Release Date: April 22, 2022
Genre: Hard Rock, Blues Rock Label: Spinefarm Records / Roc Nation The Los Angeles-based hard rock/blues-rock outfit Dorothy is back with their third studio album, Gifts From The Holy Ghost. The pseudonymous rock band is made up of frontwoman Dorothy Martin and is accompanied by bassist and backing vocalist Eliot Lorango, guitarist Devon Pangle, drummer Jason Ganberg, and guitarist and backing vocalist Eli Wulfmeier. Gift From The Holy Ghost is a massive record with a combined effort from many musician friends of the band. Many songs on the third album were co-written by music giants Keith Wallen (Breaking Benjamin), Jason Hook (ex-Five Finger Death Punch), Joel Hamilton (Highly Suspect), Trevor Lukather (Levara, Toto), and Phil X (Bon Jovi). The album's production was handled by music producer Scott Stevens (Halestorm, Skillet) and mixed by the legendary Chris Lord-Alge. Dorothy's forthcoming album began to form out of a major traumatic event for the entire band. Approximately three years ago, the lives of Martin and the rest of the band too were changed forever when the five were forced to face death on their own tour bus. The band's guitar tech had an overdose, and instinctively, Martin and the band began praying for his survival by forming a prayer circle around his body. Miraculously, the band's crew member was gifted a second chance at life. This resulted in a massive spiritual awakening in the frontwoman. Now, this huge turning point in her and the band's life has been deeply rooted within the meaning of the album's title and its ten songs.
Gifts From The Holy Ghost opens with the blistering and immensely anthemic track, "Beautiful Life," the band's album comes straight out of the gate blistering hot. The first taste of the band's rejuvenated songwriting is on display with such a fun little number. "Beautiful Life" is about making the most out of the short time you have with life and getting past any adversity in your way. Martin puts it all into the track, that's reinforced by plenty of bluesy guitar slides and swift guitar solos. On the third track and the album's lead single, "Rest In Peace," Dorothy gets a little slower with a semi-rock ballad that gets powerful when it has to and features a gritty, old-school-sounding guitar solo. "Rest In Peace" is about pushing someone out of your life but still wishing them the best regardless of the way they treated you. Continuing with anthemic track after anthemic track, the band offers up the tune, "Top of the World." The track features another strong vocal performance from Martin -which just comes naturally at this point- and is extremely guitar-driven with emphatic guitar riffs and solos. The album's unhurried and the most heartfelt piece on Gifts From The Holy Ghost is found in "Close To Me Always." The track bleeds emotion and soars out of this world. Martin tears open her chest and bares her whole heart and soul into this beautiful song. Martin delivers one of her best vocal performances on the entire album as well. Then on the following track and the second single off the album, "Black Sheep," the band delivers the heaviest sounding tune in the entirety of Gifts From The Holy Ghost. "Black Sheep" is a hefty musical piece. "Black Sheep" features heavy down-tuned riffs and tons of layered gang vocals. Dorothy wrote the song as a rallying cry for unity. The song as a whole reminds me of something that The Pretty Reckless has released in the past. Dorothy closes out this colossally fun album with the album's title track, "Gift From The Holy Ghost." Another "feel good" track, the song is once again chock full of playful guitar riffs and blistering guitar solos from Pangle and Wulfmeier. Martin forces in as many words as she can in the song as she details her spiritual awakening that came some three years ago within the song's lyrics, bringing the whole album full circle.
Gifts From The Holy Ghost features rejuvenated songwriting from the band that leads Dorothy to once again deliver some of their best work to date with ten solid musical numbers. It's no question that the band is known for their anthemic songs past and now present, but these songs detail such a rough moment in time for the band that not only did they go through a spiritual awakening, but their entire beings also did, and it's present within their new tunes. While the album itself doesn't do anything new to the genre, the album is endlessly fun, stuffed full of ballads and rock anthems. Gifts From The Holy Ghost is proof that rock isn't dead and may easily come out of 2022 as one of the year's best rock albums.
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