Rob once said something to me that holds pretty true. If you hear about a record, and the cover catches your eye each time you see it in the store, get it, it's probably genius in waiting. My latest "discovery", West Virginia's Karma to Burn is one such gem that I regret not picking up from day one. Pretty much signed to Roadrunner by a fluke (evidently a friend of the band managed to bend the right ear at RR Records...) Karma to Burn never planned to have a vocalist. John Garcia from Kyuss fame came in for a while, but that was ditched. After the label's threats to cancel the project, the band grabbed J. Jarosz, who wasn't what you would describe as a fromtman by any stretch. Forced to improvise, my ears find the illicit marriage of these two entities pure art, for personally, I feel that the vocals are an integral part of this album, filling out another tier of sound which really completes the named tracks. On the flip side though, it's also pretty easy to see that KtB could easily survive as an instrumental trio, as evidenced by the numbered tracks (six, eight, thirteen) which just soar in emotion. This has been unfairly lumped into the whole "stoner rock" genre, which just pisses me off, as that just serves to denigrate and alienate potential listeners. If I had to compare, the names Tool, Clutch, Kyuss and Wig all come to mind. Good cover of Joy Division's 24 hours further shows their area of expertise, as this is all pretty emotional stuff. Honestly, just buy it if you like any of the things I just said, you won't be disappointed.