Dredg

Surrealist post-prog rockers Dredg haven't released an album since 2005's Catch Without Arms. But a new record seems imminent: The San Francisco quartet entered the studio earlier this year with producer Matt Radosevich (the Hives, Two Gallants) after nearly two years of writing and recording demos of new material. Internet speculation suggests that the new record will be a concept work — much like the band's previous three albums, which focused on topics ranging from the plight of a road-weary traveler in search of moral redemption (1998's Leitmotif) to the strange phenomenon of sleep paralysis (2002's El Cielo). Dredg is a powerful live force that creates an unrelentingly heavy wall of guitar noise, but like a more metal-influenced Explosions in the Sky (or a less pop-centric Coheed and Cambria), Dredg's strength lies in its ability to tell a very involved story mostly through subtle dynamic shifts in mood and texture.