This album came to me through a friend who was given it by the band's singer. He was trying to get it reviewed but the friend in question doesn't write reviews but knows a man who does, which is where we come in with Dogstate: a band whose name only looks right in the certain fonts where the G looks like a 9 as it does on the very agit-rock style album cover. Had I made it to the Diamond Dogs' London show rather than the Madrid one I'd have seen this lot opening for them.
Right from the opener Never Enough it's clear that Dogstate are forever teetering on the edge of being too bombastic. The over the top vocals are very Ian Astbury at his most bloated crossed with a dose of Chris Cornell circa Audioslave.
Tide has some cool vocal references as they make us feel the impending doom of what's going wrong in the world and their own lives. It's the perfect sort of song to persuade you to dive into the mosh pit. Heartbreaker, meanwhile, is as full on Cult as you like and in fact it could easily be a late 80's Cult song.
Gallows (Fall In Line) is more urgent; almost aggressive hard rock with some impressive guitar in the middle that's almost perfect for some air shredding. Black 13 has some great squalling guitars and more of those Cult-esque vocals.
Southern Song adds some very ballsy Harmonica to the hard and heavy approach. It at least feels like it's trying to be a bit different from the rest but still it could be an Audioslave or Cult out-take. A pretty cool song nonetheless.
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Colt actually sounds more like Peer Gunt or Orange Goblin rather than The Cult, but the vocals are still rather too Astbury for my tastes. Right On just keeps right on in the main vein of this album: solid hard rocking Cult meets Audioslave doing its best to be as bombastic as can be.
I Fall is at least a little bit different as it has some decent stops and starts and isn't quite as bombastic as the rest of the album. I like the way it seems to pull up and let itself go a bit into a monster guitar solo. Last Chance flies by like a song you'd hear at 2 in the morning at a rock club and wonder if it's off the new album by The Cult or some tune you'd not heard by them before. Unfortunately, it's also something you'd forget all about by the next morning.
By the final track (Eye On You) if you don't know what to expect you haven't really heard the rest of this album as the formula hasn't really changed. However, if you want to find the next Audioslave or The Cult then this album will be perfect for you.
Dogstate online
Road To Ruin Records online
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