“2017 is winding down. Let’s be honest: nobody really wants to read new reviews at this time of year. Just give us the damned lists and be done with it! But that’s not how we roll at Angry Metal Guy. We strive to provide until our last hollow breath. And so, I present Interstelar, a stoner rock band from Los Angeles that strives to take as much time recording as Sea Goat.” Lazy goats and space faring boats.
“Californian doomers Beastmaker take a familiar approach worshiping at the altar of classic Sabbath and Pentagram, grinding these well worn influences through a hazy stoner rock filter, complete with loose garage-y vibe. Already the band has a couple of releases under their belts despite their relatively short existence, but do these drugged-out heathens have what it takes to compete with the big guns?” Not to be confused with the Beastmaster, nor the Beastmilker.
“If I’ve learned anything from the Metallicas and Carcasses of the world, it’s to leave ’em wanting more. Knowing when to put out a tunneling candle is preferable to producing an nigh unsurpassable album that embarrasses all future output. Any career based on one-upping yourself will likely end in disappointment.” Doublestone’s double tap.
“Impressive Atlanta rockers Royal Thunder have proven their credentials in the modern rock scene on the back of a couple of solid EP’s and great albums. Debut LP CVI blindsided me with its explosive rock hooks, dynamic songwriting, and bluesy southern swagger, flooring me in such a way that I admit to being apprehensive when they returned with sophomore album Crooked Doors in 2015.” Kingly hard rock for the unwashed masses.
“Feast your eyes on that cover! There be breasts, beasts and planetary bodies. If there was ever a piece of truly van worthy art, this is that thing. As impressive as the art is, this here is a music review site, or so I’ve been told. That requires me to delve into the sounds Mothership deliver on their third album of 70s influenced stoner rock curiously titled High Strangeness.” Could the music ever match that glorious cover art?
“You wouldn’t know it by my amazing metal cred, but I’m actually a huge nerd. And, as such, it seems to be my moral obligation to watch British sci-fi staple Doctor Who religiously. It’s a campy affair with loads of creatures and concepts that seem to have been invented by someone going “what if…“ and constructing entire episodes around that.” Destroy! Destroy!
“Anyone who’s made this blog a regular haunt knows there are several “don’ts” many of us consider when we review albums: don’t bloat your album length, don’t brickwall the damn thing in production, and so on. Far be it from me as a probational scribe to suggest a new entry for our Tome ov Rules, but after listening to sophomore effort, Eidolon, from Canadian doomers’ Zaum, I’ve settled on a new guideline for my personal rulebook: when writing a full-length album, don’t put all of your stock in only two massive songs.” A good rule is a good rule, regardless of its source.
“I do still ponder how it is certain bands get big and others don’t. A world where iwrestledabearonce is hot shit and Wilderun isn’t is cruel and unjust but much of that seems to be down to lucky exposure to label scouts. At the luckier end, take Motorowl. A tiny band from Eastern Germany with scarcely 500 followers on Facebook and no outstanding reason to have garnered the attention of a large label.”It’s better to be lucky AND good.
“Stoner metal, moreso than other metal subgenres, stands and falls with the power of The Riff. Crushing, churning, buzzing like a particularly eloquent chainsaw, The Riff can lift a band out of stoner mediocrity and into the realms of the Gods. But a limp and forgetful riff will ensure the music passes through your head like a breath of wind through torn sails. Howling Giant play stoner metal. Black Hole Space Wizard Part 1 is only their second four song EP, so they haven’t been around for very long yet. So do these Nashville greenhorns possess the power of The Riff?” Into the giant hole!
“Devil To Pay is the brainchild of guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Steve Janiak. A Bend Through Space And Time is their fifth album, and follows up 2013’s Fate Is Your Muse. Both records focus lyrically on the metaphysical and anything one hallucinates about when in a drug-induced coma, as Janiak was a few years ago.” To sleep, perchance to jam.
