Bad//Dreems have not been in hibernation over winter. The Adelaide quintet has been in the studio (three to be exact) with the renowned Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett, Olympia, The Drones, Julia Jacklin) and Jack Ladder, exploring the depth of their sound and musical capabilities in their third studio album, ‘Doomsday Ballet’.
While they served us cold-hard Aussie pub rock to match our flowing frothies on 2015’s ‘Dogs At Bay’ and 2017’s ‘Gutful’, Bad//Dreems introduce rich textures of instrumentation and harmony to break free from their tight pigeonhole, taking their Carlton Draught taste to craft beer standard.
Ben Marwe’s authentic, crisp Aussie vocals remain seated at the forefront of ‘Doomsday Ballet’, with his chorus-cry belts perched upon the load-bearing drumming, carrying bass lines, and driving guitars on anthemic tracks ‘Morning Rain’, ‘Piss Christ’, ‘Salad’, ‘Low Life’ and ‘Double Dreaming’.
Even though they have built up the brickwork of their sound, the boys have not strayed away from simplistic songwriting. Both ‘Harry’s Station’ and ‘Sally’s Place’ tap into their storytelling abilities, while ‘Sonny’ and ‘Gallows’ highlight their voluminous layering, ‘Sonny’ in vibrant pink and ‘Gallows’ in modest yellow.
‘Doomsday Ballet’, as its name suggests encompasses both the light and the shade of Bad//Dreems, showing what else the band have to offer.
4/5
Farmer and The Owl/BMG
Reviewed by Tammy Walters
