Stoner HiVe: februari 2018

maandag 19 februari 2018

Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Yes, the new Monster Magnet album will be released by Napalm Records soon and Mindfucker is a real smash ‘n grab! Much more pointy, punchy and consice! But with a whole lot of soul and groove, it might be proto punk but it’s pure Monster Magnet. Gearing up for an interview with Dave Wyndorf later today, so yeah, Mindfucker was on repeat! And will be for quite some time! Starcrawler! Out on Rough Trade. The new hyped savior of grunge definitely delivers something good. Definitely LA styled, but filled with biting riffs, high octane energy and ramshackle crackles. Electric Huldra has been riding high everywhere and rightfully so! The Roadburner EP contains five stoner truckers and they are all equally wild! Borrachero! VinceS told me to check it out! So we did! And we are glad we listened to this crazy cat! The five tracks on their self-titled debut is heavy and grungy, but psychedelic and awesomely fuzzy! Last up is the Mephistopheles album by Sixes! Out on no less than four labels, Black Bow Recordings, Poisoned Mind Records, Forbidden Place Records and Medusa Crush Recordings. Yep, four. Californian doom and blackened sludge that lumbers sickly and drags itself around like a beast on the verge of death. Heavy is not just a word for them, heavy is every facet of every song! Go check’m out! Check’m all out!

vrijdag 16 februari 2018

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

We’ve not done a Quick Fire Friday for quite some time. Even though every Friday beckons for some fast action! Some wild tunes! And some quick delivery! Well. Here we are to bring you some hot tasty tunes. To pay some attention to all those amazing releases out there. And yes, we know, we know, the albums and bands deserve more. 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!

Ritual King – Earthrise

Ritual King. A power-trio from the dirty streets of Manchester! Releasing their new three track EP Earthrise through When Planets Collide. Fuzzed out stoner and groovy hardrock with a grungy and bluesy edge. You will feel the earth rise, the groove head out with the tide and it will all feel absolutely right… That’s what you get when you listen to Ritual King!

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Oopart – Oopart

Another power-trio. This time around they come from Rome, Italy. Oopart releases their debut self-titled EP featuring five amazing psychedelic blues, stoner and hardrock tracks. Very bluesy, very jammy and very tasty! This is what we need to let the sun burst through the clouds, this is what we need to let the winter die and the summer start! Yes, Oopart has the sun hidden in his sound!

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Rivera – Spurned Woman

Rivera was formed in Oslo, Norway in 2015, when its genitor Mads Luis started a crusade to spread the holy energy of Rock n`Roll, coupled with dry stoner rock and a pinch of boogie. Okay, you’ve got my attention! And so does the first single Spurned Woman! With ex-members from notable Norwegian acts as Blood Tsunami, Hombre Malo, Samsaya and Kuuk, Rivera just finished recording their debut EP in Oslo with Ruben Willem (Caliban Studios). So, give us the goodies! We need more Rivera!

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Stonemule – Dystopian State

The heaviest of the heavy of this Quick Fire Friday segment! There is still a lot of hardcore and punk audible on the new EP Dystopian State by Belgian crazies Stonemule. And then there is a lot of grunge, nineties alternative, a bit of sludge and a whole lot of metal! Three different vocalists shout, scream and sing the five tracks on Dystopian State to an unholy high. Something everyone definitely needs to check out!

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The Absurd – Boots On The Ground

We end this Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday with an absolute zinger! This is what it's all about and this is exactly what we need! It’s The Absurd from Los Angeles. The band sounds like they’ve been around for ages and their single Boots On The Ground is an absurd and absolute homerun! Pure in all its direct delivery, pointy, sticky and fabulously luscious! A front row ticket to the freak show! The Absurd will wow you to no end and Boots On The Ground will be your soundtrack for this weekend! Check it out!

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donderdag 15 februari 2018

Jaw Bones – Wrongs On A Right Turn

Sliptrick Records – 2017

Rock, Grunge, Stoner, Metal

Rated: ****

After a self-titled three track EP in 2013, Greek five-piece formation Jaw Bones released their full-sized debut in the spring of 2017. Wrongs On A Right Turn is comprised out of nine tracks that meander through the grunge, stoner and metal landscapes. Their take on the heavy alternative nineties is highly entertaining and deserves your attention. Their nods to Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Kyuss and other giants are honest and they never emulate or copy, just pay homage. Will Jaw Bones go on to save the world? To save rock ‘n roll and the grunge genre? As some of us music fiends like to claim, hyperbolic and all. Well, I’m not sure about that. But they definitely save my days and my lust for grunge! And they manage to drag rock ’n roll back to those sludgy, muddy and dusty yet tuneful basics. And that’s the core business of these grimy Greeks, melodic grunge, stoner trucking and that look over ones’ shoulder to see what came before. Highly addictive!

