I've been a
big fan of Sabbath since I was a teenager. The vinyl copy of 'Master of Reality'
with embossed sleeve my uncle handed over to my parents some time during the
seventies is now not only one of the gems of my collection, buy one of those
albums that shaped my taste in music.
I'm not unique in that sense: many, many people across the world are huge Black
Sabbath fans. Up in Gothenburg in Sweden there's a bunch of fellows in a band
called Doomdogs who, by the sound of it, were born and bred on Sabbath. What
they do comes so close to being Sabbath that it's almost too much. Yes, there is
perhaps a touch of stoner rock in their music as the promo notes wants to
convince me, but, really, this is more like a Sabbath cover band.
There's good energy in many of the songs, but there's also long stretches where
I'm quite frankly bored - Magic of the Black Circle and Mind Slayer being two
good examples (apart from the fine break half-way throught the latter).
Songs like Slight Case of Madness and All Lies cross the fine line of being
rip-offs, and it's generally a hard balance for Doomdogs to strike.
My main issue with 'Unleash the Truth' is Tomas Eriksson's vocal performance.
It's a matter of taste, yes, I know, but I don't like it. Still, I have a
feeling that even without this factor, the 70 minutes of Doomdogs would be too
much of a good thing. I have a hard time getting through the entire thing in one
go!
And as for the cover of A National Acrobat...it's thought-provoking that
Metallica does a way cooler cover of a Sabbath song than a doom band!
Visit the band's myspace and judge for your self!
