So as we know by now, the JAR just flows based off of what gets thrown at me or little bread crumbs that just work out timing wise. This week is no different. Dorothy is a band that came out of nowhere for me like an RKO.

Last year I had the radio on (I know weird right), and I heard the What’s Coming to Me song and I loved the arrangement, vocal delivery and the lyrical content was really cool. So I decided to look into them a little, and found a few other songs I enjoyed. Kept em at the back of my mind, but then I saw they had a new album a few days ago. And that brings us to now.

Dorothy is: Dorothy Martin (vocals), Devon Pangle (guitar), Jason Ganberg (drums), Eli Wulfmeier (guitar/backing vocals) & Eliot Lorango (bass/backing vocals)

• Artist: Dorothy
• Album: Gifts From The Holy Ghost (2022)
• Label: Roc Nation
• Total Track Time: 36:55

A Beautiful Life you know a combination of the guitar driven rock aspect and the lyrics really makes this feel like an Alter Bridge song with a female lead singer. Not a negative, just a really great rock song with a positive lyrical spin about being enough, resilient and believing in yourself/life. An interesting tone to start the album off with. Big Guns the open country rock twang of the guitar really adds the correct grit and tone to a song that seems to be about getting out of an abusive relationship. “Broke me down but I built myself up, Dropped my crown now I’m picking it up, Call me crazy but I’m strong enough, strong enough, Does it make you feel tough? (Strong enough), Does it make you feel tough? (Strong enough, oh)” takes some of the question out of the topic, but it definitely a solid rock song with the right amount of venom and rock to drive it as something you wouldn’t mind blasting on the radio. Rest in Peace gives kind of a Sixx AM vibe where it’s a rock song but it’s constructed a bit more like a hymnal. It crashes and drives during the chorus but it’s not exactly something you can rock out to. And yet, it’s also not something you want to break out the lighter sway for. It’s not a bad song, and coming off the last song, it punctuates the moving on “you can’t hang your chains on me, when you’re six feet deep”. This could be the same person as the previous song, or maybe a controlling parents, but either way, it works well with the last song.

Top of the World is back into the vein of guitar rock, while still moving forward with the coming out of darkness where people thought she was dead, but now she’s back to rule; essentially. The little Joan Jett kind of anthem chanting bridging before the final chorus works really nicely in this song as well. Hurricane is odd. It tries to do that more drum driven rocking song, but since it’s not guitar driven it sounds lighter and then synth effects makes it sounds like something from Meat Loaf Blind Before I Stop. So it’s got a weird 80s vibe, at first I was gonna make a Scorpions joke because of Hurricane…but that’s a lot closer than I wish it was. Not a strong song comparatively, but not offensive. Close to Me Always is more of the sweet and yet haunting ballad. The echoed piano really gets across the memory aspect of what seems to be a past lover who died. As we see with the chorus, it gets the point across of being simple yet really sweet: “So long live the old days, Your kiss in the doorway, You’re close to me always, close to me always, Gone is the old pain, You’re on to the next place, Your love fills this whole space, Stay close to me, baby, close to me always”.

Black Sheep OKAY finally we get that nice Southern Rocker guitar driven anthem. Now all of this is great and what I was expecting from my limited scope of Dorothy’s previous work. Could easily hear this on Rock Radio or ever a WWE PPV song. Touched by Fire again we start with the echoed choral kinda of chanting to open a song. Which is a southern rock gimmick I get it, but with this album being a little all over the place on tonal inspiration I could’ve done without that. And the “Na-Na-Na” chants seem to stick around through the chorus as well. God one little element really takes this song from, decent to annoying as hell to me.

Made to Die is another take on a weird break up. At least this isn’t physically or emotionally abusive from the lyrics…seems more like emotionally unavailable. “Whoa, even when you’re there I’m all alone, Even when you cry, you’re made of stone, Gave you my whole heart to break, This love was made to die”, with what feels like a combination of pure rock elements and The Offspring style of like a Pop Punk, it doesn’t sound bad. I’ll just admit the lyrics seem hollow and cliché. So there’s not a lot of substance to the song beyond the music being pretty cool. Gifts from the Holy Ghost is the titular song are really sounds like Heart. It’s got more of a 70s guitar tone, it’s done in a more vocal driven way and has this weird hippie vibe about it. I wasn’t sure if Gifts from the Holy Ghost would be religious or tongue in cheek, but nope, this is using a decent bit of religious imagery without any punch. Decent song, would definitely hear it in a country bar and might even be a fun one at concerts for the fans. HOLY CRAP there’s even an audible clap along part. This is soo 70s church revival. Again, not terrible musically, just does nothing for me really.

So there was a lot of, lets call it, weird pieces in this album. While a few songs blended into each other well with tone, others felt to jump around a bit too much. Plus usage of some more annoying song cliches are didn’t ingratiate this album to me. If we’re grading this like a test, I really only had issues with 4 of the songs, so that leaves 6 that range from tolerable to great.

Either way, it’s not what I expected from what I’ve already heard, but it wasn’t like I came in expecting Metal and got Jethro Tull. So it stayed close enough to its genre most times, and I think fans of them and the more radio rock sound will be happy with the offering.

Final Judgment: 6.4/10