Stoner HiVe

Klone – Here Comes The Sun

Sonic Rendezvous – 2015

Metal, Prog, Rock

Rated: ***

The sound of Duplicate, their doom metal debut from 2003, has slowly but steadily changed into something much for proggy, elaborate and dark. We are referring to Klone, the French rock formation that has just released their fifth album Here Comes The Sun. It has done away with the howling and screeching and has chosen to carefully tread upon a path that is treacherous and meticulous. It has turned them into a highly melodic and colorful rock force which can just as easily implore grandiose synthesizers as copper sounding brass. As if they intend to do a danse macabre on the very edge of the horizon, casting somber shadows and summoning saddened specters. Not in the least thanks to a vocalist that knows what restraint is and knows exactly when to let things go and go up in flames. There’s no denying the fact that the Klone of the past is no more, but there’s a new Klone, a better one perhaps. A tinkered and tailored version of everything they did so well before and even better now…

(Written by JK)

vrijdag 10 juli 2015

Pentagram – Curious Volume

Peaceville/Suburban – 2015

Rock, Doom, Metal

Rated: *****

Most of us freaks out there carry at least one of the Pentagram albums close to our hearts. And many have carried them around like their very own unholy bible. Which is extremely justified. And after the resurgence in worldwide interest due to the Last Days Here movie and the damn fine album that would follow which was ominously called Last Rites. A lot of us worried they would be the last new recordings we could pray to. But we are lucky, Mr. Bobby Liebling and his compadres have been working on a new hardy volume for us to blood meditate with and it is not only tasty as sin but just as lustful. The new album is called Curious Volume and charges out of the gate with a thunderous Lay Down and Die. Just short of three minutes the track is wild and boisterous and has you banging and howlin within seconds. Ofcourse featuring Victor Griffin on guitar and bass player Greg Turley who was also present on Last Rites, it is also a wild introduction to the new drummer Pete Campbell, who you might know from Griffin’s In-Graved or Vulgaari. Almost all of the following ten tracks of the new record sound just as amazing and all have that copper edge, that throwback sound, that typical heavy metal approach that Pentagram always brought to the table. With some more guitar work here and there and a Liebling that has never sounded better. Especially on tracks like The Tempter Push, the heavy felt Sufferin’ and Devil’s Playground. The slower and doomier side of Pentagram shines through on Dead Bury Dead and Curious Volume, but we must conclude that that side is taking a backseat to their vintage and proto-colorings with a massive drive and groove, just listen to Earth Flight for instance, yowzah! And it turns out that it’s just the way we like it! We have Pentagram gold on our hands here!

(Written by JK)

woensdag 8 juli 2015

Doom Chart for July 2015

Doom Chart

“You are about to experience one of the strangest meetings ever convened — a joining of […] the most unusual people on Earth! Sit quietly in the shadows of this clandestine conference and observe it well! For from it shall soon be born … The DOOM PATROL” – Arnold Drake

We dive in that dirty pool of the Doom Charts to cool our bodies and warm our heart as the summer heat whirls around us. And we can’t stress the fact enough that they are compiled our of some forty amazing bloggers, journalists and music fiends from around the world who send their top albums of past month to one of them to compile the ultimate Doom Chart. It’s a highly democratic adventure that unfortunately will leave some of those great albums and bands hanging just below the Top 25 that is published… And guess what… Mr. Bucky Brown, the guy who compiled this month’s issue, that hot July issue, released the 25 below to us as well! But who will be the Numero Uno this month? Still Dopethrone? Or do we find another album on that unholy throne? And what great new bands entered the list and who do you miss? Go check it out! Go check it out…

Go check it out and head on over to the Doom Charts to read up on all those amazing albums!

Spoiler alert for...

Number 24!

The first album to drop off the list and make it back on again, the new album by that new band formed by grand master Angstrom. Yes, Dave has done it again. You can almost smell the blood dripping from the hooks, riffs and growling guitars. Dirty power chords and bourbon soaked drums. It’s steamy and with every track that passes you feel the shadows come alive around you… Be sure to check out Luna Sol’s album Blood Moon, cause it will make you shiver, give you goosebumps and afraid to turn off the lights…

