Skraeckoedlan – Vermillion Sky

 

 

Skraeckoedlan – Vermillion Sky
Fuzzorama Records - 2024
Stonerrock, Progressive, Fuzz, Metal, Sludge
Rated: *****

I finally got to see Skraeckoedlan again this year, at the Into The Void Festival at the Effenaar in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Those first two tracks were a huge surprise, especially the vocals. Not because we had forgotten that the sing in Swedish, but simply because live they sounded completely different. It took some time for the crowd to warm up to them it seemed, as well as the guys to warm up their vocal chords. Cause soon they started to become more familiar and like the Skraeckoedlan we’d been in love with since Äppelträdet from 2011. (An album that made it to the Number 4 spot of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of that year, according to all the votes that came in.)  Songs from their entire discography passed by, but also their newest single: The Vermillion Sky from their then upcoming album Vermillion Sky. But before that majestic song, they premiered Mysteria, playing it for the very first time live, they said. Which was very noisy and sludgy as it washed over the crowd. Overloading all the senses and turning the entire venue into a whirling hurricane of sound. It still is on record, but it also seems to glide serenely through a Vermillion Sky as the vinyl spins. And that’s the magic of Skraeckoedlan, they can make noise and sludge sound like a thrash stampede just as easy as they can make it all feel like a soaring progressive masterpiece. And together with this album, they also released a video game and a book. They can do everything it seems. Well, they might not be as proficient in promo, otherwise it would surely have ended among the Top 3… And not just because I had them in my Top 3… Where Vermillion Sky will stay for a very long time...

(Written by JK)

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Valley Of The Sun – The Chariot

 

 

Valley Of The Sun – The Chariot
Ripple Music / Fuzzorama Records – 2022
Rock, Stoner, Grunge, Hardrock, Blues
Rated: *****

We’ve been listening to The Chariot for a few months now and shall continue to do so. (Why do I keep referring to myself as ‘We’? I’m certainly not royalty! I should try and remedy that… Anyway…) We shall continue to keep listening to The Chariot for years to come, definitely and for sure. Cause Older Gods and Volume Rock still spin here regularly as well. We simply dig the sound, the tones and the atmospheres that the Valley Of The Sun quartet creates. It references everything we love about grunge and does so in a way that it never becomes too grungy. It does that same thing with hardrock and stoner; leaving everything in a fine balance on a tightrope somewhere, out there, in the shimmering distance, dangling fantastically high and indeed pretty low above a desert precipice. This time around the sound has become even warmer and steamier. If this is due to the new drummer or because the band, with solo surviving founding member Ryan Ferrier, at the helm, is simply that ever evolving entity, those heavy fiends that thirst to explore every avenue available, one can only guess. Opening with a bluesy, sixties guitar on Sweet Sands that instantly goes off into a riff and hook that keeps on circling, complemented by that awesome chorus and background vocals, it makes the opening track immediately that introduction you would love when you start a new album. It also promptly shows off what Mr. Ferrier is capable and most versed in, when it comes to vocal lines, and carrying a certain gritty energy to its logical conclusion. Freedom, escape, a yearning for wide open spaces and for travelling at the right kind of speed… The speed you want. That’s what you might take away from The Chariot and that is, for me, the ultimate example of what a band of desert pirates should wish to accomplish. And signing off your record with a strong composition like, Colosseum, the way the guitars seem to shimmer like a fata morgana across your stereo, that emotional charge in the vocals and the overall sound that creates this grandiose open plain, gives the album an extra bit of shine. The Chariot… It shines and gleams under the hot desert sun…

(Written by JK)

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Elden – Nostromo

Elden – Nostromo

Fuzzorama Records – 2020

Rock, Metal, Stoner, Proto

Rated: *****

Another album that made the Doom Charts of January 2020 we had the honor to write quick blurb for is Nostromo by the four Swedes from Elden. Sometimes a band needs a new name and sometimes, that, and the first track of their new album is all it takes to become completely and totally over the moon with them. Atlas changed into Elden and Nostromo is the new album. Relapse is the first track, an intro into what comes next, Sail & Savour... and that's the one we’re talking about here. It’s heavy metal, it’s proto metal, it’s stoner metal and it’s so much more! ‘Propulsive drumming, turbo-charged Sabbath riffs and vocals that are pure, 21st century Ozzy’ we wrote about the first demo Atlas produced. Well, these cats went out and perfected that given into something that is awe-inspiring and intimidating. Holy hell! Nostromo really is the smash ‘n grab article of the year! (ps. I like the name Elden way more than Atlas, how about you?)

