2024 Top Twenty Stoner Rock Albums (#10-1)
#10: Wizard Must Die: L'Or Des Fous
This French band has produced a perfect album. The challenging melodies and rhythms, the layering of sound, the crescendos and decrescendos blew me away from the first listen, and continue to engage me as I find something new to appreciate each time I hear it.
#9: Wizzerd: Kronia / Saturnalia
Montana's Wizzerd released two albums this year. Why create two smaller albums and not just one longer one? When you hear them, you'll understand that they both have a different, unique vibe. Kronia is more aggressive while Saturnalia is more trippy. But together these albums represent monumental growth from a band who already had instant purchase status for me.
#8: Gnome: Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome
Belgium's Gnome made my top 10 two years ago with King and have done it again with this instant classic. This album is going to make a lot of kids want to be in a rock band, and will make a lot of rock bands want to learn these songs. Truly what hard rock is all about.
#7: Black Pyramid: The Paths Of Time Are Vast
The fourth Massachusetts band in my top 30 (5th if you count Delving). Black Pyramid not only released their first album in over a decade, but arose and absolutely destroyed. Best Black Pyramid album, and a stoner doom triumph.
#6: Rifflord: 39 Serpent Power
South Dakota's Rifflord have always played a pedal-to-the-metal style of rock, mixing southern rock, stoner doom and straight-up metal in a unique way. 39 Serpent power shows an evolution in their songwriting however, blending all these influences in a cohesive way that makes you want to hear these tunes again and again and again.
#5: REZN: Burden
I bought my first REZN albums last year and then had the opportunity to see them live, opening up for Elder. I was already on the bandwagon but when I heard "Burden", it was the perfection of everything I liked about the band. The symbiotic conjuction of melodic and ultra-heavy is breathtaking at times. REZN are from Chicago.
#4: High Desert Queen: Palm Reader
High Desert Queen are another band I first heard last year, when I purchased their split with Blue Heron. Good old fashioned bass,drums, guitar and what I consider elite vocals. Ryan just has a great rock voice. Every tune here is a favorite for me, and their music videos for Palm Reader and especially Ancient Aliens are quite entertaining. Another elite stoner rock band from Austin Texas.
#3: Slower: Slower / Rage And Ruin
Another band that chose two shorter albums over one longer release. Between the two, we have seven drastically reimagined Slayer tunes along with four original tracks which fit in perfectly with the Slayer "covers". Bob Balch collaborated with Amy Tung/Barrysmith, Esben Willems, Peter Bergstrand, Scott Reeder, and Laura Pleasants to produce these masterpieces. Like the two Wizzerd releases, both of these must be owned together. They are perfect complements to each other. I may have already listened to these songs as many times as the Slayer classics they were inspired by, and I've listened to A LOT of Slayer in my years.
#2: Brant Bjork: Once Upon A Time In The Desert
If I were asked to pick a single artist that best exemplifies the sounds that the terms "Stoner Rock" and "Desert Rock" are supposed to represent, it wouldn't be Josh Homme or John Garcia; it would be Brant Bjork. I'll bet if that man burps or farts, stoner rock comes out. That being said, this combination of Brant, Mario Lalli and Ryan Güt has amplified the mojo five-fold. Think of every album Brant has been involved in, and understand that this one is the best of them all.
#1: Big Scenic Nowhere: The Waydown
Okay, so Bob Balch is on my albums #11, 3 and 1, and I'm pretty sure that makes him the 2024 guitar god. However, an album with this amount of perfection would never have happened without Tony Reed. Tony played bass and went genius-level in the studio to produce this masterpiece which for me, was never not going to be my #1 album, from my very first listen.
