22AD – See The World
Self-released – 2026
Rock, Stoner, Grunge
Rated: ***

I don’t know about you. But the band name 22AD immediately reminded me of Alain Johannes’s fabled studio 11AD. And listening to their new album See The World there is absolutely a moment here and there that will surely lead you to think they might be fans and named their band thusly. On the other hand, a lot of what they might have in common with Mr. Johannes might be in the ears of the beholder, although the album also definitely hints of love for that other fabled studio: Rancho De La Luna… 

And continuing the talk about studios, it was recorded at Far Out Sound Studio in Rotterdamn, run by Baardvader’s Niek van den Driesschen and mastered by the one and only Karl Daniel Lidén. The result is a powerful blend of grunge, alternative nineties and stoner captured in a highly melodic jerrycan of diesel. There is a lot of fuel running through See The World, and once on the stereo, it will surely make you kick the accelerator through the cracked asphalt and let it be the soundtrack for your long haul across an imaginary desert. 

Brooding melancholy, detached commentary, all laced with sun scorched riffs that seem to roll on like a heat waves over endless dunes. There’s groove here, riding the sandstorm, but the melodic overtures are never buried beneath the dust. The songs breath and exhume, never bludgeon, never smother. Warm bass lines, and earthy guitars, have it all unfold through patient builds, that on a small occasion are left to drift into a psychedelic mirage…

But always present are that grunge ghost and a punk spirit, not added as an afterthought, but used to either convey a message or remind you that bands like the Meat Puppets could use some more attention. The Spot In Magic track for instance or the You’re Not song. Did we mention the melodicism yet? Of course we did, but there is so much of it, and with a production so slick and thick, yet organic, it something becomes syrupy. But don't worry, it's the good kind of goo! And luckily, there’s also enough low end rumble to shake loose the last bolts of your rusted pickup. 

22AD, are not chasing yesterday’s legends, instead they waltz with their adoration of grunge and foxtrot with all the stoner that came out of that legendary desert. It’s a dance of many, an album that feels heavy, but also hypnotic and romantic. Charming on every song and unmistakably alive, See The World offers a plethora of landscapes and vistas to enjoy. Take the ride! 

(Written by JK)

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Stinking Lizaveta Summer 2026

They’re already out there… Over here… In Europe! That wild trio named Stinking Lizaveta! Starting the tour during a European heatwave that hasn’t occurred in this vicious capacity many times before must have been bewildering. But I am sure the embrace of the ones lucky enough to already have seen them must have provided them with all they needed. And they’re still here. For quite some time! And yes, I will see them too. Cause I will be attending Stoned From The Underground Festival for the very first time. Are you going to see them live somewhere? 

They’ve been releasing music for some thirty years, a fact that was celebrated by the remastered and release of their debut album; which was recorded by Steve Albini in 1996. SRA Records did the deed, but Stinking Lizaveta did the dirty! The dirty business that made Hopelessness and Shame an album that left your nerve endings in tatters and anxiously awaiting a smoke break in the hallway. A thunderous instrumental manifesto that burst out of the Philadelphia underground with all the grace of a runaway freight train! Perfectly captured by Albini, a trio at full energy! Yanni Papadopoulos' already battered and bruised Les Paul screaming like machinery possessed, Alexi Papadopoulos' electric upright bass growling from somewhere beneath the city's cracked pavement, and Cheshire Agusta battering every available surface with glorious intent. Punk? Metal? Free-form jazz? The labels disintegrate under the pressure and give way to something new, beautiful and desired. A brick through the window of convention! And now, three decades later, the maturity of the album, and the rhythm it still contains, makes Hopelessness and Shame even feel less like a debut and more like the opening salvo for a revolution… And we are always in need of one of those! 

PR Wire: 

Philadelphia's cult doom-jazz rockers Stinking Lizaveta return this Summer to Europe for a festival-hopping tour, beginning Saturday June 20th in Italy, including rocking through Croatia for the mighty Bearstone Festival, and completing the circuit July 10th with Germany's iconic Stoned From The Underground festival.

On what is is Stinking Lizaveta's third summer in a row over in Europe booked without an agent, the tour will see Stinking Liz share stages with the likes of Elder, Naxatras, Altın Gün, Mars Red Sky, and more.

