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.

New Playlist

 

STONER ROCK #55

After a lot of older playlists, here's a more recent one. As usual, you can catch the Album/Artist/Track info during the first 15 seconds of each song. Again, just sharing music I like in an order that sounds nice. You likely also know that I like to provide the country of origin for each band. While showing the limitations of my musical familiarity, this also attests to the variety of places on earth where we can find people who share our taste in music. Here we have bands from: Argentina Belgium Italy Norway Poland United States

Heavy Sonic Wall (Times Two)

 

SPACESLUG: OUT OF WATER

(artwork by Masiej Kamuda)

Massive Wall Of Sound

I fell in love with this band from the time I discovered “Time Travel Dilemma” back in 2017.  Since then Spaceslug has had instant purchase status with me every time they release a new album.  Each album takes me by surprise in some way, as their songwriting evolves.  “Leftovers” really took me by surprise with its largely acoustic guitar sound, but eventually became my favorite album.  Now that I was expecting more of that, Spaceslug surprises me again.  Not quite a return to any previous sound, but reminiscent of albums like “Memorial” and “Eye Of The Tide” at times.  “Out Of Water” overpowers you with a wall of guitar, bass, drums, unique vocal harmonies and lots of subtle complexities to the songwriting.

 

The opening track, “Tears Of Antimatter”, is as good a track as any to start with, and is best listened to loud:

There is a long list of Polish stoner rock bands that have legendary status in my book, with Spaceslug and Weedpecker being my two favorites.

 Spaceslug are:

Bartosz Janik: Guitar, Vocals

Jan Rutka: Bass, Vocals

Kamil Ziolkowski: Drums, Vocals

TAKE TWO:

UFOMAMMUT: HIDDEN

(artwork by Malleus Rock Art Lab)

MASSIVE WALL OF SOUND (2)

Ufomammut are another band that engages you with a full-scale sonic assault.  Lots of bottom and lots of depth.  Much like Spaceslug, Ufomammut really can't be adequately compared to any other band due to the uniqueness of what they do.  "Hidden" sees their songwriting evolve to another level, with lots of nuances to be enjoyed with repeated listens.

Again, I am going with the lead track, and again I recommend excessive volume to really appreciate this band.  Relax and let the tune take you where it will.  This is "Crookhead":

 

Ufomammut are from Italy, and have been producing skull-crushing heavy psychedelic rock for about a quarter of a century now.  Not getting complacent in the least, they have produced my favorite album in their lengthy discography.  They are:

Poia – Guitars and Fxs
Urlo – Bass, Vocals, Fxs and Synths
Levre – Drums & Fxs
Ciccio – Soundlord

From the band's website:

VERY IMPORTANT:
UFOMAMMUT= UFO: U(nidentified) F(lying) O(bject) – MAMMUT: italian for mammoth
“UFOMAMMUT” should be pronounced in the italian way, sounding like “oofomammoot”…

Ever-Changing Horizon

 COMING SOON

UFOMAMMUT: HIDDEN

If Italy starts a Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame, Ufomammut should be day 1 inductees.  If you like slow, heavy, skull-crushing doom, this is your band.  Actually "doom" isn't really the right word, but it at least gets you sniffing in the right direction.

Quoted from ufomammut.com,:

VERY IMPORTANT:
UFOMAMMUT= UFO: U(nidentified) F(lying) O(bject) – MAMMUT: italian for mammoth
“UFOMAMMUT” should be pronounced in the italian way, sounding like “oofomammoot”…

Ufomammut are:

Poia – Guitars and Fxs
Urlo – Bass, Vocals, Fxs and Synths
Levre – Drums & Fxs
Ciccio – Soundlord

"Hidden" will be released on May 17

MELVINS: TARANTULA HEART

On the theme of Rock Hall of Fames, if we started a Rock Hall of Fame where you actually have to play rock music to get in, Melvins have to be in it.  Name the style of rock, and Melvins can do it as well as anyone else.  

You should already know, but Melvins are:

Buzz Osborne – guitar

Dale Crover – drums

Steven Shane McDonald – bass

"Tarantula Heart" will be released on April 19th.

...AND THESE

Some Jewels From 2017 I Never Got Around To Posting

DEVIL ELECTRIC: Devil Electric

This band from Melbourne released a four track EP in June of 2016, and then this gem in August 2017.  Top-notch songwriting, musicianship, vocals and production.  I finally purchased this after a couple of months of listening in on Bandcamp, and don't know what I was waiting for.  Pretty different from other female-fronted stoner rock bands like Blood Ceremony, Electric Citizen or Ruby The Hatchet.  Willing to bet these folks are fans of  The Graviators.  "Lady Velvet" is the hit, but I'm posting "Acidic Fire".   Give this one a chance to develop.  Drum player is subtly awesome here.

