Stoner HiVe: februari 2020

Stoner HiVe posts about The Good Hand

Trail

Get it here!

Stoner HiVe posts about Trail

Rancho De La Luna

Get it here!

Stoner HiVe posts about Rancho De La Luna

Polarbeers

Stoner HiVe posts about Polarbeers

Doktor420's Most Worn Shirts

Doktor420 immediately jumped at the opportunity to show off his favorite shirts. “I guess my all time favorite shirt is that Mans Ruin one by Frank Kozik. I am used to buy a shirt after every gig I enjoyed. I do find that too many of the bands we love use skulls or something along those lines. Usually, those come out a bit too childish for my taste. The past year I wore the Elder and Karma To Burn shirt the most. A few of my beloved old shirts are unfortunately worn out, but i cannot throw ‘em away. I love them too much. Like my Neurosis and Baby Woodrose longsleeves. I guess they need to play in my vicinity soon again!”

Karma To Burn

Stoner HiVe posts about Karma To Burn

Elder

Stoner HiVe posts about Elder

Somali Yacht Club

Stoner HiVe posts about Somali Yacht Club

What is or was your most worn band shirt?

woensdag 26 februari 2020

Hypnotic Floor - Foggy Bog Eyes

Self released – 2020

Psych, Blues

Rated: ****

Out of a strange, alluring wood emerges Vienna, Austria's Hypnotic Floor with their debut album Foggy Bog Eyes, a mesmerizing journey through bluesy psychedelia that sways between eerie otherness and comforting warmth. The record begins with an introduction of experimental noise that builds from carnival ride sounds and buzzes into an increasingly disorienting mass of noise, keeping you on the edge of your seat before dropping into the laidback vibes of "Static Wheel". Lazy echoing guitar combines with hazy vocals to create a relaxing drift until pierced by a fuzzed out assault, inducing a brief rush before settling back in to retrace the pattern. The rest of the album plays out in similar fashion with a mix of mellow psych and heavy blues riffing, especially apparent in longest cut "Fall" in its eleven plus minutes of upbeat noodling and vocals a- la King Gizzard, punctuated with the occasional blazing solo. Standout track "Oakman" then ups the creep factor with summonings from the mysterious titular figure, tempting you further into the trees with slow, meandering southern licks that lead to a menacing finale. Final track "Woods" concludes the adventure by taking a different path through the green, finding refuge in crunching blues and shuffling drums amid winding guitar theatrics. Foggy Bog Eyes is a thrilling trip through otherworldly psychedelia that manages to both soothe and surprise over an underlying hint of danger, making Hypnotic Floor's first outing one that's hard to shake long after the final track takes its bow.

(Written by Kyle/Shastabeast)

Stone In Egypt – Tectonic Electric

Off The Record – 2019

Rock, Stoner, Metal

Rated: ****

We mentioned Tjeerd de Jong’s other band Phantom Druid a few months ago, but that earthshaking newest release by Stone In Egypt has for some weird and probable insane reason not yet gone up. Tectonic Electric, as the new record is called, is the follow-up to that majestic EP Feed The Void from 2016. It was a much longed for return; cause the band had been laying low for about ten years. Started around 1997 the group has had a multitude of different members but the sound has always stayed in that same vein of heaviness. It’s very dark, earthy, under earthy even, submerged and full of great rumbling bass work. It’s stoner. It’s metal. It’s stoner metal with hints of doom and a splash of sludge. There are vocal parts here and there, but for the most part Tectonic Electric is raw, filthy and gritty ten ton heavy instrumental grooviness. The Stone In Egypt trio has delivered one massive follow-up to their welcomed return and it will surely continue to cause ripples; cause it’s effect is only now beginning to sink in…

(Written by JK)

Majestic Mountain Records

dinsdag 25 februari 2020

The Hypnagogics – Eyes Without A Face

The Hypnagogics – Eyes Without A Face

The good ol’ boys at Majestic Mountain Records asked us if we wanted to premier another single after dropping that awesome Vessel track The Tempest Void. “We’ve got this groovy riff-laden up-tempo song called Eyes Without A Face, all spiced up with Lina’s strong vocals and dark Lyrics, ready to go!” You mean from that’s damn good new The Hypnagogics album Endless Nights? Hell yes! We’d love to premier that one! Our very own Shastabeast already professed his love for that album on February 6 when he wrote: “a signature sound that's both creepy and irresistible, a dangerous combination that makes for a gripping debut start to finish.” And about that Eyes Without A Face track that is going live right here and right now: “Eyes Without A Face, brings goth vibes into the mix with spine-tingling distortion and lyrics straight from a horror movie.” Hell yes!