Tour Dates:

JUNE 20 - THE STRONG HEART OF WOMEN FESTIVAL - DRUSO CLUB, BERGAMO PROVINCE, ITALY

JUNE 21 - NEW LONG FEST - SPORTS CULTURAL CENTER, NEA MAKRI, GREECE

JUNE 24 - GERMANY

JUNE 26 - UNDERWATER - WROCLAW, POLAND

JUNE 27 - HÁROM HOLLÓ / DREI RABEN - BUDAPEST HUNGARY

JULY 2 - BEARSTONE FESTIVAL - CROATIA

JULY 4 - ART MUSIC FESTIVAL - M.A.U. CLUB ROSTOCK, GERMANY

JULY 8 - NEUE - ZUKUNFT, BERLIN

JULY 10 - STONED FROM THE UNDERGROUND - ERFURT, GERMANY

30 years on from their 1996 debut album Hopelessness and Shame, the trio show no hint of slowing down as they bring their iconoclastic mix of doom, noise rock, jazz, and more across the pond. 2025 saw their vinyl reissues of Hopelessness and Shame and sophomore effort Slaughterhouse on SRA Records (Soul Glo, HIRS), and 2026 will see them release a new album with SRA this Fall.

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Back from the mountains…

We’re back! And sure to be ready for action soon enough… What a trip it was! We travelled down slowly towards the National Parc des Ecrins in France to hike some mountains there and on route got treated to a super surprise concert by Ben Marula & Philip Doyle on the back of a car in the center of Toul. One of our first stops, which promised nothing but good and wild times! After hiking around the Ecrins we departed for the Cottian Alps, did some hikes there, topped the Pain De Sucre mountain and travelled towards Piemonte in Italy. Staying with local farmers of all sorts and then tried a bit of the city life by hitting Turin. A beautiful city ! And if you are ever near Dr Fake Cabinet and his art exhibition store by sure to visit! Curiosa and art at its finest! But we longed for the mountains, so after tasting a bit of beautiful Turin we headed off for the Aosta valley promising ourselves to return. Hiking both the Matterhorn side and the Conge side showed us we could have been there for a week or two as well as in the Ecrins… It was a beautiful trip in every way, letting ourselves be guided by the wind, nature and whatever came out way… No plans… No headache… It was beautiful! 

And now… Now we have almost a thousand emails waiting on the Stoner HiVe account. Almost an equal amount on the various personal and work accounts… So, we’re back… And soon we will get back the usual business of posting words on whatever album that found its way into our ears and hearts! It make just take a few more days though… But listening to all that’s good and heavy starts now… 

What has been your favorite of the past month? What should I listen to first? 

Off to… France and Italy…

It’s that time again… Three weeks off grid, connecting with nature and all the good stuff life has to offer… We’re off to the Ecrins Natural Park to hike around the mountains there and then off to the Piemonte region in Italy. Lots of hiking there as well… And since we’re close to Turin, we might visit that. Hence, we will be taking the Dune Aurora album with us for sure. Got any more tips we definitely need to bring on the road? 

Seeya in a few weeks!

Cesar Sun - The Palace
Self-released – 2026
Rock, Stoner, Punk
Rated: *****

Wow. Wow. WOW!!! There are debut albums that leave a lasting impression. There are also the ones that radiate with hellish joy and hit your skull with a concrete brick. And then there's 'The Palace' by Cesar Sun, a young band from Ghent, Belgium, that ties you to a pole just to run you over while driving a revved-up tank at 100 miles per hour. This is the real shit people. The kind that feeds you razorblades for breakfast and rips the fuzz from your guts.

The intro 'Easy Come' starts with subdued speech before the rope gets payed out, serving energy on a bed of tension before the chest gets pumped up and ripped open with the first real song 'Where Is The Wine?', a belter of gargantuous proportions that displays the utter desperation when one runs out of a certain type of liquid at an inappropriate time. And man, those vocals! It's hard to put into words how they sound, but they're phenomenal with the perfect balance between emotion and power.

Even though the whole album pays homage to the church of rock and its complacent aggression, there are also moments where the gas pedal gets some relief. A great example are the verses in 'Paradies' (the German word for paradise) that form a stark contrast to the chorus and makes the latter blast even harder than it already does. In the jumpy and diverse 'Backwards Overbender' the title appears out of nowhere in whispering form before things get back to the nitty gritty of kicking the shit out of you. And there we've got the key word to this splendid album: diversity. Because the sound of Cesar Sun is all over the place, borrowing from lots of styles while staying coherent all the way through.

Take - for example - the punk influences that spice up 'Piss In Peace' and 'The Line'. Or the way they appear to enter the night shop at some point asking (again) where the wine is before they settle for almost one minute of furious doom, leading to the conclusion the shop might be all sold out in that department. 'Tunacan' is more straight forward and has the line 'you need more money to need more money' ringing in your head for an elongated period of time. It all leads up to the final song 'Easy Go' that shows their most sensitive side during the first one and a half minute, after which elements of postrock are added until the last chord fades out into something that can be called a quiet emptiness, a place where your feelings (that have been so thoroughly tested) are echoing in the large halls of an empty palace, totally in sync with what you've heard the past 24 minutes.

(Written by Ronny Dijksterhuis)

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