SOUND BITES

  After steering away from the hard rock of their debut with more kaleidoscopic fare for an underwhelming sophomore effort, Dorothy return after four years with their third album. Gifts From the Holy Ghost marks a decisive retreat into the heavy blues of their debut, although the latter record does offer more variety than the former; take the soulful, gospel-adjacent overtones of Rest in Peace , the swaggering hair metal anthem Hurricane or the gothic piano balladry of Close To Me Always .  Dorothy hit their sweet spot on Black Sheep , splitting the difference between Halestorm and The Pretty Reckless while adding a little added production spice; ditto opener A Beautiful Life , which kicks things off with a dizzying array of hooks and riffs, and the sultry, fiery Top of the World . These songs all slot in nicely alongside their past hits even as they feel more fleshed out compared to the often stifling mixes heard on ROCKISDEAD . Gifts From the Holy Ghost addresses most of m...

After a lengthy lead-up to debut album ROCKISDEAD , it didn't take Dorothy Martin very long to follow it up; 28 Days in the Valley arrives just 21 months later. There's been a quick turnaround in style, too, as the metallic modern blues of the debut has been replaced with a more kaleidoscopic psych vibe akin to a Stonesy Jefferson Airplane or classic Heart with a little less muscle and a little more soul. This is likely thanks to Linda Perry's involvement, as the veteran producer also co-wrote these songs; the result is a cleaner, more colourful set of tunes that aims to draw more attention to Martin's performance as opposed to burying her under a wall of noise. At first, 28 Days in the Valley delivers on all promises with pleasant results; Flawless , with its massive and melodic chorus and impassioned vocals, establishes itself as the best song this band has released to date, at least to my ears. Who Do You Love really drives home the Jefferson Airplane energy a...

The raucous heavy blues debut by L.A. newcomers DOROTHY was a long time coming; its first single was released over two years ago alongside a 5-song EP (three of its songs are also included on the album). In the long lead-up to ROCKISDEAD 's release, a total of eight(!) singles were released, including three that didn't make the record's final tracklist. So as to say, if you've been paying attention there isn't a lot of new content to explore. Still, it's good to have a proper home for bombastic singles After Midnight , Wicked Ones and Raise Hell . Plus, the tracks I hadn't heard previously slot in nicely with the hits, and the album is pretty much relentless in its attack (save closing ballad Shelter ); it's nocturnal, sweaty and loud enough to warrant the ALLCAPS treatment. That said, it doesn't offer much in the way of originality, but if all you're looking for is a leather-clad dose of bluesy hard rock this will surely scratch your itch. J...