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ALBUM REVIEW: STAR BEAST - STAR BEAST (BLACK THRONE PRODUCTIONS)

Toronto, Ontario’s four-piece band Star Beast has arrived with their self titled debut album. This exceptional album takes you into the heart of 60’s psychedelia, layered with 90’s alternative rock influences. The results are a chemical fusion of stoner, psychedelic, and desert rock with its own brand of DNA. 

The album kicks off like a welcome mat on a doorstep, with the song “WeeLuvU”. Door wide open, inviting you into a special place that feels like home, with familiar sonic colors we all admire. The best part is that it feels really fun here, and I am going to stick around and check out the rest of this place.

The journey continues with “Full Duration Burn”, “Got My Wish”, and “The Sea” each delivering  mesmerizing, mid-tempo grooves. Hypnotizing and blissful are just some of the ways I am enjoying this fun state of mind. Each song flirts with a dreamy quality with bursts of hard hitting alternative rock energy.

This 10 track album never loses focus. From the shimmering “Rainbow Coloured Life” to the closing track “Ghosts”. Their use of acoustic guitars sets things up perfectly. The cleaner atmospheric guitars and keyboards transcends us into the journey deeper, and then smacks you with more attitude time and time again. 

As the album winds down, echoes from the golden age of psychedelia and grungy stoner rock guitars linger, with a modern punch. I find myself looking up at the stars, smiling, and imagining myself on a boat on a river of deceit. And I can't wait to take the journey again.

https://star-beast.bandcamp.com/album/star-beast

Hailing from the mile high city of Denver Colorado, comes Cobranoid, with their relentlessly heavy self titled album that leaves a lasting impact. This album punishes you with their brand of thrash, doom, and heavy metal. The guitars, bass and drums lay the foundation for the gritty, yet beautiful tones of rock that complement the upbeat progressive elements found in metal.. At the forefront are raw, venomous vocals that slither through clever melodies ready to strike hard, strike first, no mercy.

BARBARIAN HERMIT, the stoner doom heavyweights from Manchester, United Kingdom, deliver a raw and unrelenting experience with their new album Mean Sugar. It’s a crushingly heavy record, with crafty interludes that add surprising nuance. This release establishes BARBARIAN HERMIT as the true kings of the North.

https://barbarianhermit.bandcamp.com/album/mean-sugar

From Madrid Spain, 3 piece heavy psych and stoner rock band Free Ride deliver a remarkable 9 track album with all of our favorite ingredients. Just released August 9th on Small Stone Records and If you like a mix of psych, stoner, desert, or even punk rock, Acido Y Puto is for you

The opening song “Space Nomad” kicks off the album like a soundtrack into the unknown. Its laid back acoustic, clean, and atmospheric sounds capture the essence of moving around in space and alone. 

On track 2, Free Ride follows this up with more of the same message on the song “Outsider”, this time with a heavy taste of grunge and fuzzy guitars and alternative lead vocals. A rhythmically compelling groove keeps this one snappy and charging forward.

“Kosmik Swell” is an immersive instrumental that combines the ethereal sound of “Space Nomad” and the pulsating sound of “Outsider”. A masterful track that showcases ripping guitar leads.

The standout guitar work on “Kosmik Swell”, in fact, is all over the album. From beginning to end, you will hear a palette of great guitar tones and expressive guitar solos. The drums and the bass are locked in thumpy and snappy, providing a punchy foundation for the overall gritty undertones of the lead vocals and guitars. The gravelly vocals are a perfect fit, and it's the introspective lyrics that connects us closer together.

Free Ride has mastered the art of balance with its sonic exploration into the human psyche, carefully extracting the inner dark side of the soul, tapping into a little light of hope where our cleaner and purer thoughts are met with dirty resistance. In this journey, the prettier things get, the fuzzier they become. Balance is everything, and Free Ride has the formula. Perhaps we all need some more Acido Y Puto.

Listen Here >> https://freerideband.bandcamp.com/album/acido-y-puto

Album Review: "L'​Œ​uvre Au Noir" by Brüle

french stoner/DOOM band

https://thebandbrule.bandcamp.com/album/l-uvre-au-noir-2

Brüle, the 3 piece french stoner/DOOM band, from South Of France (Perpignan), just released their first full length album, "L'​Œ​uvre Au Noir”.  The album features nine tracks that showcase the group's signature blend of stoner, doom, and occult.

The lead single, "La Bruixa Del Sol”,  is a masterclass in slow heavy doom riffage with soaring lead vocals on top. The dynamic occult melodies lock into the sludgy laid back pocket, capturing the true essence of doom.

Other standout tracks on the album include "This Life",  a perfect  track 2 on the album, full of catchy stoner  hooks within their brand of Doom and “Seal Of Lucifer",  a powerful mid tempo doom track with a riff cooked in a fire, and “Land Of Nod”,  showcasing more of the bands time spent in scorched earth. 

