Monday, January 30, 2012

Complicating Matters


This brand new free download debut EP is just released by the band Rocketsurgery.
This foursome from Wicklow, Ireland plays Experimental Instrumental Rock / Post Rock. Their self titled EP contains five fantastic epic songs.
Their sound reminds me a bit of And So I Watch You From Afar, also a great band from that island.
These guys play their instruments very well and beside that is this EP also decent produced.
There is not much information about Rocketsurgery, but I can tell that this is an awesome band. This is really a need-to-hear EP. Enjoy!

Rocketsurgery - Rocketsurgery (2012)



Saturday, January 28, 2012

Tales Of Addiction And Despair


Thanks to Mick from the band Blood Red Water for sharing their EP!
From Venice, Italy comes the Stoner Doom band Blood Red Water. This trio has just released their free download debut EP and I must say it's a nice piece of work.
This band play great heavy songs with awesome guitar riffs and thunderous drums. One point of criticism is the vocals. It sounds pretty good, but it sounds not that loud on this EP.
Nevertheless is Tales Of Addiction And Despair a great EP and a nice start by this band. Enjoy!
“When life is a stormy sea of addiction and grief, music could be a strong lighthouse”.
Blood Red Water formed in the summer of 2010 with Michele (vocals, ex grindcore bands: NAB and Grunter Screams) Fiorica (ex and bass player in Blank Symbol, now at the drum). Michele & Fiorica were longtime friends, drinking partners and united by the passion for sludge music so they decided to create something wicked.
Immediately Francesco (of mr. Boonekamp) joined them as guitarist and feedback noise junkie.
At first helped by Silvia (of S.M.A.D.) as bass player, then Tarantula (Lorenzo Petri from Gli sportivi , Valium doll) joined ‘em.
For Blood Red Water it became clear that the band would not be the umpteenth cover band in the zone but their interest/purpose is writing the music they like and feel.
All members love bands like EyeHateGod, Eletric Wizard, St. Vitus (list of musical influences is long, very long) but - jam after jam - they realized to not belong to any particular genre. Some tunes are pretty doomy, other tunes could be more into stoner stuff.
Blood Red Water lyrics are a merciless portrait of what can save a life or ditch it. Far away from fantasy themes, lyrics give off Michele’s life experience; you can even find redeem words as well as the deepest dopesick despair.
At the end of 2011, they entered at the Flameout studio and they did their first 5 songs EP “Tales of Addiction and Despair”.
For the time being the EP is in digital format with a free download, but a physical release of “Tales of Addiction and Despair” is coming soon in the pure spirit of D.I.Y.
In the meantime line-up is changed: Lorenzo left them and they got a new additional guitar player; so the current line-up is:
Michele vocals/Fiò drums/ Volt guitars/ Dodi guitars
Now BRW are planning to play live and spread their EP as much as they can.
Let the Blood In!
(Thier bio from Facebook)

Blood Red Water - Tales Of Addiction And Despair (2012)





Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Turn It On


Check out this brand new band! It's coming from Montreal, Canada and this group of four is called Lion Farm. These guys play very nice Rock 'n' Roll with a Stoner Rock base, but there are also other elements, such as Hard Rock, Metal, Psychedelic and Space.
This EP contains four excellent songs with brilliant riffs and a great sound. These are catchy songs with great vocals.
A very impressive start of a new band! So keep an eye on Lion Farm! Enjoy!

Born out of a volcano of fire and fury, Lion Farm sinks its teeth into the jugular of Rock n’ Roll. With metal overtones and psychedelic underpinnings, Lion Farm claws their way down the mainline of anthemic rock.
Mike Foxxx and Malstain are longtime collaborators, first surfacing in the late 90s from the same fertile Toronto scene that spawned Peaches, Feist, Gonzales and Mocky. Their bands Rock ‘n’ Roll Bad Boy XXXpress and Seventy Whore were known by underground rock cognoscenti for their embrace of unabashed party-rocking in the po-faced indie-rock/post-rock era.

