Electric Valley.... Spanish Stoners Release Debut

Those of you out there who downloaded last years freebie EP "51973" from Spanish stoners Electric Valley will know that this bands music is a little more than just stoner by numbers, these guys are a little bit special.

Formed and based in Madrid, Spain Electric Valley are a trio made up of Charlie Sanchez-drums,
Mario Garcia-guitar and Miky Simon-bass and vocals and have been together for about a year, a pretty short time considering the fact they have already released one EP and just recently finished and released their debut album "Multiverse"

"Multiverse" is a stunning debut that takes the promise and raw creativity shown on "51973" and refines and polishes it in the form of eight new tunes of absolutely essential stoner excellence.
Opener "Lizard Queen" sets the tone for the rest of the album with it's rocket engine intro  leading into a salvo of drums, a delicious bass line and a glorious choppy guitar riff. This all opens the way for Miky Simons' vocal which has a gruff, smoky edge to it, not especially strong but with a soulful weariness that is a perfect fit for the bands sound.
 Other highlights are "Ufo's Rain" with it's lovely rolling riff that gives way to a gentle psych type lick just behind the verse and "King of Pluton" that although sits squarely in the stoner remit hints at a more experimental almost prog-ish side to their sound. The album ends on a high note with the beautiful "Minutemen's Ballad" an absolute gem of a track with every member, individually, playing out of their skins yet combining as a whole and giving everything to the song

.   Electric Valley are a band who play intelligent, well crafted stoner rock with touch of Soundgarden grunge/alt intensity and in my humble opinion have just released one of the best "rock" albums so far this year.

The Sun Giants ~ Seattle Trio Release Debut Album

Sun Giant are three people from Seattle,WA  Scott Paul - Vocals, Guitars, Tanya Paul - Bass and  Ryan Gill – Drums,  who like to play their brand of sand blasted rock hard, dirty and LOUD. If you need proof of this statement then take a listen to their debut album “Orion” which was released this month.

 The album opens its account with the rip roaring, foot to the floor rocker “Voodoo Eyes” all fuzzed up guitar and deeply distorted bass all underpinned with bombastic, Bonham-esque drums. It’s almost a relief when Scott Paul comes in with his vocal, neat melodic and clean with a slight grunginess in its delivery. Quite surprising as from the sonic assault of the intro I was kind of expecting the usual stoner growl. Next up is the “The Road of Kings” with its Nirvana type quiet, loud. quiet dynamic and if singles were still the way to promote albums then this would be my pick. Third track “Electric Mistress” an instrumental, sees the band get a little psychedelic and doomy and shows that this trio are not afraid to experiment. The next two tracks “Destination Orion” and “Blood Fire Horse” are pure desert with the former nodding its head towards Queens of the Stone Age and the latter having a more Kyuss feel. “Hour of the Dragon” comes in at just under three minutes and contains one of the best riffs on the album, a doomy swinging affair that I can imagine inducing those slow- mo head nodding, “oh yeah man” reactions at live gigs. It’s a real shame this is not longer. The album finishes with two instrumental jams, the first “Scarlet Citadel” a mid-tempo sand crusted burner that contains a sublime guitar solo and the second “Harvest The Sun” a fast paced stoner wig out that closes the whole proceedings with a dusty bang!

Fusskalt ~ Delicious Danish Desert Rock

There’s a lot of stoner/desert bands out there who are experimenting with amalgamating a plethora of styles into their sonic cannons, adding some psych here a little doom there a touch of jazz, a little reggae and generally mixing it up. This is all great and can only be good for the scene as a whole but now and then I still get a yearning to hear some of that old school balls to the wall, fat juicy fuzzed up stoner/desert the way it sounded back in the day. Fusskalt deliver this in spades.

