Rock n Music Review.com

August 20, 2010

The Melvins Could Have Ruled the World

Filed under: Doom Metal, Grunge, Sludge, Stoner Rock — rocknmusic @ 7:27 pm

The Melvins Could Have Ruled the World

So we all suspect King Buzzo and Dale would rather live in their apartments collecting royalty checks and smoking dope, than be mega famous rock stars. They could have turned the “commercial” rock world upon its head, but left that to Nirvana, while they strive to remain in obscurity, always subverting their success by submarining their albums with crazing ambient experimental compositions which left fans wondering “what the #$&@*?” Okay, so after 20 years of recording and too many cds to name, we can now pull those awesome tracks the Melvins tantalized us with, but refused to deliver in mass. Example?…”Revolve” for STONER WITCH. It’s a crazy album, but this tune rocks harder than anything Metallica or Nirvana ever did. In fact, Hetfield and Cobain could only dream of singing and playing guitar as well as Buzzo could…when he wanted to. It’s time for the Melvins to prove they produced the greatest metal, albiet spread throughout many albums, ever recorded in the history of rock. Eventhough they’ve shunned the spotlight, lets put together a compilation that will get recognition for what they were…the greatest band of the 90’s.

Houdini, (A) Senile Animal and Ozma, all good. I’d also include Bullhead..very solid album, except for the drum solo at the end. Check out track #4 “It Shoved”. Classic Buzzo snarling/growling vocal, killer riff and clocking in at a whopping 2:30 minutes.

May 7, 2010

What is Stoner Rock/Stoner Metal?

Filed under: Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Misc., Retro Metal, Sludge, Stoner Rock — Tags: , , , — rocknmusic @ 4:20 pm

The definition is not narrow, but broadly ranges from heavy doom to 70’s garage rock, a little bit of prog. and plenty of fuzz and detuned guitar riffs.

1970 Stooges FUN HOUSE, had the most direct influence on artists such as Nebula, Fu Manchu, Monster Magnet, as well as Kyuss. The raw dirty unpolished low-fi sound was a hallmark characteristic of many of their early recordings. This is in stark contrast to the 60’s garage bands like the 13 Floor Elevators, The Seeds, The Shadows of Night, Nazz  and IMO all seem too polished and singles oriented, which is the complete opposite of most 90’s stoner bands.

On the other end of the Stoner spectrum, you have bands influenced by Black Sabbath, specifically their “Masters of Reality” release which featured huge, heavy and doom laiden riffs that were as catchy as they were pulverizing.  Also the fact that the album features the song “Sweet Leaf” helped make it an influential darling amongst the stoner set.   Here’s a lits of some quality Stoner tunes.  Another influential and important proto-stoner band was a Welsh band named Budgie, which also featured a dirty low-end sound, catchy riffs and low-fi records.

Spirit Caravan – Fang
High On Fire – Master of Fist
Orange Goblin – Black Egg
Kyuss – One Inch Man
Fu Manchu – Anodizer
Monster Magnet – Negasonic Teenage Warhead
Trouble – Hello Strawberry Skies

Influential Proto-Stoner Songs
Budgie – Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman

Black Sabbath – Sweet Leaf

The Stooges – I Need Someone

November 6, 2009

Mastodon – Crack the Skye Album Review

Filed under: Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Prog Rock, Sludge, Stoner Rock — Tags: , — rocknmusic @ 5:09 pm

This is a dramatic departure for Mastodon. Much more metalcore than a continuation of their brand of sludge/prog/death metal. The clean vocals are very pedestrian and I believe are only done for the mallcore crowd.  Personally, I loved their hardcore screams and indifferent stoner vocal delivery of the past.  Brann Dailor still drums like a tsunami, but the guitar riffs are a lot less thrashy. Infact, the mathcore tightly coiled rhythm guitar is virtually absent, replaced with time tested guitar hero solos inserted in every song.  There are times on this album, when Mastodon starts sounding derivative, such as the much ballyhooed “The Czar: Usurper/Escape/Martyr/SpiralInvariable” which reminds of of Rush crossed pollinated with QoTSA.  Bands go directions that I don’t find interesting and lose me, and this may be the case with the Mastodon, but I’m going to give this one more time because I love this band.

September 25, 2009

Orange Goblin Album Review – Time Traveling Blues

Filed under: Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Retro Metal, Stoner Rock, psychedelic — Tags: , — rocknmusic @ 8:20 pm

Time Traveling Blues is my favorite Goblin record. Very thrashy, not as psychedelic as Freq. By the end of it, the bands gets into some incredible Southern rock, including a Southern drawl! These guys are Brits, right? Ingenious arrangements, prog-tendencies and impeccable guitar licks. High energy doom…an oxy-moron, yet the Goblins make it work.  Stoner rock thrashed up.  Very tasty.

