The Blessed Acceleration - Juggernaut

 

 

The Blessed Acceleration - Juggernaut
Self-released - 2024
Stoner, Punk
Rated: ***1/2

In the early 00's, when stoner rock hadn't evolved as far as it has today, almost every band played up tempo, groove-driven, in your face, bottom-heavy rock music that in one way or another was built on a healthy foundation of Black Sabbath and straight forward seventies hardrock. Today you see lots of band pushing the boundaries, be it exploring how much doom one can handle or by making it more complex. All fine by me, I like bands that experiment, but sometimes you just like your music without frills. Just rock out with your cock out, to use one overused cliché. Enter Hamburg's own The Blessed Acceleration, who released their debut album 'Juggernaut' on July 16th.

And a juggernaut it is. They press the pedal down right out the gate with 'First Song of the Gig' and don't hold back for one second. Full throttle stonerpunk is what they call their music and there indeed are some punk influences to be found, for example in the ferocious an aptly titled 'Attack'. But mostly it's an early Swedish meets American stoner fest, with some added dynamics in the two longest tracks 'You Gotta Accelerate' and 'Monströ Gigantö'. The first one settles into a head-nodding midtempo groove midway through with a nicely fitting guitar solo before accelerating again. The latter is an instrumental track with a long intro before handing you one hell of a catchy riff that returns a few times later on, while being alternated with tempo switches. A great move if you ask me, because it prevents the over nine and a half minute long track from overstaying its welcome. And as you might expect, those two aren't the last tracks on the album. To Close things out they use another fitting speedster: 'Staying Up All Night'. And that's just what you might want -or have- to do after finishing this record.

To summarise things: The Blessed Acceleration won't get a price for originality, but they're obviously not aiming for one. They know how to handle their instruments, have got a very good singer with a raw edge to his voice that makes it a joy to listen to and -the most important thing with this kind of music- they've got energy in spades and a production that fits the sound: everything is clearly audible, but it ain't clean in any way.

So, if you like your stoner raw, fast and dirty, don't hesitate to check out 'Juggernaut'. It's one of the most refreshing ones I've heard for a while in the genre.

(Written by Ronny Dijksterhuis)

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