Fusskalt are from Aarhus, Denmark and consist of five dudes who take their lead from bands like Kyuss, Red Fang and Monster Magnet in other words they play stoner/hard rock with big chords, big riffs and truckloads of passion and attitude. Guitars are handled by Nick Jenson and Thomas Brandt, Jenson laying down the grit and fuzz on rhythm and Brandt serving up delicious solos and licks over the top. Beneath and below are the powerful engine room of Janus Kinke Pederson(bass) and Jonas Emil Nielson  (drums) keeping it tight and solid as they drive the music forward. Vocals are handled by  Lars Frederiksen whose gritty, slightly throaty roar fits the bands sound like a hand in a velvet glove, forceful and strong yet gruffly mellow when a songs dynamic calls for it.

Fusskalt recently released their third recording “Overdrive” a thunderous collection of stoner anthems that showcases not only their musical chops but also shows they can write a good tune …or five. Tunes that are full of infectious hooks and melodies and that go to prove this is not just a band who are going to rely on a few riffs to see them through but a band who know how to construct a song from top to bottom and making it work on every level.

Check these guys out, Fusskalt are not doing anything genre changing or radical musically but what they are doing is making passionate, extremely well played rock music that has a lot more to it that than you might first realise

 

 

Myopic Empire .......A South Essex Doom Duo

It is not often I get to introduce a band who come from my part of the world and even rarer that the band ply their trade in the doom genre.

Myopic Empire are from Southend-on Sea in South Essex, UK an area better known for its connections with blues and blues-rock, spawning bands like Dr. Feelgood, The Kursall Flyers and both guitarist Robin Trower and Procul Harem vocalist Gary Brooker, among others.

 Made up of two guys, Dean Derron  and Tom (no last name given) ,  who play guitars and basses, and aided by various bits and bobs of technology Myopic Empire create a doom sound that is very bottom heavy and very infectious. Vocals are handled by Derron and are clean, rugged and in places call to mind the desert grittiness of John Garcia, albeit with a South Essex accent, and are a perfect foil to the six string mayhem circling around them.

To date Myopic Empire have released two EP’s Myopeia (2013) and Doom (2015) both of which blend rumbling doom with elements of stoner metal distortion and Kyuss type heavy desert fuzz and I would recommend both of them to anyone who likes their doom a little sandy.

Sisters Ov The Blackmoon...... Blood Cauldron EP

Blood Cauldron is an EP you need to own, an EP that promises so much for the future and an EP that actually blew a speaker on my PC. To be honest I think the speaker was on its way out anyway but never mind this is still a super EP.

The band who created this superb EP go by the name of Sisters Ov The Blackmoon and play a blend of gritty bluesy stoner and occult doom-ish rock. Exploding  out of Los Angeles the band consist of Josh Alves – drums, Andrew Vega – guitar, Dan Schlaich – guitar and Jared  Anderson – bass but it is  the powerful bluesy tones of Sasha Wheatcroft on vocals that sets this band apart from others ploughing a similar musical furrow.

Blood Cauldron sets the tone for the EP with “Haunt”a barnstormer of a track that opens with the sound of cicadas chirping and an owl hooting and segues into a rolling guitar riff with a  horror movie soundbite over its top, then the guitars pick up the volume, drums crash and pound just as it gets gnarly everything drops down for the verse. Here is where you first get the “Wheatcroft” experience. With a voice that mixes Beth Hart’s bluesy holler with Miny Parsonz’ (Royal Thunder) smokey stoner howl, Ms. Wheatcroft is a revelation, her voice dripping with passionate power and control making every phrase and inflection count. One person does not make a band though and the other “sisters” more than prove their worth on this collection of songs. Vega and Sclaich complement each other perfectly on guitars coming on with earth shattering riffage and sublime solos and every now and then breaking into Lizzy-esqe twin melodies. The bottom end is held up just as well too with Alves and Anderson locking in as tight as Scotsman’s purse and creating a solid base for everything going on above them.

This EP shows a band on fire and I for one cannot wait for a full album.

Introducing Druid....Proto-metal for the 00's

One of the reasons  why I joined Bandcamp and why also I started this blog was to find and write about bands like Druid and to let others know about them because music this good should not be allowed to fade away into obscurity.

