Stoner HiVe: maart 2015

zaterdag 28 maart 2015

Seremonia – Kristalliarkki (the Crystal Ark)

Svart Records – 2015

Garage, Doom, Proto, Punk

Rated: ****

Emerging from the darkest depths of Finland, Seremonia manage to mix doom, 70’s psych rock and grimy punk without sounding forced or experimental. The primary feel is dank and doomy, with riffage suitably low slung and powerful but thanks to the wonderful vocals provided by Noora Federley, the range goes from a velvet croon to a more hard edged style. She is complimented by the band who have a vast array of talent to back her up. Vintage scorched earth keyboard stabs and solos mix with ghostly backing vocals, flutes, synths and effects which provide a suitably graveyard feel. Nik Turneresque sax bursts explode with gritty squalls of frenzied scales to add another dimension. Sung all in their native tongue there is a genuinely foreboding tone but in case you think that this is a strictly retro affair, the modern, hard hitting production and bursts of fast, ballsy workouts will stop any doubts you may have. Seremonia have enough punk attitude mixed with a love of darkness to make them stand out among the crowd.

Many thanks to Svart Records for the promo.

(Written by Tony)

Svart Records

vrijdag 27 maart 2015

The Doom Chart for March 2015

Doom Charts

Did you manage to check out the March edition of the Doom Charts? The return of a righteous list and one that is delivered by an amazing amount of people who have a damn good finger on the pulse of that stoner and doom undercurrent. (Except that JK dipshit ofcourse!) Did you manage to give all of the albums on the list a go? Did you get stuck on one or more because they were so damn fine? Well, be sure to visit the list one more time this weekend. Cause soon, the second, April edition of the Doom Charts will go up…

Who will make the list this time around? And how much will change? Doktor420: "Not much will change I guess, only a few will change position and only a few will be added or dismissed."

Soon we will know… Soon…

So, head on over to the Doom Charts and read up on all those amazing albums!

woensdag 25 maart 2015

Killer Boogie – Detroit

Heavy Psych Sounds – 2015

Rock, Classic, Seventies, Proto, Punk

Rated: ****

Although coming from Italy, Killer Boogie have named their album Detroit and indeed have embraced the early 70’s rock sound which will always be associated with that city. Cooper, Nugent and the mighty MC5 are at the front of a sound which when mixed with Mountain and Cactus (I know they are not from Detroit!) give you a gritty, dirty fuzzed out and fucked up street band, living in the gutter and reaching for the stars. Gabriele Flori – vocalist/guitarist from Black Rainbows – takes this scuzzy collection of tracks and welds them together with distortion pedals set to “Stooges”! Some of the songs morph into psych mantras that circle around, giving hints of breathing spaces but fear not fuzz-fiends, on this album, all roads lead to heavy riffs in the end. With a clear but still raw sounding production, acoustic guitars can drift in and out, organs can drone in the background and some spacey effects can be used without ever feeling forced. This is a loving tribute to an earlier rock sound but without sounding like a rip-off. Killer Boogie keep it fresh sounding and vital. Play this and stick a finger up to ”The Man”!

(Written by Tony)

Experiencia Del Paso Por El Averno – Experiencia Del Paso Por El Averno

Self released – 2015

Rock, Doom, Drone

Rated: ***

A battering call to arms. A haunting revolutionary cry. A demand for more meat for the vultures. Cause the vultures want more and more and more and forever more. Experiencia Del Paso Por El Averno opens your heart and mind and sends your blood racing with opening track Agnosis of their first self-titled album. A side-project for the bassplayer and drummer of Annimal Machine, as they wait for their guitarplayer to return home and finish the new album. Back to the opener; the one that pummels and pounds and has you rising up, flag in hand and antique sabre in the other. How incredibly great that track is and how high they set the bar for the rest of the album. I will leave that up to you. I for one was overwhelmed and waited for the next stroke or eerie trumpet call to get on a plane, horse or donkey and ride to the nearest battlefield. But even though they keep up the gigantic gestures between the two of them, that high pitched fever they evoked at the start soon settles into a brooding little rise in temperature. With every track that follows they seem to take it down a notch. Not so much in energy, ambition or prowess, but more because it would have been impossible to keep the stakes that high. Is this a bad thing? I think not, otherwise there would have been revolutions going on across the globe and all stupid annoying extremists (in every category) would have been slaughtered… (O’ so it is a bad thing?) Nevertheless, we experienced a righteous track through the netherworld, saw the sun’s extinction and learned much from the wind… And we know there are others like us… Everywhere… We only need to rise up… Fight the good fight; and Experiencia Del Paso Por El Averno will urge us on!

