 | Tracklist:
1. Dogman
2. Shoes
3. Pretend
4. Flies and Blue Skies
5. Black the Sky
6. Fool You
7. Don't Care
8. Sunshine Rain
9. Complain
10. Human Behavior
11. Cigarettes
12. Go to Hell
13. Pillow
14. Manic Depression
| Ranking: #27 for 1993 | |
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On 4 Lists
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Anyone who knows anything about King's X knows about how criminally underrated they are. Prog-rock riffing with Beatle-esque harmonies, a wonderfully emotive soul-singing frontman and perhaps the most melodically gifted guitar player in the world, all neatly wrapped in a power-trio package renowned for the excellence of their live shows sound interesting at all? King's X is the band for you.
Dogman is probably the closest that King's X came to having a hit CD seeing how it was released around the time of their now-legendary performance at Woodstock '94 where they blew practically everyone else off the stage. Of course, every band that has ever played with them will tell you that King's X constantly obliterated them, but Woodstock was easily the biggest audience they ever had while doing it, and this led to a short lived spurt of popularity for them. However, Dogman was, at the time anyway, a rather atypical record for King's X.
For one thing, it is not a happy record at all. Just take a look at the song titles; "Black The Sky", "Fool You", "Go To Hell" and so on. They even choose to cover Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression". It's hard to imagine that this is the band that just a few years earlier had released an album called Faith, Hope, Love with pretty much the entire record dedicated to those values. Maybe it had something to do with vocalist Doug Pinnick's coming out of the closet and his associated renunciation of Christianity, or their less than amicable split with their long-time manager. Whatever the case may be, King's X were not in a happy place when they wrote these songs.
The music itself is much darker than on previous albums. The prevailing moods in the music appear to be anger and melancholy. It's hard to ignore that this is, for lack of a better comparison, a grunge album. Perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise because Jeff Ament, Pearl Jam's bassist, has reputedly stated that King's X were the forefathers of grunge and their previous albums never had a shortage of heaviness. That heaviness was always counteracted by the upbeat vocal melodies and harmonies though. Not this time. Even the production is much more raw than on previous albums. The title track and "Pretend" would fit perfectly on a playlist next to Alice In Chains, while "Go To Hell" is jarring in that's it's a completely unexpected, minute-long slice of punk riffs and vocals. "Complain" is close to punk in it's raw pissed off-ness, but the band still incorporates their harmonies making it much more palateable. The band also shows a greater willingness to incorporate their groovy and funky influences as on "Shoes", "Black The Sky" and "Don't Care" where the riffs are more percussive than angular.
The album grows a bit stale in its second half which isn't as strong as the first half, except for "Complain". Also, there is less diversity and therefore interestingness in the band's sound. Doug sings lead vocals on every song the harmonies are downplayed quite a bit compared to the band's other albums. However, the album is still a gem of heavy melodic rock especially if you're into grunge and/or progressive rock.
Recommended Tracks:
Pretend
Fool You
Dogman
Cigarettes
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Album Rating: 5
This is one of my favorite albums ever so I'm totally non-critical. Let's face it. This record is just perfect. And no the second half isn't worse than the first one.
Digging: Hawk Eyes - Ideas Digging: Hawk Eyes - Ideas | | | Album Rating: 4
I love Pinnick's Bass work and his vocals.
Wish these guys had a little more exposure.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
@ greg84:
It's not like the second half of the album is weak, but it isn't as good as the first half. Every one of the first 7 songs is a standout, but on the second half I think only 2 songs are really up to the same standards. It's all relative.
| | | Album Rating: 4
This is $3.99 at FYE. I should go get it.
Digging: Kottonmouth Kings - High Society Digging: Kottonmouth Kings - High Society | | | Album Rating: 4
This album rules.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
This is a Fantastic album! One of my favourite bands of all time!!
| | | Album Rating: 5
this album is definitely a classic...another band that unfortunately never got the recognition they deserved
| | | Album Rating: 4
Bumped up to 4.5
Digging: Taal - Skymind Digging: Taal - Skymind | | | Album Rating: 5
Excellent decision!
| | | Album Rating: 4
Album still rules. Doug can sing like nobody's business.
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He's a tormented individual, that's for sure.
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Great band.
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Great review. I like how you noted what Ament said about this band. In the movie Singles, when the band Citizen Dick is sitting at that table talking about their album, is Ament wearing a King's X shirt? Just might be.
Digging: Acrimony - Tumuli Shroomaroom Digging: Acrimony - Tumuli Shroomaroom
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Great album - I've never listen this guys before. The vocals are great and the tunes too, nevertheless the album has a mix of strong and weak songs.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Even the weaker songs are only weaker by comparison for the most part. If you're into the band's heavier side check out their self-titled album too and "Gretchen Goes to Nebraska".
| | | Album Rating: 4
Shoes is pretty catchy
Digging: King's X - Dogman Digging: King's X - Dogman | | | Album Rating: 4
Human Behavior and Pillow are my perso favs
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