Brace yourselves for something drum-centric! The appropriately-named Drum Dynasty is a rather deliberate collective of US-based drummers wishing to exceed the boundaries of ordinary drumming. Naturally, being drummers, a single album wasn't enough. No, they made two. Belittling aside, you'll find that Drum Dynasty's intriguing exploration of world music through hitting a variety of skins is in fact rather impressive. Whether or meditational purposes or the sake of rhythm, this double-album is worth checking out.
Disc one - "Mystic Sunrise" - is easy listening for the most part. As strange as it sounds, we are spared from the common indulgence of showboating with the percussion being only as important as the Middle Eastern flavours that seep through courtesy of Kevin Christensen's hypnotic scores. Close your eyes and you will be taken to a far-off land, full of mystery and wonder. Or, if you have a poor imagination, you shall be taken to a land filled with elaborate drum-kits. A little imagination helps here. If all else fails, maybe your girlfriend can belly-dance to it.
Even non-drummers will marvel at the rhythmic talent exercised on tracks like "Twenty Drawings". Significantly, no track overruns its course, and with such variation in the patterns, it's almost impossible to find a track that doesn't hold your attention. "Damsels of Brindiban" could easily belong to a Bollywood film and that's meant as no statement of disrespect to anyone. "Masalama", a slow-building track that borrows the lungs of an Indian sounding woman, brings an end to the first CD.
There's slightly less to be said about the primitive callings of "Dark Continent", which owes more to an appreciation of tribal beats. It is on tracks like "Possessed" and "Voodoo Rain", where the drumming takes precedence over the score, that "Dark Continent" fully establishes itself as a different album to "Mystic Sunrise". "Dark Continent" is truly a masterclass in tribal drumming.
And there we have it. Two great albums. If you're serious about drumming, you'd be stupid not to buy this album. Not just one for the aficionados, though. A strangely enjoyable musical journey.
Available by worldwide mail order from CD Baby.