5 out of 5

Label: Southern Records

Produced by: Darediablo, Scott Mann

I was making some recommendations on instrumental rock / metal music recently, and, since that’s a genre I tend to seek out, I was of course sifting through however many examples to figure out what would be especially grabbing. I did pass over Darediablo, because I wasn’t convinced they were necessarily heavy enough for the recommendee’s preferences, but also, I wasn’t sure the group’s somewhat straight-forward rock approach would merit the attention it deserves off of a single youtube clip.

But dang reminder to myself, owner of Darediablo’s discography: you do not have to be flashy to deliver one of the best instrumental albums of all time.

Feeding Frenzy picks up on the more aggressive stylings that came alongside the group’s demonically-fonted logo, pushing even further into hard-rock territory, indebted to a 70s swagger and blended with punk intensity. The disc’s 11 tracks are all tight as possible without being overstuffed, and remain incredibly distinctive, bouncing between balls-out tears – Feed Frenzy – and keep-the-beat riffage like Slide Rule, and relatively slow-burn grooves (all wurlitzered up) like Under The Table, each style spaced out accordingly to keep things fresh and moving along.

The aforementioned influences are also kept in check, the proggy vibe suggested by the keys giving way to Quasi-esque mashes, and just some tried and true gorgeous blending of melodies. All of the instruments are relevant at all times – everyone in support of one another, percussion keeping pace and then hitting us with that bass drum and two-time beats so we can’t forget its key role in matters either.

So yeah, at a glance, maybe Darediablo are just doing an amped up bar rock thing, but that is the most precursory way of hearing it; anything slightly longer or deeper than such a glance will have you swept up: toe tapping, head bobbing, unbelieving at how solid that track was you just heard, and how the next one is just as damn good.