“AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö” is a time-honored tradition to showcase the most underground of the underground—the unsigned and unpromoted. This collective review treatment continues to exist to unite our writers in boot or bolster of the bands who remind us that, for better or worse, the metal underground exists as an important part of the global metal scene. The Rodeö rides on.” Thunderon the tundra.
“Last we met Howling Giant they were dueling with Somerset’s Sergeant Thunderhoof in groovy stoner split Turned to Stone Chapter 2: Masamune & Muramasa, which deserved a word, not a numerical score, to describe its quality. Howling Giant strung together a fun-loving single track with multiple movements, their meat-and-potatoes approach slightly outdueling da Hoof’s bombastic and flashy performance.” Howling at stones.
Steel Druhm put sweat equity into his Top Ten(ish) of 2022 and you will repay him with readership and blind acceptance.
Saunders and Felagund demand to have their Top Ten(ish) lists heard across the land. We obliged.
Doom_et_Al and Dear Hollow spice up the season with their Top Ten(ish) of 2022. Come for the selections, stay to harass them over same.
“My students all suspect I spent some time with the “ganja.” They say, “Wow, Mr. Hollow, you’re so chill. I bet you were a stoner in high school. I was way too stuck up to do anything besides the daily Red Bull and Bible study jig, but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating some good stoner doom well into adulthood. While my strain of choice falls closer to sludge on the swampy spectrum, I can appreciate acts like Sergeant Thunderhoof and Weedeater for reverb- and fuzz-soaked riffs with killer groove. What does tickle me pickle is jazz and ambient, which are what Bunsenburner says they fuse with stoner doom.” All that stoner jazz (and science).
Two members of the esteemed AMG staff attended the ArcTanGent Festival in Somerset, England. How many returned? Read the journal entries we recovered and pray for those we lost.
“Another month, another filter to scrape clean. We really should invest in a better air filtration system, or we should fire Holdeneye and Steel Druhm. Those two beefy hairballs of sweat and questionable odors really clog things up around here. But I digress…” Overlooked platters and mysterious splatters.
“Last year, I had the privilege of contributing a TYMHM review of Nashville stoner trio Howling Giant, with their album The Space Between Worlds. Jampacked with Torche worship and other catchy, fuzz-revering stoner metal greats, it distinguished itself with how it balanced impressive songwriting and performances with a fantastic sense of levity. While it’s hard to take stoner genres seriously in general, Howling Giant just sounds like three dudes at a jam session having the time of their lives, and that energy is infectious. Less than a year later, and we’re graced with a split!” Stones and swords may break your bones, but riffs are where it’s at.
