CCQueen – Helen

 

CCQueen – Helen
Self-released – 2024
Rock, Prog, Stoner
Rated: ****

We’ve been lucky enough to have been aware of CCQueen’s existence for quite some time and have been listening to their Nancy EP and Scavenger album ever since they came out. But then the Bordeaux, France troupe served us with their damn fine Electric Kisses single and the cover for Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall. Two tracks that became household repeats. Especially since they promised to deliver more in the form of an EP called Helen. We needed to be ready for that one. Well, here it is, featuring those two tracks and two more called Helen and Preach. Released on December 1st, third track Preach has a pressurized and proggy build-up, turning it slowly into a steamy and spirited sermon. Delivering the holy riffs in fine whirling fashion, harrying becomes hypnotizing, and we can only hope it will continue even longer and become even wilder when performed live. Helen opens with a female voice telling us it was merely a dream and we should wake u. Folky for starters, a quirky transition, and then comes the rumble. All sections translating perfectly the craziness that resides within the man obsessed with a woman, driving him slowly insane. CCQueen never focuses on rifferama, instead opting to change compositions and expectations whenever the feel like it, giving you loads of exciting avenues to discover. And these two new tracks, and heck, the entire EP are proof of that once again…

(Written by JK)

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Volt Ritual – Return To Jupiter

 

 

Volt Ritual – Return To Jupiter
Self released – 2024
Rock, Stoner, Space, Doom
Rated: ****

As we inch closer to the deadline for YOUR lists for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024. Namely, before Saturday December 14th, 8.00 CET. We decided to deep dive into that folder full of albums we desperately had wanted to mention this year. We wrote about something like 250 albums and EP’s this year. But in that folder, there are still some 400 more that we had wanted to bring into your peripheral vision. And we are saddened that we will never get to that… But well, besides trying to keep up with all the new ones coming out, we’re now trying to bring into the spotlight one from every month passed that we unfortunately did not mention during the month they were released. 

We mentioned Black Toaster and their Flying Rage Machine from January just yesterday. And this, Volt Ritual’s second EP called Return To Jupiter was released in February. They hail from Poland and where the trio sounded more like Sabbath and Fu Manchu on their first EP, this one takes more cues from the space rock side of heavy rock. There’s a bit of sloppiness on this recording, but it gives even more character to the four tracks that continue the tale of exploration that Volt Ritual started with their first release. Remember that one? With opening track Approaching Jupiter? This one features a line-up change and opens with instrumental, though ridden with samples, Heavy Metal Is Good For You. And that one track alone would bring enough sustenance to your heavy rocking core. Setting the scene perfectly for Ghostpolis to serve as a laidback groove, surveying the landscape from a far, from somewhere in orbit or flying high over the deserted planet. Gwiazdolot (starship in Polish) on the other hand sets in descent, skirting through the debris and uses the up-tempo delivery to paint a gritty picture of the surroundings. It also skirts a bit more back towards their first release. Final and title track Return To Jupiter delivers the space beauty once more, with darkened colors and a lot of flashes from Volt Ritual's expertise. Let’s see where the journey takes us next time…

(Written by JK)

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Review for the debut by Volt Ritual

Iron Slug – Unrepentant Grin

 

 

Iron Slug – Unrepentant Grin
Self-released – 2024
Metal, Doom, Sludge
Rated: ****

They may already have captured and corrupted you ears back in May when they released their debut EP Debauched And Bored. And then a week and a bit ago, in November they released their Final Proposal single, the final track of the new EP Unrepentant Grin, which will come out December 6th. The good ol’ boys responsible for all this noise are called Iron Slug! A trio from Kent, UK that is slowly perfecting their take on sludge and doom metal. A touch of something Southern often transports you to the good ol’ days of Crowbar, Down and Corrosion of Conformity. But due to the limited induction of punk energies and a different approach to the vocal stylings, you hear Iron Slug and nothing but Iron Slug from shotgun blast to the pouch opening Depraved to the giant’s slam dance of Final Proposal. And as you lie there, bleeding from that initial shotgun in the gut, you hear the break down, the vocals sliding and slithering across the composition, bringing it all to life, while death grunts underneath it all show you the shadows and the blackened void. They do this whenever the track allows, and the usage of all these different layers of vocals make Unrepentant Grin an amazing EP from start to finish. Cause you can count on the riffs being there. And yes, the bass rumbles, roars and chugs as it should and the drum work is perfect in its choppiness. Nothing wrong here and everything right. Four tracks that will make you grin…

