CD Review: Dogheart – What Burns The Best
Coming from various projects these Portland, Oregon natives that make up the band Dogheart got together in 2014 and wanted to do something different than they’d been doing in the other projects. After many long hours of writing, practicing and recording they came up an album called ‘What Burns The Best’ that blends together the sounds of rock, pop, surf and post-punk. The album was released February 2015 on RGMLR Records.
Songs, ‘Jawbone’, ‘Sound Machine’ and ‘Bulk & Binder’ have a Cars sound to them and are fun to sing along with. ‘Underwater’ is a very quick, pop song that you will want to bop your head to. A busy song for Matt Jenkins as he does the vocals and quick guitar strumming. Must be hard on the fingers.
‘Diamond Tooth’ and ‘Holding Out’ are both pop/rock tunes. ‘Diamond Tooth’ has some very simple guitar riffs, but they still make me want to ‘air’ guitar along with it anyway. ‘Lose Me’ and ‘Night Jewels’ have a surf-punk sound and both remind me of The Ramones. Even though ‘Lose Me’ has more of a pop sound, I still can hear a little bit of Joey Ramone influence in it.
The music on ‘Pumpkin Face’ has a fun rock sound and a heavy beat. When you listen to the words, however, you find that the lyrics are scary. I like it. This song is a great addition to this album. It shows some contrast to the other songs. ‘Dead Love’ is another standout. Gray Hildreth on bass is the star of the show on this one. Both with its solo intro and all throughout the tune. Very cool! It is also a dark song, with screaming and loud rock going on. This is going to be an awesome song to hear live!
None of these songs have very difficult drum beats though. Cameron Hering doesn’t have much to do, as far as the drumming goes. Hopefully, the band’s next album will give Hering something more to do than just a steady beat.
Band members:
Matt Jenkins – Guitar & Vocals
Cameron Hering – Drums
Gray Hildreth – Bass
Song List:
1. Night Jewels
2. Jawbone
3. Pumpkin Face
4. Sound Machine
5. Lose Me
6. Holding out
7. Diamond Tooth
8. Underwater
9. Dead Love
10. Bulk & Binder
All songs written by the band.
Website: www.dogheartband.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dogheartband