EP Review: "Dos" by Pinto Graham

Dos

Is there anything better than kicking back with a big spliff and spinning some stoner metal?

When you're a guy like me, you have to answer with a resounding....

Maybe?

So, maybe I'm not a stoner..actually I'm positively not a stoner, not there's anything wrong with it and I'm pleased to see a liberalization of our Marijuana Prohibition laws sweeping across the  nation.

But one of those things that stoners do ever so well is make art. At least 80% of my favorite artists have made some of their best work either about or under the influence of certain substances.

Great stoner/desert/psychedelic/whatever new tag is being used this weekend music has a swagger that's almost completely devoid in all other forms of music. It's like comparing Black Sabbath to Judas Priest...

Pinto Graham's Dos is a labyrinthine trip through a hallucination. No one really knows where that school bus is going or what these songs are about, but does that really matter?

What's most important about a song and the album is how it makes you feel. Dos gives me a feeling of abject freedom and strength. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but neither does my spaghetti and they'll both give you aid and comfort in these troubled times.

RELEASE 7/12/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

Classic Spins with Ghost:Hello

Normally, I wouldn't do this, but I think the press release bio sums up Ghost:Hello better than I ever could:

Ghost:Hello is a synth-loving stoner rock family affair from northeast Ohio.  Made up of a husband/wife duo and their cousin, the band members have been playing for decades.  

With extensive individual histories touring around the US and in Europe in other DIY groups, this project just feels like a natural continuation.  

Together as a family and as musicians, Ghost:Hello is now ready to take the rock n roll world by the horns.

Well, there you have it. In the mean time, they've got a record hitting the shelves this September.

You can preorder The Sound of Color in Space on their BANDCAMP page. In the meantime though, let's find out what kinds of albums they dig, mmkay?

Classic Spins with Max Ternebring, Bottom End Lord of The Riven

The Riven

The Riven has just dropped their stunning debut record, The Riven. If you've got 80 Swedish Kroners just jangling around in your pocket, or whatever those Kroners normally do, hit up the BANDCAMP, but if you're feeling a bit more adventurous, you can get it on sweet vinyl HERE.

Getting it on the sweet vinyl will cost you a few extra Kroners, but in the end, what's a few kroners more right? Or if you're looking a slightly less adventurous purchase....

There's always AMAZON.

Now, we could spend hours fighting each other over what way to purchase this album is the best way, but $17.99 (+tax and no shipping) is a better price than 129 Swedish Korners.

But in the mean, time, Max Ternebring told me all about what classic records he's into.

LP Review: "Opera Villains" by Glitter Wizard

Opera Villains

The world moves in strange ways. No let's say it's the multiverse.

Five days ago, on Twitter, I asked the question, is there room in this wide world for Stoner Glam Metal?

Well, Glitter Wizard is making a strong case to answer that question.

Just the name alone, Glitter Wizard, I mean, yeah, right there. That's Glam and Stoner all at the same time.

The songs don't have quite the same line of demarcation between the glammy and the hempy though.

Though it's not a clear half and half, there's definitely strong elements of both styles of music. Think of it more like the ratio of cream in coffee rather than cream and milk in half and half. You get where I'm going with this right?

Musically and lyrically verbose, Opera Villains contains enough melody to get Poison fans at least willing to listen, but they don't stop there. Strong strains of Electric Wizard and High On Fire will get the real metalheads on board too.

In fact, it's difficult to tell which side Glitter Wizard is really courting.

RELEASE 4/20/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

Bookin' It With The Mound Builders's Brian

The Mound Builders

After many splits and other releases, Lafayette, Indiana's The Mound Builders have released a full length, self-titled debut.

You can snatch that up on beautiful colored vinyl HERE. It's also available on CD and however these kids today are listening to music.

In the mean time, let's talk about books! Brian was even kind enough to give me a pre-interview answer which sums up this introduction nicely.

Brian here from The Mound Builders. Thanks for asking about our reading habits. Reading plays a pretty big part in what we do. We draw inspiration from ancient history, life in the midwest, and the mysteries of the cosmos. 

We all read quite a bit on these topics and it seeps into our lyrical and musical content.

Stream: "Amnesia/My Wall" by Grass

You know what gets me into trouble on the internet?

Things being a little bit too vague. It's important sometimes to just put your things out there in the way they are. There's naught wrong with being on the nose if you're trying to get people to join your cause.

The Comrades in Grass feel like brothers in arms to me because they named their band, their album, and did their artwork to be very clear about what's going on here.

They're going to pummel you with grooves thicker than the smoke that's coming out of the back of their Orange Amps.

Check it out below and get over to BANDCAMP.

EP Review: "Fresh Grass" by Grass

Fresh Grass

The most important thing you can be is true to yourself.

