Karma To Burn – The Instrumental Riff Rock Legends

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · October 9, 2024

I first discovered Karma To Burn from the long defunct stoner rock dot com website. The site had a mp3 jukebox for all the bands they were selling for their All That’s Heavy distribution store. Every record they sold had a sample song you could listen to, to check out new bands and records. I discovered so many bands from that site, many that I still follow to this day. It was in the early 2000’s. The name Karma To Burn sounded really cool so I listened to a couple songs they had posted. I dug the tunes right away and ordered both the Wild Wonderful Purgatory and Almost Heathen CDs. I was hooked on their music right away! The heavy and crunchy riffs with a solid groove was what Karma To Burn was all about. Both of the albums had no vocals at all present and you didn’t even notice. The riffs drove the music and the way the songs were structured, having vocals distracted the music, in my opinion.

Karma To Burn formed in 1993 and was from Morgantown, West Virginia. The original lineup consisted of: Will Mecum on guitars, Rich Mullins on bass, and Nathan Limbaugh on drums. Limbaugh was then replaced by Chuck Nicholas. The band were signed to Roadrunner Records in 1996 with the stipulation that they would have to get a vocalist on their recording. The band ultimately hired Jason Jarosz for the role and released their Self Titled debut album in 1997. The album sold poorly and Jarosz left the band, which led them to part ways with Roadrunner in late 1997. In June of 1998, drummer Chuck Nicholas left the band and was replaced with Rob Oswald. The band continued on as the originally intended instrumental lineup and released their second album, 1999’s Wild Wonderful Purgatory. Two years later, Karma To Burn released their third album, 2001’s Almost Heathen. Both of these releases were on Spit Fire Records.

I was enthralled by these two albums and would listen to them constantly. I actually didn’t care for the Self Titled that much because of the vocals. They sounded out of place and a bit of a contrast to the music. The only songs I liked on their debut were the instrumental tracks. Purgatory and Heathen were my favorites and I remember burning them both on one CD and would play them frequently. Another cool thing about the band was that the instrumental song titles were all just numbers. The songs were driven by the riffs and the music didn’t have guitar solos, for the most part. Karma To Burn inspired a new generation of instrumental heavy rock bands from those two albums. By the time I discovered them they had already disbanded, sometime in the middle of 2002. The hiatus lasted until 2009, and all the members of Karma To Burn went on to other projects between that time.

Finally in 2009, the classic lineup of Mecum, Mullins, and Oswald reunited and started playing live shows again. In May of 2010, Karma To Burn released their fourth album entitled, Appalachian Incantation, which was recorded by Scott Reeder (Kyuss). The album was primarily instrumental with the exception of the two songs, “Waiting On The Western World” in which Daniel Davies (Year Long Disaster) sang lead vocals and “Two Times” featuring John Garcia (Kyuss). The band recruited Davies as a member and quickly recorded their fifth album V in 2011. The album featured three songs with vocals from Davies. However, the lineup was short lived and Davies soon left the band by the end of 2011. Both albums, Appalachian Incantation and V were released on Napalm Records. I do like both of these albums and the vocals provided by Garcia and Davies sound decent and do fit the music well. However, the production could have been better on both but the songs are still great.

In September of 2012, Karma To Burn released Slight Reprise (a re-imagining of the band’s first album had they not been forced to utilize a session singer), on Maybe Records. I really liked this album a lot and it confirmed my thoughts about the music being better without any vocals on it.

Drummer Rob Oswald left the band in 2012 and was replaced by Evan Devine. Not too long after, bassist Mullins also left and was replaced by The Exploited four stringer, Rob Halket. Before Halket joined Karma To Burn, guitarist Mecum and drummer Devine recorded the band’s sixth studio album called Arch Stanton. The record was released in 2014 on Deepdive Records.

Arch Stanton was an awesome record and returned to the all instrumental approach of Purgatory and Heathen. Evan Devine was the perfect replacement drummer for Oswald because his style was similar to his and he played all the original songs perfectly also. Bassist Halket left in late 2014 and was replaced with Eric Clutter. My chance to finally see Karma To Burn live finally happened on January 15th, 2015. The band scheduled a U.S. tour and played a show at the Shaskeen Pub in Manchester, New Hampshire. I was totally blown away with the band’s performance that night! I think I was the only person in attendance who had heard of the band before. I was talking and hanging out with them before their set, and they were super cool and friendly. I bought a bunch of merchandise from them that night and after the show Devine handed me a drum stick and the set list. I was very appreciative and psyched! Karma To Burn was amazing live and they definitely made some new fans that night.

In early 2016, Karma To Burn released an EP called, Mountain Czar on Rodeostar Records, containing five new songs. I did manage to see the band play live one more time in Somerville, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, that would be the last time that I would ever get to see them perform again. Tragically, on April 29th, 2021, original band member/chief songwriter/guitarist and riff master Will Mecum passed away, from the result of a fall. I was devastated when I heard the news!

Karma To Burn released a slew of other EPs, compilations, live records, and split releases throughout the years also. One last record, entitled Thee Rabbit Hole was released in 2021, a demo compilation from 1993-1994. I have not yet heard this record. I would also like to give props to Alexander von Wieding, for his amazing album artwork that he provided for Karma To Burn, throughout the years. He captured a stunning visual representation of K2B and all of his work is spectacular.

In 2022, Heavy Psych Sounds started re-releasing and repressing the Karma To Burn collection on vinyl. That is a testament of how well received and appreciated Karma To Burn was and the continuing impact the band has in the heavy/ stoner rock genre. To this day, I periodically listen to the their albums because they are in some way a part of me. My top three favorite and go to releases are definitely Wild Wonderful Purgatory, Almost Heathen, and Arch Stanton. K2B has a legacy as the pioneers of instrumental riff rock music and I will always hold them in the highest regard as such. The riffs are forever burned into my subconscious and they will remain as one of my all time favorite bands ever.