There is a new Stoned Jesus album, isn't that great news!!! I am so happy that it is here, because that means the will start touring probably (I already know they are). The last show me and boyfriend had tickets for got cancelled as it was right at the start of the war in the Ukraine. It were unsure times for the band, I imagine, but it was also good inspiration for a new album because I am fairly certain that it one of the overal topics of this album.
This is one of the bands I came to know because of the boyfriend, he let me listen to I Am The Mountain, and I was sold on that one. That immens looooong mountain scream is epic and never been challenged in my book at least. That was the song that made me a fan, and I am excited about this new album because it is damn good.
For the ones who do not know Stoned Jesus, they are mix of stoner metal/rock and progressive rock. This genre did not belong to my tastes in music before I got introduced to it by Martijn AKA the boyfriend. He got me into Stoned Jesus, All Them Witches, 1000 Mods, Radio Moscow and more. He introduced me to stoner and doom, which are very hard genres for me to digest, because after all I am a vocal driven listener in the first place. And I love singing along, guilty.
Back to the album, it starts of with the title track, a beautiful ballad, with acoustic guitars, birds in the background, as if they have recorded this outside. This song is something different, something I haven't heard from Stoned Jesus before. The music does build to a climax, and it is also a bit different then you would expect, but in a way it is perfect. It kind of sounds like a prefect day at first birds chirping and then the army rolls in disturbing the peace.
The contrast with "Season of the Witch" is big, going from a beautiful fragile song to the thundering stoner train smashing the acoustic guitar to bits. This song is 11 and half minutes of fun, it is fantastic, and the balance for me is exactly right. The repeating factor that is part of this genre is perfectly balanced, the minor chances in tone perfectly timed, building up to a giant fuzz ball which is smashed by Igor's words " Season of the Witch". The epic guitar solo, followed by a small drum solo, everything has its place in this song.
"Thoughts and Prayers" is not so heavy as the previous one, however it does have its moments, this song is definitely about the war in their home country. The guitars, are awesome in this song, all though the lyrics are pretty dark, the song does also sounds sort of hopeful.
What makes "Porcelain" so great? Well then, the drawn out vocals, Igor shows us that he still got that Mountain sound, it is freaking fantastic! l Again great guitar work, especially the part where it becomes very thin and small and then the fuzz bangs you on the head, genius guitar work indeed.
Con sounds like it comes from the Ukraine, or as a Ukrainian folk song, if you would strip this song down. It does sound Eastern European in my ears. To be honest I haven't heard any Ukrainian folk songs so I could be entirely wrong. I think for me it is the combination of the heavy accent in this song and the guitars (again), it just give it that little bit of foreign-ish.
This album might just only contain 6 songs, but if the general playing time of each is 6 to 11 minutes it sounds like a whole lot more. The album closes on "Get What You Deserve", and this makes it a round circle, it has the fuzz, it has the vocals, the more quiet intervals.
This album is fantastic, I can recommend it to everybody. I hope I got you all excited to listen to it, and if you want to see this band live in the Netherlands, they are coming. You might just have to get over your 5th may (national holiday) hangover to see them, as they are playing the 6th of May in Doornroosje, Nijmegen, at the festival Sonic Whip. There are still some tickets leff!
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