Pounding out catchy, heavy tunes, Lion Farm has quickly laid claim to the title of The Pride of Rock n’ Roll.
(Their bio)

Lion Farm - Lion Farm EP (2012)




Ride To Suicide


This was dropped in the C-Box a couple of hours ago. So thanks to the one who dropped it!
The Rockabones is a four piece band from Hannover, Germany. First Takes is the first demo by this band and it contains four tracks of high octane Riffrock with Stoner, Metal, Punk and Rock 'n' Roll influences.
These guys make quite a start with this demo. The sound is pretty good for a demo and the songs are really ass kicking. The vocals fit perfect with this straight forward Rock music. No further words are necessary here, go listen and... Enjoy!

In the summer of 2009 The Rockabones joined to realise their conception of rock music.
Informed by bands like AC/DC, Motörhead and Black Sabbath, they play Riffrock blended with Metal, Classic Rock, Punk and Stoner - loud, heavy & dirty!
The first Demo-EP 'First Takes' was finished in June 2011: 4 Tracks, 18 minutes - Straight Out Heavy Rock!
(Their bio)

The Rockabones - First Takes (2011)



The Mentalist


The Mentalist is an one song album by the Idaho based band The Reptilians. This foursome plays Heavy Rock with Metal influences or, as they call it themselves, Pragueressive Applecore Meatal.
According to their Facebook page, The Reptilians are inspired by the following bands: Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Acid Bath, Neurosis, Opeth, Pantera, Agents Of Oblivion, Type O Negative, Deadboy And The Elephantmen, King Crimson, Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Primus, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Nile, Quodia, The Doors, Dying Fetus, Mastodon, Six Fe. This gives you a small clue of what The Reptillians is about.
The Mentalist is a 27 minute lasting track. It is a pretty entertaining song with not a dull moment. This song is a clear display of their great musicianship.
This album can be downloaded for free at their website among their other releases.
This file includes a band bio, selected press and a 37 page .pdf booklet of artwork for the album and the bonus track Apocalyptic Sunshine High (Live). Enjoy!

Strange situations can lead to great things. Take the example of The Reptilians. Based jointly out of the Idahoan SLC suburb known as Pocatello and the desperate agricultural community of Burley, Idaho, The Reptilians are faced with a few less-than-usual circumstances. To start, there is essentially no music scene around them. Collectively, the members of The Reptilians have accounted for a significant portion of what local scene there has been in the last ten years. Add to that a significant density of highly religious locals, geographical isolation, ready access to various drugs, and you have one curious stew brewing.

Masterminded by a sharp witted anti-philosopher with a penchant for spewing forth bullet proof rants against the world, The Reptilians have been growing like mold under your floorboards for nearly a decade. Unnoticed by the general public around them and thin on outside influence, they have been able to craft a 26 minute opus of thoughtful, well planned, sonically intriguing, catchy, at times intentionally confounding music. A metallic yet dreamy journey unlike any other, with no comparison readily drawn. That journey is called “The Mentalist.”
(By Mutantcolors at StonerRock.com)

The Reptilians - The Mentalist (2010)



Are We Not Alone


Thanks to Tyler from the band Bezoar for sharing their album!
From Brooklyn, New York comes the band Bezoar. This trio consisting of two guys and one girl plays Psychedelic and Progressive Doom with Metal influences.
Their album Wyt Deth contains eight varied songs. There are beside the heavy songs also some acoustical tracks on this album. I especially like the heavy ones.
What really is striking about this band is the voice of Sara. She has an awesome and remarkable voice.
Beside the voice is also the music quite unique. Because of the strange rhytms this is not an everyday album. You really have to experience Wyt Deth yourself. Early march will this album be released on vinyl, limited to 250 copies. Enjoy!