January 21, 2009

Orange Goblin – The Big Black Review

Filed under: Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Retro Metal, Sludge, Stoner Rock, psychedelic — Tags: , — rocknmusic @ 10:32 pm

In the year 2002 with the release of “Coup de Grace”, Orange Goblin became a band without a genre, but back in Y2K “The Big Black” demonstrated the were the best Stoner band in the world…ahh if only they had stuck to it.  Thrashier and more metallic than their previous two efforts, yet still possessing allot of Kyuss worship, this album kicked major stoner arse.  Sludgy doom riffs punctuated with lots of wah-wah and occasional psychedelic break, all performed with precision and expertise.  Lodging heavy notes permanently in your lower brain stem…and your classic lo-fi Billy Anderson mud production, too boot. 5/5

Robin Trower – Twice Removed From Yesterday Review

Filed under: 70s Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Stoner Rock — rocknmusic @ 10:29 pm

Robin Trower career began like a super-nova, peaking just a year later with “Bridge of Sighs”.  Here on the debut, he has his forcefully clean telecaster and massive groove on full display.  Often mistakenly sited as a Hendrix imitators, the influence is obvious, however the differences shatter any shallow comparison.  First, Trower music is much heavier with far greater low-end resonance doominess demonstrated throughout most of the tracks.  Trower new how to play slow and sustain to create some of the most beautiful trippy hard rock every laid down to tape.  Secondly, Trower had James Dewar on vocals, the most overlooked rock singer of the 70’s.  Dewar possessed the muscular dramatic delivery of Jack Bruce and the smooth soulful style of Paul Rodgers, and was unfortunately overshadowed by Trowers brilliant playing his entire career. Production is a little muddy at time however the overall sound is massive and groovy with a little prog-tendency and shredding here and there.  3.5/5

May 20, 2008

High on Fire – Death is the Communion

Filed under: Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Sludge, Stoner Rock, psychedelic — rocknmusic @ 10:00 pm

9/10. This is a demonic hippy love fest. It’s not thrash, its not stoner, but it’s very doomy, heavy and psychodelic. Imagine Jimi Hendrix reborn in molten lava from the Valley of the Ords. “Communion” ranks up there with the greatest metal releases of the new millinium. Matt Pikes classic wall of heavy metal is enhanced with Eastern rhythms, adding melody and believe it or not, beauty and grace. The first three cuts, “Fury Whip”, “Waste of Tiamat”, and ‘DITC”, are classic HOF, fast, brutal, brilliant drumming and guitar, made even more impactful due to the crystal clear production. Not content with simply carrying the momentum, the second half ends even stronger with a trio of tunes “Rumors of War”, “Ethereal” and “Return to Nod” are powerful as well as melodious, finding Matt Pike turning in his most affecting vocals and most searing solos since “Holy Mountain”.
High on Fire

December 17, 2007

Electric Wizard – Dopethrone

Filed under: Doom Metal — rocknmusic @ 7:52 pm

Let me start by stating, these guys are way out there! The 2nd half of “I, Witchfinder” got me hooked. It’s like a heavy-metal “Meddle”. Their music is like taking a clear picture, putting it in Paint Shop, then blurring, skewing it, warping the hell out of it until you don’t know what you just shot. There was something there, but you can’t remember what it was. You hear noise, feedback, distortion on top of the song structure, which they do everything in their power to muck up.

Melvins – Houdini

Filed under: Doom Metal, Stoner Rock — Tags: , — rocknmusic @ 7:27 pm

So we all suspect King Buzzo and Dale would rather live in their apartments collecting royalty checks and smoking dope, than be mega famous rock stars. They could have turned the “commerical” rock world upon its head, but left that to Nirvana, while they strived to remain in obscurity, always subverting their success by submarining their albums with crazing ambient experimental compositions which left fans wondering “what the #$&@*?” Okay, so after 20 years of recording and too many cds to name, the Melvins tantalized us with awesome tunes, but refused to deliver in mass. Example?…”Revolve” for STONER WITCH. It’s a crazy album, but this tune rocks harder than anything Metallica or Nirvana ever did. In fact, Hetfield and Cobain could only dream of singing and playing guitar as well as Buzzo could…when he wanted to.  Looking to jump into the “The World According to the Melvins?”  Houdini is the best place to start. Hear for yourself why the Melvins were recognized as one of the greatest band of the 90’s.

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