Chances are Dredg is not a name that springs to mind when rolling through any top ten list of Southern Californian hard rock. Limp Bizkit is probably on that list somewhere, even if they don’t deserve to be.

And while the aforementioned chart-toppers spew music with all the subtlety of an erupting volcano, they lack a certain substance; the meat sticking to the bones of the melodies, if you like. This is what Dredg, a quartet from the Los Angeles suburbs, have in droves. They scream, cry, squawk and hurl riffs vociferously, but have done so on the down low, while having to play second fiddle to less worthy bands.

This should all change, with the release of their biting and fiercely political fourth attempt The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion. Dredg craft intricate and slightly eccentric hard rock, tinged with enough metal and prog influences to keep you thinking on their feet. It’s the most ambitious Dredg record to date, rolling through eighteen tracks that approach various social issues head on including religion, its positives and negatives, apathy, exclusion and emotional distress. ltd caught up with guitarist Mark Engles, ahead of their headlining Islington Academy gig, to discuss the new album, what they’re like on stage and why they think like Salman Rushdie. Fear not, all will become clear.

Now the album is out, what’s in store for the live shows?
Some nights might be ethereal, some nights more loud and aggressive, some nights dark and some nights optimistic. It’s tough to tell until we’re up on stage. Maybe that’s the most exciting bit of it all.

I’m hearing a lot of distress in this record. Where do these themes come from?
There is a hint of distress there, but mostly, the themes of the new record are mainly dealing with agnosticism and the exploration into why religion is so persuading and controlling for so much of the world.

And so it goes with the title?
Well, that fits into the theme on the record. A pariah is an outcast in society, one who does not conform to the norm. A parrot is a follower; one who lives in flocks and mimics ones around them, and delusion is what most humans suffer from. Religion is definitely influenced from those three. Still, saying that, we are not political in the sense that we have a message but we can’t help commentating on the world around us. That definitely came out on this record.

You’ve said before that this theme was inspired by Salman Rushdie? He’s dealt with similar things in his writing.
We love what he stands for: the concept of rational thought. And he is a brilliant man. When I read “Imagine There is No Heaven”, I couldn’t help but be inspired when writing this album. Plus, with all the influences, I think we’ve grown as musicians and our sense of melody has become much stronger.

We heard the album leaked over a month before it was due for release. Has that benefited or hindered the response to the record, now that it’s out?
We understand album leaks, but we just hope that fans can hear a top quality version that sounds great. We spend so much time on how our record should sound that we would hate the idea of everybody listening to a horrible rip [off the net]. That’s almost more important.