Stoner Rock Playlist #61

 

My latest playlist;  Share with someone else if you like it.  

2024 #10 - #1 Best Stoner Rock Albums

 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.

Gnu Gnome!

 

TWO NEW GNOME TRACKS

Gnome's "King" album was one of the great surprises of 2022 for me, and was one of my top ten albums for that year.  Two years later we get two more tracks, both matching the excellence of that album.  Perhaps these new tracks will be part of an upcoming album, but I couldn't wait to find out, and purchased them as soon as I heard them.

Released on June 28:

And released today:

Don't let the antics in the videos distract you from just how heavy, ass-kicking, and catchy both of these songs are.

Gnome are from Antwerp, Belgium, and are:

Rutger Verbist: Drums

Geoffrey Verhulst: Bass, Vocals

Egon Loosveldt: Guitar, Vocals

You can find these gems here on Bandcamp.

That's all for now, but if you'd like another recommendation, I've been really enjoying the new Duel album and just haven't gotten around to a quality post on it yet.  You can investigate it here.

2022 Top Ten Albums

 

2022 Top Twenty Stoner Rock Albums (#10-1)

The second half of my top 20 heavy rock albums list for 2022. One song from each album, beginning with album #10 and finishing with album #1. 

Artist/Album/Track info displayed for the first 10 seconds of each tune.

Each tune is one I've never posted or included in a playlist.  
The idea is that since these are the best albums of the year, they're deep enough that I don't need to 
re-post in order to make a classic playlist:

And remember: Top Ten lists exist to spread the word on great music.  If you know some great music that I missed, don't get mad; drop a link to your own list and I'll check it out.

In case you're courageous enough to play it and have it finish at midnight, the playlist is an hour one minute and 3 seconds, plus whatever ads Youtube plays.

                                                                                                           

#10: "The Faceless King" by Vitskär Süden.

  Great complex heavy psych.  Think heavier Pink Floyd and you'll be in the right neighborhood.  

I'm confident others will pick this as their number 1 album, and I understand why.

#9: "Oh Death" by Goat

In back to back years now, Goat has put out a heavy psychedelic rock masterpiece, 

and now they've wormed their way into my head 

and climbed the ladder of what I prefer to listen to. 

#8:  "Creature Features & Cult Classics" by Mississippi Bones 

A full-length Mississippi Bones release is a guaranteed top 10 album for me, and the rate at which they produce GREAT rock music is mind-boggling.  There needs to be a stronger word than underappreciated when it comes to Mississippi Bones.

#7:  "King" by Gnome

These are the tunes every garage band is going to want to cover.  Hundreds of epic and forceful guitar riffs, seamlessly intertwined into a masterful soundtrack for a story about an endangered race fighting for its life.  A Youtube comment noted that the story parallels that of Ukraine.

 

#6: "Force Form Free" by Dead Meadow

This is a more spacey heavy psych, but also top 10 worthy heavy psych from 2022.  For those already familiar with Dead Meadow, I think you'll agree this is in the discussion for their best album.  For those unfamiliar with these stoner rock veterans, "Force Form Free" is an excellent place to start.

(then go back and start with album 1, and go in order)

#5: "Innate Passage" by Elder 

          

Now we're on the prog side of heavy psych, but again more top 10 worthy heavy psych from 2022.  

Elder continues to amaze.  Hard to say this is not their best album.

#4:  "Primordial" by Telekinetic Yeti        

Alex Baumann said it started out as a challenge to "see how heavy we can make it with just two people".  He and Rockwel Heim have succeeded in producing an album more badass than just about everyone else.  "Primordial" is my #4 album of 2022.

#3:  "Take All You Can" by Freedom Hawk

I loved the Meteor City Freedom Hawk albums, and really liked all the others, but "Take All You Can" is Freedom Hawk's most perfect album yet.  Freedom Hawk is American guitar rock, with a positive energy and a weirdly wholesome vibe.  I can't get enough of this album, and in many other years this would have been my top album

#2:  "Acute Mania" by Steak

Steak has achieved a new level of songwriting.  The degree of planning and forethought shown on this album is rivalled by only one other album this year.

#1:  "This Sceptred Veil" by Sergeant Thunderhoof

"This Sceptred Veil" is that other album.  There were two perfect albums in 2022, and these finished in the same order of hours of enjoyment provided to me that year.

Happy New Year
ULTRA  

When you think the year can't get better, but it does

(artwork by Xander Faes)

Now 

The album tells a story, summarized inside the album:

"In the darkest year of the dark ages, the evil king Wenceslas set out to eradicate the Gnomes who had long inhabited his lands.  The bulls he sent forth from the Bravik foothills wreaked havoc among the defenceless Gnome population.

Three months into the campaign, the brave resistance leader Ambrosius was captured and henceforth imprisoned in the royal dungeons, swearing revenge.

On the brink of extinction, the remaining Gnomes somehow managed to awaken the ancient Kraken in an Onanic ritual.  This primal force of nature allowed the last Gnomes to make a final push with their remaining Platypus Riders in an effort to free Ambrosius.  Further details of Gnomekind have unfortunately been lost to the pages of history."

Gnome are from Atwerp, Belgium.

They are:

Rutger Verbist

Geoffrey Verhulst

Egon Loosveldt

Check out the rest of this epic album here.

It's a good bet for top ten albums of the year