So check out Eyes Without A Face here and get ready for the new The Hypnagogics album Endless Nights which drops on March 20th! And while you’re at it, check out the rest of the words Shastabeast wrote about Endless Nights…

Tracklisting for Endless Nights:

Darkest Night

First Light

Run

Eyes Without A Face

Hypnagogia

Hypnotize

Konspiration

Heavy Mind

No Sleep

Visions

The Hypnagogics

Lina Paasijoki: Vocals

Henrik Edqvist: Guitar

Frida Johannesson: Guitar

Oskar Jönsson: Bass

Victor Granqvist: Drums

Recorded by Henrik Edqvist

Mixed by George Arvidsson

Mastered by Wincent Ek at Chicken Creek Production

Cover artwork by Hypnotist Design

’Endless Nights’ vinyl will go on pre-order February 29th at

The Hypnagogics

Bandcamp

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Majestic Mountain Records

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maandag 24 februari 2020

Bailjack, Horehound, and Foehammer - Live at The Pocket, Washington

Bailjack, Horehound, and Foehammer - Live at The Pocket, Washington, DC Feb 21 2020

Hailing heavy things to come from recently opened venue The Pocket, local outfit Blind Corner Productions curated a "Sludge Night" that was not to be missed. Featuring Bailjack, Horehound, and Foehammer, the sets were a showcase of different flavors of doom, each act heavier and different from the last. First up were Bailjack from nearby Boonsboro, Maryland, fresh off last month's excellent SPRING LP and sounding as tight as can be. Flawlessly fusing funk, soul, doom, and classic rock, the quartet grooved through hip-shaking cuts, smattered with heartfelt three-part vocal harmonies and raging solos that flowed seamlessly together. Highlights included the upbeat "Already Rotten" and bouncing "Soul Raptor", which had even the hairiest of heshers putting a little spice in their step. Backing it all up was a six-string bass that held down a groove like no one's business, joining in the fun as all three strings played separate lines over whirlwind drums.

(PS: be sure to check out members' other outfits BYRGAN (doom) and The B&O Railroad (bluegrass) for more audio pleasure.)

Second up were Pittsburgh's sludgers Horehound, who cranked up the heavy with heaps of atmosphere and emotion, combined with a bottomless low end and crush that made for a rare and impressive balancing act. Leading the four-piece's charge was the thunderous basswork, moving and flattening the crowd in equal measure. Once the guitar lended its crunch and the impeccably timed pounding drums joined in, there was no stopping the train of doom. Not to be outdone, the icing on the cake was Shy Kennedy's vocals, a beautiful, eerie falsetto that turned on a dime into hair-raising gutturals. Cuts from both 2018's Holocene and 2016's self-titled were present, including standout "L'appel du Vide" whose monstrous thrust that swept up the crowd with riffs that could've gone on for another hour to no complaints.

An appropriately weighted anchor for the night, two-piece Virginia locals Foehammer lived up to their name and just about brought The Pocket crashing down around them. Sporting a monolithic 3-tiered pedalboard, guitarist/vocalist Jay churned out funeral paced slabs of riffage, while skinsman Ben tore his no-frills kit apart in savage bursts of speed between the plod and nod. The resulting wall of sound was a physical force that entranced all with its weighted drone, aided by growled vocals that could have come from the pits of Mordor itself. The entire set was one giant helping of doom and gloom that was met with cries for more upon its finish, and it was easy to see why. Not merely a display of sheer power, the emotion and conviction the duo poured into their music was readily apparent, gifting all present with a beatifully crushing end to a night of top-tier heavy.

(Written by Shastabeast)

Bailjack

Horehound

Foehammer

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

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

vrijdag 21 februari 2020

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

It’s Friday!

And you know what that means!? It’s time to listen to some cracking heavy rock and chew bubblegum, and I’m all out of gum. But the music we have plenty! And we are still on that looking back at 2019 trip, so we are here to serve you up once again, a nice sweet platter of five albums, EP’s, singles or videos of damn fine releases we missed when they came out in 2019. Cause it’s Quick Fire Friday! And we know, we know, they should have been mentioned sooner and with more words. Cause 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!

