Dreadnought – Wars Of Spirit // Wards Of Light Review

[Cover art by Christian Ward]

No one has ever accused Dreadnought of being doggedly orthodox in any respect. Their music is a product of the watercolored mishmash of monoculture in which it was and is created, a world of intrusive and convincingly personalized advertisements for THC GLP-1s, insidious masterpieces soundtracked by TikTok psyop artists, destined to flow and ebb through the algorithm with the force and subtlety of a Nepalese mudslide. (THAT, I admit, was too soon, but ain’t it a sign o’ the times that through a device in our palm we can be both inundated by tremendous human tragedy and jaded enough to gallows humor ourselves through it.) To reframe it more positively – Dreadnought have always been a band whose sound is geared toward listener immersion; these Denver guys and gals write material that you plunge down into rather than being systematically pelted by its individual components.  Further, I have a suspicion that their intent is to immerse with an ambivalence to whether or not the listener is also enraptured. Comparatively – the deepest parts of the ocean swallow anything that may enter, an atmosphere deathly hostile to most but nonetheless bewitching to some.

In an effort to not COMPLETELY bury the lede, I offer a frank description of Dreadnought’s milieu that is both irritating and vague – Wars of Spirit // Wards of Light is not a black metal album, nor a prog album. It is not entirely a post-something album, nor is it an electronic sci-fi odyssey. It does not pretend to be a death metal album and it would not fill in the “doom metal album” bubble on a musical genre census. If, however, what you are looking for is an “enjoyable, unique and, for the most part, quite good” album, you’ve found it. Greetings, reader and future listener! Welcome to Dreadnought Gulch.

Where do we begin with Wars of Spirit // Wards of Light? Why, with some historical context, of course! Musically, it is a fitting next step in Dreadnought’s career after the darkened swirl of The Endless, which itself was a fitting next step after Emergence. Artistic evolution – good! Suspiciously good, even, considering that the musical components and compositional structures remain relatively the same from album to album. Dreadnought’s songs are loose and wave-like with heavy crests and serene troughs. They never get too heavy – harsh vocals, grinding riffs and the occasional blastbeats are found but almost never at the same time. Conversely, there are few truly light sections, as despite there being sections of organic instruments playing pretty, twinkly things, there is an undercurrent of menace. The bottom of the wave climbs ever upward, and all. Back to the point – The Endless introduced a few noteworthy things that Wars of Spirit // Wards of Light has latched onto and extrapolated upon. One, the extensive use of guitarist/vocalist Kelly Schilling’s upper register. Her eerie soprano filled in a frequency range that was missing for much of Dreadnought’s past output. The effect on the songs is pronounced and quite welcome, provided you enjoy her particular timbre. Two, the bastards are hiding hooks in their pockets! There was a concerted effort in The Endless to add some catchiness into the vocal patterns and melodies. I, as a dolt who occasionally enjoys a hook or three, think this move was clutch, for as much as their wash of darkness is enjoyable, those little bits of light piercing the surface work wonders for the whole.

Everything I like about Dreadnought ’26 is found within the four minutes and thirty-five seconds of the first single “The Archive”, the gestalt of Wars of Spirit // Wards of Light in theme and presentation. The album art gives it away, really. The otherworldliness of The Endless is now wrapped in a bright electronic sheen. The music has renewed purpose. It’s as if their sense of storytelling and compositional acumen are finally in lockstep. Opening with a gleaming battery of harsh vocals and double bass under sky-high keys and leads, the groove continues into a wide-open verse showcasing Kelly’s siren-like lower register. This section is complemented wonderfully by the second verse at 2:06. The male/female vocal duet ratchets the tension higher and higher until a VERY satisfyingly placed countdown ushers in the song’s cascading denouement. If every song on Wars of Spirit had the pacing, the emotional clarity, the riffs (!) of “The Archive”, we might have been dealing with a masterpiece. Ah yes, and if riffs and struts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Xmas.

The A side of Wars of Spirit // Wards of Light is some of the most compelling music Dreadnought has ever recorded. From the opening 5/4 stagger of “Tiamat’s Gate” to the frantic, blast and tremolo-filled outro of “Colors of Our Broken Hearts” is as strong a volley of songs as I’ve heard this year. The pieces feel completely connected to each other, every rise and fall hits with purpose. The B side is where you start feeling the struggle. “Serpents of the Moon” works as a moody bridge after the action, but “Aeonwar” and “The Twilight Protectorate” can’t quite hold up their own weight. It’s possible that it is simply a sequencing issue; three seven-minute tracks in a row just feels longer than a nine and two four-and-a-halves. Then again, Dreadnought has made a career of tracking mostly longer songs in a row. If you aren’t used to it by now, it’s likely a user issue.

The evolution of Dreadnought’s music is to be commended, as they’ve taken their rather ponderous, idiosyncratic style boldly into new territory, such that without prior knowledge I might be fooled into thinking this material is from a different group altogether. The new focus on the higher register female vocal (especially as coupled with the baritone male cleans and gnashing harsh stuff) is the star here, the real driving force. Additionally, it is arguable that some of the heaviest material Dreadnought has ever written is contained within, another welcome shot in the arm. It’s because of all this that when Wars of Spirit // Wards of Light doesn’t quite live up to my expectations, the disappointment stings that much more.

To be clear – there is no bad music on this record. It is arguably (and as stated in the opener) quite good! I’d go so far as to say that at the moment it is the best Dreadnought record yet, and if the promise of the album’s first half was kept in the second, I would be fashioning my Halloween costume after the album cover, feverishly researching a method of staying alive with my heart encaged on my back. Ah yes, and if hearts and cages were wisdom and sages, we’d all have a Merry Xmas.