Monstroid – Set 2: Burnt Sky

 

 

Monstroid – Set 2: Burnt Sky
Self released – 2021
Rock, Stoner, Alternative
Rated: ****

Been listening to the new Monstroid for a while now and accidentally took the final words of the press release to heart. I try to not read anything about an album before hearing it, cause it might color the experience. And whether the bandmembers themselves are responsible for it or Warren Gibson from Plug Music Agency; the final words on the page were: “All music written and played to be enjoyed from the driver’s seat.” And the first umpteenth times listening toMonstroid’s Set 2: Burnt Sky album were all done behind the wheel. Nine tracks that will immediately evoke fuzzy feelings and stoner sentiments. With overtones of alternative nineties influences and spacey elements the South African foursome have delivered a damn fine and highly soulful album. One that indeed comes even more into its own when on the road; short sharp rock tracks trade places with cosmic rockers that have a knack for dynamics and atmosphere. And that is forgoing the monstrous drive and groove the quartet’s got going throughout the album. And all of the above is served with this intense catchy and pop sensible attitude. So yes, Monstroid will continue to burst out of the car stereo for many months to come!

(Written by JK)

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From The Ages – I

 

 

From The Ages – I
Self released – 2021
Rock, Instrumental, Metal, Stoner, Doom
Rated: ****

Comprised out of former members of Mammoth Salmon and Alltar, three-piece From The Ages delivers their first EP entitled I without much hoopla. But they should hoop the shit out of it, cause the four instrumental stoner metal and psychedelic doom tracks are carefully constructed and beautifully played. Totally uncompromising the choppy drums will initially throw you off balance before devouring you whole; and the axe slinger’s talents are beyond dispute. There’s heavy gloom here, mournful, but very darkly melodic as well. The absolutely brilliant title Denouement seems to indeed book end the entire EP; going into almost jazzy territories and throwing around ideas like dynamite, almost getting themselves into the dangerous terrain of avant garde doom. Without any reservation the first three tracks are ones you can easily get yourself lost in. But that final track will make you realize you’re not in Kansas anymore. Nothing left to do but follow the yellow brick road… And the applause at the end is well deserved!  

(Written by JK)

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Cargo Lift – Then

 

 

Cargo Lift – Then
Self released – 2021
Rock, Alternative, Metal
Rated: ***

The list their influences on their bandcamp site: “Faith No More, Tool, Deftones, Royal Blood, Foo Fighters, QOTSA and a bunch of other huge names…” And all of them and a bunch of other huge names can all be heard on the debut full-sized album Then by Greek quartet Cargo Lift. Paying homage in a big way to the nineties alternative rock sound and the metal of that era.  There are some progressive touches and there’s a whole lot of power! Power in every instrument, vocal line and everything they do. Which also shines through in the excellent production of the nine tracks present on Then. It’s heavy and it’s moody; dense, thrilling and literate rock from a four piece that seems to know exactly where their strength lies. Cargo Lift and their Then record; an elegant and powerful storm!

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week

 

Stoner HiVe’s 

Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week

Lizzard
Soothsayer Orchestra
Electric Mother
Dog Chasing Sun
Black Pistol Fire
Egor Lappo
OJM
DevElephant
Filthy Hippies
Appalooza

Electric Mother – II

 

 

Electric Mother – II
Self released – 2021
Rock, Hard, Stoner, Grunge, Metal
Rated: ****

I’ve never had the honor to visit the Orkney Islands in Scotland, even though Highland Park was one of my early whisky favorites and I have always had a terrible lust to visit Hollandstoun and the rest of the islands. And now there is another reason for a big trip north; cause the five-piece Electric Mother hails from those magnificent islands! And the quintet has just self-released their sophomore album II on both vinyl and cd and give us a tasty combination of nineties alternative metal, grunge, stoner and hardrock. It’s got groove, it’s got heart and it’s got soul! Low slung, low punk, bass heavy, massive hooks and damn fine guitar colors! Just listen to a track like Treacherous with those marauding guitars and that almost eighties aura. That certain classic quality is ever present and gives it that special touch; as if you’re listening to something that you simply can’t live without. It will make you relive certain musical memories and envision new melodious fantasies! And it’s got nine of these marvelous tracks! Electric Mother’s II is one hell of an eclectic and majestic record!