Bad Men – Bong Weasley

SPEED DOOM, yes, written in capitals. Speed doom by a duo of Bad Men from Nottingham in the UK. Three fast paced tracks that do doom, that do punk and that do unearthly growls and distorted vocals. Dark and twisted and absolutely adorable. Best be checking out the new Bong Weasley EP by Bad Men out on Trepanation Recordings or get bitten by a bunny or two…

Filade - Le Ballet Mystique

We once, during a holiday near the Ventoux, drove over to Avignon, and that's a long drive, because we read about an underground party in a little local pamphlet. When we arrived, the cops had just put an end to it. Nothing else of interest was happening, so we just drove back. That’s about as interesting as that tale can be told. But when we talk about French math rock duo Filade and their latest release Le Ballet Mystique, nothing is dull for a moment. Haphazard rhythms and extravagant change-ups, luscious to the ear and a definite adventure. And it’s out through a collaboration or labels namely: Slice of Wax Records, GPS Prod, Seaside Suicide Records and Saka Cost. Those crazy Frenchies, four labels for one cool seven inch!

Raptvre - Monuments Of Bitterness

Discordant black metal, death growls and everything bleak and burned. There seems to be little hope during these Monuments of Bitterness by German outfit Raptvre. Eight, gruesome tracks that level everything that surrounds you. Out on The Crawling Chaos Records this is a pure sledgehammer to the temple and wrecking ball to the brain!

Scarecrow – Scarecrow

The three from Perm, Russia that form Scarecrow slowly transport you to their world with a stunning and proper Overture. After which the entire record is filled with equally stunning proto metal tracks that have an occult edge and a doom approach. The seventies are alive and do not just hang around on a cross trying to chase of silly birds. No no no, this is a Scarecrow that went to Oz and got back with Iommi fingers, Bonham legs and Anderson lips. Damn this is good! Damn damn damn! This is really good!

Desert Smoke – Karakum

Shit, I wish I had known about this release when we went to Portugal last september. Would have definitely tried to meet up with these four freaks from Desert Smoke. Damn good instrumental stoner, psychedelic desert and spacey adventures with an earthy vibe. There’s a definite fire in their soul! A righteous groove and a tight rhythm section! Key elements to show all the squares some class and give ‘em a whiff of those kicks they'll never know… Karakum has rock inferno written all over it!

donderdag 20 februari 2020

Mutonia – Radio EP

Self released – 2019

Rock, Stoner, Grunge, Alternative

Rated: ***

The crazy Charlie Tooth wrote about their 2015 release Wrath Of The Desert for the HiVe. And now the equally crazy Italian trio Mutonia is back with a new EP called Radio! Well, in fact, it was released on my birthday back in December 2019 and was accompanied by a wholesome single and video called Nervous Breakdown. The song paints a definite picture of what you can expect on the entire EP, yet does not completely do it justice. For the three have a knack for distilling pop sensible tracks out of grungy stoner and alternative rock. There’s a ramshackle yet electrified or perhaps even high-tech approach to the stoner that became huge around early 2000’s. Yes, a QOTSA vibe is present on many of the tracks, but they also move more towards proper grunge during certain moments or seem to pay homage to their fellow countrymen Bud Spencer Blues Explosion on others. And all that on only five tracks. Five tracks filled with good wholesome rock fun and energetic grunge! Play it loud and drive fast!

(Written by JK)

Youtube

woensdag 19 februari 2020

Kanaan - Odense Sessions

El Paraiso Records – 2020

Stoner, Psychedelic, Space Rock

Rated: ****

Kanaan's 2018 offering, "Windborne" showcased the Norwegian band's firm grasp on the handle of Psychedelic Space Rock, traversing the astral dimensions of Mythic Sunship and Øresund Space Collective. Two years on and their latest treat, Odense Sessions, follows on in similar fashion: 4 extended tracks of stellar exploration with a fluid, organic feel throughout. Indeed there's a looseness here; the drawn-out cosmic cartography of 'Seemingly Changeless Stars" flows with an elastic symbiosis of improvised groove born from the freedom of the jam. The comparisons with the Danish outfits are still recognizable, but Kanaan have created a distinguishing, aerated sound that explores as much of empty space as it does the brimming cosmos and a mellower, less frenetic cadence than their counterparts. Second track 'Of Raging Billows Breaking on the Ground' is a perfect example of invention with restraint - slowly building tones and rhythms into a tour-de-force that brings Elder's later works to mind. 'Vacant Spaces' follows a more languid topography, subdued shimmers of guitar picking through soma - induced vibrations and almost telepathic interplay between the instruments. Finishing the cosmic tour, 'Urgent Excursions to the Tundrasphere' has a quiet, echo-fueled beginning, transforming through pace and pulsing bass runs into a full-blown rocket-burn of soaring guitars and heavy percussion. Kanaan have delivered their own inimitable brand of Space Rock, one that bears all the hallmarks of quality in quantum entanglement...one to lose yourself in time and again.

(Written by Reek of STOOM)

El Paraiso Records