MISSISSIPPI BONES

A new Mississippi Bones release being great is about as sure as "eggs is eggs".  They've got a new drummer and a new female backup vocalist, but haven't missed a beat.  

This is just an EP but well worth your time, so I'm posting all three tracks:

 

Mississippi Bones are now:

Jared Collins - Vocals, Guitars
Dusty Donley - Guitars
Derik Dunson - Vocals, Guitars
Jason Rector - Vocals, Bass
Brandon Smith - Drums
Deb Hamric - Vocals

Get after it

-ULTRA

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  

 2022, Ultra Review Number 2

MISSISSIPPI BONES:

Creature Features & Cult Classics

On the seventh album, God saw that it was good.

I have yet to be disappointed by even one tune from any Mississippi Bones purchase. Eleven more tunes are now getting stuck in my head.  Here are a couple of my favorites; The Alligator Man of Champaign Co. and SigID BTCHER 9.99Mhz - 99.9Mhz

Mississippi Bones are to me the Clutch of the Midwest; like Clutch, Mississippi Bones are prolific, every tune is worthy, and they evolve with each album while staying true to their prior identities.

I hope that someday soon Mississippi Bones gets the world tour that they deserve;

They are:

Dusty Donley- Guitars
Jared Collins- Vocals
Derik Dunson- Guitars, Vocals
Jason Rector- Bass
Jason Miller- Drums
Heather Collins- Backing Vocals

  

2020 Top Ten Stoner Rock Albums (#10-1)

Starting with the number 10 album, and finishing with number 1:

Each tune is one I've never posted or included in a playlist, as I hold the belief that these albums are deep enough to make re-posting unnecessary for making a great playlist.  

Here are some tunes from what I think are the ten best stoner rock albums of the year 2020:

          

#10: "The Path To The Deathless" by Red Mesa
         

Red Mesa have produced a flawless heavy stoner/doom album with enough variety to keep me listening all year long.  I felt this would be top 10 material when I first heard it and haven't changed my mind since.  

Also, probably album cover of the year for me.

#9: "Omens"  by Elder

        

Every time Elder releases an album, you can expect two things:

-it will not be quite what you expected

-it will reveal its genius to you if you stick with it

This one took me awhile, but only because I wasn't ready for its ideas.  All of that is old news now, as Omens has finally gotten through to me.  A new Elder release is similar to what a new Led Zeppelin release used to be.   

If you told me this was your number one album of the year, I wouldn't argue with you.

#8:  "Mass Hypnosis And The Dark Triad" by Bill Fisher

This kind of originality in rock music hasn't been seen in decades.  

Highly addictive album.

#7:  "Glorious Babylon" by Lord Fowl

Everybody knows I am a sucker for throwback rock, and Lord Fowl is preserving the art form of 1970s style hard rock like few other bands do.  

This album will stand the test of time.

#6:    "Groovy" by Geezer

 

As I've mentioned before, this album art does not disappoint or deceive.  The level of coolness you expect of your album after seeing this cover art is met, and then exceeded.  I'm from Massachusetts but will never ever downplay the amount of great rock music to have come from New York.

#5:    "Acid Doom" by Old Blood

Wow

#4:    "Seaward" by Mr. Bison

Covid shut down Italy, but not Italian stoner rock.  

This album earns legendary status.

#3: "Get Out Of Your Mind" by Ten Foot Wizard

Manchester, U.K.

Nailed it.

Must own album.

#2: "Dead End" by R.I.P.

Pure Genius from Portland Oregon.

Can't get enough of this album.

#1:    "Wise Words From The Uninformed" by Mississippi Bones

They already had the best E.P. of the year (The Witch Of Fulci Holler) and now they have the best L.P. too.  Mississippi Bones can not be underestimated.  The Witch of Fulci Holler comes with a book, and Wise Words comes with a Weekly World News style newspaper.  Check it out here; it's very entertaining.

Stay safe and rock hard tonight.

Happy New Year!

-ULTRA  

MISSISSIPPI BONES: 

The Ballad of Drayton Sawyer

MORE BONES!

This makes 12 tunes we've gotten from Mississippi Bones this year, and six of them being "name your price".  This latest EP contains a re-recording of the first song Jared and Dusty ever wrote together as Mississippi Bones, as well as two cover tunes: 

Danzig's "Left Hand Black" and Crowbar's "The Lasting Dose".  

