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| 100/100 |
Last year I listened to some stoner/doom records even if that wasn't the focus of this page. I even purchased a few in various formats, the most recent of which was an album I determined to be the Album of the Year across ALL formats of music, and that was a record released on the late date of December 7th, namely The Atomic Bitchwax's
Force Field, wholly excellent from end to 70's rocking end. An incredible feast of riffs that breezes by in just 35 minutes, it doesn't come up for air except to flip the record if you're listening to it in good ole vinyl format, otherwise you do not get a break. This power trio comprised of Monster Magnet rhythm section Chris Kosnik (band leader on bass and vox) and (drummer and pianist) Bob Pantella, alongside guitarist Finn Ryan, has really changed directions since coming together on 2008's The Atomic Bitchwax -
4, written stylistically as
T4B, going more for the throat on the past couple of releases.
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| 95/100 |
Up next, a record I truly love, Iron & Stone's
Petrichor. Issued on November 3, this album delivers nine tracks of sludgy goodness, with one acoustic interlude aptly titled "Interlude" sitting in the five hole. The band had an earlier release, the 2015 EP titled
Old Man's Doom, which I freely admit I am not familiar with at this stage in the game. I need to check it out. I only came across this record back in late February so it hasn't gotten a great deal of play yet, but I've quickly grown attached to it, especially the mountainous opener
Avalanche. I love this band's succinct one word titles, all except "Northern Lights." I'm normally one who lean's more to the psychedelic side of the stoner/doom metal side of things, shunning dirty or screamed/shouted vocals, but they really work nicely here.
(Editor's Note: There are a number of the shouted vocals types I do enjoy however, such as Bongzilla, Pyraweed, Eagle Twin, etc.)
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| 90/100 |
This brings us up to a band and album recommending to me by a friend of mine in the gaming community. That record is Elder's
Reflections Of a Floating World. At the time of his recommendation, my friend also recommended their 2015 album
Lore, which I actually like MORE than I like
Reflections of a Floating World, but that's not really the point here. Just six songs, but checking in at an hour and five minutes in length, this album is a monster of stoner rock psych. My friend described these two albums combined as "religious experiences." So, I had to give them a chance, I'm all for communing with the divine whenever possible and getting there however possible. Well, Elder wasn't quite that moving to me, but I dig it, a lot.
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| 90/100 |
The fourth album I want to tell you about from 2017 is actually more of an EP, The Wizards of Delight - titled
The Wizards of Delight. These guys get it. Rock and roll is supposed to be mainly about having fun doing what you're doing, making your music, and you can just tell, these guys are having a hell of a good time. They had a single titled "Time Travel Lady" that was pretty cool back in 2016. It had a cool sound effect fueled psychedelic freak-out in the middle and was just a lot of fuzzed out fun. Released on August 14, the self-titled EP features four new songs, in the vain of Dio vocal wise, but Ozzy attitude wise. "Gypsy," "We Got the Rock 'N' Rollz," "Mountain Woman," and "Shogun Messiah," are all just fun 70s style rockers with fuzzy guitars and some clean vocals delivered in over-the-top style.
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| 85/100 |
Next, released on March 17, Mothership
High Strangeness. I was first drawn to Mothership when I saw their song on the Jimi Hendrix tribute from Magnet Eye Records, who issued
Electric Ladyland (Redux) where Mothership covered "Still Raining, Still Dreaming" in spectacular fashion.
High Strangeness doesn't shy away from the drug references, being a part of the stoner rock culture I guess I shouldn't be surprised. "Speed Dealer" and "Eternal Trip" are two of their song titles on
High Strangeness and whether or not the cover of "Helter Skelter" is a drug reference is debatable, I believe. But still, good stuff. Nothing new under the sun, but the album is rock solid stoner rock fare and is one that just struck a chord with me last year and made it into my iPod shuffle. And what a gorgeous cover, I mean look at those colors.
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| 95/100 |
Finally we come to one of my favorites on the list, issued forth on December first, so it was a late-comer to the part, ReStoned's
Chronoclasm. One thing that you'll notice different about this record right away is there are no vocals. Zip, nada, none. Now, maybe I miss the mark here, and maybe i don't. But I'm not just hearing 70s rock influences when I listen to this album. I'm hearing some grunge influences. Maybe some Smashing Pumpkins, some Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, TAD and the like. Perhaps I'm calling my shots off target, I don't know. I believe Re-Stoned are fusing the 70s with the 90s and pushing them through the stoner/psychedelic blender and getting something wholly new and unique on the other side.
So anyway, there you have it. Six albums from 2017 that I dug the most from the stoner rock scene. Check back often for more reviews, see what we're listening to around here and get a new Vinyl of the day, or at least every other day, LOL.