Doom Chart for July 2015

zondag 5 juli 2015

Dead Shed Jokers – Dead Shed Jokers

Pity My Brain Records – 2015

Rock, Alternative, Stoner

Rated: ****

Northern and landlocked, smack dab in the middle of Welsh coastal cities like Swansea, Cardiff and Newport you can find settlements like Aberdare and Merthyr. Not names that might immediately ring a bell. And even the locals seem to only find out about the desperate history of the twin towns after they’ve moved away. Traversing the abandoned railway tunnel from Merthyr to Aberdare you get the urge to run, skip and jump because the dark seems to be chasing you. The oppressive air hunkering down and ready to pounce you when you decide to stop. Wait, where is this going? And I am not referring to the tunnel here. But imagining that tunnel and the atmosphere is a good way to start your journey with the Dead Shed Jokers. On their second full-sized album they hop, skip and jump with their very own version of alternative rock, stoner and even classic sounding metal. With heady time signatures and breaks, they opt for big gestures and there’s almost something thespian about their version of heavy rock. And there’s definite craziness lurking around the corner as well. And I’m not just talking about their insane video for third track Memoirs of Mr Bryant or the ending of said song. But just listen how the twist up their riffs and switch between structures. Damn, if you wouldn’t know better you would almost expect them for trying to produce a proggy stoner opera that only people who use One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest as their bible could possibly grasp! Which means everything is true, even if it didn’t happen, for he who marches out of step hears another drum…

(Written by JK)

vrijdag 3 juli 2015

Snowy Dunes – Snowy Dunes

Stoner Caravan Records – 2015

Rock, Seventies, Psych, Sixties, Blues, Stoner

Rated: ****

Combining mid-sixties garage psychedelics with seventies riff-rock and a hint of love for the early nineties stoner scene. Well, I guess the description given on their own tumblr page says it all. Snowy Dunes is definitely all that. But then there’s so much more. And all that comes neatly packed in nine amazing songs on their debut self-titled record that seems to be truly ‘out there’ when the first track whirls around you. After which the rest of the album keeps spiraling like a hazy minaret trumpet player as the night falls down around you. Cause there is no mistake that the five Swedes aim to produce outer world blues for the moment the sun goes down and the red light fades. This is blue. Hazy blues. Foggy fuzz. Psychedelic string maniacs running wild. It will have you bopping along on their golden psychedelic blues with a bottle of dubious quality rum in one hand and barely enough ice to make it through. Snowy Dunes, with enough heat and sand to build majestic musical castles that will help you through every dangerous and destitute night!

(Written by JK)

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vrijdag 26 juni 2015

Glowsun – Beyond The Wall of Time

Napalm – 2015

Rock, Stoner, Instrumental, Metal

Rated: *****

The mentioning of the following album has been lying in wait for a month. Waiting with anticipation on spreading the good word on this truly amazing record! And yes, perhaps we are biased once again, but then again, we always are. Cause we only speak about the music we truly love! After meeting up with guitarist Johan Jaccob in a restaurant in Lille where some of his art was on display to talk Glowsun and to buy some of his drawings he remarked that they were already in the final stage of the album and that he himself was absolutely smitten with what they had done so far. And now it is here. Beyond The Wall Of Time, the third full-sized Glowsun album. And it truly is a masterpiece! Intricate details and overwhelming accuracy are what make this album tick. Like a high prized Swiss clock it turns and shifts and balances out on the exact right moment. The pounding drums and growling riffs have you soaring high. The time-umbrella concept really feels like an adventure; and thanks to all the minutiae you keep discovering little musical trinkets with every new listening session. Do not mistake this for just another good Glowsun album, no, this is an instrumental masterpiece and one that is meant for the ages!

(Written by JK)

Slowly getting back to action…

Slowly getting back to action…

We are slowly returning to the fold and slowly getting back to action…

Please have patience though, cause we did not use the word slowly twice in the former sentence for fun. Slow is the operative word here… But slowly does it…

vrijdag 19 juni 2015

Bad times... We will return soon...

Bad times... We will return soon...

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

Due to a massive amount of personal tragedies and setbacks in the past weeks, the Stoner HiVe show has grinded to a halt. Soon we will be back at it... But it will take some time...

donderdag 11 juni 2015

Doom Chart for June 2015

Doom Chart

They continue to roll on… Those damned Doom Charts! Thanks to an amazing amount of good people with great taste the fourth edition of the Doom Chart is up and running. We have entered June with this month’s edition. Is Dopethrone - Hochelaga still the number one album? Or do we have a new record topping the chart? What great new bands entered the list and who do you miss? Go check it out! Go check it out…

Go check it out and head on over to the Doom Charts to read up on all those amazing albums!

Spoiler alert for...

Number 4!

