Finland's Stonegazer, current line up Jussi Virtala (vocals); Juho Puusniekka (guitars); Lauri Lehto (guitars); Tomas Kurki (bass) and Jani-Matti Salmela (drums), have been knocking around the underground scene for a fair amount of time but first came onto Desert Psychlist's radar via their 2016 release "MDRM" a raw edged collection of songs that blended swampy southern sludginess with elements of heavy blues and grunge, a sound that came over at times like a weightier Mississippi Bones. Prior to "MDRM" Stonegazer had released "Volume II" and "Demo 2012", both releases containing some really good songs but both hampered by less than ideal production values. Things really started to come together for Stonegazer with the 2020 release "The End Of Our World", an album that saw the band really stepping up a level in the song writing and arrangement stakes as well as seeing them dipping their toes a little deeper into those grungier/bluesier pools they had began to explore on "MDRM". This year (2025), after a five year break from recording, Stonegazer return with a new release, "Threshold"(Kozmik Artifactz), a far better produced album that fully delivers on all the promise those earlier albums hinted at but just fell short of delivering.
"Threshold" opens with "The Feed" a brain-frying blend of sludgy metal and heavy rock that begins with guitar feedback screaming around a growling bass motif backed by solid steady drumming then segues into a thrumming blues flecked stoner groove, the song continuing in this mode for a full one minute twenty seconds before being joined by vocals. If you are a fan of big beefy vocals that are a little bit wearied and posses a gritty soulful quality then Stonegazer's man behind the microphone Virtala is your kind of singer, if you didn't know he was Finnish you would swear blind he was brought up on a diet of fried chicken and grits in one of America's southern states. "Next song "Unity" follows along similar lines to it predecessor with bassist Kurki and drummer Salmela laying down a barrage of ebbing and flowing groove for guitarists Puusniekka and Lehto to decorate with a mixture of crunching power chords and piercing lead work, Virtala delivering over this onslaught of bluesy southern metal throaty sermonizing that at times hovers close to the upper reaches of his range. Third track "The Machine" sees Stonegazer introducing into their heaviness subtle touches of psychedelic texturing, not enough to distract ears away from their core metallic bluesiness but enough to be noticeable. It's back to full on shock and awe for the excellent "Simulacrum" then along comes "Kairos" a song that for Desert Psychlist ticks more boxes than it leaves blank, its groove is throbbing and slightly proto-metallic, its guitar work is a blend of crunchy and swirling and its vocals are bold brash and forceful on the verses and grittily melodious on the chorus. Any bands experimenting with music of a southern rock flavour are almost duty bound to throw their hats into the "torch song" arena and Stonegazer are no exception but where most bands will gradually build their torch songs to a crescendo layer by gradual layer Stonegazer on "Dissolve" go from reflective tranquillity to face-melting intensity in one giant leap. Next song "Age Of Unreason" begins down home and bluesy then explodes into a blustering metallic stoner groove that features growling low end and busy percussion supporting fuzz soaked refrains and feel drenched bluesy soloing over which vocals are delivered in snarly bear-like tones. Final number "The Weight Of The World" comes out the traps furious and feisty then eases back a little on the volume to allow space for Virtala to deliver his wearied and throaty vocals, all well and good up to this point but the real highlight comes when the songs shifts from stoner rock(ish) to stoner doomic, a shift that sees the guitarists layering thrumming textures and piercing solos around a dynamically darker vocal.
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