Stickman Records

King Buffalo – Regenerator Review

By GardensTale on September 10, 2022 in Reviews, Psychedelic Rock, Stoner Metal, 47 comments

Last year, in the midst of endless lockdowns, I got my lucky mittens on King Buffalo’s excellent The Burden of Restlessness. I had not heard another record that more perfectly encapsulated the experience of isolation resulting from the pandemic, nor have I since. The album was announced to be the start of a rapid-fire trilogy, the finale supposed to come out before the year was through. The vinyl crash elongated that schedule a tad, which caused part two, Acheron, to drop in the middle of list season and tumble between wall and ship. It had deserved better; not only is it a wondrous and otherworldly psychedelic trip, the whole album was recorded live in an actual cave for a unique sound not easily reproduced. So let me make it up to the band by at least addressing the closing chapter of the pandemic trilogy: Regenerator.” Royal animals.

King Buffalo – The Burden of Restlessness Review

By GardensTale on June 11, 2021 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, Stoner Metal, 31 comments

“As a web developer, short release cycles are second nature. We iterate over our code, and ideally, every cycle it comes out a little better, a little more complete. When it comes to albums, on the other hand, short release cycles make me wary. Genius takes time, as the idiom goes, and though there’s certainly been genius albums scratched out in a hurry and turds that baked for decades, it seems to hold up in a general sort of way. Now New York stoner trio King Buffalo has decided to release three albums in the span of a year, while immediate predecessor Dead Star is but a year old. The gorgeous album art for the first of the hat-trick only assuages my fears a small amount. Is The Burden of Restlessness rushed? Does it drag?” Whiiiiplaaaash.

Elder – Omens Review

By Dr. Wvrm on April 23, 2020 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, Stoner Metal, 92 comments

“It didn’t become apparent how little I like Omens until I revisited Elder’s back catalog. Running through the halls of their ethereal proghalla didn’t just make clear that, next to the sum of Elder’s previous achievements, Omens isn’t great; it cemented that Omens isn’t good.” Disrespecting the Elder.

Weedpecker – III Review

By El Cuervo on February 2, 2018 in 2018, Polish Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Reviews, Stickman Records, Stoner Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Stoner Metal, Stoner Rock, 54 comments

“It’s entirely unsurprising that Weedpecker reside on the same label’s roster as Elder. Both feature groovy, stoner riffs, are progressive and are drug-fueled to differing extents. Fortunately, unlike Elder, Weedpecker aren’t unrelentingly average; in fact, they’re drastically superior.” Superior drugs make for superior rock.

Elder – Reflections of a Floating World Review

By Dr. Wvrm on June 5, 2017 in 2017, American Metal, Armageddon Label, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Stickman Records, Stoner Metal, Progressive Metal, Stoner Metal, 89 comments

“Every so often, an album comes out of nowhere and truck sticks you into next Tuesday. Elder’s 2015 opus Lore did that for me. Their complex brand of New England stoner metal featured the right amount of proggy psych stylings to land in my personal Top Ten. Lore has been a constant friend these last two years, and I expected that topping it would be tough, given its lofty heights and incredible riffcraft. Leave it to Reflections of a Floating World to prove me so incredibly wrong.” Respect your Elder.