Some early reports on Karma To Burn stated that the band had
"vocalist problems".
The truth of the matter is, though the band had experimented with
vocalists before
(ex-Kyuss
frontman John Garcia briefly worked
with them), the band is at heart an
instrumental band, and in fact their only "official" vocalist,
appearing on their debut, was just some guy,
recruited purely to satisfy their record label.
The vocalist departed soon afterward, and the band
reverted to its preferred status as an instrumental trio, as well
as re-establishing their convention for naming every song simply
as a number, which they have done for most of their career.
One might think this would make for some amusing press releases
("Karma To Burn announce three titles from their upcoming album:
'Five', 'Nineteen', and 'Thirty Seven'.").
Musically, the band is tough to pigeon-hole -- they are closest to
stoner rock, but their instrumental nature and tendency to
experiment place them a bit beyond the standards of that genre.
That debut brings to mind bands such as
Masters Of Reality,
Soundgarden,
and a touch of Smashing Pumpkins, but their later albums have
strayed from that style a bit, again mostly due to the lack of
vocals.
The band unofficially disbanded sometime in mid 2002, and then
reunited in early 2009.
