I liked the band's short statement on the Reverbnation website about themselves, which is pure and simple. This is the face of the American DOGBANE and that is also the overall visage of their music, nothing less but nothing more. What also interested me about this band is that its members have quite an experience that consists of a variety of musical directions in Rock and Metal. Nonetheless, as their debut release of "Residual Alcatraz", via Heaven & Hell Records dictates and suggests, the proceedings to insure its birth were on rather even musical grounds.

Without molesting your minds with too much philosophies and historical events in Rock and Metal music, it wasn't so hard to capture the shared admiration for BLACK SABBATH, whether Ozzy or Dio eras, and of course the OZZY OSBOURNE own band's music. DOGBANE's tunes show an extensive usage, sometimes on the verge of sounding like a copycat, of the same motifs that led some of the best SABBATH and OZZY albums yet providing them a higher level of heaviness and stoutness. Universally, DOGBANE made a darker side of US Heavy Metal while overshadowing it with murkiness that fitted the vintage British gods. There were occasions where DOGBANE let go of the dimness while unleashing a pattern of their music that was a bit livelier than the usual strides. That is one of the shining lights of this album.

Though I am a great fan of early BLACK SABBATH and OZZY OSBOURNE works, and generally US Metal, I didn't find anything that is special about this album, particularly after listening to the annoying and anemic representation of a song like "Burning In The Light". The large part of the album was pretty much solid and kept it to the roots while emphasizing the authority of chaos that loomed over the material. There were areas where I actually felt that I was listening to BLACK SABBATH like on "Annihilator" for instance; it is great and all but where is DOGBANE's own mark? On the whole, the twin guitar fretwork has its moments with a well done performance and the rhythm section also showed the same rate of success. Probably the most dominant figure, even if it won't sound like it, is the voice of Jeff Neal that demonstrated the voice of experience.

DOGBANE is a prominent band of members that walked the industry quite a bit. I am glad that they never backed down in front of the trends of tomorrow, yet being chained to the past didn't seem to aid their originality, at least this time around. The greatest time I had with this album was with "Residual Alcatraz", "Fire And Brimstone" and "Ride The Serpent". I know that walking this kind of walk following these tracks would convince me otherwise on the next album.