Check out all three, and download them if you like what you hear.  

This EP is "name your price":

Mississippi Bones are from Hardin County, Ohio, and are:

Dusty Donley- Guitars
Jared Collins- Vocals
Derik Dunson- Guitars, Vocals
Jason Rector- Bass
Jason Miller- Drums
Heather Collins- Backing Vocals

I first learned of Mississippi Bones back in 2010 from following a blog named "Stonerobixxx", and they've been one of my favorite bands ever since.  Their cover tunes hint at the diversity of music they grew up on, from Creedence to Megadeth.  Every one of their EPs and LPs is worthy of your attention, and you can find them all here.   

MISSISSIPPI BONES:

The Witch Of Fulci Holler

Story Time, Mississippi Bones Style

Mississippi Bones have really evolved into something more than just a rock band.  They have become great storytellers through their music.  2018's Radio Free Conspiracy Theory really broke new ground with its mixture of voice acting and musical storytelling.  Now all of us stuck at home in quarantine mode get this nice little 16 minute collection of songs telling a tale of supernatural events taking place in a small town called Coffin Mills.

As always, the music is top rate; this is a cleaner sound than we're used to, but really intricate and compelling, and strangely relaxing.  If you've got 16 minutes to spare, read the story below, then kick up your feet, hit play,  and close your eyes and let your imagination run while the music takes you away.

Here's the story:

(this is just a quick synopsis of the novel Trade Your Coffin For A Gun, written by Mer Whinery.  A digital copy of the full novel is included with your purchase of this EP!)

A frontier town in peril!
The savagery of the hungry damned!

An unholy trio their only salvation!

Southeastern Oklahoma of the 1860s:

Little Dixie to some. Hell to others...


In the chaotic years following the end of the Civil War, Little Dixie is a brutal no-man's land where life and death are dictated not just by gangs of lawless thugs, but by far more sinister things as well. Shadowy beings that walk the line in the dirt separating Jesus from the Devil, writing their names in blood, terror, and human suffering.

Such is the woeful condition of Coffin Mills, a town cursed by a history of dark arts and shameful secrets. Something wicked has been stealing the town's children, something not of this world, or even the next.

Salvation arrives in the form of a trio of mysterious gunslingers known throughout the South as the Haints, a legendary band of bounty hunters specializing in tracking prey of a supernatural variety. They kill monsters, plain and simple.

Haunted by a violent past that will either deliver or destroy them, will they emancipate Coffin Mills from its otherworldly predator, or will all be lost to something far worse than even eternal damnation?

Here's the music:

Mississippi Bones are from Ohio, and are:

Dusty Donley- Guitars
Jared Collins- Vocals

Derik "The Moustache" Dunson- Guitars, Vocals

Jason Rector- Bass

Jason Miller- Drums

Heather "Baby Swiss Pissy Sheets" Collins- Backing Vocals

Hope you enjoyed this!
-ULTRA

MISSISSIPPI BONES: 

Radio Free Conspiracy Theory

Kick-Ass Hard Rock, With Story-Time

Imagine that all the little radio excerpts from Queens of the Stone Age’s “Songs For The Deaf” album were connected and woven into a continuous story, alternating after each tune.  Then imagine that the music continues that story with a heavy, crunchy version of old-fashioned Southern rock.  This is kind of what’s going on in Mississippi Bones’ newest release, entitled “Radio Free Conspiracy Theory”.  The radio clips are purportedly broadcasts from Sheriff Cecil Kotto‘s conspiracy-theory oriented radio show, and are quite entertaining.  He is the host of Kotto’s Kreepies, the official call-In radio show of the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Department, broadcast on Cattaraugus County Public Access Radio, AM 950, from “the darkest corners of Western New York.”

Really, the writing and voice acting are professional quality and quite enjoyable, and the music is even better.  Conspiracy Theory is Mississippi Bones’ most perfect album to date, achieving new heights in songwriting and professionalism of recording, and this is saying a lot.  

The radio excerpts happen in the odd-numbered tracks (and at the end of track 20), and the music continues the story-telling of the spoken tracks in a flawless transition on the even-numbered tracks.

