California, USA quartet D.O.G. Disciples of God is a Christian Metal band releasing their debut album "Unleashed" here which contains eight tracks. I'm well aware of the Christian Metal genre movement out there, but have never really listened to much of it, save for catching DEMON HUNTER live a few years back on an opening bill for one of my favorite bands, IN FLAMES. The concept of religion in Metal goes all the way back to its roots. In fact, one might say it is the most discussed lyrical topic in the genre, with most bands on the agnostic or atheist side of the fence. But hey, let's give this a listen on the more affirmative side and see what the band is all about.

"No One Rides for Free" was the first single from the album. It moves quickly with a dirty riff and mid-range vocals. It definitely has a traditional Old School sound, but except for the energy it has a pretty stripped down sound, like early Metallica without any of the arrangements. "Seeking your Face" is really more of the same, though the song is slower in pace. The vocals are somewhere between singing and snarling but there isn't much versatility here. The lyrics are easy enough to understand but the riffs are very elementary. "Pay the Piper" has a little more going on with the guitars, which thickens up the sound rather nicely. The message is "if you live by the gun, you'll die by the sword." "Into Thin Air" cooks a bit warmer from the opening riff, but it drops too soon in favor of something that is just unoriginal.

"Armageddon" is of course the end of the world, an event that Christians look forward to as "The Rapture." I never cared for all of those fire and brimstone threats and the entire thing seems unreal, but the end of the world may indeed be "just around the corner" as they discuss. "Hey You" uses a trite three-chord riff that is down-tuned but fairly hard to listen to. The album as a whole-I would never begrudge a group of musicians who are making honest and genuine music in the vein of what they love. But this album has a long way to go to be something I would recommend. If you boil down to a small bag of common Metal riffs that were composed many decades ago, it's not even something that could be compared to the riffs of those times. What I get here in the end is really more of your neighborhood "garage" band that tracked what they wrote in that setting. This was honestly one of the most painful listening experiences I have had recently.