Bezoar wails and hails from Brooklyn, New York. This power trio has been on the stoner, psychedelic doom metal scene since 2007 but is more majestic, massive and cerebral than any mere genre tag. Tyler Villard previously played with Ruksac, a Boston hard core band, and Sara Palmquist played with tripped out noise band Isle of Citadel. When these bands disbanded Bezoar was formed out of Sara and Tyler’s desire to continue making heavy weird and boundary defying music. They eventually became a power trio with Sara on vocals and bass, Tyler on guitar, and Jesse Smith on drums. With influences ranging from Sleep, YOB, 1349, Diamanda Galas, Swans, Mayhem, Electric Wizard, Eyehategod, Slayer, and Darkthrone among many others, Bezoar are not out to color within the lines. After Jesse left the band for personal reasons Bezoar was on a notorious drummer search which ended when skin pounder Justin Sherrell (who also plays in the band Wizardry) joined up. After signing to No World Order Records http://noworldorderrecords.com/bands in 2010 the band released a 7 inch and fans can expect a beastly full length debut in Spring/Summer 2011. Combining organized chaos and sweaty organic riffing with mystic purpose, Bezoar is a no nonsense hardworking band who at times have lived on their school bus to support the music they love. They have shared the stage and held their own alongside bands like Harvey Milk, Bison B.C., Jarboe, Saviours, Natur, Total Social Suicide, Sightings, Kurt Vile and other renowned artists and show no sign of slowing down. Like a torch blowing on the faces of all that is candy stripes and happy garage rock, Bezoar powers through the new disco era with a true vision of the ages. Sick, guttural, beautiful,engaging, raw, powerful, original, and twisted, Bezoar look forward to a long life of putting out records.
(Their bio from Facebook)

Bezoar - Wyt Deth (2012)



Monday, January 23, 2012

Warpath


I would like to thank Shawn from the band Balero for sending me their CD's!
From Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, USA comes a trio named Balero. This band plays very nice Instrumental Stoner Rock.
The recipe for Balero is quite plainly: You take one part of heavy guitar riffs, one part throbbing bass and one part pounding drums. Shuffle this gently together in a recording studio and there is this nice heavy sound!
Their sound reminds me somehow to Karma To Burn and Mothertrucker.
Balero has released two recordings: The five track EP One Planet Short Of The Sun and the 2010 album After The End. These are two great albums that are definitely worth it! Enjoy!

Here’s the lowdown, BALERO got together in Wilkes-Barre, PA in 2002 with all members having the same goal in mind, to play the music that we love for the people who love this kind of music. We’re not out to reinvent the wheel just to rock the jams that we like to play in our own style. We are currently a three piece in search of a singer to take our music to the next level. A singer can make your band ten times better or ten times worse and we’re waiting for the better. We know what we’re looking for and we’re not going to settle for less! So we just continue to jam and write new material and hopefully the right singer will hop on the BALERO EXPRESS.
(Their bio)

Balero - One Planet Short Of The Sun (2006)


Balero - After The End (2010)



Thursday, January 19, 2012

Bear Baiting



Bear Baiting from Los Angeles USA is formed by the two bass players Matt and Dennis. These guys play, with addition of some electronic devices, some pretty nice Atmospheric Post Rock. Bear Baiting has just released their same titled EP. It contains six tracks, which are short and compact. So there are no very long drawn-out compositions. This is the strenght of Bear Baiting: Creating short and atmospheric songs.
This EP is a great sounding recording and I wonder how these guys stand out on stage. Enjoy!


Bear Baiting was born as the brainchild of bassists Matt Boylan (Cuneiform) and Dennis Valles (Helen 55) in 2008. The two met at a mutual friend's, (National Sunday Law) show at the L.A. Knitting Factory and discussed to possibility of a 2 bass project. Shortly thereafter, the two got together and started writing material. The combination of Boylan's thunderous riffing, plus Valles' diversity of tones, made for interesting music, but the project lacked proper drums. The two contemplated getting a drummer to join the fold, but prospects were limited. Valles decided to program all the drums, rather than finding a drummer, and take a more DIY approach, resulting in a more realized vision for the music. After getting past the learning curve, the songs began to take shape. Multiple sounds and textures combined to form something truly unique. While not as technical as most instrumental artists, Bear Baiting sets out to form more of a soundscape than nonstop riffing.


