Stoner Rock #60

 

Some tunes for you to peruse.

Hope you enjoy!

2024 #30 - #21 Best Stoner Rock Albums

 2024 Top Twenty Stoner Rock Albums (#30-21)

This is the first time I've ever done a year-end top 30, but I would argue that there was so much great music to come out this year that picking 20 albums wouldn't do the year justice.  I'm confident that all of these albums in my #30-21 are, deservingly, in someone else's top 10. 

 

#30: Duel: Breakfast With Death

Much more "In Your Face" than the previous album, "Breakfast With Death" rocks hard.

#29: 1,000 Mods: Cheat Death

Greek band 1000 Mods have been at it for a decade and a half, and keep getting better with each release 

#28: Cortez: Thieves And Charlatans

Another band that's been making great music for a long time and continues to get better and better.  Cortez is one of four Massachusetts bands to make my top 30 albums of the year

#27: Old Blood: Midnight Climax

Old Blood's "Acid Doom" was one of my favorite albums of 2020.  Here they are again, with a more polished and more musically diverse release that is well worth your time

#26: Sundrifter: An Earlier Time

This is a really impressive album.  Hints of Queens of the Stone Age, Radiohead and lots more.  Excellent songwriting and a unique sound.  Another band putting Massachusetts stoner rock on the map

#25: Sergeant Thunderhoof: The Ghost Of Badon Hill

Sergeant Thunderhoof produced my favorite album of 2022, and the fact that this gem of a follow-up  album is at #25 this year only goes to show how great of a year this has been for stoner rock

#24: UFOMAMMUT: Hidden

Italian masters of all that is heavy continue to tear the bottom end out of our speakers and to floor us with bone-crushing soundscapes.  Hidden is their most creative album yet.

#23: Melvins: Tarantula Heart

Another Melvins release, and another round of musical surprises.  As usual, it will take several listens to lock onto what these Melvins are laying down, but the reward is worth it.  There are usually a couple of tunes per Melvins album that I'm not into, but I very much appreciate every song on this one.

#22: Mirror Queen: Dying Days

A Mirror Queen album is an instant purchase for me, and this one is my favorite so far.  Mirror Queen for me are a modern-day Blue Oyster Cult: fantastically creative arrangements of classic hard-rock sounds

#21: The Obsessed: Gilded Sorrow

Doom legends for four decades now, The Obsessed graced us with this classic early in the year, and it's been getting consistent play here ever since.  Scott's guitar sound is unmistakable, and hall-of-fame worthy.

2015: The Giving Year

2015: THE GIVING YEAR

"And after a long time the boy came back again.  'I am sorry boy,' said 2015, 'but I have nothing to give you-  My apples are gone.  'My teeth are too weak for apples' said the boy.  'my branches are gone,' said 2015.  'You cannot swing on them-'  'I am too old to swing on branches,' said the boy.  'My trunk is gone,' said 2015.  'You cannot climb-'  'I am too tired to climb,' said the boy.  'I am sorry,' sighed 2015.  'I wish that I could give you something...but I have nothing left.  I am just an old stump.  I am sorry....'  'I don't need very much now,' said the boy, 'just a butt-load of great stoner rock.  I am very tired of mediocre rock music.'  'Well,' said 2015, straightening up, 'an old stump is good for a seemingly endless supply of great stoner rock.  Come, Boy, sit down.  Sit down and listen.' "

-bastardized quote from Shel Silverstein's classic story

2015 has given me so much, including several albums which are among my favorites of all time.  There are so many more 2015 albums I like but have never gotten around to reviewing, and I'm sure there are several classics put out this year that I will discover after the fact.  Before the year ends, here are several cool 2015 releases that I have meant to review:

Here's Rotor, an awesome, technically proficient instrumantal band from Berlin.  This is the opening track from their new album "Fünf" 

Now it's "Massive Suicide Machine", from Slowbot's new EP "Pacifier For The Mind."  Slowbot is from Paris.  You can download this album for free on Bandcamp

Next is "I Want You," from Godsleep's album "Thousand Sons Of Sleep."  Godsleep is from Athens.

Next, "Bottom Of The River", from the band Ponamero Sundown.  This band excels is songwriting, putting on a riff clinic.  They do everything well, and are from Stockholm.

Now it's "Strangers In Our Own Time", from Mirror Queen's new release, "Scaffolds Of The Sky." Mirror Queen doesn't sound like Blue Oyster Cult, but I maintain that BOC is the perfect anoalogy for them.  Unusual and  distinctive, Mirror Queen takes a few listens to fully appreciate.  If you are impatient, skip to about 4:40 and hear truly masterful soloing by Kenny Kreisor.  Mirror Queen is from New York City, and this album is put out by TeePee Records, who also released The Atomic Bitchwax's "Gravitron."  What a year for TeePee Records!

Lastly, and definitely the weirdest band of the bunch, is Leeches of Lore, with "Noah's Soul (Is Burning)", from their new album "Motel Of Infinity."  Leeches of Lore transitions from punk band to metal band to lounge act faster than you can say "WTF."  They are certainly an acquired taste, but if you have already acquired a taste for this band, you will not be disappointed by the new album.  The Leeches are from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

2015 has given so much, I could keep on going, but I have to sleep.  Hope I've turned you on to something you were unfamiliar with; that's my goal, every post.  Rock out and rock on; I'm out until next weekend!  -ULTRA