(Written by JK)

dinsdag 24 maart 2015

Black Rainbows – Hawkdope

Heavy Psych Sounds – 2015

Heavy Psychedelic Rock

Rated: *****

The Holy Rainbows EP released in 2013 was my first inkling of the Black Rainbows infectious brand of riffs, melodies, fuzz and just sheer grooviness. Seeing them last year at Desertfest blew me away so I eagerly awaited this new album. And yeah, Hawkdope is brilliant. Tired of ten minute prog rock tracks passed of as Doom/Stoner songs? Well plug into these Italian guys vision of rock. Tight, taut songs that hit you between the eyes are order of the day here, served up with catchy-as -fuck choruses, world weary vocals and scorched earth solos that never overstay their welcome. Heavy, groovy, unstoppable with hints of space rock expansiveness combined with driving Stoner song structures to make each track sound like a classic cut on the first hearing. Hints of fuzz electric blues are scattered throughout with searing effect and yes, it does make me want to drive faster with my arm hanging out of the window, music blaring from the speakers on the way to some humdrum place of work, having my soul lifted by this potential masterpiece.

(Written by Tony)

Heavy Psych Sounds

vrijdag 20 maart 2015

Lord Loud – IN

Self released – 2015

Rock, Garage, Psych, Punk, Grunge, Stoner

Rated: ****

Four highly concise rockers and two battleships. The debut EP entitled IN by the Van Nuys, California duo Lord Loud has a lot going on for everybody who digs the fuzz, the stoner and the garage rock. There’s something highly addictive about these six masterful tracks. The whirling guitar in opener Innerspace, the riff stomp that accompanies it and the stand out vocals, lusciously pitched and echoed. The languid ‘ooh ooh ooh’ in that gritty straight forward rocker Searching For The Thief, that even older sounding psychedelic garage sound in Tune In and everything about No Regard. And that’s when the cruisers anchor down in a hidden cove somewhere and the battleships set sail. The highly psychedelic Living Mystery which invokes some doomy feelings and as the drums groove and dance, the guitars do the talking and the haunting vocals drag you along on this mystical adventure. And after that closer Silent Spokes slows down even more and turns into a creepy and irking howler of a track. Echoes of something whispered in forgotten times. After which we’re all in. And there’s no way out…

(Written by JK)

donderdag 19 maart 2015

John Lancaster – A Penchant For Hell On Earth

Self released – 2015

Rock, Metal, Prog, Hard, Alternative, Stoner

Rated: ****

Phantom Moon still gets heavy rotation over here. But for some weird and probably insane reason the second album Crash Test In Progress is hardly played at all. Which will soon change again, since we are now neck deep in absorbing the third album A Penchant For Hell On Earth by John Lancaster. Lancaster, former frontman for Chum delivered his first solo effort back in 2010 and delivered that Phantom Moon record with the help of an incredible array of musical companions. On the second disk he implored the help of Abdullah’s Josh Adkins, Barry Smith with whom he played in Earth to Eros and his buddy from Chum, Mac Walker. And they are all present once again, you could easily state the guys have turned this solo project into a full-fledged band. They could be called The Lancasters. Imagine petite dance moves and matching suits. But what’s definitely not petite is the sound; which goes big the way of the Samurai once again. Think Faith No More, Kings X, Muse, Soundgarden and Torche. Which is offset by this weird flutter in the vocal lines, which reminds a bit of Alain Johannes, his solo work as well as Eleven. Which is strange, for the music is metal, progressive, alternative and full of twists and turns. Yet, it’s the vocals that sets it apart this time around. Emotional cries and passionate howls, timid screeds and new discovered vocal possibilities. They’ve grown considerably and now rival the amazing music that was already there. A multitude of layers aided by samples and synths that never fight for domination, but instead offer up the spotlight to whichever instrument should have your full attention. A truly amazing and inspirational record once again! A labor of love for someone… Felt by everyone…

