Southside’s Dream Atlantic tore the roof off The National last Friday night. The hardcore quintet’s double bass blasts and Southern-fried shredding brought out their fans in anticipation of getting an early copy of the band’s new EP, Gunslingers, which dropped for the masses four days later on the 7th of September.
The band hit the stage after a disappointing line up of sub-par and dated-sounding openers, making the reasons for their popularity immediately evident to all in attendance, as they broke into their set with a series of rapid fire drum fills and a towering wall of feedback. Front man Anthony Williams stalked the stage with confidence and aggression, evoking a young Henry Rollins as he leaned one leg up on the floor monitors, letting loose his guttural and menacing screams through The National’s top notch PA system. Williams’s voice is unique--he’s able to sound very primal and deep, but has the upper register to provide the edge of clarity that separates his voice from the group’s low end dirge. As fists swung and bodies flailed across the National’s floor, Dream Atlantic attacked, continually pushing forward with their technically masterful Southern hardcore. By the end of their set the audience was going wild. The following act had to deal with a half empty house, as most of the audience had already gotten what they came for and left.
To clearly hear the talents Of Dream Atlantic, one must listen to their newest studio release. Close on the heels of the band’s 2009 debut album, Losing the Floor, their latest project is especially astounding when one considers that the band, operating on their own, produced and mixed the new EP in its entirety. The level of production sounds absolutely top notch. Recorded in Dream Atlantic’s Southside studio, Full Circle Recording, which has of late become the go to location for the region’s hard rock faithful, the EP sounds miles ahead of the band’s previous efforts. The release starts off with a brazen blast of brutality in the opening track “No Hero.” The song begins with a lo-fi radio filtered array of vocals and drums that drops into a bass heavy assault. This assault doesn’t let up for the remainder of the recording, as even the clean vocal harmonies find a way to add to the song’s shredding metal drive. Before you can even catch your breath, “No Hero” is immediately followed up by the track the “The Quick and The Dead,” a pop-friendly metal blast of pseudo-Middle Eastern guitar gymnastics, which culminates in one of the most pyrotechnic metal guitar solos out of the river city since Lamb of God.
Above all, Dream Atlantic has technical talent. The group masterminds, drummer/producer Dan Uphoff and songwriter/lead guitarist Matt Seay, are the driving force behind the band. Each of the two musicians are virtuosos at their respective instruments, creating a nonstop churning of guitar squeals and syncopated drum fills that propel the band forward, through the heavy grind of bassist Brandon Willard and rhythm guitarist Jesse Huckins’s tightly wound riffs. Huckins’s high and clear harmonies consistently create a radio-friendly counterpoint to Williams’s aggressive and dominating growl. For this reason, Dream Atlantic inhabit a fantastic middle ground that is sure to appeal to fans of both heavier and more melodic rock varieties.
The band didn’t cut any corners on their latest effort, in terms of production or musicianship. “Vixens” references the notorious guitar descent into the Beatles classic “Helter Skelter” and quickly turns it into something entirely the band’s own. They move from classic rock guitar riffing into a blastbeat-driven wall of clean vocal hooks, then into a muddy blues-tinged breakdown that sparks off with a furious vocal from Williams, demanding the band “bring the fucking riot.” And indeed they do.
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Dream Atlantic’s new EP, Gunslingers, is available through the band’s website or through Amazon mp3.