Hard rock’s greatest and most respected legends have typically found their fame working with the simplest of foundations – Delta blues, amplified guitars, heavy riffing, and a whole lot of percussive punishment. Gabriel and the Apocalypse seem to be interested in joining the club with the release of their new single “Get Dragged” this season, and if you give it even the most cursory of listens, I think you’re going to see what I mean. “Get Dragged” is a track that strips all of the embellishments away from rock n’ roll, leaving nothing but the bones of a genre at their most unrefined and melodically mighty.
As you would probably assume of a song performed in this style, the guitar is the star of the show here, but it doesn’t occupy so much space in the mix that we aren’t able to appreciate the other elements that give it a worthy backdrop. The percussion and vocal are tailored around the fretwork to flank us with as much of an assault as possible without getting too noisy about it, and because of the tuneful approach our lead singer takes, we never get too far away from a relatively pop-stylized harmony at the center of the song.
I love the electricity that the enormity of the drums in this track contributes to the overall feel of the music, and even though some critics might disagree with me on this one, I don’t see any part of the percussive component here as being all that indulgent. “Get Dragged” is very black and white when you get right down to it, and if you compare it side by side with some of the synth-driven rock coming from other artists in the American underground this season, there’s no arguing which of the two has more of a red-blooded rhythm.
The vocals have a processed finish in the master mix, and while it’s a bit more abrasive than what I would usually go for in this kind of single, I dig the contrast that it yields within the harmony. Gabriel and the Apocalypse seem like musicians who have a strong aversion to sounding like everyone else in their scene, and though they share some cerebral qualities with their mainstream rock brethren, what makes their sound sexy in “Get Dragged” is more about substance than it is any sort of pop cosmetics (which isn’t to say the video isn’t alluring in its own right).
You don’t have to be a big rock buff to get into what Gabriel and the Apocalypse are doing in “Get Dragged,” but for those of us who have been waiting for something special to come through in this genre for a while, it’s arriving at the right moment this November. Singles, especially for a band that is just getting started on the primetime stage, are the ultimate vehicle for making a statement, and here, Gabriel and the Apocalypse tells us that they’re planning on being in this business for a long time to come.
Mindy McCall