(Written by JK)

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Number 16

Number 16

After Beastwars on Number 17 we jump 35 points to reach three bands on Number 16! Indeed, all you freaks sending in their list managed to get no less than three bands the exact same amount of points on Number 16. Let’s start with the one that made Madman Tony Maim come out of nowhere like a sixties beat freak: “This album is one great big dose of lip-smacking, booze-guzzling, feedback-shaking, riff-making, occult-worshiping, coke-snorting, drum-pounding, sleaze-walking, retro-loving, fist-pumping, head-banging, heavy-making, groove-strutting, wah-wah working, trance-inducing, snake-licking, bass-thumping brilliance.” It came out of nowhere for me and after it also made the Number One of the Doom Charts that month we knew it was something special! And it is! What a release through Stoner Witch Records! Death blues with a doom groove, and so gritty it might have been found on a landfill somewhere. Second up is that Kyuss vibe, that Fu Manchu soul, that very Californian, that surf, skate or die take on stoner; but in this case from Down Under. Excellent album for every hot car ride, for every track through the desert and for every sweaty moment. Atavistic and pure stoner this will be a go to record for every sun blistered day! Last but not least from these three is a band that references the sun in their bandname. Which means we are in for something equally legendary right? And it is. Once again there is some glimmer of the ones that started it all, stoner, desert and some old grungy vibes but all of that condensed into something highly their own and divine fuzz. And those interludes, man! Out on Fuzzorama Records, new dimensions await and all of it is dense and massive! Yes, go check out all three of the bands we find on Number 16 !

The Black Furs – Stereophonic Freakout Vol. 1

Duneeater – No Gas No Good

Valley Of The Sun – Old Gods

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Number 18

Number 18

Torche occupies Number 19! And now we jump no less than 35 points to reach Number 18! A position which is occupied by two bands and their respective albums. Both of them released their second full-sized album, either early August or early September. One through Fuzzorama Records and the other through Ripple Music. Let’s talk about the Germans first. Cause they manage to put out a fuzz and a haze that seems to swim in an endless current of pure groove. After the first slow sensual sensory minutes the boom goes loud and the stoner, the psychedelic meandering gets you high and heavy. Oh man, how this power trio can turn you on and tune you in! They sow a seed deep inside that slowly grows until it blossoms during a three minute knife fight! And then there is the other one, the four from West Virginia, USA that try to steal the glory quickly gallop away!  “The vocal harmonies between the drummer and guitarist have never been stronger, and the layered instrumentation gives it a lush and colossal sound.” Bryan Coffey from Indy Metal Vault wrote on the Doom Charts of September. And he was right! They fit so perfectly on those in blues rooted hard rock rhythms, that stoner metal trucking and those all-out heavy tracks. So perfectly! Just like the balance between light and dark, raw and crisp, simple and complex! Both bands have outdone themselves and rightfully reached the Number 18 position! 

Swan Valley Heights - The Heavy Seed

&

Horseburner - The Thief

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

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Greenleaf

Deville

Castle

Red Dragon Cartel

Daily Tompson

Well hello there! I did not expect to see you here. But thanks for joining and thanks for listening to all the cool stuff that is out there. We sure as hell can’t get enough of it! And we hope you can’t either! The new Daily Thompson for instance, out on Juno Records and MIG Music, is called Thirsty and messes around with grunge, hardrock and stoner making it all fuzzy, warm and psychedelic. It has something enormously laidback and we shall call it indie-stoner henceforth. Don’t hit us over the head for that. Or do, whatever tickles your fancy. Red Dragon Cartel brings us pure hardrock on their new album Patina! Out on Frontier Records. It’s Jake E. Lee and friends and you know that it can’t be wrong in that case! Or very very very wrong; and that’s alright as well! Castle has been soaring high on the Doom Charts this month. Bucky stated: “‘Deal Thy Fate’ cements Castle as its own distinguished brand of stoner meets heavy metal, especially within the Ripple catalog. Reinforced with indestructible Slayer-esque guitar tones, the threepiece lower a bridge of fuzzy hooks crossing a diabolic moat of molten metal.” Which means we had to put it on repeat ofcourse! Deville released Pigs With Gods through Fuzzorama and we already mentioned this intense muddy metal masterpiece in which we wallow! And then there’s Hear The Rivers! The new Greenleaf! Out on Napalm is continues where the last album left off. And thus is gives us their very own groove and energy, it’s their bounce, it’s their stomp and you cannot help but bounce and stomp along. Riding that green water rapid makes everything alright! All the time! So, you know what to do. You need to check’m out! Check’m all out!

