Huanastone first came to Desert Psychlist's attention via a friend recommending we give a listen to the bands self titled debut "Huanastone", we were immediately impressed by the bands sense of melody and the fact that they could combine that melody with crunching riffs and powerful rhythms. The following year saw the release of "Second Stone" and it was clear to see that Huanastone were a band evolving into something quite special, a band not trying to jump on convenient bandwagons but a band who had their own visions and goals and wanted to achieve them without having to follow current musical trends or fashions. Not much was heard from the band after "Second Stone" until almost three years later when a few tracks started to appear on their Bandcamp page and reignited our interest in the band, Those tracks showed that not only had the band not disappeared into that black pit of obscurity, that many bands sadly fall into, but were still a viable operation and that there just might be the possibility of a new Huanastone album looming on the horizon. That album "Third Stone from the Sun" (Argonauta Records) did arrive and what an album it is!
Filip Larsson (bass), Tobias Gonzalez (guitar/vocals),Carl Lambertus Olofsson (guitar) and Victor Hansson (drums) are the four musicians who make up Huanastone and although they are probably never destined to become household names, as say the Lemmy's and Ozzy's of this world, they will be names remembered by those who buy into this bands stunning blend of chilled out lysergic grooviness and thrumming alternative rock. Once heard "Third Stone from the Sun" is not an album that is easily forgotten it is a collection of songs that have an uncanny way of clinging onto the airwaves long after they have finished playing, replaying in the mind over and over until the listener is forced to hit replay and revisit them all over again. It is damn hard to explain in words the sound Huanastone create together as a band as it is a sound that doesn't quite fit into any clearly defined musical categories or genres yet at the same time it is a sound that is strangely familiar. That familiarity does comes not from Huanastone attempting to emulate the sounds and grooves of their contemporaries but from the band unintentionally wandering into territories shared by those contemporaries, elements of Elder's lysergic prog, Queens of the Stone Age's quirky desert rock and even traces of Alice In Chains like slurred grunginess and The Cure's accessible pop/goth can all be found inhabiting songs like "Viva Los Muertos", "Carnivore" and "Neverending" yet those elements are never allowed to dominate and are instead more happy accident than intentional.
Huanastone's "Third Stone from the Sun" is a little different from what we usually expect from a Swedish underground band but that's not a bad thing, we have been swamped with so much blues flecked stoner rock and doom from the likes of Graveyard and Witchcraft and other bands of that ilk that it is refreshing to hear a Swedish band who are is not following that blueprint and are focused on forging their own musical path.
Check 'em out ….
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