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

Last week we were shivering and feverously running around looking for the best ice in the region for some serious ice skating fun! That seems like a distant memory now with temperatures on the rise and looking to reach almost spring like heights this weekend. Shorts and shirts kind of weather! Crazy, insane and so is the amount of great, weird and heavy music being released every week! Hence we do this thing called Quick Fire Friday! Cause we just want to get the word out on as much of it as possible and we do not have the time to do things in better way. Cause we know, we know, the albums and bands deserve more than the few words we will jot down here. More attention and more of our time! But there is so much out there and we just simply cannot ever do it all justice. So here it is. The Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday! And its burns hot like molten lava!

 

Oxomoco – Of Home

The German progressive krautrock outfit Oxomoco has released their first single titled Of Home a week or two ago. After already releasing their cover of The Melvins track The Bit a week prior. Indeed. Progressive, stoner, psych and kraut all mixed into twelve minutes of this unrelenting instrumental post-metal adventure. Something you definitely need to hear!

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Penny Mob – Revolution

Any band that wants to pull the curtains away from this thing we call society and might open an eye or two  can have my last piece of gum and will have my vote any day. Hence we can’t refuse mentioning Glasgow’s punk, alternative, indie rock trio Penny Mob and their single Revolution. Can't it be all so simple? Four chords and the truth!  (The name does make me miss the first incarnation of The Penny Black Remedy though…)

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Fools Paradise – Confused Mind

Stoner metal with sludgy and doomy overtones offset by enchanting female vocals. We’re talking about the first single Confused Mind from Brazil quintet Fools Paradise. Comprised out of three members or Erasy, it’s promoted by Matheus Jacques and his Bruxa Verde Produções PR, and rightfully so, for this one track delivers so much heavy goodness one cannot wait to hear more of Fools Paradise. Let’s hope we won’t have to wait long!

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Hypernaut – Worlogog

About a month ago we already professed our love for the Ozymandias album by Peru five-piece Hypernaut. Well, there’s now a trippy first official video for the Worlogog track. We were already convinced of the awesomeness of Ozymandias and we assume you were as well. But if not, this trippy little ditty will definitely pull you in!

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Bad Habits – Let It Roll

High energy punk and roll, pop sensible hard rock and a maximum dose of attitude! Go grab yourself a bit of the Bad Habits and Let It Roll! And yes, it’s five of them and they hail from Athens, Greece. And it sounds so LA! Damn well done! Let’s… Let It Roll!

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Electric High – Morning Star

For this last one on this Quick Fire Friday segment we travel to Bergen, Norway to get electrified! Electric High’s new single Morning Star. High voltage hard rock that starts like a slow burning mystery! This five-piece features two lead vocalists and dares to take the different route at every turn, leaving you listening to this most wonderous of tracks that will captivate and swallow you whole!

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Bleeding Mountains - Capsize Projects

 

 

Bleeding Mountains - Capsize Projects
Self-released - February 2021
Sludge, prog, psych, stoner
Rated: *****

