When I started this music journalism-reviewing thing, some of the first promos I got fell under various categories of Metal such as Sludge, Doom, Thrash, Black and Death Metal. Although it was a good experience hearing these genres for the first time, it's not something I ever wanted to go through again so after a genre request change, I very rarely saw these genres pop up in a promo I had received for review. The one I got a few times was Thrash but the rest I never saw again, or so I thought as one of the latest reviews falls under the Doom Metal category and the band in this review have a new album out in that genre and their name is DOGBANE.

Formed in 2010, DOGBANE are a quintet whose music is inspired by a mixture of traditional/NWOBHM inspired Heavy Metal, with a touch of Doom Metal, as well. 2011 saw the release of their debut album "Residual Alcatraz", and then a year later, they recorded a cover of KISS song for a KISS tribute album. Two years later in 2014, they headlined the first day of the two-day event Ragnarokkr that is considered to be the best metal gathering in the USA.

Now in 2015, the band are back with album number two, which is entitled "When Karma Comes Calling", and I'm here to give my thoughts on what I think of this. Also, let us see if this can make me give Doom Metal a chance, as it's something I've never been big on in the past, so let's start this thing and see if my views can be altered.

Clocking it at around 35 minutes across 9 tracks, "When Karma Comes Calling" is an album that aims to hark back to the golden age of Metal, filled with hook laden riffs that, when combined with the music, create a narrative form of storytelling. This is what I read in the band bio that I got sent for this promo anyway but I'm starting to feel a bit unsure about whether or not that statement about what this album is aiming to achieve is really piquing my interest or not.

I guess me preferring modern music over classic music doesn't help that fact, but whenever I do hear some classic Metal tunes, most notably while playing videogames, I do find myself enjoying some of them. I guess I will give this album some credit with it's guitar riffs and melodies as they can occasionally be mildly enjoyable with the tuning used for each track and the solo parts which are quite impressive to a point.

I'll also give the rhythm section some credit too, as the bass and drums, along with the rhythm guitar, do their job in supporting the vocals and the lead guitar tracks by making sure they stay in time and rhythm with each other. That's where the praise ends, as the rest of it just seems to bug, irk and annoy me.

The vocal performance is something that although I do, sort of, appreciate as the singer does give it some oomph in a few places, I'm not all that keen on it as a whole as there's something about it that puts me off. It's hard really to describe but I feel there's not enough punch or effort put into the performance to really wow me.

Also, I feel like the production hasn't been done all that well for a modern album, as although it's not as bad as some albums I have heard in the Doom genre, it's still not something I am overly impressed by as it just feels a bit rushed.

On the other hand, maybe it aims to sound too like a traditional golden age heavy metal album, meaning it's trying to sound classic and retro instead of sounding modern, but there are some classic Metal albums and songs which sound a bit better than this, in terms of performance and production.

Bottom line, the new album from DOGBANE is not the worst Doom Metal style album I have ever heard, so I do give it some credit at least for that, but as a whole, I don't feel like it's an album that is going to make me start liking the genre, as there are things about it which just seem to bug, irk and annoy me as I explained in this review. Give this one a listen for yourself by all means if you're a Doom Metal fan or want to give the genre a try, as you may like it but it's just not for me.
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