RADIO MOSCOW: New Beginnings

Few things in life are as sure as a high-quality release from Radio Moscow.  They are right up there with Clutch in terms of consistency of quality and sincerity, while maintaining a sound that anyone unfamiliar with the band would swear is from the early 1970's.  Timeless, very Hendrix-inspired guitar rock.  Here is the title track, "New Beginnings":

UFOMAMMUT: 8

New Ufomammut is all that needs to be said if you like this band.  They are one of the very best in their category of sludgy, doomy, super heavy and slow developing rock.  Flip a coin on whether to call them stoner rock or heavy metal;  Ufomammut releases nothing but quality.  Here is "Warsheep":

MASTODON: Emperor Of Sand

Once again, new release is all you need to hear when it comes to this band.  Mastodon is on a level with Rush in terms of technical proficiency and uniqueness, and is perpetually aggressive and sophisticated at the same time.   Here is "Steambreather", set to easily the strangest music video I've ever seen:   (you thought the Warsheep video was weird?  Get a load of this...)

Guy that gets hit in the face with hot dogs: a young Al Bundy?  Also, 0:50 the most hilarious thing I've ever seen in a music video.

Going to post my top ten albums playlist ASAP; Will anything here be on it?  

Stay tuned!!!    -ULTRA

UFOMAMMUT: Ecate

I had to do a review this week, since there is a new Ufomammut album out this month.  The band’s website indicates that the album is about to be released, but you can hear all the tracks on Youtube already  (not sure how that happens).  Ufomammut (the name is a combination of unidentified flying object and the Italian word for Mammoth) has been belting out its unique brand of heavy, doomy, sludgy stoner rock for about fifteen years now, and that amount of practice has made them consummate professionals at what they do.  If you are not familiar with them, check out these two vids.  To me they are quite different than Electric Wizard, yet I think there is probably a good 95% “also like” ratio among fans of the two bands.  Here is the band’s own description of this mind-blowing album, taken from the ufomammut.com website:

             “Ecate is the title worthy of deities and of Ufomammut‘s seventh album, which is due out on 30th March via Neurot Recordings.

The Italian power trio, known for their almighty heavy capabilities and psychedelic prowess, have as many discernible similarities as they do differences to their formative roots. Never pandering to the easy classification of doom, Ufomammut charge their sludgy output with inimitable energy and wild, wayfaring ambition which is matched by the tight-knit musical understanding that flows telepathically between the three members; Poia, Urlo, and Vita.

On their latest album, Ufomammut take a confident step forward with their craft, orchestrating atmospheric processions that take the six songs on the album to places as of yet uncharted, the only guide being that of Ecate (Hecate in English), the three-sided goddess who moves between the realms of the living, the dead, and the gods. Traditionally associated with matters of the liminal (statues of her can be found at crossroads and city walls, where she would be believed to either bless or curse travellers), she represents the link between the past, the present and the future in a way which resonates true with Ufomammut, and with the name of the band, too.”

Here is "Plouton", from the new album:

If you liked that, check out this live version of "Superjunkhead", performed two years ago at the Keep It Low festival in Germany.  The sound quality is just good enough to give you an idea of how good they sounded at this show.  Ufomammut will be beginning its first ever US tour this May.  Brooklyn is the closest they are coming to Massachusetts.  Roadtrip, anyone?

Ufomammut is:

Poia – Guitars and fx
Urlo – Bass, vocals, FX and synths

Vita – Drummer

Hope you enjoyed this post, and hope some of you go pick up this album.  I certainly will; this is one band I want to support.  I have been listening to them for years, but have recently come to appreciate them on a new level.  Check in with you next week; until then, STAY HEAVY!  -ULTRA

ULTRA'S SUNDAY STONER SOUNDS

Stoner Rock Around the World: Italian Edition

Italy is beginning to produce stoner rock bands at an impressive rate.  It is on my "To-Do-List" to familiarize myself with the new throwback bands coming out of Italy.  But for today, let's spotlight two time-tested pioneers of the Italian stoner rock scene:

BLACK RAINBOWS:  Gabriele Fiore is master of the riff, and has a guitar sound and songwriting style that are truly his own.  Black Rainbows  have quite a few albums, all of which are highly worthy.  This one starts off with some good cowbell, but THE Bruce Dickinson clearly did not direct this video.

Who else could be next but UFOMAMMUT, with "Hopscotch", from 2003's Snailking album.  Ufomammut is on the doom side of the stoner rock spectrum, with maybe even a touch of drone in there as well

I like this band way better than SLEEP; what do you think?  Next week: We may come back to MA before going back on world tour.  The decision is not final yet.  But to the several millions of readers of this post:  Stoner rock will never go away.    STAY HEAVY      -ULTRA