That's why I love stoner metal. It's got this swing, this flex, and this swirl that few other things in this world have.

That's actually the only reason I love stoner metal, not because I'm a stoner.

Grass, well, they've got no qualms wearing their recreational activities on their sleeves. Hopefully, they'll only be touring where it's legal. (Just so you know guys, Missouri legalized medical marijuana...)

The tales of redneck cops waiting for bands crossing state lines are many. The bands tell them outside the clubs.

Fresh Grass had one of them digital only releases last year, but this year, the record emerges from the smoke and into the physical realm. Kind of like when Dungeon Master always shows up.

There's no question it's a shorty, but those minutes are packed with fuzz enhanced vitamins. Put this on, and the setting is right to check out of your head.

RELEASE 2/22/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

EP Review: "Toad King" by Goblinsmoker

Toad King

What is it about the old music that many music fans who've chosen to get out of the pool love so much?

Is it that deliciously fat fuzz tone?

Well, it's your lucky day if you're that kind of music fan. The one, that I probably just made up. The basis of the Goblinsmoker sound is that thick, creamy fuzz made ever so famous by countless bands.

The vocals are pained.

The guitars are unrelenting.

There's the ever lovin' swirl that I just can't stop loving.

It's amazing how much of a psychedelic feel Goblinsmoker has created on Toad King without any real hints of a psychedelic sound.

The stoner metal convention of stepping on the wah wah pedals for the duration of the record was deemed superfluous in this case.

It's heavy. It's slow. It's supremely laden in groove. It's hard to take the kind of songs they're writing and get the listener to bounce along, but there's a exaggerated swagger that makes everything happening doubly important.

RELEASE 12/14/18 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

LP Review: "7 Cremation Ground/Meditation" by Rifflord

7 Cremation/Meditation

When a band by the name of Rifflord crosses the desk, it's safe to assume that this is going to be a bad ass guitar band. They'll be a band so thick, half-dried plaster of paris is going to tell them to thin it out a little bit.

Well, it's probably unnecessary to say, but Rifflord isn't that band. Certainly, they're showing their Black Sabbath influence using many different riffs and even a bit of personal fave, Rat Salad.

The record starts off with a change up. There's a bit of country music. It sounds sort of like Rifflord ripping off ripping off of Johnny Cash. It's one of the strangest passages of music I've ever heard.

After spinning 7 Cremation/Meditation several times, it's hard to put a finger on what they are doing. The easiest tag would be Stoner Metal or Desert Rock, but I think it's wrong to say that. They're curating a trove of music.

This album is like heading to a museum. They're going to show you many different paintings. The big difference though, most of these paintings are heavy.

RELEASE 12/1/18 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

10 Inch Vinyl Review: "Dope Rider" by Kurokuma

Dope Rider

Today's vinyl review is from a band all the way from Sheffield, England.

I hear tale, they're about to say HELLO AMERICA! If we're lucky, they won't be bringing on the HEARTBREAK and the Colonies will be able to give them some approval, or we become PYROMANIACS.

If the clues weren't enough, naturally I'm talking about Sheffield's finest stoner metal band, Kurokuma.

When going through  my emails to pull all of the info I could on this band, I noticed that Dope Rider wasn't the first chance I had to feature these gents. Just last night I was telling my daughter that opportunity only knocks once. Should I inform her that this old axiom isn't always true?

Well, as Kurokuma already shattered the space time continuum and well worn social knowledge, let's break tradition here at Glacially Musical-land and talk about the lyrics.

Hometown Tales with Hitman

Hitman

Halifax, Nova Scotia is home to not only the Mooseheads, Alexander Keith, but also Hitman.

Hitman's a grooving stoner metal band.

Their latest record, The Offering, dropped on September 14, 2018 and it's one you might want to check out if you dig music.

Check it out over at BANDCAMP.

The price is even in Canadian dollars. How exotic right?

While you're streaming that, let's find out about Halifax, Nova Scotia through their eyes.

1. St. Louis City is my hometown. I've lived here for most of my life in and around the city. Where are you from?

LP Review: "Electric Messiah" by High On Fire

Electric Messiah

Electric Messiah by High On Fire.

That kind of rhymes a bit right?

That's neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things. What is here and there, is that High On Fire is back! It's not like it's been forever, but it has been three years since 2015's Luminiferous.

Our friends from Oaktown remind me of guys like Ace Frehley because you know roughly, what they can do and what sorts of music they're going to deliver.

If that's the case, why would I feel different ways about each album? That's a question that'll go unanswered from me. It's just the wild card of personal taste. This record though, if you don't like High On Fire, won't convince you that there's something different.

It's full of thick, sludgy, stonerish, metal. Matt Pike is on fire on this release, no pun intended. His vocals sound fresher to me than they ever have and his guitarwork is inspired. The rhythm section is boisterous in the bolstering of the shirtless wonder.