Capsize Projects is the latest from Stockholm stoner rockers Bleeding Mountains, and the 4 track EP is liable to burst with the energy and range of sounds on display. The three piece play a melting pot of heavy, hammering out filthy sludge one minute and seamlessly transitioning to bright, warm psychedelia the next. Case in point, opener "Subliminal" thunders forth with bouncing sludge, with more than a bit of a prog feel to the instrumentation as the high, clean vocals drone over the low end. The singing quickly turns caustic, before a u-turn to eerie, almost serene psychedelic guitar that pierces through the murk. The thrumming bass is a head-nodding constant, and leads easily into the concluding onslaught of more sludge fury and rolling drums. Follow-up "Scumbags" shares the same quaking low end, but brings a more garage feel to the mix with relentless forward momentum and wash of noise. There's a pop sensibility to the catchy vocals and sprinting riffs, but soon screams and discordance enter the fray, and the Swedes divebomb into a screeching psychedelic solo that slowly falls apart to end the song. The second half of Capsize Projects holds even more sonic territory to be discovered, with an uplifting energy brought to both the instrumental title track and closing "Walking Shadow", the latter ringing out warm, bright riffs reminiscent of prog rockers Moon Tooth. Bleeding Mountains' latest is a fascinating adventure in sludge and prog that holds a surprise around every turn, and is a special record that shouldn't be missed.

(Written by Shasta Beast)

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Glice – Pyre

 

 

Glice – Pyre
Self released – 2021
Noise, Avant-Garde, Experimental, Metal, Soundscape, Drone
Rated: ***

We were honored to mention Glice’s earlier release Cielo back in 2017. An ambitious avant-garde noise album that evokes so many gloomy images and bleak emotions it is hard to listen to in your own cozy home. We suggested a landfill or a dark deserted metro station to truly enjoy Cielo. Well, the Amsterdam duo is back and have turned ambition into a huge understatement with their newest work Pyre. A double album that pounds you into submission with Part I, Cleave lasting 42 minutes and Part II, Coalescence 38 minutes. Blazing furnaces, ancient factories pounding steel and copper, hallucinations of machines stomping and hammering, battering and crushing. Sparks flying into the dark. Glints shooting into the night. And if you’re not seeing any of those infernal phantasmagorias, than it’s a gigantic cathedral made of magma and molten rock. Glice has indeed stepped up its game and delivers a marathon of distressing noise and oppressive drone. Co-produced by Lasse Marhaug; the artistic cinematic level is as intense as anything the man delivered himself and as jarring as all the great experimental works of art. For art it is and not for the feeble, the faint of heart or the man at the end of its tether. Pyre is for those that are tuned to the great and secret show, where memory, prophecy and fantasy, the past, the future and the dreaming moment in between are all one country, living one immortal day. To know that is wisdom. To use it, is art.  

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s 

Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week

Black Spell
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets
Acid Mammoth
Black Crowes
The Pretty Reckless
Holy Monitor
Mythic Sunship
Ruff Majik
Dog Chasing Sun
Soothsayer Orchestra

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

Over here there is a rush of fever! Ice skating fever. The Dutch go crazy when there are a few days of freezing weather. So the past two days the most of the Netherlands, myself included, have been doing the rounds on the various fens, lakes, streams and canals. And there is two more days of fun to be had, after which the thaw will commence. But hey, it is Friday. And we do have a little respite from the cold to warm ourself with some Quick Fire Friday action! So here it comes! And we know, we know, the albums and bands deserve more than the few words we will jot down here. More attention and more of our time! But there is so much out there and we just simply cannot ever do it all justice. So here it is. The Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday! And its burns hot like molten lava!

The Dry Mouths – T3Ch N3Rd5

We’ve been digging the shit out of Almeria, Spain three-piece The Dry Mouths even since getting to know them as a quartet back around 2012. New single T3Ch N3Rd5 is hopefully a promise of a new complete album soon. Cause the band rocks and so does this new track! The groove and the flow, the languid sunset approach to all that heaviness we all love so dearly. Gonna be having this one on repeat when we start skating at sunrise tomorrow…

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Neofelis Nebulosa – EP1

French post grunge outfit Neofelis Nebulosa infuses elements of stoner, alternative rock and post punk into the sound displayed on the three track EP1. Three tracks that encourages people to break all chains in order not to risk living in a world of loneliness and depression. It definitely has a drive and will definitely spur you into action! 

