Album Review: "Arch Stanton" by Karma To Burn

Arch Stanton

The guitar instrumental album.

Being a person who attempts to play the guitar and growing up when I did, I love the guitar instrumentalists: Vai, John 5, Satch, Dinner Music For The Gods, and Buckethead.

I'm also sure there's another hundred thousand I'm  not familiar with whom I'd love if I had the chance to hear them.

It's well documented that I love instrumental guitar, but I also greatly enjoy the symphony, blues guitar, and even some jazz.

Vocals and lyrics aren't the basis of a song for me, so I can appreciate the gorgeousness of simply hearing someone playing an instrument. Having said all that, I know that most people in the United States cannot appreciate instrumental music and require vocals or it's not a song.

I just don't get that.

Karma To Burn

If it wasn't made blatantly obvious, this band doesn't sing.

But kick Vai, Satch, John 5, and the rest out of your head before you dig in here.

This isn't virtuoso shredding for the next 45 minutes of your life. This is a stoner rock instrumental record.

It's full of riffs that sound like chainsaws tearing through rough hewn 2X4's and straight 4/4 time signature drums that just drip the groove.

Guitar tones that can only be acquired by amps on ten, or not by the likes of mortal men. In short, this is the kind of music that you can just turn on and let it wash over you as your  head bobs along to the snare drum.

The songs sound full and thick. There are no extended solos but melody lines crammed into about two seconds of space.

The lo-fi sound and buzzsaw guitars make this record a keeper, but the thumping rhythm section makes it great.

Release: 1/07/15
Genre: Stoner Metal
Label: FABA Records
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