While King's X's fan base is incredibly strong and supportive, the general public have missed out on one of the best rock bands of the 80's, 90's, and now. Dogman is a bluesy hard rock album which occasionally takes a break to pump out some thoughtful and melodic ballads. Doug Pinnick dominates this album, and his singing is in tip top shape. He wails with abandon but never loses track of himself and the music. Ty Tabor's guitar playing is stylish and heavy, but at times gentle and restrained. Jerry Gaskill backs these two musicians up with strong drumming and percussion (not to mention helping out with those vocal melodies). Highlights include the heavy blues of Dogman, the heavy pop of Pretend, the gentle and meaninful Flies & Blue Skies, the wonderfully dynamic Fool You and the staggering melodic power of Ciggarettes, arguably the album's best track.

This album is an incredibly strong offering of blues infused metal and hard rock mixed with some beautiful slow tunes. To miss out on this record is a sore mistake, and anyone with an appreciation for great rock n' roll with a heavy edge had best run to their nearest CD store and scarf this one up. Thanks for reading. (Like this review? Don't forget those nice helpful buttons below it...you want to hit yes don't you...yes...yes...)

Dan :-D

Reflecting the moody grunge of the day (1994) while still maintaining the band's stylistic dignity, King's X put together this underrated gem that ranks among their best. (Okay so all of their CDs are underrated gems!) Rich, deliberate, at times primal, and distinctly dark, this release expands on the band's prior musical endeavors but still fuses King's X's unmistakeable style of funk-ish rock and awkwardly cool chord progressions. That said, this is as close to mainstream as I've ever heard King's X get.

This CD would be a fantastic listen for someone who likes Soundgarden/Alice In Chains, Rush/Yes, AND Dave Weckl/The Brecker Brothers. Just be forewarned that the predominant element is the edgy grunge, and it may be too much "hard rock" for some. To paint a clearer picture, if you have a baby in the womb and you want a peaceful childhood, DO NOT listen to this CD repeatedly! Compared to their other releases, there is some clear anger and aggression being played out in this release...but don't worry, King's X is not a hate-yell metal band.

Overall this is a wonderful CD for those in the right (or wrong) mood to listen to it. There are some weaker tracks, although all have some redeeming value in my opinion. However the songs titled Dogman, Shoes, Pretend, Black the Sky, and Pillow are all undeniably rockers. King's X is one of my favorite bands, partly because they aren't mainstream and don't sell out to every new style that comes out. In "Dogman," they DO incorporate some additional grunge style into their music but DON'T incorporate their music into grunge. Admirable for sure!

FOR KING'S X VIRGINS: If you might enjoy hearing this band's markedly unique style of rock from its roots, I would recommend starting from the very beginning, borrowing "Out of the Silent Planet" from a friend first. Then buy Gretchen Goes to Nebraska and really indulge yourself in that listen. "Gretchen" is frequently recognized as one of the best CDs in rock music history, although most mainstream rock fans aren't familiar with it. So you need to hear "Gretchen" before you can start to pass judgment on this band. Next, Faith Hope Love is also fantastic, and their self-titled CD released in 1992 is severely underrated in my opinion. (Track 5, "Chariot Song," for example, is one of the average tunes on the CD but contains an allusion to all the band's prior CDs, which I find hilarious and makes the whole song worth it!) Only after listening to the others a few times do I recommend spinning the "Dogman" CD, so that you can understand the full impact of the band's style change on this CD.

BOTTOM LINE: For those who appreciate unique bands in the rock and jazz/funk genres, King's X's "Dogman" is worth considering for your collection. For current King's X fans, you'll love the metamorphasis from the "King's X" you know as they change into a "Dogman" on this CD!

This my friends is my favorite kinkg's x cd. This is as crushing as Panteras Vulger display of power, Slayers Reign In Blood, Metellicas Master Of Puppets.

By crushing I mean the overall heaviness of the entire cd. When I first put this on I could not believe how brutal yet melodic it was! Every song fits like a glove. There's no way anyone should give this anything less then 5 stars. Crank it up and tell me Dogman doesn't sound like a giant slamming his feet to the ground crushing everything around him!

Dogman is a very strong album from King's X and their best album next to Gretchen Goes To Nebraska. This album was released when grunge rock was at its peak and Brendan O'Brien's production mirrors that time. Doug Pinnick sings all the lead vocals, which is appropriate considering the heavier tracks here. While their excellent harmonies are still intact, the tracks are more based on the groove and the riffs than on their other albums.

All of the tracks are very good, with the first half being particularly strong. The heavier tracks are excellent with the best being "Black The Sky", "Shoes", "Pretend", and the title track. The tracks "Don't Care", "Human Behavior", and "Pillow" are even heavier with their slow Black Sabbath-like riffs. The harmonies are still great, particularly on the slow ballad "Flies And Blue Skies" and the excellent "Fool You." Also present are the punk of "Go To Hell" and a killer version of Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression." The only thing stopping this from being a classic like Gretchen Goes To Nebraska is that a few of the tracks start to sound the same after repeated listens. Fans of the music from this era should definitely check this out.

When King's X came on the scene in the late eighties, they instantly made everyone else look like a bunch of chumps. Against the backdrop of the regressive, corporatized cesspool of hair metal, here was a band who emerged like a diamond in a trash heap -- a humble trio of musicians whose gifts, whose intellect, whose HEART and conviction exposed most of their competition as frauds and pretenders in one swift motion.

Immediately respected and worshiped by musicians everywhere, from Chic's Nile Rodgers to Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, King's X sounded like the future. Their first four albums, all produced by then-manager Sam Taylor, are stone cold classics, brimming with seemingly limitless potential. So why wasn't the mainstream catching on?

By the mid-90s, bands that been profoundly influenced by King's X (most notably Alice In Chains) were reaping fortunes on the groundwork the Texas trio had laid. It's hard to imagine that decade without all the detuned guitars (perhaps the most transparent King's X ripoff was Collective Soul's soulless "Shine"). But King's X themselves were still an obscurity.

Sam Taylor, as it turns out, had been stealing from the band for years, and they acrimoniously split from him in 1993. The album they released the following year, Dogman, hints at the bitterness and growing frustration in the still-struggling band. And I gotta say, the music only benefits from it.

Produced by Brenden O'Brien (THE alt-rock producer of the 90s and an avowed King's X freak), Dogman positively rages with angst, frustration, and some serious soul-searching, as Doug Pinnick delivers some of the most hair-raisingly heartfelt vocal performances of his career.

The music is unbelievably heavy, sometimes bordering on ugly. The band had been cheated and mistreated, and no one could have deserved it less. Listen to "Flies and Blue Skies," "Black the Sky" and "Fool You" for evidence of where their heads were at ("walk in the big parade, learn just what to say; they will all try to fool you; don't believe anything, I'm your everything; they will all try to fool you...").

Some of the reviewers here have suggested that King's X had abandoned their roots on Dogman, adopting the au courant trappings of grunge instead. But this really isn't true. All of the hallmarks of the band are still here: the crunching guitar/bass riffs, the gospel-tinged vocals and the 70s power trio dynamics. Sure, they changed up their sonic palette a bit, leaving the pristine, crystalline production style of their first four records behind in favor of a toothier, rawer sound, but it was time for a change and the more angry, aggressive sound suited the temperament of the lyrics perfectly.

Plus, let's not forget, in some ways, King's X were the first grunge band, anyway.