It's very hard for a band to come out swinging this hard this late in their career.

Release: 10/05/18 FACEBOOK PREORDER

LP Review: "Voidwalker" by Jollymon

Voidwalker

It's been discussed at length, but we're never too proud to breaking the same old ground....if enough time's passed.

It was around 2014 that stoner metal arrived into my personal sphere.

Now would be a pretty darned good time to begin judging the holy living hell out of me really. It seemed so new to me. What I didn't know, is that the genre was already decades old.

Yet, it had never hit me, because my mind was elsewhere and I was closed off to new music.

It's hard to fathom now that an entire new genre of music and it caught me completely unawares. It would appear as though I've done my best to catch up on the Stoner and Doom metal though. It's been around here a bit hasn't it?

Double Vinyl Review: "The Last Bastion of Cowardice" by Northless

The Last Bastion of Cowardice

"Geez, Nik, it would be nice if you talked about yourself," said no one ever to me.

However, like Ice-T said, freedom of speech. I want the right talk and for personal reasons, I watch what I say.

So, this album arrived to me last week in the mail. It came the night before an outpatient procedure was scheduled.

That day was to be a recovery day of painkillers, beer, and records. During the purple haze I was attempting to create there was going to be some writing.

Well, the Oxycodone knocked me on my ass like I was washing my hair in a waterfall, (Inspired by Mitch Hedberg, RIP). After listening to Northless's The Last Bastion of Cowardice there was still two thirds of the STLIPA to drink and my computer screen was blank.

LP Review: Self-Titled by High Reeper

High Reeper

Are you guys high on the mary-ja-wanna?

America's love affair for substances is legendary as are the attempts to snuff it out. 15 years ago, the idea of being able to buy marijuana at a store...unheard of.

But now, places like Colorado and Washington State are seeing insanely high budgets surpluses!

Not to sound too far out, man, but if this stuff had been legal this whole time, how many more Jimi  Hendrix's, The Doors's, or Cream's would we have had?

Seriously? We'd have had absolutely zero more of those groups. Though, they and Sabbath, and The Stones, and the everybody else always used large amounts of substances, it's always been about the people taking the drugs and not the drugs taking the people.

Wait...what?

Album Review: "The Navarat" by Monobrow

Personally, I am not interested in mind altering drugs, but when I see an album cover with psychedelic mushrooms on it, it immediately goes into my 'to listen' pile.  I assume it will be full of down-tuned, riff orientated heaviness, which will create the sonic equivalent of a drug induced trip without any of the legal or health ramifications.  It is possible to love stoner metal without actually being a stoner.

The new release from Canadian stoner metal band Monobrow delivers exactly as the album art advertises.

Concert Photography: Clutch at Pop's in Sauget, IL October 16, 2015 -photos by Danny Nichols

Clutch rocks Pop's in Sauget, Illinois

Vocalist Neil Fallon

Vinyl Review: "Endless Descent" by Junior Bruce

Endless Descent

Today was supposed to be a really awesome day for my family and I. There were a great many plans that we had made for today. However, Mother Nature decided that all of our plans were mutable.

Instead of seeing a movie, going to the Library, and perhaps taking in a hockey game, we have been locked inside of our house...and without bacon.

Considering last evening St. Louis was pounded with sleet and today's no better, it seems that staying inside of our house and enjoying time as a family was better than the solo fender bender I engaged in on my way home from the office last night.

In this spirit, I have spirited away to the upstairs lounge to resume my consideration of Junior Bruce's latest effort, Endless Descent on vinyl.

LP Review: "Welcome To Fat City" by Crobot

Welcome To Fat City

It's been a few years, but on a hot sweaty night, my introduction to Crobot was made.

Without realizing what was to come for me, the bassist and I had a very nice conversation as I was waiting to interview Rex Brown and cover the show.

Well, their show was the stuff of legend for a band that was the first one the bill.

Years later, describing their music to people who aren't familiar is still difficult.

There's a lot to like about our friends from Pottsville, PA. They're the hardest working band out there today. They tour constantly. It's a mystery how they even had time to write this album much less record it!

LP Review: "Give It To The Mountain" by Season of Arrows

Give It To The Mountain

The right music at the right time is a mantra to live by.

Today shook me up a bit and it's going to take some time to come back from that ledge. I will not elaborate, but I'll explain that myself, my loved ones, and our lives are not in any danger of any kind.

So, when choosing what to spin for a review, something new was needed. Something we've not all heard before.

But more than that, it had to match my mood. Trying to listen to old school Death/Grind was not what was going to get the job done today.

Then we could easily talk about the me too-ness of brutal death metal, which also didn't work. In laymen's terms, today I just needed some cold gin. Give It To The Mountain was just what the Doctor (Love) ordered today.