Check out tracks 11 and 12, entitled “Corporate Wendingos” and “101 Ways To Cook A Human”:

Now tracks 7 and 8, entitled “Catttle And Chattle” and “Genetic Flashback”:

Mississippi Bones are from Ohio.  I've recommended them to you before, and every single track they have released is worthy.  

Mississippi Bones are:

Jared Collins: Vocals, Organ

Dusty Donley: Guitar

Derik Dunson: Guitar, Vocals

Jason Rector: Bass

Jason MIller: Drums

Heather Collins: Vocals 

Found this on their Facebook page:

More than an hour of an experience, Radio Free Conspiracy Theory has 32 minutes 6 seconds of spoken story and 36 minutes 21 seconds of musical story.

"Conspiracy Theory" is a strong 2018 Top 10 contender, and I know some of you are going to dig this as much as I do.  (PS: check out my first Stoner Rock of the 70's playlist below and tell me what you think)

-ULTRA 

 4TH OF JULY BUFFET

Here are six 2017 releases from right here in the US of A:

MISSISSIPPI BONES: "Fat Bottom Girls & Midnight Rider"

Normally I wouldn't get too excited about a band releasing two cover tunes, but Mississippi Bones did a great job with both of these rock classics, paying proper tribute while making them their own at the same time.  Extremely well done; hear for yourself:

SOLACE: "Bird of Ill Omen"
New Jersey's Solace is one of my favorite bands of all time.  When I saw there would be a new EP on Bandcamp I thought it was too good to be true.  Then I found they had replaced Jason, and I still don't know how to process this.  Justin Goins now appears on vocals (and keyboards).  Tommy Southard and Justin Daniels are still on guitar and Rob Hultz is still on bass, so I thought a new singer couldn't make for such a drastic change in a band's sound, but I was wrong.  Jason (nobody seems to know his last name) was a truly inspired rock singer, and there is probably no one who can adequately replace his energy.  That being said, these two tunes do have their moments.  When the full length album comes out, perhaps this EP will have given me enough time to adjust and appreciate the new version of the band on its own merit.



ALL THEM WITCHES: "Sleeping Through The War"
I really wasn't going to review this album at all since it has received so much attention and critical acclaim, but this is one of those posts where I mention all the cool stuff I have neglected to mention  to date, and here we are.  If you haven't heard this one, it breaks new ground for this band.  Sleeping Through The War would likely appeal to stoners, regular rock fans and many in the "Coachella" crowd as well. 
 

LO-PAN: "In Tensions"
Lo-Pan always delivers high quality rock with one or two real "keepers" on each album.  "In Tensions" came out in January, and "Long Live The King" was the first tune to really catch my ear on this one.  

GEEZER: "Psychoriffadelia"
This one came out in May, and will be a contender for my top ten list.  Here is "Stressknots", one of five truly great tunes on the album.  

SASQUATCH: "Maneuvers"
Sasquatch is another band that does not disappoint its fans.  "Maneuvers was released a couple of weeks ago; here is "Destroyer": 

In the spirit of July 4th, I wanted to put a good spread on this picnic table. Hope you got something something to eat that was to your liking.  Back next weekend, over and out!
-ULTRA

MISSISSIPPI BONES: Songs For The Rejects, Slackers and Rabble-Rousers

2015 is proving to be a great year for ass-kicking albums, and here’s a great example.  This Ohio band put out their first (self-titled) album in 2010.  I got turned on to it by Robyn  (aka "Stonerobixxx) and have been a fan ever since.  Mississippi Bones plays a Southern-style, high-energy, up-tempo hard rock.  Every tune on each of their first two albums is great, and this third album does not disappoint.  If you like guitar-oriented hard rock that continuously transitions from one great riff to another, Mississippi Bones is a band you need to check out.  These guys are no amateurs; listen for yourself:  Here’s “Nobody’s Witnesses”, one of my favorites from the new album.

Finally, here is one of my favorites from the first album:  The lead-off track is called “Sasquatch Paparazzi”

Mississippi Bones is:

Dusty Donley – Guitars
Jared Collins – Vocals
Derik “The Moustache” Dunson – Guitars
Jason Rector – Bass
Jason Miller – Drums
Heather “Baby Swiss Pissy Sheets” Collins – Backing Vocals

Got another instant classic to review next weekend.  Until then!              -ULTRA