Review: Dogbane “Residual Alcatraz” (2011)

Reviewed by David Pearce

Artist – Dogbane
Album – Residual Alcatraz
Label – Heaven and Hell Records
Year – Dec. 2011

1. Ride The Serpent
2. Born To Die
3. Banished
4. Annihilator
5. God Forgive You
6. Devil In The Dark
7. Burning The Light
8. Residual Alcatraz
9. Fire And Brimstone
10. How The Mighty Have Fallen

This North Carolina five piece Dogbane emerges on the scene with a nice slab of traditional heavy metal flavoured doomy goodness. Sighting Trouble and Pentagram as two of the bands main influences, these southern gentlemen certainly proudly wear it on their sleeves. With a solid rhythm section, duel guitars, and the Halford-esque vocals of Jeff Neal, Dogbane have put together one strong debut effort. For fans of; Trouble, Pentagram, Brocas Helm, Manilla Road, and early Judas Priest. Hell, fans of real heavy metal…

The Album starts off with Ride The Serpent which immediately hits you with a rocking riff then the clean vocals very reminiscence of Rob Halford or Geoff Tate voice comes in. The riffs in this are very good and so are the solos. Born To Die starts off with a heavy rocking riff you can really feel the power of the twin guitars on this song, the vocals on this are a little bit faster but still quality together with the drums and twin guitar solos makes it a good rocking song. Banished starts off with another heavy riff with the playing along side which gets my head banging along with the beat, The clean vocals comes in which have a Queensryche, Judas Priest feel to them on this song which is not a bad thing. The solos in this are amazing they are well executed along with the riffs and drums. Annihilator again starts off with a quality heavy riff, the vocals are clean and precise. This song could have easily been track off a Judas Priest albums it is that good, The solos are precisely hit with ease and the riffs are superbly executed. God Forgive You starts off with another heavy riff then vocals come in clean and well hit. The twin guitar riffs on this are great I do love that sound it has such power. This song has some great riffs and solos in with the pounding drums smashing out the rhythm behind makes it a good song to rock out to. Devil In The Dark starts off with a good quick heavy riff then them quality vocals comes in. The guitar riffs are absolute quality this song has all the qualities of early Priest. Burning The Light starts off with a good twin guitar riff that will send shivers down your spine, the vocals are clean and precise. The riffs is slow but quite eerie which goes with the song well. The song is slow throughout but Is a classic sounding track but then nearer the end it picks up pace with quality riffs and solos till the end of the song. Residual Alcatraz is the title track to the album starts off with the drums then the guitars come in powerfully in the vocals are next with a galloping pace, this I think is one of the quickest songs on the album but it is the shortest song on the album. The riffs are outstanding on this track aswell as the solos. Fire And Brimstone starts off with a slow but heavy riff which then turns in a cleaner sounding riff with the drums behind pounding their beat. The vocals are clean and expertly done together with the pounding drums, powerful riffs and stunning solos this is a really good track. How The Mighty Have Fallen is the last track on the album and it starts off with the ye old cowbell then a powerful heavy riff takes over while that is screaming through the vocals come in over the top clean and precisely hit. The song is again done very well and the solos are outstanding again.

Overall
If you like early Judas Priest this is the album for it is full of Halford-esque vocals, Quality guitar riffs, pounding drums and stunning solos. I myself was thinking how well it has been put together with the twin guitars which I love they give so much power to the songs that sometimes you cannot get any other way but these guys duly delivered. So if you have not heard of these before go out and get some stuff you won’t be disappointed.

Members

Jeff Neal: Vocals
Mitch Allred: Guitars
David Ellenburg: Guitars
Kevin Davis: Bass
Jerry Cloer: Drums