Overall, "L'​Œ​uvre Au Noir" is a complex masterclass of different and connected parts, in which some describe it as Solar Doom. The songs are mesmerizing and memorable, and the lyrics are thought-provoking. If you're a fan of Brüle, or even if you're new to their music, I highly recommend checking out "L'​Œ​uvre Au Noir” to explore the occult side of your soul.

https://thebandbrule.bandcamp.com/album/l-uvre-au-noir-2

Playgroundz Rocks Top 11 Picks In The Heavy Undergound - July 2024 Releases

1. OCCULT WITCHES - SORROW’S PYRE (Self release)
2. DRUG HUNT - FEAST (Bad Vibe Good Friends)
3. ORANGE GOBLIN - SCIENCE, NOT FICTION  (Peaceville Records)
4. DOOMBOYZ - EVIL RIFFS FROM LOS ANGELES (Self Release)
5. THE BRIDGE CITY SINNERS - IN THE AGE OF DOUBT (Self Release)
6. SARAJAH - SARAJAH (Argonauata Records)
7. THUNDERDOPE - MOTORSATAN (Self Release)
8. ANANDA MIDA - LIVE AT DUNA JAM (Heavy Psych Sound Records)
9. JUPITER CYCLOPS - AGE OF THE UFONAUT (self release)
10. POHL - MYSTERIES (Wrong Speed Records)
11. BAD ABSALOM - PARADISE IS CANCELLED (self release)

Psychedelic Russian rockers Bongtower deliver their galactic doom album Oscillator II with otherworldly concepts and a journey through the solar system. Self released on January 19th 2022, each track follows the group's odyssey from planet to planet with robotic interludes announcing each arrival and departure. 

Starting out on planet earth and beginning the launch into space is the song “Phase”. As we are told the universe is not made for us, the fuzzy thick distorted guitars and angry drums are all around us on the track “For All Mankind”, reminding us of our mission and to find the ultimate answer. Standout songs include the epic thirteen minute track called "Mars" that raises the bar.. Other enjoyable songs such as "Uranus” focus on the vocalist's gravelly growls and sludge guitars, and the dynamic clean breakdowns on these songs makes you feel like you're floating around somewhere in deep space until there's a sudden disturbance from catastrophic guitar frequencies. The album ends with the Vangelis Cover “Alpha” resolving with closure but leaving you wanting more. 

Oscillator II plays like the soundtrack to some of my favorite science fiction movies and shows. Original in storytelling with the distinct psychedelic doom sound, Oscillator II is a dynamic record that sets Bongtower apart from other artists in the genre. Carl Sagan would be proud.

Submerge yourself into this album like virtual reality and reach out and touch the stars.

Listen Here >>> https://www.playgroundz.rocks/bongtower

Cancel The Wall by the three piece LA desert grunge rockers The Absurd is an album that brings energy to higher levels and features vocal, percussion, and guitar driven music from start to finish.

Originally released as Build The Wall in October of 2018, Bent Knee Records has just released a third pressing. Maybe I was hiding under a rock would be the best explanation as to why I have just recently discovered them. In the light of this discovery is a new release of Build The Wall, remastered, with live bonus tracks and a new album name titled Cancel The Wall. This new pressing was released on November 18th, 2021. 

Tracks such as "Squashing Pumpkins" are reminiscent of classic sludge rock and 90's acts including Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden.  The song "Build The Wall" is a standout single to demonstrate the diversity of the group with a sway between melodic singalongs and heavy rock. On the contrary, my first exposure to Absurd was the song “Boots On The Ground” with it’s mantra style sound that resonated with me. 

Cancel The Wall is an album that hints at nostalgic influences and includes a new alternative sound reminiscent of post grunge acts for those who prefer to decipher the sound in their speakers.

Like a bat out of hell comes The Chris Rolling Squad with their latest album Cannonball Holocaust. Released on April 15th, 2021, the french trio comes charging in like a bull and never lets up. A great combination of punk, thrash, and swampy rock and roll make this a unique blend of styles, similar to classic bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Misfits, Metallica,  and the swampy blues riff-age of the guitar player we know as Slash. 

In their opener “Wild Time” it’s sure to keep the party going all night long as they say. The party continues with the track “Hate 2000 blues”. Both tracks offer a swampy slash style of rock and roll, as heard on his work as a solo artist and with Velvet Revolver. With that, a new style emerges with the song “Trapped Inside”. Fast heavy driven thrash metal style in the likes of Metallica and Slayer. They do it so well I beg for more!

The French trio delivers hard hitting singles such as "Straight Down To Hell" and "Hollywood" to remind listeners of the yesteryears with a new spin on hard music. "Straight Down To Hell" doesn’t disappoint. It’s fast and hard. It’s got that Motorhead energy that complements the style of Trapped Inside nicely. Just when you think things can’t get any faster, comes the next track, “Faster”. And yes, it's faster.

Blending European style with traditional American metal, The Chris Rolling Squad is a band to see on center stage with mosh pit appeal and a youthful tone that will bring the crowd to their feet in a busy auditorium or at home through the speakers. 

Listen Here >>> https://www.playgroundz.rocks/the-chris-rolling-squad/