When you think of dub or reggae it’s not likely that many British acts will spring to mind. Despite that, Dreadzone have been doing the roots music thing since the early 90s and shot into the public limelight with their second album Second Light. With a reputation for amazing live gigs, a Top 20 single with ‘Little Britain’ and high praise from John Peel they captured a lot of people’s attention. It probably helped that their social-political lyrics fitted in well with the ‘Cool Britannia’, ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ and New Labour rhetoric of the time.

Dreadzone are more than just another reggae band though, they blend in a mix of dance rhythms, melodies from around the world and lyrics with a political slant that give them a bit more of an edge. Just like back in the 90s the social and political subject seem to fit in well with the anxieties, problems and general feeling a lot of people have these day with narrow minded right wing policies setting agendas around the world.

‘Rootsman’ opens the album with the most laid back dubby song on the album, including a nice simple rolling loop underneath. It sets the scene for the album as a whole with the main lyrical hook being “Going back back to my roots” and this seems to be their main aim with this album. It’s a more chilled out album with the dance elements nicely laid back into the mix to let the roots music shine through.

Each track has its flavour of electronics from chill out rhythms right through to higher speed techno loops. Alongside this there are the lyrics which go from your songs about the struggles in life, “I never expected to be alone… Going to make it on my own” in ‘Escape’, as well as the more political songs including ‘16 Hole’ with the lyrics; “16 holes in a dead man’s chest… Oh rude boy don’t take your gun to town or you will get shot down”.

‘Area Code’ seems the most commercial song on the album, being the closest musically to ‘Little Britain’ and featuring Lena Cullen on vocals. While ‘Music Army’ has a very north African vibe to it and is an anthem for the music lovers, which is bound to go down very well live as the lyrics are mainly just “We are the music army” and “Hey”, repeated in the appropriate places.

As you would expect from a Dreadzone album the production values on Dread Times are top quality as Greg Dread once again oversees the album’s production. The mix of styles and levels are perfect on each song and, while all the tracks have their own distinct flavour of musical style, they sit together perfectly on the album creating a continuous vibe you don’t want to stop.

In some ways this album is like a casual trip through different dance music genres with a light dub / reggae undertone. It’s rammed full of musical and lyrical hooks that will stick in your head for days while also being perfect for the tracks that are blasted out in club nights. Listening to the album during the coldest week of the winter so far I’m continuously daydreaming of getting down on the beach with the summer’s sun warming the body and this album blasting out of my headphones, I’m sure it’s going to be the soundtrack of my summer this year.
Jonski Mason

Website: dreadzone.com
Facebook: facebook.com/dreadzone
Twitter: twitter.com/dreadzonemusic