The Number One album of 2017

The Number One album of 2017

We are approaching the deadline for your lists for the Top 20 Countdown of 2019. That deadline is early December 13… So, if you want to contribute, send them now, send them HERE! But before we start the Countdown of 2019 we look back at those past 10 years of Stoner HiVe. Indeed, we celebrate 10 years. 10 years of heavy riffs, romps and stomps! 10 years of heavy magic! That all started back in 2009 when the blog started, just so we would have a vehicle to count down the best 20 albums of 2009. The edition of 2017 had 76 lists to tally, a first decline in sent in lists since 2009, but it still made the outcome more valid then when we started back in 2009. That list, deduced out of the lists sent in by 76 heavy music fiends,  started with no less than three albums on Number 20! Those three were: Royal Thunder – Wick, Radio Moscow – New Beginnings & The Devil And The Almighty Blues – II. It featured Ufomammut and their 8 album on Number 3 and the amazing Rust album by Monolord on Number 2. For the entire Top 20 of 2017, visit the Countdown So Far post on Stoner HiVe… But what album ended up on the Number One position back in 2017... Well, that’s when we wrote:

“We have arrived at the Number One spot. The Gold Medal. The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown that started on December 13th ends today, on the First of January of 2018. We jump another seventy points from Monolord and their amazing Rust album on Number Two to reach the top position. An album by a band that has made the Number One position every year they released an album. (Well, since 2011) So, they must be doing something absolutely right for all you lovely freaks out there. You gals and guys voted this album to be the best one released this year. As you did back in 2011 and in 2015. Well. There is no need to beat around the bush here, we all know what is coming. The Boston trio released another thrilling album that kept us spinning the record until the needle ran through the groove. Their mixture of psychedelic rock, heavy stoner and epic metal has you soaring through all the marvelous dreams they evoke. The progressive nature of the music they create has them searching for new boundaries every time again. Hence, guest spots were filled during the making of this album and the trio became a quartet or even a quintet. Adding extra guitar, keys and pedal steel to the sound, and adding vibrancy and lushness to a sound that already seemed to have everything. It is riff-awesome, tasty melodic, soulful and catchy metal. But above all, the tectonic tension arcs that we know this band to deliver have evolved into something other worldly. It seems to reflect something completely different and perhaps upside down. So yes, there can be only one, and now,  right before everyone around the globe has celebrating the coming of 2018 we present to you the Number One Spot, The Gold Medal according to all the lovely freaks that voted... Here it is... “

Yes, it is the third time we revisit an Elder album. But is it really revisiting when it is only two years old and you still play it regularly enough? And is it, looking back at all three, as good as  Dead Roots Stirring or Lore? That will probably be just a matter of taste? Or perhaps it will take another few years before we can really say which made the bigger splash, had the largest impact or had the most musical mojo. Personally, I have Lore and Dead Roots Stirring both on such a high pedestal that Reflections falls a tiny bit short of competing with those two. Perhaps because the leap forward was there, but not as big as when Lore came out? It merely cemented their position as one of the interesting bands out there…

Elder - Reflections of a Floating World

(For the rest of the Top 20 of 2017, visit the Countdown So Far post on the blog...)

The Number One album of 2016

The Number One album of 2016

We are approaching the deadline for your lists for the Top 20 Countdown of 2019. That deadline is early December 13… So, if you want to contribute, send them now to our EMAIL! But before we start the Countdown of 2019 we look back at those past 10 years of Stoner HiVe. Indeed, we celebrate 10 years. 10 years of heavy riffs, romps and stomps! 10 years of heavy magic! That all started back in 2009 when the blog started, just so we would have a vehicle to count down the best 20 albums of 2009. The edition of 2016 had 76 lists to tally, a first decline in sent in lists since 2009, but it still made the outcome more valid then when we started back in 2009. That list, deduced out of the lists sent in by 76 heavy music fiends,  started with The Re-Stoned – Reptiles on Number 20. It featured Asteroid and their III album on Number 3 and the amazing Repeated Exposure To… album by 1000Mods on Number 2. For the entire Top 20 of 2016, visit the Countdown So Far post on Stoner HiVe… But what album ended up on the Number One position back in 2016... Well, that’s when we wrote:

“There can be only one. A 1000Mods stood firm on Second Place. But to reach our Gold Medalist, the Numero Uno, the one true legendary album of 2016, we almost have to double the amount of points of the 1000Mods album Repeated Exposure To… Incredible! And something I had not expected. Not because of some form of doubt about this album or this band. Cause they were ofcourse also present on the Countdown before, on Number 9 back in 2014 and Number 14 in 2012. But because there were so many great albums released this year. I reckoned the field would have been much closer together. I, have to say, to some shame perhaps, that I had not recognized the status and amazing beauty of this album. In former years I knew, as everyone probably did, that Elder would win. Or Wo Fat or even Electric Wizard. But while I kept listening to this album over and over and enjoying every freaking riff and moment of it. I had not recognized it’s true quality. I do now. And it will continue to be pure energy for me from this moment on. Righteous fuel. And I need fuel. I am a serious consumer. And I am a firm believer, that on some nights, when the moon is full, and the animals are on the prowl, a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles with the right kind of music very loud on the radio… And yes, this album will make it run even faster and even further…”

And we are very honored that Madman Tony Maim wanted to revisit this album as well and give us his thoughts on how the albums has fared in the past few years… “Saying goodbye to Small Stone Records after 10 years this was to be their first recordings for Napalm Records. This still qualifies as one of the best hard rock albums released in 2016. Everything worked - the crisp production, the lineup changes, the aggressive attack on display, Everything. I still cannot fault this album. Stop reading this and play it at once!”

