Kirk Windstein is a man who needs no introduction. For over three decades he has produced some of the most memorable down-tuned Black Sabbath inspired metal around, mostly as the frontman of sludge titans Crowbar. He’s ventured away from them a few times too, most notably for New Orleans supergroup Down and his project with Hatebreed’s Jamie Jasta, Kingdom of Sorrow. However in all this time he has never put out music under his own name, until now.
Dream In motion is the first solo album from Windstein, and it definitely is a solo album ,with Kirk playing everything here but drums. With ten tracks in 44 minutes Windstein ticks a lot of the expected boxes and covers some new ground too. Indeed, Dream In Motion might surprise many of his long term followers, and hopefully in a good way too. Each track still crashes in with the weight and heaviness of a lead lined elephant, but to this assault Windstein has added huge swathes of melody. Tracks like the title track are soulful and introspective, with a new found sense of melody lifting the song. Rather than making it lighter however, this new layer gives additional emotional weight to the songs on offer here. This also feels like a very personal album and releasing it under his own name certainly seems to have given him more freedom to attempt things that he wouldn’t necessarily be comfortable to try in Crowbar. The wind is slightly taken out of the sails by a cover of Jethro Tull’s ‘Aqualung’ that while excellent doesn’t quite sit with the tone of the rest of the album.
In all, Dream In motion is a strong collection of music by one of the true greats of the scene and if this is anything to go by it confirms Kirk Windstein still has plenty more to offer.
Dream In Motion is released 24th January via eOne and can be purchased here.
Words: Nathan Tyler