(Written by JK)

Arthur Channel – Arthur Channel

The End – 2014

Rock

Rated: ****

Drummer Jack Irons, bassist Greg Richling and multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes know each other from bands like Eleven and The Wallflowers. But it is the unknown singer/guitarplayer Jon Greene that launched this new project known as Arthur Channel. He was the guy who was writing the tunes in a little mountain cabin somewhere in the bushes of California. And he was the guy who just sent them to Irons and prayed for something. Who in turn immediately fell in love with the songs and got Richling to participate and Johannes to produce and add color. On guitar we also hear Lyle Workman (Frank Black, They Might Be Giants) and Zach Irons (Irontom). The sum of these musicians give us a magical total: highly atmospheric and emotional alternative rock with moments of hunted folk and natural melodies. But still, the most impressive part is the fact that the amazing collection of music by the different musicians almost pale in comparison to the fantastic voice by rookie Jon Greene. What a find!

(Written by JK)

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Danko Jones – Fire Music

Suburban/Bad Taste – 2015

Rock, Hard, Garage, Punk

Rated: ***

Danko Jones is always good for some good tunes and some great live shows. Danko Jones is that well-oiled rock machine that just keeps on truckin, dealing in good times and has once again delivered with their seventh studio album Fire Music. Once again with a new drummer. In this case it’s Rich Knox, who you might know from the also in Toronto based rockers: Flash Lightning. And once again it makes little difference, cause the Mango Kid and John Calabrese are handing out doses of testosterone like mad and crazy rock ‘n roll professors. The biggest difference is perhaps the amount of angry songs on this album and the lesser quantity of tracks about the female beauty. Well, and we assume the guys also wanted to push up their punky edge. Their Misfits edge. Cause Danko loves Danzig and everything the man has ever done. Especially the Misfits stuff. So if you feel like hearing that band through a Danko Jones filter, check out Fire Music. And you can scream, shout and holler along with Danko. Just as you could in past and always will be able to in the future…

(Written by JK)

woensdag 18 maart 2015

Desert Storm – Omniscient

Blindsight Records/Secret Law Records – 2015

Rock, Sludge, Doom, Blues, Metal, Stoner

Rated: ****

We’ve been writing about this stoner sludge hurricane since their Forked Tongues album from 2010 and we then revisited their 2008 self-titled demo. We went ape shit about their 2013 album Horizontal Life and ofcourse loved the split they did with Komatsu called Nomen Est Omen. And at the end of January this year the UK quintet Desert Storm released their newest effort entitled: Omniscient. We hold our breath, not because we are worried they won’t deliver, but because we are giddy with anticipation and hope we will love this as much as all that came before. Omniscient, ever present and all knowing. On which they’re turning into the sludge monster they know they have always been. Slowly all the influences they were sporting on their other albums are dissipating, or so we are lead to believe. What rises and holds fast is the sludgy stoner rock and metal that can easily hold a candle to the best of Crowbar and Down. And ofcourse the guys have to do it again, make a flag post of a stand out track in the middle of the record. This time around it’s an acoustic song called Home. Displaying once again that the vocalist could do so much more with his voice than just the aggressive howls we heard so far. And after Home dies away; the breeze picks up and, there they are, a myriad of influences can be heard, making the aggressive nature of the first four tracks disappear with more laidback grooves and sunny rhythms. Returning to an all levelling sludge landslide with the closing track Collapse Of The Bison Lung. And then we can breathe again…

(Written by JK)

dinsdag 17 maart 2015

Donnerwetter – Donnerwetter

Self released – 2015

Rock, Blues, Garage

Rated: ****

Two worn down looking men. Sitting across from each other on a rickety chair with scarred guitars in their hands. In an almost empty room, except for some yellowed posters, empty bottles and overflowing ashtrays. That’s how the band and the album were born. Donnerwetter! This sick self-titled album features Rocco Ostermann and Wout Kemkens, both active in Shaking Godspeed and Thee Hammer. They found each other as they watched the paint fall down from the walls when they made their guitars scream and howl. Two wayward guitarists and songsmiths that give fuck all about conventions. No, these cats dance on that weird tightrope where only a few can keep balance. Think Howlin’ Wolf, Captain Beefheart and Dr. John. On keys and bass we hear Matthijs Stronks and on drums Mike Visser. Which ofcourse has us also hearing some of that Shaking Godspeed sound. Cause yes, it becomes that wild and wonderful many a time, but it is also so forthright and honest that you can feel every note played in the very core of your spine. Even when they sing about cross-eyed dogs!