Greenleaf – Rise Above The Meadow

(For the rest of the Top 20 of 2016, visit the Countdown So Far post on the blog...)

The Number One album of 2015

The Number One album of 2015

Before we start the Countdown of 2019 we look back at those past 10 years of Stoner HiVe. Indeed, we celebrate 10 years. 10 years of heavy riffs, romps and stomps! 10 years of heavy magic! That all started back in 2009 when the blog started, just so we would have a vehicle to count down the best 20 albums of 2009. The edition of 2015 had 72 lists to tally, the first year that the amount of lists did not climb since that first edition back in 2009.  But the list, deduced out of the lists sent in by 72 heavy music fiends,  started with Witchskull – The Vast Electric Dark on Number 20. It featured Glowsun and their Beyond The Wall Of Time album on Number 3 and the amazing The Night Creeper album by Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats on Number 2. For the entire Top 20, visit the Countdown So Far post on Stoner HiVe… But what album ended up on the Number One position back in 2015... Well, that’s when we wrote:

“The jump from Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats as runner-up in the Stoner HiVe top 20 countdown of 2015 is no less that thirty-seven points. The absolute Gold medal this year goes to a trio that was already predicted to steal the prize back in February. And who already took first place back in 2011 with their Dead Roots Stirring album. They managed to turn the musical year upside down and uprooting the expected slow start of the year. They ran away with the Doom Charts those first months and came in second place in the overall Doom Charts. Where yours truly wrote: “Stupefying all of us. Or at least most of us. They came out swinging with an album at the very beginning of this year that perhaps even bested that awe-inspiring performance on Roadburn 2013. The Boston trio released their album unto the world in February and all of us kept spinning that record until the needle ran through the groove. Their mixture of psychedelic rock, heavy stoner and epic metal will have you climbing to incredible heights in the dreams they evoke. There is no escaping and once you’re in, there is really no way out until those final mythical fading moments... For the album is one gigantic tension arc. It will make you forget all about time and place and experience something that only the true wise men know. It won’t teach, but simply show…”  The stuff of legends, a contribution that will live on forever in the pantheon of rock. A perfect record, a pure ballistically delivered album, a blow against the empire, a rigging singular beautiful strike, a hammer of the gods that will sound on for eternity…”

And is Lore still that good? Still as amazing as Dead Roots Stirring? Yes it is! Where Dead Roots Stirring stated to the world that Elder was here for good, it was Lore that conquered everyone’s heart. It’s powerful, bold and yet delicate as well. It’s orgastic and takes their heavy psych into an even more progressive future. Some of those circular riffs, rhythms and romps feel even more like sacred and slippery mercury as time progresses. Four years have passed since Lore and there aren’t that many albums that can truly touch the level of craftmanship this one possesses. Are there? 

Elder – Lore

(For the rest of the Top 20 of 2015, visit the Countdown So Far post on the blog...)

The Number One album of 2014

The Number One album of 2014

Before we start the Countdown of 2019 we look back at those past 10 years of Stoner HiVe. Indeed, we celebrate 10 years. 10 years of heavy riffs, romps and stomps! 10 years of heavy magic! That all started back in 2009 when the blog started, just so we would have a vehicle to count down the best 20 albums of 2009. The edition of 2014 had 86 lists to tally which of course made the outcome even more valid then when we started back in 2009. That list, deduced out of the lists sent in by 86 heavy music fiends,  started with Salem's Pot - …Lurar Ut Dig På Prärien on Number 20. It featured Brant Bjork and his Black Flower Power album on Number 3 and the amazing Clearing The Path To Ascend album by YOB on Number 2. For the entire Top 20, visit the Countdown So Far post on Stoner HiVe… But what album ended up on the Number One position back in 2014... Well, that’s when we wrote:

“We jump 90 points from YOB’s majestic album Clearing The Path to Ascend to reach the gold medal of this year’s Stoner HiVe top 20 countdown. Produced by a band that has made the countdown with almost every release the past years. Reaching Number 8 in 2009 and Number 13 in 2012. A band that inspired honorable Madman Tony to write a love letter this year and inspired so many more to vote for this band as the number one release or among the top of their favorites in 2014. And the groove is indeed strong in this band. They know how to stoner and they know how to metal. With a distinct swagger and luscious riffs that call for a spittoon looking container in the manner of stomping drums; they manage to control and evoke that late night blues feeling that flows underneath all that heavy rock. It will be that trusty companion that you will turn to whenever you need something summoned or awoken. Something swinging, with distorted fuzz, molasses sludge and hypnotic bass work. It is the voodoo they do so well! And we all know these three cats will deliver and keep delivering… Don’t mess with Texas…”

Some albums wither away with time and some age like fine wine… And we were honored to have the Original Guru, Doktor420 revisit the album and write down his findings… “ OK, I thought, that will be easy, when Joop asked for a re-review for one of our old Number Ones. I picked Wo Fat - The Conjuring because it had been one of my favorite albums in 2014. I love their Fuzz groove with the epic jam-parts, paired with enough heavy Blues and Boogie-Woogie. This time it didn't ignite. I needed several attempts to find back into it. The album has all the elements I dig: Psychedelic-Sludge-Stoner-Doom-Fatness – It’s just, well, my personal juju is low. But even so, I think  I can state: Wo-Fat is still very high.”

Wo Fat - The Conjuring  

(For the rest of the Top 20 of 2014, visit the Countdown So Far post on the blog...)