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Spaceweed – Sorry We’re Stoned

What’s in a name right? Both the demo EP and the bandname leave little to the imagination. Some might be deterred from checking it out. But the lo-fi, grubby and lo-down sound of Spaceweed might actually get you high. Slow burning instrumental sludgy doom and stoner metal that definitely sounds like the stuff they named their duo project after: “We're named after some outta this world shit my buddy found in his dad's desk back in high school.” Well, let’s ask his dad for more?!

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Jorogumo – Rot

Five-piece sludgy death metal outfit from the dirty streets of Glasgow called Jorogumo released their debut EP Rot just a week or so ago. Five tracks that take another approach to doom; using it to spice up their old school death metal sound and the hardcore elements they definitely use to their advantage. Powerful and definitely bordering on the extreme; but never crossing that line. Awesome!  

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Stay To Sleep – Puppet

 

And to end this Quick Fire Friday segment more quietly and dreamy we give you another Almeria, Spain outfit called Stay To Sleep and their single Puppet. Their rock definitely has some ambient and shoegaze elements and is highly atmospheric. Spacegaze and dreamrock they call it themselves and that definitely fits this track. Can’t wait to hear what the rest of the upcoming Blow A Wish album will sound like!

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Around The Fire - Celestial Keepers

 

 

Around the Fire - Celestial Keepers
Self released - January 2021
World, doom, sludge, stoner
Rated: ****

Greece's Around The Fire return with their anticipated sophomore album, "Celestial Keepers", and once again raise the bar in their visionary melding of Greek, Egyptian, and Asian sounds with doom and sludge. Thundering riffs growl hand in hand with throat singing and eastern melodies, creating a sinisterly groovy and cryptic masterpiece. A prominent element that gives Around The Fire this unique sound is the kemenje, a fiddle from the Pontus region of Turkey. Reedy and manic, when played alongside the traditional guitar and bass it creates a striking contrast between the crushing low end and its spidery, keening strings. This dynamic is immediately put on display in opener "Kau Ano Meha", with foreboding fiddle leading to a sudden slam of cutting, crushingly low stoner riffs. Then the throat singing enters, and all bets are off. Guttural and bone-shaking, the vocals are another heavy instrument in their own right, holding their own against the strings and bashing drums to hair-raising effect. The immense weight of all this instrumentation is felt across the six tracks of "Celestial Keepers", particularly in the standout "Awakening". Menacing drums march into kemenje and ritualistic throat singing, creating a dirge that builds and builds without ever quite letting the other shoe drop. Without giving more away, every track is a hit, rife with inventive sounds and a culturally diverse range of music. No small feat, Around The Fire has fused this melting pot of influences into a massively heavy and mesmerizing album.

(Written by Shasta Beast)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s 

Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week

Marijuana Johnson
Here Lies Man
Kabbalah
Dread Sovereign
Black Sky Giant
Komatsu
Vokonis
Dirty Pagans
Supermoon
Sonic Flower

Pipe Dreamer – No Solace For The Soulless

 

 

Pipe Dreamer – No Solace For The Soulless
Self released – 2021
Rock, Metal, Post, Doom
Rated: ***

The four from Florida that encompass the Pipe Dreamer outfit have just released their debut full-size called No Solace For The Soulless. Filled with doomy post metal the seven tracks are rife with different kind of tension arcs and slow building patterns. The slow rising start that allows you to get into the Struggle And Strain opening track, with expert use of movie quotes and fine guitar color, gets distorted brutally by the blackened guttural vocals. It will challenge the listener and will pull you apart with all the different emotions. Which continues on during the second track Now Or Never, which seems to come across as a brother to the opening track. It’s therefor a strange feeling to enter third and fourth track respectively titled Brothers I and Brothers II. With lush elements of core and noise; the brutality offset by clean vocals and rising guitars they once again come across as two devious bookends. To which a live set could be altered and build around. Perhaps best song of the album is Free From Fear Of Failure. With a spacious composition the track begs for a deeper dive into the music with every listening session. And slowly a cathartic experience might arise…

(Written by JK)

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