(Written by JK)

vrijdag 13 maart 2015

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

Here we are with another Quick Fire Friday in this foul year of our lord 2015! The Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday segment is a feature of a handful of bands and only a small amount of words to help spread their musical prowess and our melodic belief…

Mangostone – Journey to The Centre of The

Mangostone from the UK produces some damn fine night time fuzzy flying ruckus. On their first two track demo entitled Journey to The Centre of The they sound highly impressive and absolutely wonderful. Gritty desert rock and grimy stoner infused with some garage and off the wall stomping. Be a look out for this three-piece cause they’ll soon be tearing you mustache off and wearing it as batwings and have you applauding that action!

Abrahma – Fountains Of Vengeance

As always, French heavy rockers Abrahma deliver grade A stuff. Just listen to the first track Fountains of Vengeance of the soon to be released new album Reflections In The Bowels Of A Bird. Classy and majestic rock 'n roll! And yes, they’re also experts in strange, weird and highly inspirational titles! So start drawing pictures with pencils, clay or mud and dancing around like a whirling dervish!

Romero – Gold For the Hunt

Another one of those bands that always deliver is Romero. These Wisconsin stoner metal pugilists go for the big gestures on the new single Gold For The Hunt. This is grandiose music for those moments where you want to lift your spirits and your arms and reach for the sky. And just as you are about to lean back and drift along with the clouds, they hit you with a sucker punch uppercut, as all good pugilists do…

Karma To Burn/Sons of Alpha Centauri – Six/66

Sons Of Alpha Centauri true pioneers of progressive instrumental apocalyptic stoner rock are releasing another single split with Karma To Burn. Their new exclusively written track 66 will be available on a 7inch released at the end of April on H42 records. And you can already hear their dark and motoring track online. Wild, wonderful and absolutely thrilling! We can’t wait to get our grubby hands on the seven inch!

woensdag 11 maart 2015

Satori Junk – Satori Junk

Self released/Taxi Driver Records – 2015

Rock, Doom, Stoner, Sludge, Psych, Space

Rated: ****

Hailing from that grand old lady of Italy, Milano is the foursome called Satori Junk who delivered their first calling card in 2013 and named it Doomsday. A rickety sounding, but beautifully crafted electrified stoner, doom and sludge four song experience lasting for almost half an hour. And now they follow that up with an amazing self-titled full-sized album that sounds like they’ve surely met the devil on a crossroad somewhere. Cause the improvement on all fronts is incredible. Satori Junk sounds like a wooly mammoth dancing pirouettes, jumping and landing on its toes. Cause even though it grinds and plows and is incredibly fuzzy and heavy, there is also so much delicacy going on. Just listen to the synthesizer in track one weaving and waving and bringing it all together. The intricate little details everywhere are what makes this album so wonderful. They seem to have want to put a different instrument in the spotlight on certain songs and the way the voice in the beginning and after the guitar ties the second track Spookie Boogie together is once again, incredible. There is no junk on this record, only treasures. Cause these guys have found and experienced their one through self and managed to translate it into grandiose music…

(Written by JK)

maandag 9 maart 2015

The Cover That Could – III

The Cover That Could – III

Cato Salsa Experience – Planet Heart

And finally 2005 was deemed fit to release a tribute album in honor of the mighty Guitar Wolf. This notorious Japanese garage, rock and punk trio has so many great albums to their name that it was high time to celebrate all their qualities. And not just because they still have the Guinness Book of Records record for loudest recorded album ever, their record Jet Generation released in 1999. Ain’t that a kick!? But on the tribute album named I Love Guitar Wolf… Very Much, we find thirteen songs performed by bands such as Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Porch Ghouls and Jim O’Rourke. And then there is that highly noteworthy version done by the Cato Salsa Experience. The band founded and named by magician Cato Salsa Thomassen, who produced numerous albums and played righteous parts on even more. He later also went on tour with Madrugada and joined Sivert Hoyem’s band. These Norwegians do a righteous cover of the song Planet Heart from the album Planet Of The Wolves and give it that bit of air and breathing room that the original version from 1997 kind of missed. And therefore perhaps make it even better than the original?!

