily tattooed, mullet haired, ripped tight jean donning drum'n'metal freaks out there! Raining Blood has a real mediterranean feel to it with it's pentatonic scale melody and in true 80's heavy metal style, Concord Dawn rip out a lighter raising guitar solo in the middle.
Drum'n'bass is one style that embraces the efforts of the MC as the crowd mover and hype starter and Concord Dawn is one group that showcases the rhyming styles of the local NZ talent. Scribe has just become one of NZ's biggest MC's and features on Get Ready - a guaranteed party rocker with a little Reprazent feel to it (when they released their In The Mode LP). Tiki Taane of Salmonella Dub is described by Evan Short as "NZ's choice for MC's in regards to drum'n'bass" and he gets really aggressive on Don't Tell Me, like listening to Linkin Park lyrics on a drum'n'bass track - pent up teen angst and aggression being released on a hard banging tune. Don't Tell Me has a slow 2 minute buildup before the beats and bass kick in and from there it's a rollercoaster ride featuring massive rewinds and bass drops.
Heavyweight drum'n'bass DJ's like Andy C have championed various Concord Dawn tracks including Ninja for his latest Drum'n'bass Arena mix CD - more big basslines, rolling breaks with a dark and ominous feel. Uprising basically continues the dark theme throughout the whole album, with tracks like Horror Show featuring the use of a theremin to give that horrow show feel. Let It Go is probably the only exception as it feels a little less dark thanks to the female vocalist.
Overall Uprising is a well produced album, however a few too many of the tracks give off the same feel and energy - perfect for drum'n'bass heads who can't get enough of that adrenaline charged 160 bpm plus rush. Personally though drum'n'bass works better for me in a mixed format than it does in album format.