(Written by JK)

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woensdag 14 februari 2018

Crash Cuddle – Klaxon

Self released – 2017

Rock, Noise, Punk, Instrumental, Jazz, Stoner

Rated: ***

Yikes! What is this unholy racket? What is this groovy noise? What is this jazzy punk? Well… An instrumental duo from somewhere in the dark twisted Twin Cities! What are they called? Crash Cuddle! And they deliver some tasty melodic, groovy and catchy instrumental noise that bops and weaves like a beat-poet on speed. Klaxon is their debut eight track album and sounds wild and enormous. Leaving post-rock moments coughing up dust from their drum and guitar explosions just as easily as just slowing revving up their gears into something much more animalistic. The Crash Cuddle two got quite a lovely take on everything heavy, and there is a whole lot to enjoy over there on that damn fine Klaxon album. But, there’s a but coming, just one tiny but, that is highly personal, as is everything music related of course… But, I could not help but feel those beat poets blurting out lines on certain tracks, banshee women screeching on others and stoner troubadours preaching about life in the gutter. So yes, I miss the vocals man... But hey, that’s just me. And you will probably miss nothing at all on this tasty release! Beep beep!

(Written by JK)

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dinsdag 13 februari 2018

Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Once again, a day late with the Top 5 Most Listened albums of the past week. But everyone knows the deal, work, life and everything in between gets in the way. But here it is, those five favorites of the past week. Killer Boogie is back with a new record called Acid Dream, out on Heavy Psych Sounds. Catchy, fuzz heavy hardrock with enough kandy-kolored psychedelics to induce flashbacks! Mythic Sunship, featured on the Doom Charts released their new Upheaval record through El Paraiso Records. As we already mentioned: Grade A psychedelic space rock straight from the heart of Denmark. It’s jazzy, it’s groovy, it’s sunny and it’s spacious doom with the exact right amount of kraut. JIRM! Jeremy Irons and the Ratgang Malibus, as they used to be called, releases Surge Ex Monumentis, though Small Stone. The name change also features a change in sound. More metallic and more progressive touches. We definitely dig it! When Fu Manchu drops another record, one must sit up, pay attention and listen! Clone Of The Universe is out on At The Dojo Records. Their definite skate and surf take on stoner is still there, and it still shines like a summer morning sun full of promise. And as the sun starts the set we switch to side B, featuring only one eighteen-minute track. Featuring Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, it gives us a progressive stoner jam extravaganza that cannot do anything else but mesmerize! Sundrifter is another outfit that delivers graded A stoner! Visitations, features nine steamy, sweltering desert rockers that meander through some psychedelic avenues and space-oriented heaviness. What a record! As are all of them! So check’m out! Check’m all out!

woensdag 7 februari 2018

Mythic Sunship – Upheaval

El Paraiso Records – 2018

Rock, Space, Psych, Kraut

Rated: *****

It’s been a good start of the year for psychedelic rock, for the space and kraut version as well as the stoner or metal side or all that good trippy music. Upheaval, the new Mythic Sunship record, delivers the goodies once again. Grade A psychedelic space rock straight from the heart of Denmark. It’s jazzy, it’s groovy, it’s sunny and it’s spacious doom with the exact right amount of kraut. Progressive repetition in its purest form! We already loved Land Between Rivers from 2017 but the four tracks on the new album flow even better. The dual guitars; fighting, weaving and dancing takes you places. It turns your world upside down and lets you swim in the under current. So yes, we definitely want you freaks out there to take a trip on the Mythic Sunship!

(Written by JK)

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dinsdag 6 februari 2018

The Doom Chart for January 2018

Doom Chart

Welcome to the Doom Charts, representing some of the finest bloggers, journalists, radio and podcasters, and album reviewers from the doom-stoner-heavy underground around the globe. Each month, our critics submit their picks for the best new doom, sludge metal, stoner-psychedelic and heavy rock albums. The results are compiled and tabulated into the chart below. This is a one-stop shop for the best new albums in the world…

Last month we featured every album submitted over the course of the year in one big happy list you could read here. As you may have noticed, the styles within represent a wide cross section of music within one big heavy underground scene. The Doom Charts are here to showcase not just doom, but rock, metal, blues and psych across the heavy music scene worldwide. If January is any sign of what’s to come in 2018 we are in for a treat as the tally indicates a new beginning, a fresh start, a resolution to continue the support of our underground heroes doom and abroad. We are all on the same team; doom, stoner, sludge, metal, punk, blues, etc. So visit the Doom Charts, and comment below for suggestions, thoughts, and most importantly... Join in on the fun!