vrijdag 6 maart 2015

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

Here we are with the second edition of the Quick Fire Friday of 2015! The Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday segment is a feature of a handful of bands and only a small amount of words to help spread their musical prowess and our melodic belief…

Mojo Waves – 7x7

The out of control Mojo Waves from Finland are about to release their new album "All the Right Parts Fit The Wrong Way" in May 2015 via Macaroni Penguin Music. It's a follow up to their amazing five star album, Lo and Behold! Let’s hope the new album has as much big riffs, grooves, shrieking vocals, deep vibes, and most of all, catchy tunes to freak us out. And judging by the first single 7x7, this will surely be the case!

Youtube

The Kahless Clone’s – An Endless Loop

Instrumental. There. That peeked some of your interest. The Kahless Clone is a project started by Vito Marchese of Novembers Doom fame. Long drawn out compositions that forges the vibe of dark metal with the sonic landscape and emotional buildups of post-rock. Severe and delicate and absolutely beautiful. So check out the An Endless Loop EP and forget about time...

Mares Of Diomedes - Mares Of Diomedes

Recorded at the Hive studios in Kilcoole Ireland. Well, that’s enough for us at the HiVe to pay attention. Mares of Diomedes is a duo. A crusty metal and sludge duo that deliver four gutter punches. Two brothers that will get your mind in a frenzy and have you milling around like a madman! Owyeah!

Shroud Eater – Face The Master

Stoner sludge titans! That’s the moniker that stuck to Shroud Eater. And it serves them right! Cause it serves them just! Just listen to the new two track EP Face The Master and you know there is nothing bigger than this. Ugly, grandiose and brutal. A titan having a drunken brawl and stomping his enemies!

Het Universumpje – De Grenzen Van Het Toelaatbare

PIAS – 2015

Rock, Stoner, Dutch

Rated: **

The four Dutch freaks that make up Het Universumpje, are one of those one-off creatures. Like the Platypus. It’s most of everything, somewhere in between and absolutely nothing at all. The music on their debut album De Grenzen Van Het Toelaatbare comes across as highly electrified stoner pop in the vein of Queens Of The Stone Age or De Staat. Which is something we could dig, were it not, that almost every song soon feels like you heard it before and that this is the less interesting version of it. Musically there is nothing that sets them apart unfortunately. But there are ofcourse the lyrics. In Dutch. Pretty poetic, with overtones of the absurd, humor, philosophical irony and social criticism. Albeit a bit farfetched from time to time, it is highly interesting to hear the Dutch language being used in this kind of rock music. Which sometimes works and sometimes comes across as certain artists from the Netherlands nobody wants to be compared to. The weirdest part though is the vague but acute sense of aggression they tend to invoke. You really want to hurt someone. Preferably the band members. Strange… Cause I am not a violent man… But they are testing the limits of what’s permissible…

(Written by JK)

donderdag 5 maart 2015

Boar – Veneficae

Lost Pilgrims Records/Mikrofoni/Ramekuuli – 2015

Metal, Doom, Sludge, Core, Stoner

Rated: ***

Grinding you down like a massive millstone until there’s hardly anything left. That’s what Old Grey, the first track on the new Boar album Veneficae does to a man. Their version of doom, sludge, grindcore and metal sounds dark, twisted and filthy. But the four Finnish lads do not continue down that same path for very long. Cause on the second track they draw inspiration from something much more stonerish and occult. Its old school doom metal with overtones extreme open aired playing. Just hear those drums and guitars exhale before they speed up again. Majesty. The grating grunts may distract from the beauty in this song, but the clean howling does pull you in. Next up is something highly aggressive and crunching. It levels the playing field and even though the disturbing death like screams fit well, they do tend to become a bit too oppressive; and then suddenly the track turns psychedelic, proto and laidback. And this kind of variation continues on the entire record, making it a highly entertaining ride. It sounds like ancient shapeshifting sorcery go berserk…

(Written by JK)