We're proud of the results of our experiment, and hope you enjoy.
(Their bio from Facebook)



Bear Baiting - Bear Baiting EP (2011)





Wednesday, January 18, 2012

End Of Days


Here is an outstanding demo I've found at the Russian Stoner Forum.
From the Russian capital Moscow come a lot of great bands such as Stone Cold Boys, Cactus Jumper, Cosmonauts Day, Dirty Season and Stoner Train.
To this list of bands can be added the name Predicted. This four piece band plays some impressive Stoner Doom with Psychedelic, Sludge and Metal influences. Their demo called Demos From Witch House is decent sounding recording, considering that this is a brand new band.
This demo contains five awesome tracks that are asking for a sequel. And I'm looking forward to that next recording. Highly Recommended! Enjoy!

Predicted - Demos From Witch House (2011)



Tuesday, January 17, 2012

No Turning Back


From Budapest, Hungary comes the new band Head For The Sun. This four piece band plays Stoner Rock with Sludgy influences.
Their EP four track Live At Hungarian StonerRockBlog 3rd Birthday Fuzztival is a nice sounding piece of work. The guitar produces some great heavy riffs, the bass and drums are quite pounding and the vocals are very good.
Head For The Sun shows with this EP their capabilities. I think there's a great future for this band. I look forward to the next release. Enjoy!

Head For The Sun was formed in October, 2011, in Budapest, Hungary. In december we got a chance to record our concert for almost free,
So we did it, however at that time we had been playing together only 2 months.
Fortunately the songs come easy for our songwriter, Rico (who is a blogger at Stoner Rock Blog Hungary).
(Their bio)

Head For The Sun - Live At Hungarian StonerRockBlog 3rd Birthday Fuzztival (2012)



Saturday, January 14, 2012

Your Heart Is Angry, But Your Mind Is Stoned


This single was posted at this blog about three years ago. The reason I repost this single is the fact that a copy was delivered by the mailman today.
500 Ft. Of Pipe was a Drug Rock band from Detroit, USA. This trio has released three full lenght albums, one EP and this single.
Side A of this single contains the song So Good. This is a pretty great song. And there is this track on side B: Your Heart Is Angry (But Your Mind Is Stoned). This song is so damned awesome. It is one of the best songs that is ever recorded. It is a hell of a Rock 'n' Roll song. Enjoy!

500 Ft. Of Pipe - So Good 7'' (2000)



Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Fly On


Dos E.P.'s is a compilation album by the Los Angeles based Stoner Rock band Nebula. This compilation from 2001 begins with the three unreleased tracks Rocket, Long Day and Bardo Airways. The remaining eight tracks come from the Sun Creature EP and the split with Lowrider. Five of these tracks sound different because they are remixed.
Dos E.P.'s is a nice album with awesome tracks from the early era of Nebula. Enjoy!

Nebula's fourth full-length album, 'Dos EP's,' was released outside the US several months ago, and is only now seeing a proper release in their home country. What we have here is a reissue of their two classic EPs; 'Sun Creature' on the now-defunct Man's Ruin label, and the legendary Nebula/Lowrider split. Both have been at least partially remixed and remastered. Dos EP's also includes three new tunes, lest the buyer be under the mistaken impression that they are buying a simple reissue.