Druid are from Athens .Ohio and got together in 2014 and for a band who have only been together for roughly a year they should not be this good….but they are. Consisting of Kaleb Shaffner: Guitar, Vocals, Max Schmitz: Bass, Vocals and recent addition Adam Mayhall on  Drums ( original drummer Lous Eyerman plays on both "Druid"  and "Paper Squares") Druid take elements of 70’s proto –metal and blend it with 00’s stoner and doom and throwing a little blues and psych in. just to make things interesting.

In March this year (2015) they released their self- titled debut album, an absolutely stunning set of tunes that I called “a fantastic album” in my review on Bandcamp. Full to the brim with great tunes and great playing Druid also paid tribute to their influences by tagging the “Luke’s Wall” riff from Sabbath’s “ War Pigs” on to their song “Mushroom Fields”. A bold move but it worked a treat. The biggest nod to their heroes though is on the opening track “Roots and Beings” whose intro welds Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile” to Status Quo’s “Pictures of Matchstick Men” Having said all that do not be fooled into thinking these guys are just a bunch of plagiarists and pirates, when it comes to writing good tunes these guys are very good. Take for instance “Rid This From My Eyes” a stunning song that starts off with a filthy bass intro before blowing the roof off when it goes into the oh so proto riff. They can even lay it out as on “No Good Man” with its Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Grand Funk vibe. Vocals are shared between Kaleb and Max and both are fine singers and both bring something good to the table individually but when they harmonise it sends shivers down the spine. Special mention has to go to the sterling production work of Greg Omella who manages to capture that organic 70's sound that prevails throughout the album, he also plays rhythm guitar on the album and sings lead on both " No Good Man" and "Roots and Beings".

Today (03 June 2015) saw the band release a three song EP “Paper Squares” which highlights the heavier side to their sound with two original tunes and a cover of Sleep’s “Sonic Titan”. The two self- penned songs “Altarsong” and “Paper Squares” are powerhouse displays of proto-metal/acid rock madness that evoke memories of Blue Cheer and The JPT Scare Band, full of scorching guitar solo’s and heavy bluesy riffs. The cover of “Sonic Titan” shows these guys can do stoner doom and do it well.

I really hope this band manage to climb the hurdles that road weariness, ego’s, music business politics etc. will inevitably throw in front of them, and stick together as I would love to see how this band progress.

Murder of Reality...Release Third EP!

Hamburg's Murder of Reality return with their third and best EP to date.
Musically "Walking Dead"  owes a large debt to Heaven & Hells "The Devil You Know" album it has that same more mature, darker riffage that Iommi employed at that time. Vocally though Captain Creek is his own man powerful, clear and with just the right amount of epic doom phrasing mixed in with a little grit in the upper register.

The first track "Walking Dead" is a brooding mid tempo doomy observation on the futility of people  marching to the beat of large corporations, following a path mapped out for us and excepting our lot in life. It is this track that  highlights that Heaven & Hell comparison with it's deep rumbling bass line leading the way before the guitar explodes into the main riff then collapses back down for the verse. The vocal for this song is just sublime, Captain Creek just nails the balance of frustration, anger and menace that the lyrics call for. This has got to be my favourite Murder of Reality song to date.

Track two "Pineal Variations" lyrically reminds me a little of Sabbath's" Into The Void"
 in that it uses space as it's theme but that's
where that comparison ends. "Variations" employs a superb stuttering riff backed up by some tight solid drumming that I defy you not to nod along to. For the first time on this record Captain Creek sounds a little Ozzy-ish with his delivery albeit with a little more grit. There is a great use of soundbites in the final third of this tune, a trend often overused in rock music but it works perfectly here.

Abyss the third and final track rounds things of nicely with a stoner paced groove and a slight nwobhm vibe. Captain Creek goes all out on the vocal here, never letting up and Adam Lake rips off a stunning Iommi-esque solo while all the time Jôrn Dackow on drums keeps everything grounded with exceptional timing and skill.

All in all if, like me, you are a fan of excellent trad. doom/hard rock then check these guys out NOW!