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Dishonor in War – Cause and Effect

Self released – 2014

Metal, Core

Rated: ***

It is definitely not my style of vocal representation of a song, but whichever way you look at it, this guy does know how to do it right and carry enough emotion in his hyperactive distorted screams to keep you transfixed. The five-piece Dishonor In War from Eindhoven released their debut ep Cause And Effect in the summer of last year. It’s filled with brutal hardcore and grinding metal core but with definite melodic touches and even some highly inspired interludes or intros. Just listen to the start of Valkyrie and you know that these freaks don’t just want to hurt their instruments, they know how to handle them! Indeed, even though the five tracks are fierce, violent and destructive, they do retain a smaller glimmer of hope. In both their lyrics, breaks and melodies. These guys are destined to make waves in the hardcore scene… It’s the simple math of cause and effect…

(Written by JK)

Dishonor in War – Valkyrie

Dishonor in War – Cause and Effect

Official music video for Vakyrie by Dishonor In War from there E.P. Cause and Effect.

woensdag 4 maart 2015

Antique Scream – Two Bad Dudes

Self Destructo – 2014

Rock, Blues, Stoner, Metal, Garage

Rated: ***

Two Bad Dudes indeed. The new album delivered by the Antique Scream duo reeks of badness. That old school badness. That badness that’s actually translated as something good and high spirited. The ten tracks on this album move towards that sixties garage and seventies blues rock. And with some added age old metal influences and some stoner trucking you know you are in for one hell of a ride. Here and there we note some psychedelic seventies and a definite love for steamy and sweltering songs. Raw and gritty and made for those ramshackle drinking holes where hardly anyone will pay attention to the band. They just stare at their drink and occasionally move the ice around. The smoke is heavy in these kind of places. And the oppressive air will only add to the sweaty fuzzed out blues that these guys bring. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Antique Scream, they’re just Two Bad Dudes, on the road, looking for some action and a fistful of dollars to buy drinks…

(Written by JK)

Torche – Restarter

Relapse Records – 2015

Metal, Stoner, Rock, Sludge

Rated: ****

What to say about those damn funny freaks that is Torche. Rocking the world for over ten years with an ever changing approach to the music they want to bring. It could be seen as a justified quest to find the perfect metal soundtrack to sunny and shiny rock that is both infectious as it is catchy. And on the record Restarter, the first album after Steve Brooks reformed Floor, they are back at it, in fine form. Where Harmonicraft from 2012 went overboard with its lighthearted approach we can now hear something even more compelling than Meanderthal. You could almost state that the quest is over and that Restarter is the treasure they have been looking for all this time. Easy comprehensible riffs that slowly but solidly work towards eager refrains. Thrumming bass and guitar colors that are allowed to zing, sting and fuzz. Gentle rolling songs leisurely built by straightforward yet shimmering riffs, outlandish prose and poetry in unadorned vocals with beautiful echoes. And then there are the faster and more nervous songs with speeding tempos and a rhythm section that becomes a beast all onto itself. Typically Torche, the Restarter album has it all and moves easily around heavy, chugging, rocking, hypnotic and sexy without every losing focus or that typically Torche sound…

(Written by JK)

Get Your Gun – The Worrying Kind

Empty Tape – 2015

Rock, Folk, Stoner, Garage

Rated: ***

The Danish formation Get Your Gun gives us their version of subdued garage, rock and stoner. In fact on The Worrying Kind they often come across as a hybrid between 16 Horsepower, The Gun Club and Queens of The Stone Age. A sort of stoner folk experience that enchants and grips your throat with dark and sensual hands. Cause even though we are only treated to seven tracks on this album, they sure as hell grab your attention. Heavy stuff and hard to take in on occasion, but o’ so beautiful as well. Their Scandinavian melancholy is ripe with Viking shadows and ghostly flatlands. Calm one moment and savage and wild the next. With a weak white light they bring out those gloomy black experiences of human existence. Instinctive, they speak to the unconsciousness and have you reliving past lives where you travelled in a lusciously carved Knarr to distant shores not knowing whether you would return. Scattered like a broken necklace of pearls and small drops of blood, the Get Your Gun trio have delivered something highly logical with a natural pattern to otherworldly feelings. You were there, remember…

(Written by JK)