Stoner Metal

Cities of Mars – Temporal Rifts [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

By GardensTale on February 3, 2018 in 2017, Argonauta Records, Doom Metal, Stoner Metal, Swedish Metal, Things You MIght Have Missed 2017, Doom Metal, Stoner Metal, 16 comments

“Social media has had a major impact on our lives. From reading racist diatribes on Facebook to constructing shelves from things that were never meant to be shelves on Pinterest, few are completely outside the bubble. One positive change is the short distance between artists and fans. Take Cities of Mars, for instance. Earlier this year, my girlfriend was randomly added by these unknowns from Sweden. Fast forward a few months and we were chatting them up after a show in Antwerp, two in a crowd of a dozen including the opening band, the earthshaking riffs that’d emanated from the cafe’s ten square foot stage still ringing in our ears. You may now be thinking: “GardensTale, you’re abusing your power as an AMG writer just to plug a band we’d never hear otherwise, just because you met them!” And you’d be right, but I wouldn’t do that if Temporal Rifts wasn’t a sweet, solid and succinct slab of spacey stoner doom.” Nepotism and Neurosis.

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.

Dvne – Asheran [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]

By GardensTale on December 16, 2017 in 2017, British Metal, Progressive Metal, Sludge, Stoner Metal, Things You MIght Have Missed 2017, Wasted State Records, Progressive Metal, Sludge Metal, Stoner Metal, 65 comments

“Flow. Like love, it’s a word that’s difficult to describe, but you know it when you experience it. It’s the feeling of losing yourself in a task or a game, becoming one with the activity, balancing perfectly on the edge between skill and difficulty. No frustration, no boredom, and no sense of time or place. If you’ve ever found yourself looking up from an activity after ten minutes and find out three hours have passed, you’ve experienced flow.” Like an everflowing dream.

The Atomic Bitchwax – Force Field Review

By GardensTale on December 6, 2017 in 2017, American Metal, Hard Rock, Reviews, Stoner Metal, Tee Pee Records, Hard Rock, Stoner Metal, 51 comments

“Winter is coming, and not just in Westeros. As the days grow shorter and the coats grow thicker, a somber feeling draws across us all, blanketing anticipatory holiday cheer. Seasonal Affective Disorder (with its hilarious acronym SAD) strikes its yearly blow, and the call of morose doom metal like Hallatar and Loss is stronger than ever. But frankly, in this melancholic time of the year, it’s nice to have a band around who don’t give a flying iota about the dark short days ahead. The Atomic Bitchwax is that band in body, mind and spirit.” Screw your winter!

Electric Wizard – Wizard Bloody Wizard Review

By GardensTale on November 11, 2017 in 2017, British Metal, Doom Metal, Reviews, Sludge, Spinefarm, Stoner Metal, Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, Stoner Metal, 49 comments

“The downside to an early magnum opus in your career is that everything you do afterwards will be compared to it. Pearl Jam never lived up to Ten, Guns ‘n Roses have always cowered under the shadow of Appetite for Destruction, Annihilator spent 14 albums getting compared to the first 2, and Electric Wizard could play nothing but Dopethrone for the rest of their lives. When your career consists of fruitlessly building towers of Babel, trying to reach the God you created, it can be disheartening for an artist struggling to move forward. In this case, your best friend is a reviewer who, against all odds, left listening to that unattainable pillar of perfection near the bottom of their bucketlist.” Hello, friend to wizards.

Motherslug – The Electric Dunes of Titan Review

By Master of Muppets on November 6, 2017 in 2017, Australian Metal, Doom Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Reviews, Stoner Metal, Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, Stoner Metal, 54 comments

“In a faraway corner of the Southern hemisphere belonging to radiant women and men who loot (and labor), a storm is brewing. A seething swarm of stoner sludge swirls and simmers in the starless sky, and my advice, should you hear that thunder, is the same as Colin Hay’s: you better run, you better take cover. A scant 2 years after dropping a self-titled pseudopodian riff bomb on an unsuspecting world, Melbourne’s Motherslug have added a second full-length to their cornucopia of doom, and all the salt in the world won’t keep you safe from this slugger.” Slimin’ and stealin’.

Monolord – Rust Review

By Huck N Roll on October 2, 2017 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Occult Rock, Stoner Metal, 40 comments

“While we didn’t review their slightly overhyped debut, Empress Rising, our beloved Roquentin took a look at 2015’s follow-up, Vænir, and liked what he heard. Monolord, as a name, suits these guys perfectly, as they are beholden to only one lord, and that is the Lord of the Riff. Since they hit the scene they’ve been bringing massive, fuzzy variations of Black Sabbath/Electric Wizard worship to the table.” That table can’t hold such massive riffs.

Ufomammut – 8 Review

By GardensTale on September 20, 2017 in 2017, Doom Metal, Italian Metal, Neurot Records, Reviews, Stoner Metal, Doom Metal, Stoner Metal, 54 comments

“Stoner doom seems such an easy genre to play. Write every kickass riff you can think of, play them slow and heavy, and you’re most of the way there. Yet many struggle with the cyclopean task of keeping their bundle of riffs interesting for 45 (or 75) minutes. Ufomammut is not one of them, however.” Putting the “uf” in Ufomammut.

Hands of Orlac / The Wandering Midget Split Review

By El Cuervo on September 9, 2017 in 2017, Cruz Del Sur, Doom Metal, Finnish Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Reviews, Stoner Metal, Swedish Metal, Doom Metal, Stoner Metal, 26 comments

“Splits are great ways to expand your musical repertoire when familiar with one of the bands collaborating. A level of mutual respect is presumed between the two: surely a favored artist will have good tastes themselves? And surely the twinned groups will offer something similar but sufficiently distanced for a neatly conjoined listening experience? Such conclusions seem logical.” Slashed by Occam’s razor.

The Quill – Born From Fire Review

By GardensTale on August 30, 2017 in 2017, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Metalville, Reviews, Stoner Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Stoner Metal, 14 comments

“Seeing the number of debuts and sophomore albums in our promo bin can be a little depressing. It seems to suggest most bands don’t last beyond the early stages. Maybe these young bands are ripped apart over squabbles about the musical direction, or bickering over how to divide the piles of money and groupies, or simply life happening and leaving no room for 9 months of touring per year. Not so for The Quill, a Swedish ‘heavy rock’ group that has been active since 1990 and now have Born From Fire, their 8th album, loaded into the trebuchet.” Flowing prose or writer’s block?