A Massive Album from A Dog Called Ego

An album release from A Dog Called Ego Recently dropped and this record is a brilliant combination of heavy-handed rock soundscapes that are progressive but also hit everything from grunge to garage, post-rock, and boast some even heavier and edgier approaches with genius guitar work that is a little outside the box but helps shape the sound of the record as a whole incredibly well.

The Paper Boat album is massive, and there are more than a few surprises around its corners as the record unfolds, and with each track, you get a little bit of a glimpse into some of the many influences that have created the band and the record itself.

What creates the aesthetic of this record in particular is how they have both a massively heavy set of riffs, guitar tones that are sonically driving, and yet they still have so many segments in sections of the record that float and invite you along to grab hold and drift right alongside it.

There is much of a vast underbelly to this record, and it feels cinematic at times to me.

I certainly found the combination of the heavy-handed sort of underground early 2000s or late 90s alternative rock aspects and post-rock approaches, along with those expansive and ambient undertones, really brought a particular atmosphere to the table.

The whole thing has a way of pulling you into it, and once you're in that atmosphere, you don't want to leave.

It's like a gracefully and beautifully super heavy record that reminds you of certain kinds of bands you might have grown up listening to, but also brings several new twists and turns to the table along with that bit of avant-garde songwriting and intense energy.

The first track is called "Hollow Tree", and this works wonderfully to get you ready for what you're about to hear on the rest of the record simply because it gives you some of the band's emotional side. You have this spacious and widespread feel to this track, along with harmonious vocals that showcase how they're able to blend the softness and emotional drive with all that heaviness from the guitars and drumming.

This was a wonderful track and one that really gets you prepared, but although it may give you certain elements of what you're about to hear throughout the rest of the record, you need to listen to this album in full to soak everything in the way it was meant to be.

Tracks like "Paper Boat" bring on that post-rock or progressive hardcore style sound with really aggressive and deepening riffs along with drums that are super driving but also give the record that burst of energy where it needs it.

The drumming across this record is amazing and helps the songs hit those pinnacles that they're getting to a lot of the time.

The drumming isn't just straightforward, it's sort of alive, giving the whole record the same sense.

Some of this album feels like watching a live performance, and you can feel the energy fluctuate and flow throughout the songs.

Some of that vast undertone is also attributed to the fact that there are elements of shoegaze embedded in the veins of this record. They aren't as up front as a regular, straight-up shoegaze record, but they're there.

As I mentioned earlier, there must be a ton of influences that help create this band and build some of the sounds that the record is portraying.

Although the vocals do an outstanding job of giving off that emotion and delivering some of the waves of intensities that come and go while also adding this different textural layer to the record itself, the guitars are the thing that cry out and reach outside the box a lot of the time.

For people who love post-rock, post-hardcore, progressive rock, anything sort of heavy-handed in terms of some of that underground '90s rock that some of us grew up listening to, the guitar work is mind-blowing.

That atmosphere I mentioned earlier is heavily attributed to the guitar work, and one of my favorite tracks on the record is called "Echoes In Glass" because it does showcase some of the different sides of how the guitars flow, change, progress, and shape the sound of the record itself.

Surprising little breakdowns and guitar sections that lead into explosive segments are something that this record has more than a handful of, and I feel like that's a staple to the way the band writes their songs.

The intensity levels of the vocals rise and fall as I mentioned. The vocals do indeed help shape that sound as well, and I like how they are a focal point in expressing stories, feelings, and emotion, and how they feed off of the energy of the band as well.

The closing track, "When All Is Said and Done", is a perfect example of exactly that.

This is a slow burn and a graceful one at that. It builds and builds and finally explodes, but it still does so in that sort of cinematic sense.

This is a band that pays a lot of attention to how the songs are arranged and how they unfold because they all do have bits of stories and a lot to say both musically and lyrically, so you can tell that the attention to detail was there but it never loses the character or heart that it begins with.

This is a must here from start to finish.

There's a lot of experimental, inventive songwriting and performances across the board, and for anyone who loves heavy music that reaches outside the norm and is built with fewer walls around it, this record is 100% for you.

Check this out right now and remember where you heard it first.

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