The band is called Doomdogs; they are signed to Doomentia Records; the album has an early Black Sabbath cover in the form of ‘A National Acrobat’; and guesting on said track is Pentagram’s riff master Victor Griffin. Hell, to quote the lyrics of penultimate album track, ‘Metal Mayhem’, they “play some stoner, some doom and roll”. So, could this be a doom band? Damn straight it is folks and a bloody good one too! Album opener ‘Eye for an Eye’ chugs out of the speakers with a suitably fuzzy riff, front man Tomas Eriksson growling out the lyrics from vocal chords that sound like they’re exercised with a strict daily regimen of Jack Daniels and Capstan full strength.
‘Save Me’ follows, its gentle, almost pastoral opening quickly being crushed like a flower below a zombie’s heel by the inexorable march of the down tuned guitars and battering bass line, a real monster of a track that showcases the band’s undoubted class. However, rather then just plod along like the one of the undead with a Les Paul, Doomdogs mix in a few rockier tracks, upping the tempo on the likes of ‘The Annie-Christ’, a stoner track raised above the norm with the almost funky drumming, complete with what I would swear is some cow bell work. All good rock needs “more cowbell”, that’s what I say. Throw into the mix a nice time change, and it becomes one of the stand out tracks on what is an album of stand out tracks.
Following on from this electric doom barrage is ‘Legacy’, a simple, lyric free, acoustic guitar and flute track, an island of gentle calm and contemplation, putting me in mind of Peter Gabriel’s early work with Genesis. Okay, maybe not a particularly cool reference in a metal review, but I’ll let you discover for yourself that Genesis wasn’t always about Mr Colins’ slices of stadium filling cheese. Normal service resumes with the slow sludgy crawl of ‘Welcome To The Future’, the funereal slog of the opening slowly building up, leading into a faster Sabbathesque beat.
By mixing paces and throwing in some funkier and rockier beats that are not found on every pure doom album, Doomdogs manage to make the seventy minutes plus of the album blast by without ever sounding monotonous, each song having its own identity, something that lesser bands can fail to achieve. Their influences in classic metal and doom as well as seventies rock, combined with an obvious energy and passion makes this an album that will not only satisfy the dyed in the wool doomster, but should have a wider appeal without compromise. Damn Doomdogs for being so good, I’m going to have to modify my top ten of the year again!
http://www.myspace.com/doomdogs
Spenny Bullen
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