Without invoking the distressingly overused “incestuous” to describe the ties that run among Karma to Burn and basically the whole of both the stoner rock and hard rock scenes, suffice to say: the union would yield some seriously deformed children. Connections to Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, and sundry other purveyors abound. Most interestingly, though, there is the fact that Karma to Burn is now also Year Long Disaster. This begs the question: is Year Long Disaster what Karma to Burn does to pay the bills? Or is Karma to Burn what Year Long Disaster does when they just need to be real for a minute? Bassist Rich Mullins explains - “We have to be more hipster for that band.” So, at least they didn’t sell out as Karma to Burn. I leave it to the reader to decide whether that is O.K. I feel confident, however, in saying that it is definitely better than Karma to Burn selling out as Karma to Burn.

Appalachian Incantation is a rockin’, groovin’, swingin’, riffin’ good time and you don’t get that from sell-outs. Karma to Burn are an instrumental trio but what strikes the listener upon spinning this most recent disc is not virtuosity, which seems to be so often the reason for the absence of a vocalist. This music needs room to writhe and snake. Or perhaps it is simply, in the immortal words of Willie Adler, the case that “we don’t need nobody singing over our shit.” If you are Lamb of God, you do need a screamer, though. Animals as Leaders and Scale the Summit are examples of bands that most certainly do not need nobody singing or screaming over their shit. Happily, Karma to Burn fall into this category as well. The distinction is that Karma are not an assemblage of wunderkind who build their own seven string guitars. They’re just jamming out. Like me and you could if we just had the time … and the talent … and the artistic vision.

Appalachian Incantation surprises with its heaviness as well. It is a fun album, but it grates and bangs too. It is, in fact, deceptively heavy. It wants you to turn that dial to 11 when you see the name and then immediately adjust down a click or two. No, burning couches are the not the only startling thing to pop out of Morgantown, West Virginia.

We must assume that Appalachian Incantation is so named because it is intended to “work a spell or verbal charm spoken or sung as part of a ritual of magic.” The question then becomes whether it is the listener or Appalachia that is the intended subject of this prayer and what might be its objective. I.e., is this record an incantation in the style of Appalachia aimed at charming all who hear it? Or is it an incantation offered to the universe for the benefit of Appalachia?

Well, we all need it don’t we? Nuclear war looms in the Koreas, Greece will quite possibly set off a global financial shitstorm of unimaginable proportions by defaulting on its sovereign debt, and the beautiful Gulf Coast is being painted gloss black with a toxic brew of hydrocarbons in amounts that we now know will absolutely dwarf any previous incident of a similar nature. Sure, there are six counties with unemployment higher than 15% in West Virginia, but they’re tough, right? We needn’t fret over a group of folks who fought the Battle of Blair Mountain (complete with machine guns and aerial bombardment) for labor organization, need we? Something tells me they’ll survive these tough times, just as they have so many others, even if events like the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion, which killed 29 miners in April of this year, make it hard for them to argue that this brutal enterprise we call life is not, at long last, Sisyphean indeed.

So here’s to incantations. For whomever they may be. Whether for peace, prosperity, or for a good time tonight. Play it, Karma to Burn. Somewhere someone is listening, of this I have no doubt.