On Number 4 we find a band which definitely deserves to be soaring this high! And which was already predicted by Doktor420 in his rant about their new groundbreaking album Given To Emptiness. We are ofcourse talking about Arenna! Go see what the good lords say about these crazy cats on the Doom Chart and check out all the other great bands there!

Doom Chart for June 2015

woensdag 3 juni 2015

Stone Rock Festival - 2015

Stone Rock Festival

There’s a new festival in town. Or well, one that has been around for five years. But not that well known yet. Stone Rock Festival in Dalfsen, Netherlands. A festival that focuses on alternative rock, stonerrock, stonerpop, garage and psychedelic rock and all or mostly from that lovely Lowlands country with their wooden shoes, windmills and marijuana. This year featuring amazing bands such as An Evening With Knives, De Staat and General Midnight. But also other damn fine outfits like Navarone, Poor John, The Indien and few new kids on the block. And those new bands show definite promise. What to think of Mandrake’s Monster? Or Magnetic Spacemen? Or The Apologist and The Muncks? Hey, and then there’s also old dogs Raggende Manne! So get your ass over to Dalfsen for Stone Rock festival on Saturday June 6th! And if you don't feel like getting down, dirty and boogying your behind off you can always get frustrated and angry watching Het Universumpje; or maybe have you mind blown by them instead…

Mandrake’s Monster – Regrets

Face to Face Records/Self released – 2015

Rock, Alternative, Stoner

Rated: ***

They hail from Enschede, Netherlands. You know, that city that was partially destroyed by an explosion in the fireworks factory back in 2000. But on their first full-sized album Regrets by Dutch quintet Mandrake’s Monster there is little destruction but a lot of rocking. Ten fine songs that meander between alternative rock, stonerpop and something hard and heavy. With impressive tours through Germany and Poland the Dutch formation finally thinks it’s time to conquer their home country. And with their debut record in hand they sure have something to show for. Cause their sound evokes memories of Foo Fighters, Queens of The Stone Age and classic hardrock bands. That might be due to the fact that the rhythm section also rocks out with Adje Vandenberg in his Vandenberg’s Moonkings. They opt for the big gestures on many occasion and seem to prepare themselves for huge stadiums and massive arenas. I’m sure they have no regrets by now, cause with a highly American sound, Mandrake’s Monster will not only turn on their home country, but the rest of the world as well…

(Written by JK)

dinsdag 2 juni 2015

Stoner HiVe BuzZz Feed bandzZz

Stoner HiVe BuzZz Feed bandzZz

Another quick post about those band that are posted in the BuzZz chat feed on the right side of the page. Cause they do deserve attention! Not just because they made it over to the HiVe, no, because they rock hard and kick ass!

Tropical Doom – Tropical Doom

This Brazilian stoner and desert rock outfit definitely has something tropical about them. Now, don’t go envisioning hula girls and pineapples, cause they probably owe more to sandy hamburgers and lukewarm rum. They’re damn heavy and got this damn fine trucking speed to their songs. Think Queens Of The Stone Age or Fu Manchu, but with a very own definite twist. The Tropical Doom boys do their stoner well and don’t really bother with dooming that up, no, they stare at the sun, guzzle their drinks and party completely sunburnt like the night will never come!

Black (W)hole – Receive

Black (W)hole has been putting out experimental drone and noise instrumental since 2010. Each of them offering weird or majestic soundscapes that sometimes twist your brain and on other moments make you experience one of those lucid hangovers. This Austrian fella improvises his heart out and on occasion stumbles upon something smashing. Just imagine what he could do sober or with an entire band?

Vidaguerrilla – Hora de Aventuras

We mentioned Vidaguerrilla’s first release during a certain Quick Fire Friday segment. And since that faithful day the Spanish one man project released no less than six new efforts. Hora de Aventuras is its newest release. Insane fuzzed out punky doom that is as chaotic as it is crazy, with weird esoteric interludes and arcane soundscapes. It is almost impossible to follow, not unless you are wired into some kind of weird trip and have a truckload of speed at the ready…

Lizard Queen – Third Eye

Lizard Queen is a stoner metal project from Gorizia, Italy, born and raised by a member of the band DEEP in that most ugly year of 2013. With overtones of doom the entire album twists your head and curdles your blood. There is something occult and dangerous about it. Both please, please, do not judge the record by that first track. Even though the hellish howls fit the name Khan, it does not do justice to the quality displayed on the rest of the eleven songs. Grow a pair, or in fact, grow a third one!