The Doom Chart for January 2018

maandag 5 februari 2018

Clamfight – III

Argonauta – 2018

Rock, Metal, Sludge, Stoner

Rated: *****

They’ve been out there for a while now. Releasing their debut record Volume.1 back in 2010. Their second album titled I Versus The Glacier followed three years later. And now, five years after that seminal record the four horsemen of Clamfight release the third. Simply titled III, the darkness shines bright with amazing melodies and magical atmospheres. Leaning towards a progressive take on everything heavy, the five tracks on this record waft by and leave an odor of pure excellence. The intense sludgy and filthy metal is still there. But Clamfight has turned into something much more on this record. There are ominous almost ambient grooves here, as if a massive storm is about to hit. There are moments of droning thunder, where the blizzard is all around you. And there are moments of pure beauty, a ray of guitar sunlight bursting through or a breeze of low humming bass. And all of this seems to translate an unholy odyssey, a trial of the Gods. And all of that comes with a massive amount of raging riffs and pulverizing drums. Yes, III has it all! Dynamic, scorching, uplifting, aggressive and majestic! III has it all!

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

As you might have gathered. We have been smitten with the Spaces album by Trail. Logically, we’ve been listening a lot to that wonderful record. And so should you! Another one that skyrocketed to the top of our playlist is the new Oblivious. Their new record När Isarna Sjunger will soon be out via Gaphals. Their proto heavy rock hits every button at the exact right moment. Seventies hard rock with a righteous groove and boogie that will make you lust ever every track! It will even teach you spot of Swedish thanks to the multiple repeats! Crypt Trip is featured high on the Doom Charts this month. And rightfully so! Again we’re celebrating the proto realm, but with more blues and southern touches and a whole lot of haze and fuzz! The uncontrollable Mr. Oliveri is releasing it’s fourth edition of the No Hits At All compilation. The fourth Heavy Psych Sounds release features The Uncontrollable, Biblical Proof Of UFOs, Death Acoustic, Loading Data, The Dwarves, He Who Can Not Be Named, Rattlin' Bones, and a Ramones cover. It’s Nick! We all love Nick! Our very own stoner punk troubadour! Dust In The Glare by Mountains was released almost a year ago by RockFreaks but has found its way back into heavy rotation. The London trio delivers amazing progressive stoner, metal, psych with smooth vocals and enough edges to keep you coming back for more! So check’m out! Check’m all out!

zaterdag 3 februari 2018

Trail – Spaces

Self released – 2018

Rock, Psych, Stoner, Instrumental

Rated: *****

When the original HiVe guru Doktor420 tells you to listen to a certain record. One immediately complies. He knows his stuff and whatever the Doktor prescribes is good for you. His advice to take Trail in as many doses as you can, has been his best advice of 2018 so far. And Spaces, the Trail album we are talking about here, is definitely one of the best albums of 2018 so far. This five-track debut record has all the dynamics and tension arcs one desires from a mostly instrumental psychedelic rock adventure. It is grounded in stoner and flies high in all its heaviness. The German fourpiece has a knack for making something highly natural out of progressive and trippy music. This adventure takes you places. And while most of these records seem to take you to outer space or into a realm beyond imagination. This one burrows deep into your fantasy and describes a fictional reality that feels so real you extend your arms as if to touch it. Sure, this is just a fancy way or describing something awesome that we love. But that is what we do at the HiVe. We profess our undying love to the music we adore and do not pretend any form of objectivity. We don’t really dive into the technical aspects, we just tell you what we love about an album and what it does to us. And Spaces by Trail does a whole freakin lot! “It's stoner rock, psych and even post rock. The album is like a weed driven journey! Or a mushroom one! Haha... That could be any other band!” Doktor420 describing the band. But any other band would not turn our head inside out to this degree and set our heart on fire! Yes, we love it. We love it a lot! And look at that cover art! Absolutely amazing! I want an entire wall of that!

(Written by JK)

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donderdag 1 februari 2018

Corrosion Of Conformity – No Cross No Crown

Nuclear Blast – 2018

Heavy Rock, Doom, Southern

Rated: Heavy as you like!

People often come up to me and say “Mr Tony, how come you so cleverist and know music so good”! Well let me tell you, it takes hard work and dedication and a willingness to open your ears. But sometimes even I can make mistakes. Remember my “ the drummer from Nirvana is gonna form his own band – 6 months from now you won’t even recall his name!” or my classic “no one is gonna want to listen to bands who just recycle old Sabbath riffs!” Well people, I can admit to another error of judgement. I have never listened to COC before. Why? No idea. So let’s put the new album on. I know some folks in the know are exited by some dude called Pepper Keenan returning to the fold. Bit of atmospheric noises and then WHAM, the guitars come in and yeah, this has a lovely fat, powerful sound that straight away has the muscles on my neck start to nod. Big riffs, big tunes and shit loads of groove are evident of this collection of songs. Nice economical solos and vocals that are aggressive but do not stray into the dreaded cookie monster realm. Do I prefer this to Peppers stint with Down? Well, yes I do. It’s a bit overlong for my taste but worth it for the killer cover of Queen’s “Son and Daughter”. I cannot compare No Cross No Crown to any other COC albums but this is a monster of an album and one I shall certainly return to.

(Written by Tony Maim)

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