From the metal-rich country of Sweden,
Dront is a 4-piece stoner metal. “Ozymandias” is their first release, and is a
relatively short, but worthwhile burst of riffs. This style of music is always
interesting for a few reasons. For one thing, it tends to straddle the line
into hard rock at times. As a result, if you dig bands some heavier rock bands,
it’s not difficult to see a connection between their sound and Dront’s. The
other main issue with stoner metal is that the vocals can be really out there.
Dront’s singer fits this mold well. He does have the ability to sing, but he
spends much of his time in this upper range that gets a bit out of control. A
lot of the time, it sounds like he’s just wailing. With that said, his
performance is not out of the norm for this subgenre.
Musically this EP has some good riffs to
offer. Sometimes they go in more of a chugging direction when there is singing
over top, but there is usually still something added on to the end of the
chugging to come up with a riff. The guitars (and really all of the
instruments) are a bit far back in the mix compared to the vocals, but when
there is no singing (which unfortunately is all too rare) the guitars stand
out. The bass pops out nicely in this style, though the approach is a bit
fuzzier than in a standard metal band. In terms of songwriting, “Ozymandias” is
in a bit of a tough spot. Having given this several listens, there isn’t much
that sticks out as being clearly better than the rest of the EP. The release is
consistent, but not particularly memorable. With that said, it doesn’t even
break 10 minutes, so if stoner metal is your thing, it’s definitely worth
checking out to see if it clicks. It's beyond competent in the style it sets out for, but this style doesn't particularly appeal to me.
Highlights
All of it.
Final Rating
3.5/5 or 70%.
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