Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
To create art that is beautiful, we first must be prepared for our minds to be destroyed by madness, by suffering the sense of the eternal struggle, and by being at odds with the world; nothing else will conjure up images of passion more, nothing else will sear the endeavour of the human condition with as much feeling.
As a society though we have reached an apex in which the struggle has taken us to the brink of anxiety overload, the understanding whispered in our minds that the battles have been for naught, that the fight has, if not worth it, then a desperate act of delusion that has fashioned greater division than it has solved. We are, it seems, at breaking point, bent double by the feeling of Modern Dread.
Heroes and heroines are hard to come by, too short a supply in the making, and when we do find one, we instinctively find ways to bring them down, tear at their soul and their being, their ideas and values till there is nothing left. It is no wonder we find ourselves bereft of those willing to put their head above the parapet and give rise to their ability, their sensational drive.
For Denai Moore, the battle is not just one to partake in, it is there to be won, to be met head on and played out with style. The war may be brutal, but it is in honesty, in gravitas and grace, that the cynics and pessimists are reinvigorated and bolstered. It is the hunger and craving for equality that Ms. Moore shoulders the responsibility of banishing the personal demons, and those that haunt others who cannot find the help duly deserving of their own state of mind and plight fostered upon by an uncivilised and uncaring world.
To take part in the fight you must be prepared to hone your skill against tyrants and the evils that gladly stalk our waking moments. You must also be prepared to fight dirty, to suffer the harrowing tales by your side, only then can you resurrect the sense of the glorious denied you.
Across songs of defiance and intrigue such as Don’t Close The Door, Fake Sorry, Cascades, Slate and the finale of Wishing You Better, the hairs on the skin are roused, the troubles are confronted, and the dragon of silence that infects us all, is slain.
Modern Dread is a journey, a mission, one unafraid to inform the listener that the subject matter might be confrontational, could be one of nightmares and furrowing the brow against the crashing of dawn’s light against the drama of the night happily enjoyed by those in command, and it is one that once you hear Denai Moore’s voice, you will always want to have covering your back and protecting your soul from the same demons she rages and battles against.
Delicate and angry, suffering through torment, and coming out the other side an absolute winner; Modern Dread is to be confronted, and lauded for its sheer persistence and decency.
Ian D. Hall