(Written by JK)

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Black Toaster – Flying Rage Machine

 

 

Black Toaster – Flying Rage Machine
Self-released – 2024
Rock, Hard, Stoner, Punk
Rated: ****

As we inch closer to the deadline for YOUR lists for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024. Namely, before Saturday December 14th, 8.00 CET. We decided to dive deep into that folder full of albums we desperately had wanted to mention this year. We wrote about something like 250 albums and EP’s this year. But in that folder, there are still some 400 more that we wanted to bring attention to. And we are saddened that we will never get to that… But well, besides trying to keep on top of all the new ones coming out, we’re now trying to bring into the spotlight one from every month passed that we unfortunately did not mention during that month. This brilliant one for instance, from January. They’re called Black Toaster and hail from Bern, Switzerland. And on this three track Flying Rage Machine EP they deliver some gritty and groovy rock ‘n roll. A bit of punk energy and a lot of stonerrock influence take their hardrock into the land of gigantic swagger and monstrous grooves. There are moments that remind more of Sweden’s finest and a few instances that bring to mind that lost brilliant band of Lausanne, Switzerland called Feuerzeug. Flying Rage Machine gives you ten minutes of wildness, a bit of rage and a lot of riff flying! And that bass work in final track Evil Eye! Wowzah!  

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

Warpstormer
Cosmic Fall
Odd Crew
Familiars
Mary Ann Hawkins
Oberón
Altareth
No Man’s Valley
Slift
Dozer

Mornin! Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was still filled with a fever that came and went and coughing fits that had sea lions across the globe looking in my general direction and asking me to keep it down. But we did manage to do a bit of work last week. No less than three albums by No Man’s Valley got mentioned, including a few bandcamp codes. We wrote about the awesome new Warpstormer, the brilliant Cosmic Fall and went back to the final days of December 2023 to mention Engraver’s debut release called Rituals. And then there was the FULL ALBUM PREMIERE for Deep Valley Blues new album Sangue E Veleno. And our resident poet Ronny Dijksterhuis graced us with a few words about Bog Filth and an actual, wonderful poem about that album. And yesterday, before we crawled back in bed, we put up the first official announcement that this year’s Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024 will commence on Saturday 14th of December. And that you crazies can send your list to stonerhive@hotmail.com before 8.00 CET on that day… Well, we did do some work after all last week. Let’s hope for a few moments of clarity and a speedy recovery this week… And as usual, the Spotify playlist for the Top 10 Most Listened Last week can be heard below… Have a great week everyone! Stay healthy!

The Spotify Playlist for...

Stoner HiVe's Weekly Top 10 Most Listened

Week 49

The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024

 

 

The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024

This is it! The very first official announcement that the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024 is just around the corner again. We’ve been doing it since 2009 and above is the image featuring all the Number One albums according to all the votes that came in so far. Your votes! It’s your call! And this is the call to arms, voting arms… Get ready to make that list and send it to us.

We will commence with the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024 on Saturday December 14th. You will have time to send your list of favorite albums from this year right up until that morning 8.00 CET. We still don’t have a fancy poll system in place, so we continue to do it the old fashioned, manual labor and lots of sweat way. Please send your list via email to stonerhive@hotmail.com.

The rules, just like every year, are very simple. Send a list of your albums from 2024, or late December 2023, to our email: stonerhive@hotmail.com . It can contain as many as you want. But be advised, it’s a weighed count and all entries below your Number 20, will get the same amount of points as your Number 20.

Almost every year the amount of lists we receive keeps growing and we are thankful for each and every one of them. Whether you are able to list five favorite albums or fifty it is all good! You can send your list to our email and we will do all the computing and tallying… And then when the day is there, Saturday December 14th, we shall start the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024! Ending, as always, with this year’s Number One on January 1st…

Gonna listen to last year’s Number One album right now! Which was Dozer and their Drifting In The Endless Void album. I’m curious to see what you all vote for this year and what album will reach the Number One spot this year… Please help me out by sending your votes!

Send your list of favorite albums of 2024 HERE!

Deadline Saturday December 14th, 8.00 CET. 

 

Want to read up on past editions?
Visit the blog and see posts like: The Countdown So Far...
Or the Number One Posts...