Make no mistake: Nebula is perhaps THE premier band in what some call stoner rock. They carry the banner high, writing guitar-led, ass-kicking tunes with a strong 70s vibe, dealing with the joys of substance indulgence, denim jackets, smokin' women, and the freedom of the open road. Plus, they tour like
hardened road dogs, traveling the world and living the life. Other prominent bands that deal with such
subjects have either broken up or produced recent music of questionable value. Nebula's recent music seems slightly more spare compared to earlier efforts, with lyrics that seem oversimplified at times, but as see it they've outlasted the other "famous" bands of the genre with their integrity intact, and deserve their place in the sun.

In any case, Dos EP's has some of the strongest music Nebula ever released, and they're right to keep it available. With the help of engineer Mathias Schneeberger, some of the previously released tunes have been changed, whether in tempo or with the addition of a Fender Rhodes piano. The results are enhanced and the songs are reinvigorated. The new tuneage sounds like it would be perfectly at home on their previous full-length, Charged. 'Rocket' has a classic charging riff, straight out of AC/DC's 'Whole Lotta Rosie,' or Led Zep's 'Rock and Roll,' or even Motorhead's 'Over the Top.' 'Long Day' encourages the listener to just take it easy with a basic boogie vibe, and 'Bardo Airways' has rhythmic sighs like in Jimi's 'Purple Haze,' punctuating lyrics about the joys of getting loaded.

This is far more than a simple reissue; it's a disc by a band that obviously cares a lot about its recorded
output. It seems that they review their past music as available for re-evaluation, rather than as a "sacred"
body of work. Well, it’s paid off. Hell, I've got the originals, and I'm pleased to add this to my CD shelf.
(By Kevin McHugh at Hellride Music)

Nebula - Dos E.P.'s (2001)



Thursday, January 5, 2012

Snail The Wah


Electric Magma is a band from Toronto, Canada. This trio plays incredible great Instrumental Stoner Rock. These guys have released until now six albums and the seventh one called Canadian Samurai is coming up.

The album Snail The Wah is my personal favorite. It contains 13 tracks of Wah Wah madness. This great pedal is all over this album. Even the bass is here and there infected with this magnificant effect.

Beside that does this album have a very awesome sound. It is thick and heavy. The riffs are stunning, just as the bass and drums.

All of the 13 songs are compositional masterpieces. A brilliant album! Enjoy!

Electric Magma formed in 2000 in the tiny hamlet known as Toronto, Canada. Emerging from the ashes of previous musical endeavors, the thunderous trio comprised of Tryg Smith , Tim Reesor and Mario Lunardo forged ahead with their vision of sonic eruption. Halfway up the fuzzed-out sludge ladder, somewhere in between the metal boogie rock of Clutch and the surfed-up stoner rock of Fu Manchu, lies the sound of burning liquid rock. Electrified Magma.

While many groups struggle with the concept of applying vocal melodies over their musical groove, Electric Magma opted to side-step this dilemma and simply forgo the vocals and in their place drop in double the riffs. While the lack of a singer can be a crippling obstacle for many a lesser band, it has only added fuel to their collective fire and driven their fuzzed-out riff rock into another dimension.

Notorious merch whores, Electric Magma are second only to KISS when it comes to pimping the name onto anything and everything…soup to nuts, condoms to candy bars…their merch table alone is often an event unto itself, representing a bigger spread than Grandma’s baked goods table at the local church bazaar.

Currently promoting the release of their latest album entitled “Mudshovel”, which was released in April 2009, Electric Magma barrel ahead like a runaway freight train. This latest record may in fact be every stoner rock fans wet dream as they have created the ultimate sing-along for psychopaths and hard rocking maniacs. It’s riff rock karaoke night at the Sirloin Saloon, so grab your beer and belt buckle and give it your best.

(Their bio)


Electric Magma - Snail The Wah (2005)

Website - MySpace - Facebook - LastFM

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Attack From Mars


Tuber is a trio hailing from Greece. This band plays an outstanding blend of Post Rock and Instrumental Stoner Rock. Until now, Tuber has released one EP. This EP is also available as free download on their Bandcamp site.
Their music is quite stunning. These guys are really good in what they're doing. They show some great musicianship. It all turns out in these four songs. Their music is pretty entertaining. It goes from atmospheric to heavy and everything what's in between. Beside that is the sound of this EP very good.
This EP must definitely be heard. Enjoy!

