Hope you all
had a happy holiday season. With the coming of the New Year, most folk’s best
of the year lists have been submitted and studied over by the readers and we
now begin the trek of uncovering albums in the coming year. 2017 has just begun
is already showing great potential in the heavy rock scene. Check out these bad
boys which surfaced recently into 2017 camp. Note a few were late in the month
of December, but I’m gonna go ahead and call them okay for this article.
Carnaval – Miss Universe
This is
my first taste of Carnaval and I'm super impressed. It's got a little bit of
everything. Heavy, fuzzy grunge soaked guitar riffs, noise driven melodies,
psychedelic leaning atmosphere, and an overall hard hitting groove. I hate
making the reference but think of a more hairy, gritty QOTSA. Take note on that
riff orchestra on 'Bluebird'. Wow! Favorite track: Bluebird.
Black Prism – Black Prism
After
releasing a 7-inch single a couple years ago it’s been relatively quiet in
Black Prism headquarters, but wait no more. Their debut full length album is
out and it’s a rager.
With the
relentless rise of Sabbath Worship in today's heavy underground scene the
jadedness has already set its hook. Black Prism swap Sabbath with Prism
utilizing an Ozzy-esque tone to annihilate the stage riffing with a bit more a
hard-edged stoner swagger as compared to the classic Sabbath fuzz. Sabbath
influence is a given here, but Black Prism are an easy pick out of a modern
Sabbath Worship lineup and guilty on all counts of rocking the fuck out.
Book of Wyrms – Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Twin Earth Records latest monument came up
for grabs on New Year’s Day and is a mammoth of an album. It may be the
heaviest album to come from Twin Earth in quite some time.
Moments
of skull crushing riffs hammer with rhythmic bliss matched by angelic vocal
tones. The psychedelic meanderings peak with doom laden bass lines, serrated
guitar chords, and ravishing vocal hymns. However just as impressive as the
vocals are the instruments. The guitar riffs are righteous!
Stone Cream – Slaves of Doom
After
blowing everyone's mind in early December 2016, Stone Cream is back with
another full length album. This is smoking hot. The riffs remain slathered in
vicious blues and the vocals stench of whiskey and bacon. More stone than
cream, but an invigorating listen either way. Perfect rock and roll album
length with high volume, foot stomping groove, and bar room stoner blues.
The Smoking Bones – Moods
The
Smoking Bones are a smoking combination of groove laced rock and roll steeped
with a healthy bag of classic punk. High on energy and catchy as all hell,
Moods slays us with party anthem riffs and hot melodies that'll stick like
resin on a bong stem.
Electric Age – Sleep of the Silent King
This album
is blowing me away right now. Nice break from the typical stoner rock. This is
groove oriented heavy southern metal with killer vocals and epic arrangements.
Woah. The NOLA/Southern tags apply but does not do this stuff justice. Out this
year on Argonauta Records. This is straight up ROCK!
Its 2 days
into the New Year and the material is pouring through the gates promising to be
another smashing year in bandcamp. If you haven’t signed up for a fan or band
account yet, I am strongly suggesting you join forces with the rest of us
who’ve found a home here. Round one bonanza for 2017 and it’s a doozy!!
-The Huntsman
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