Appalachian Incantation

Appalachian Incantation
Appalachian Incantation
	;
Studio album by Karma To Burn
Released	April 30 2010
Recorded	2009 at The Sanctuary
Genre	Stoner Rock, Stoner Metal
Length	38:05 (Appalachian Incantation); 28:10 (Cat Got Our Tongue)
Label	Napalm Records
Producer	Scott Reeder
Karma To Burn chronology

Appalachian Incantation is the fourth studio album released by the West Virginia stoner rock band Karma To Burn. Succeeding 2001's Almost Heathen, Appalachian Incantation was the band's first studio release after a seven-year hiatus that lasted from 2001 to 2009 and is seen as a comeback record. Recorded in 2009 following a reunion tour and signing with Napalm Records,^[1] the album would be produced by Scott Reeder (The Obsessed, Kyuss, etc.) and released on 30 April 2010 to critical acclaim.

Like their previous two releases, Appalachian Incantation is largely an instrumental album, although one track features vocals from Daniel Davies of Year Long Disaster, a band all three members of the band had collaborated with. Notably a limited bonus disc featuring several songs in the same sessions entitled Cat Got Your Tongue would be released alongside the album, featuring two re-recorded songs, four originals and the song "Two Times" featuring John Garcia (Kyuss, Slo Burn, Unida, Hermano).

Background[]

Karma to Burn dissolved on 5 April 2002 due to a confrontation between band members Rich Mullins and William Mecum regarding the former’s heroin addiction.^[2] After leaving Karma to Burn, Mullins first joined Speedealer, and then co-founded Year Long Disaster with musician Daniel Davies. Will Mecum would form Treasure Cat, while Rob Oswald would perform with Nebula and also join Year Long Disaster. During the seven-year break, Mullins hoped for a Karma to Burn reunion, but did nothing to make it happen, ascertaining that the reunion could only happen if he reconciled with Mecum.^[3]

In February 2009, both Mecum and Mullins reconciled, and reformed the group to record a new album.^[4] Mecum and Year Long Disaster frontman Davies had been writing songs together, and wrote one called “Waiting on the Western World”, which was only the second of their collaborations (the first was a song for Year Long Disaster called “Seven of Swords”). Enjoying the writing process for the song, Mecum brought “Waiting on the Western World” to a Karma to Burn rehearsal, and it was decided to use the song on the band’s upcoming record - as well as to eventually make a Karma to Burn album featuring vocals and lyrics on every song, with Mullins stating the band’s hope for it to result in something better than their debut album.^[5]

Karma To Burn would sign with Napalm Records on 4 September 2009 as work began on the new album with Scott Reeder.^[6] Along with reissues of their two seminal albums via Tee Pee Records in line with a tour of Europe,^[7] further details would surface on the album including tour dates of North America to support the album.^[8]^[9] Along with promos for "Waiting on The Western World" with Daniel Davies,^[10] Napalm Records would release a promotional sampler CD entitled Incantation's Ingredients, featuring eight songs.^[11] Notably, "Fourteen" also appeared on a split with Sons of Alpha Centauri,^[12] "Twenty" and "Thirty" would appear on a split with ÖfÖ Am^[13] while the re-recorded "Twenty" also appeared on a split 7" with ASG.^[14]

Appalachian Incantation would be released on 30 April 2010, with the first 2000 copies as a 2-CD set featuring the album and the "Cat Got Our Tongue" EP. A limited vinyl (500 copies) was also released featuring the album and the EP. A single CD edition also exists, featuring "Two Times" as a hidden bonus track. Appalachian Incantation would attan critical praise from several publications. Paul Robertson, writing for The Sleeping Shaman, would praise the album as "A rousing welcome back from the Twilight Zone" and notably comparing Daniel Davies' vocal performance to Jeff Buckley.^[15] Pop Dose would praise the album as "a killer kick in the ass, full of catchy yet totally dirty rhythms." and cite the band as " the best band you’ve never fucking heard of.".^[16] Other notable positive reviews would come from the likes of Metal Temple,^[17] Exclaim!^[18] and Sea of Tranquility^[19] among others.

Tracklist[]