Deville – Pigs With Gods

Deville – Pigs With Gods

Fuzzorama – 2018

Rock, Stoner, Metal

Rated: ****

Back in 2013 we mentioned their almighty Hydra album. Two other great ones came before and one damn great one called Make It Belong To Us came out two years later. Why we never mentioned that record beats the hell out of me? I reckon we should be flogged for neglect and dragged down the streets naked. Tar and feathers may be applied. For forgetting to worship the four Swedes from Deville and their fourth release, is pure heresy. So, let’s try to make up for the negligence and mention their fifth one entitled: Pigs With Gods. No less than twelve tracks grace the album and all of them are gritty, grimy and aggressive. Moving distinctly into a more metal approach and fast paced dynamic the album soon becomes a stalwart testament to something we like to call: leaving all options open. Whether this is due to the new rhythm section or not; the tracks try different approaches to their stoner metal sound. Opting for bombast here, groove there or spacious post influences where ever they envision them. It seems Deville has thrown all the imaginary boundaries out the window and aimed to make the record they heard in their head. And that is the only way to go. Cause now we have a muddy masterpiece in which to wallow…

(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…

We Hunt Buffalo

Mojo Bozo’s Electric Circus

The Sore Losers

Wasted Theory

King Buffalo

Just another happy Monday. Or not. Depending on how one’s weekend probably was. So, just a quick list and rundown this morning. Cause there is something more important that needs your attention! The new October edition of the Doom Charts! Which ofcourse features the new We Hunt Buffalo! What a majestic album! Out on Fuzzorama Records this one will leave you breathless and longing for more and more and more. Electric Circus is still the classic psychedelic, groovy surf and loose stoner record to make you have a great day. Mojo Bozo’s Electric Circus has done something very right there! The Sore Losers have a new one out called Gracias Senor. Out on Ultra Elektric and Caroline Benelux Distribution it moves through all sorts of alternative rock genres, opting to go classic here or more Britpop there. Blues or seventies, it’s all present and it’s all rock! Wasted Theory have delivered a freakin great follow-up to their majestic Defenders Of The Riff album. It’s called Warlords Of The New Electric, is featured on the new Doom Charts, is out on Argonauta Records and it will turn your brain all fuzzy and warm! Loud and heavy in all the exact right places! King Buffalo, another one that makes the Doom Charts this month. In tune with nature the Longing To Be The Mountain record takes you through the wide expanse and above the big wide divide. This is sleeping the dream kind of stuff! And you’ll never want to wake up! Amazing! All of them! So, go check’m out! Check’m all out!

We Hunt Buffalo – Head Smashed In

We Hunt Buffalo – Head Smashed In

Fuzzorama Records – 2018

Rock, Stoner, Prog, Metal, Fuzz

Rated: *****

We Hunt Buffalo have managed to lay down the foundations for a very own sound in the space of eight years. They captured my heart and soul with that amazing and absolute brilliant EP Blood From A Stone back in 2013. Everything they released after that immediately became a favorite and much played track over here. Including the later find of an earlier released cover called Mr Grinch. Which we play religiously throughout December. You can count on these Canadian cats to deliver a steady current and heavy barrage, full of masterful riffs and intense hooks. Accompanied by grand choruses and wicked lyrics. On the new Head Smashed In, which featured on the Doom Charts last month, they continue this triumphal march and become even more progressive at times and even more emotional. For all the louds bursts and wild atmosphere We Hunt Buffalo is without a doubt delicate and precise. And with every listening session Head Smashed In keeps opening up to your heart more and more… And we will continue to play it religiously!

(Written by JK)

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