Showing posts with label Astroqueen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Astroqueen. Show all posts

Saturday, March 14, 2009

ASTROQUEEN: A Demo and a 7"


A couple of weeks ago I posted the album Into Submission. Now I have for you the demo Themes From The Magic Ocean and the Rufus The Space Agent 7", both contained in one file.


Astroqueens music can be described as heavy, fuzzy, downtuned, spaced-out rock! With influences from bands such as early Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Kyuss and Soundgarden.

The members of Astroqueen live in the small sea side village of Stenungsund, which is north of Gothenburg, Sweden. This is where they put their heavy tunes together. The dudes have been jamming together in different projects since 1995 but it wasnt until the summer of '98 that Astroqueen was born. After intense jamming and excessive practice hours spent in the garage they entered the studio to record their first demo.

In June '99 Astroqueen recorded one track for the Swedish stoner compilation called "Molten Universe: Volume 1". Also featured on this compilation are bands such as Dozer, Lowrider and Mammoth Volume among others.

At this point the public interest in Astroqueen started to grow and they were approached by the small label Monster Zero (Germany) who wanted to release an Astroqueen 7". Since Astroqueen hadn't yet recorded any material they moved some recording equipment into their garage and laid down five tunes on tape. This demo is known as "Themes from the Magic Ocean". Two tunes from this recording, "Rufus the Space Agent" and "Asteroid Blaster (pt. 1)" ended up on the Monster Zero 7".

Shortly after the recording Underdogma records (US) approached Astroqueen and requested a track for their upcoming compilation of 27 other stoner rock bands which included the likes of Solace, Solarized and Men of Porn. Once again picked from "Themes from the Magic Ocean".

In October '99 Astroqueen did two gigs with American rockers Unida. One show in Gothenburg and the other one in Stockholm.

At the same time the demo "Themes from the Magic Ocean" was mailed to several record labels. In december 1999 Astroqueen was signed to Pavement Music. Their first longplaying record was produced by King Diamond guitarist - Andy LaRouque and it saw it..s day in the summer of 2001.

The band took timeout in 2004 and some of the members are already engaged in new musical projects like Hearts of Black Science and Sambassadeur. This page is a reference page to their past work and music influenses.
(From MySpace)

Themes From The Magic Ocean (1999)










Rufus The Space Agent 7" (1999) 










Friday, February 6, 2009

ASTROQUEEN - INTO SUBMISSION


Another great Swedish Stoner Rock Recording.

Sick of the cosmic, stoner, retro, psychedelic, kick-ass rock 'n' roll thing yet? No? Good, because that is just what Astroqueen are here to ram down your throat. This is a pretty fucking good album all in all, with hints of Trouble, COC, Sleep and the other usual suspects incorporated into a solid sound that Astroqueen makes its own.
The most prominent feature of Astroqueen's sound is the demonic bass, which roars somewhere between the earth-shaking rumble of Kyuss and the dirty rattle of Nebula. The painfully fuzzy guitar is right behind it, with the powerhouse drumming moving everything along. This is no doom band, make no mistake. The songs tend to rocket right along, though there are of course exceptions. "Brain Phase Voyage," for example, takes a more plodding, acid-rock direction and "Go to Sleep (I'm Gone)" truly lives up to the name 'stoner rock.'

The High Crusade-esque album art makes for the perfect companion to the grooves contained within. Astroqueen play infectious, fun music that makes you long for the 70s in no uncertain terms.

[Daniel Hinds from the-plague.net]

Into Submission (2001)