High Desert Queen – Palm Reader

 

 

High Desert Queen – Palm Reader
Magnetic Eye Records – 2024
Rock, Stoner, Desert, Metal
Rated: *****

How can we justify to ourselves not mentioning one of our absolute favorite albums from 2024 on Stoner HiVe. It flies high on our Personal Top 20 and turned out to be one out of two albums on that Personal Top 20 that we did not write about when said album was released. Well, we’re here to remedy that fact. And yes, there will probably also be a Duel review in the near future…

But right here, right now, are a few words about High Desert Queen and why we love their Palm Reader album so hard. First off, there’s the diversity, their devious choices of dynamics, their obvious restraint in going for the riff till they drop options. And don’t get me wrong, the riffs are there, huge and ten-fold. But always in supreme service of the song, the structure and the delivery. Opener Ancient Aliens for instance, with its stoner trucking groove, the bass heavy breakdown towards the third part and the guitar solo that’s goes off into the stratosphere. The main riff returns and points out the simple fact how thunderous it always was. It was always that bulldozer. But because of the excellent vocals by Ryan Garney that early part feels like a pusher that adds layer after layer to its foundation, and not like the all-leveling, all-freeing riff you can feel powering through your veins at the very end. Death Perception, continues with a more bluesy touch and a wonderful guest spot by Emma Näslund of Gaupa. It has thunder doom riffage once the middle part rolls around, but before it we are treated to a lot of subdued and bluesy guitar work, all so, Emma can shine. And where the riff and the punch sits obvious and loud on Head Honcho, there so much extra in the way of building up the anticipation that comes so easily to them. The vocal hook being the song title, the round going twice before the breakdown takes things into more of a slam dance territory. Which is another eagerness that builds up while listening to the album, you will want to catch these crazies live. Desperately. And then the breakdown goes deeper, slower and rustling with melancholy before they once again go back to the colossal side of heavy. Head Honcho, might be the perfect articulated promise. No need for experimentation, stick to your guns, make ’em shine and aim for nothing but headshots.

If there’s one song that has the Karl Daniel Lidén, responsible for the mixing and mastering, signature over it, it might be title track Palm Reader. The swirling guitar work, the whirling drums, that pounding groove, there are definite moments where its surely easy to imagine the Swedish touch. And you can see the crowd go wild as the chorus hits. Time Waster stays in more broken hard rock boogie territory, a bit of funk, a whole lot of vocal prowess and an axe wielding maniac serving up string poetry with every note played. And hear that drummer and bassist rumble in the distance. All chops and class there! And then we’re hit by the Tuesday Night Blues, soft melodic melancholy surfing on top of a current of jazz and blues, as Garney offers up his spoken word, his graceful bourbon bottom memories about a fateful dreary night. And they end their album with Solar Rain. Fuzz-heavy, straddling the line between heaviness and transcendence, the paradoxical touch between the melancholy drizzle that continues from the Tuesday Night Blues song into Solar Rain, slowly becomes this warm tempest. A psychedelic monsoon showering you with grit, power and a shove that turns into the biggest push of the album. The intensity doubling, tripling and finally thrusting you into the deep end…

And as you fly, you realize, Palm Reader is not just a continuation of High Desert Queen's upward trajectory—it's a statement. This album is a monster, full of swagger, grit, and raw emotion, of knowing your forte, your riffing strengths and sneakily build upon that, layer by layer… It came out in May 2024 and has sneakily become one of my favorite records of the year, listening to it, more and more and more…

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Instagram

Facebook

Magnetic Eye Records