Dub Dynasty, combined forces of Alpha Steppa and Alpha&Omega, returns with the third album full of music – on their double LP  we have 16 tracks and digital versions contain bonuses. What can we expect from the dub family this time?

Let’s start from guests, because there is a lot of them. We have Cologne, who fits in with solid riddims very well, but we’ve already heard this on “Rooted & Grounded”; we have Steppas Records veteran Ras Tinny. Woman voices are represented by Kiangana and Sista Jane Warriah. The list is finished by Iyano Iyanti and Violinbwoy.

Musically we get what’s best from Alpha&Omega and Alpha Steppa. Hypnotic, tribal riddims, many times filled with etno-style elements and dub magic – just listen to “I Am Dub”. Tunes with women vocals are fantastic – firstly we hear beautiful, slow and heavy anthem “Material Things” and next comes fast, dark “Oh Father” with Kiangana – if you like the style of Alpha&Omega’s tracks like “Rastafari”, you will be satisfied. By the way the second one with Kiangana is in the same mood and the result of slow singing based on a massive and fast bassline is great; a similar thing is with melody played by Violinbwoy in “The Orchard”. In the middle of LP we hit my favourite, dub massacre called “Rig Veda”, which I guess is the best combination of two styles sitting in the heads of this album’s authors. Below this track in a dubplate version played by Iration Steppas:

Cologne has taken my liking on “Rooted & Grounded”, here again he sounds excellent on steppers riddims perfectly suited for a soundsystem session; the same thing is with tunes with Ras Tinny.

The basslines traditionally performs a massage of listener’s guts during loud listening, but what has entranced me the most is diversity, glued with this dark, mythical, hypnotic aura.  Like from a magical forest, full of elves with their fabulous instruments and suspicious mushrooms, letting you connect with spirits…Besides, in many tunes we hear twittering birds – check “Footsteps” or “Holy Cow”. And if we’re talking about this title track, a cow story – the title sanctifying these animals can be understood in many ways; the cow was and is an object of worship in a lot of religions. In the context of civilisation she can be our warning, how negative impact on the environment we make by factory farming and how human beings could sink to such depths, if we look to cruel practices of this procedure – “gentle” details of animal treatment you can find on Compassion In World Farming.

To summarize – Dub Dynasty feels very well, is close to nature and still works on mastership in dub and wizardry.

Links:

http://www.steppas.com/steprec

http://alphaandomega.co.uk