ALBUM REVIEW: The Problem With Friends – Dining with Dogs

DINING WITH DOGS‘ debut album, The Problem With Friends, aims to take the sludge-metal quartet from Austin, Texas to new heights. Consisting of former and current members of different bands, these include THE DEAD SEE‘s guitarist and vocalist Mark Key whilst drummer Josh Paul and bassist/music video director Marcos Morales also make up the band.

Oddly Shaped Skull kicks off the album, and it is an interesting song to start with. The instruments do not really fit the vocals. This is because the vocals are more suited to more older rock, whereas the instruments are more suited to industrial metal songs. This negatively affects the pacing of the song, and lacks the punch that an opening song should have.

Sweet Talkin’ Psycho follows up, and instantly feels like it should be the opening song on the record. The instruments and vocals are complimentary to each other. Most importantly, it does not lack the punch that the song should have. The only issue is that, possibly due to the short runtime of two minutes and forty seconds, the song ends abruptly, which therefore leaves it feeling unfinished.

The titular track is the fifth song on the album, and is also the midway point. Like all the songs so far, it builds and improves upon the disappointing opening number. The synths are very strong on this track, but do not affect the overall pacing. The album so far has an excellent pacing. Unfortunately, this song ends abruptly, which makes it feel unfinished. Despite the abrupt end of the midway point of the album, Snowflake, Sacred Weapons, and Fruit Of The Poison Tree, continue to improve the strong sound of the band that started with Sweet Talkin’ Psycho. As it is the band’s debut album, there are bound to be mistakes across record, areas in which DINING WITH DOGS can improve on next time out.

The band continue the strong run of form with penultimate number Spreading Thin and closer Killing Machine. At the end of Killing Machine, all hell breaks loose as all the instruments seem to crash into one another. The band sound like they are having a fun time recording as the infectious energy is translated into the music rather well indeed.

Despite a weak start, this is a strong debut from DINING WITH DOGS. The band are finding their sound throughout the record and whilst for most bands, this would not end in a cohesive record, but for DINING WITH DOGS, it is the opposite. This band sound like they know what direction they are heading in. If they continue in that direction, they have a bright future ahead of them.

Rating: 7/10

The Problem With Friends is out now via Dirt City Studios.

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