Tuber grew up in a sunny place, south of Greece, in an island called Crete. They were hiding from the sun, jamming in dark studios and playing their music in rock caves. As they moved north, sounds became lighter, since they started miss hot ground. Balance came as a result of smash, dark embraced light and improvisation turned into an effortless and instinctive process. Tuber moved their interest into new forms, founding themselves experimenting with compositions that combine mixed styles and sounds from different ground. Focus is now on rock aesthetic flirting with psychedelic atmosphere and a touch of romantic mood. At this time Tuber live in Serres, forming their feelings and thoughts into music and words, still learning how to leave with reality and reinventing it with love.
(Their bio from Facebook)

Tuber - Tuber EP (2010)



Iecava


Iecava is the third album by the band Khuda from Leeds, UK. This album is a logical sequel to the 2010 album Palingenesia.
This duo presents again an impressive mixture of atmospheric Post Rock and aggressive Noise. The rhythm changes are, like the previous albums, again overwhelming.
Iecava contains eight tracks, which are all stunning. An absolute recommendation! Enjoy!

Khuda are extremely good at making me feel uncomfortable in new and interesting ways. For only two people, Tom Brooke and Steve Myles have done a lot to take the standard post-metal formula and twist some new life into it. And though the result is a bit confusing at first, it’s certainly an interesting and rewarding listen.

The first thing that becomes apparent is the sparseness of the music. While the twain certainly pack a whole lot of music in for a two-person outfit, the amount of space in the music is still immediately noticeable. The sound consists almost entirely of high-end guitars and percussion, and while there are lower parts in the mix, they take on an almost negligible role. This becomes extremely apparent in the band’s dynamics, especially on the forte end. Their climaxing crescendos come off as strained and unpleasing rather than emotional and cathartic. This is a pretty big hurdle when playing in a genre where dynamicism is one of the most prominent features. It’s not that it sounds bad—it merely gives the music an unsettling, almost ethereal quality.

Compounding this sense of uneasiness are the unusual arrangements. While Khuda have scaled back the length of their pieces since 2010’s Palingenesia, this newfound compactness doesn’t mean the music is any less confusing. The pair are still throwing around sudden tempo changes and playing through unusual time signatures like it’s no one’s business. And while they do so with extreme competence, the constant reframing of their music only serves to augment the initial sense of wariness this album presents.

To point at something solid, the percussion half of Khuda has always been an unexpected delight. While I’m not a fan of how the drums are mixed (the snare sounds extremely open and tinny, almost like a neglected tom), Steve Myles plays with an aggressive casualness that sounds extremely fluid and natural. His style of playing is busy yet confident, providing a stunning antithesis to the frequently scaled-back and minimalist guitar work of Tom Brooke. That isn’t to say Brooke can’t shred with the best of them when the piece calls for it; his guitar work can be as psychedelic as if it were 1969. But often he chooses to forgo elaborate guitar lines when a simpler one will suffice, and that constant tension between the frantic drumming and the restrained guitar lines gives the music a severe case of sonic schizophrenia.
After listening to it a few times, the real merit this music is hiding can shine forth. Though Khuda have always been extremely good at creating interesting musical ideas, it is only on Iecava where the music finally reflects that. One thing they’ve learned since Palingenesia is how to write music that doesn’t sound merely like musical ideas strung together without purpose. By sensibly compacting their writing, the pieces finally feel like legitimate songs, and not collections of unrelated ideas.

All in all, there are a lot of good things to be said about Khuda’s latest effort. While there is still certainly room for them to grow, there is no doubt in my mind that this band will bring some more great albums to the table.
(By Matthew Sarah at Scene Point Blank)

Khuda - Iecava (2011)