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Karma To Burn: Appalachian Incantation Stoner Rock Napalm Records April 30th, 2010
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Review
It's been about eight long years since Karma To Burn hit the studio to release a new full-length release, with the band only being heard form again one year ago with one track on a two song limited edition vinyl release with ASG through Volcom Records. This instrumental Stoner Rock act returns with the release of Appalachian Incantation, which picks up pretty much where the band left off oh so long ago, and acts as a welcome return to form. If you were a fan of the band's previous albums, aside their self-titled Roadrunner Records debut which featured a vocalist against the band's wishes, then you already know what to expect here. If not, then you're in for a treat. While instrumentals aren't really the biggest thing out there, the music being played by Karma To Burn is very suiting to just sticking as a music only act. The material in each track is highely entertaining, bringing heavily distorted guitars to a hard hitting Southern Rock sound. Like usual, the band follows suit with the song titles as well of just being numbers, with the exceptions of "Waiting On the Western World" and "Two Times", which are the only tracks that features vocals, and are performed by guitarist William Mecum. The vocals on these two tracks work very well with the music, being cleanly sung. "Waiting On the Western World" and "Two Times" could be considered the bastard tracks off the album given that the band doesn't necessarily incorporate vocals into their music, they are perhaps the catchiest songs, and will easily have you singing along, where as every other song on here is going to have you playing air guitar no matter what situation happens to be present while this album is spinning. These highly addicting songs are just a typical mid-tempo pace, never really getting any faster, or dropping any slower outside of the occassional bridge and for the song "24", which is another track that stands out due to the slower, laid back pace of the song that will make you want to break out a newly purchased pack of beer and just chill. One of the perks about this would be the focus on bringing up the bass and having it somewhat unique to the mix instead of just having it follow suit the whole time with the guitars, adding a nice little edge to the music and making tracks like "43" much more enjoyable. Of course, that's not the case with all the songs, since "45" is exactly the opposite, having the bass throughout the whole song basically just be the guitar's chords, but due to the volume of the bass in the mix as it is, it at least stands out and sounds great. Appalacian Incantation is a great returning album by Karma To Burn that literally comes out of nowhere. If you have never heard this band's material before, then now is the time to check it out. This talented group of musicians makes instrumental rock highly enjoyable, even for those who can never get into instrumentals in the first place (myself being one) unless done right. Well, these guys did it right, pulling it off with what sounds like the greatest of ease.
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