Delco Detention – Come Get It!

 

 

Delco Detention – Come Get It!
Self released – 2023
Rock, Hard, Stoner
Rated: ***

Happy release day to Delco Detention! Happy 52nd birthday to the man behind the drums, and dad to the now 12-year-old guitar slinging maniac Tyler Pomerantz, Adam Pomerantz. Recorded in their basement once again, Come Get It! is the fourth album for their Delco Detention project. All songs written by the then 11-year-old Tyler and recorded by him, his dad and whatever big wig from the Heavy Underground they could persuade to sing, trade licks, or play bass. This time however one should pay extra attention to the fourth track, Digital Zombie with none other than George Loving providing some excellent bass lines. Cause George Loving, my dear friends, is the 11-year-old bandmate of the Let There Be Rock School band Tyler Pomerantz is also in. Besides that little dude you also get to hear Jessi Maule of Chokesetter, Jared Collins of Mississippi Bones, Mike Descoteaux, Kevin McNamara & Mike DiDonato, Justin Kerbel of Ransom Child, Dave Wessell of Ickarus Gin and Isaiah Mitchell of Earthless. And honoring the band that propelled this project to fame with a proper bang, they included a Clutch cover. And, that ninth track I Have The Body Of John Wilkes Booth, is done with definite love for the band, the original and with those gritty, gnarly vocals by Jessi Maule makes it all sound rock solid. Which you can easily say about the entire album, all nine tracks. One could state that the album misses that one banger, that From The Basement had with Joy Of Homeschooling. And perhaps the production seems a bit thinner in comparison to that first album. But hey, opening with a kick ass track like Domagoj Simek Told Me Quitters Never Smoke (feat. Jared Collins & Mike Descoteaux) and hearing Isaiah Mitchell of Earthless solo his way straight to the stars on Earthless Delco makes this album already worthwhile on its very own terms. So, I guess you just should go out and get it… Today… I mean, it will not only be a righteous rocking gift for yourself...

(Written by JK)

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Freak Valley Festival

 

 

Freak Valley Festival

And we’re off! Off to Freak Valley Festival in Germany! Never been there, but the Festival has always been high on my list to experience. And this time, the sun, moon and stars, hell, everything in the universe aligned so we could go! Hell, and with a line-up that sports King Buffalo, Besvärjelsen, Kamchatka, Slift, Gaupa, Seedy Jeezus, Astroqueen, Steak, Earth Ship, Earthless, Clutch, The Obsessed and many more!! There is no way we could say no to the universe… We had to go… Seeya’ll on the flipside!

O’ we might upload a pic or two on the Instagram page…

Go here for that… INSTAGRAM

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Number 6

 

 

Number 6

We jump only twelve points from Freedom Hawk on Number 7 to reach this band and their album on Number 6. The next jump will be bigger though… Anyway, on Number 6 we find a band that even got some remarks from voters that did not vote for them, stating: ‘well, I’m not voting for them, they’re going to get enough votes anyway.’ I guess there are even some Stoner HiVe Top 20 followers that do some strategic voting! Holy hell! Well, we never got around to mentioning them on the HiVe this year, but we did manage to see them live again after a gap of quite some years. On the Helldorado Festival in Eindhoven… But due to wild nature of the festival, things tend to get a bit hazy there and I have bizarre memories of seeing them on all of the stages of the Festival. Indeed, it got a bit weird over there! You could say Red Alert! Watch out! But we don’t really listen, cause We Strive For Excellence in whatever we do. Even partying… Or well… And more extremely personal stuff, it also features a song, that in my mind, could have been the best song of this year, if only they did a few things a bit different. I love the voice man. And so do all the fans of this band. And Jackhammer Our Names, could have featured more of the voice, more of the proclamation, declaration nature it does so well… Anyway, obvious from the start… We find on Number 6!

Clutch – Sunrise On Slaughter Beach


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Out on Weathermaker Music

On to Number 5!

Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week…

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week…

Fire Horse
Warlung
Clutch
Everest Queen
Scream Of The Butterfly
Beyonder
Ghozer
Vitskär Süden
Black Space Riders
Jasper

Well, the workload is shifting, which is good… But these flu like symptoms aren’t… The test came back negative, so, it’s not that thing from the past years… But it still makes everything feel pretty horrible… Hope to be ready for some serious HiVe work this Wednesday… My apologies to all for the lack of updates…

Delco Detention – It Came From The Basement

 

 

Delco Detention – It Came From The Basement
Self released – 2021
Rock, Hard, Stoner, Blues
Rated: ****

Flashback. So there I am, around nine, perhaps ten, years old. Driving my parents mad because the computer is downstairs and I’m playing this new game where I’m stuck outside this mansion and do not know how to get in there. My parents are going nuts, because of the constant 8 bit chirping of the computer crickets. The following day I’ve been banned for a week from using the Commodore64. So, instead I play with toy soldiers and this Lego train set I remodeled into a haunted house. Or perhaps I went out and played soccer with my buddies from down the street, rang doorbells and quickly ran away or looked for a way to get my hands on an ice cream or two. Any of that is definitely possible. What I sure as hell did not do was ask my musical heroes if they would like to jam with me and my dad. But, hence the long winded intro, that is exactly what Tyler Pomerantz did. The little man is nine years old and starts writing these kick ass songs in his basement together with his dad Adam. They do some covers as well and one of the Clutch covers got the attention of Neil Fallon who reached out and said, why don’t I add my vocals to one of the covers…

Sure, that happens, but Tyler then goes out and just asks, Neil Fallon, from Clutch, if he can sing one of his own material. He agreed, with some hesitation, and The Joy Of Homeschooling turns out so freaking cool, you just cannot imagine. Tyler plays guitar like an old hand, leaving his sound hanging, his riffs rounded out and hands you this sweet small solo with a mic drop kind of attitude. O’ and then he also picks up the bass and gives you a mean bass line and wicked loop! And one must confess, those lyrics and vocal lines Neil throws across it are sheer perfection and give it this gritty mean ass edge.

Well, that was the first kill and after that, for eight months straight Tyler and his dad go about recording fifteen tracks, with the aid of all these tool cool for school cats from bands like Mississippi Bones, She Love Pablo, Earthless, Hippie Death Cult, Fu Manchu, Lionize, The Age Of Truth, Thunderbird Divine, King Snake, The Mike Dillon Band and Blind Melon. The result is one freaking good hard rocking album steeped in the blues and born from stonerrock. Hearing that guitar, riff, wail and screech; you would not believe the little man is only nine and he has only been playing for a year or two. There’s feeling there, there’s heart, soul and pure love for the strings. And hey, the Dad can sure hit his skins as well; now if only the cat and dog could also play instruments they would have a full band right there, down in the basement. The two are called Delco Detention and the album is wickedly titled: It Came From The Basement.

 We could single out more favorites on the album, like Dirt School with Eddie Brnabic and Ben Jackon from Hippie Death Cult or From The Shadows with these cats named Mike Descoteaux and Bob Mavity, 422 with Kevin McNamara from The Age Of Truth and both Werewolvery tracks with Jared Collins of Mississippi Bones… But to be honest, they’re all fucking cool! Chaos, destruction, rock’n roll! It Came From The Basement!

(Written by JK)

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The Doomies 2021

 

 

The Doomies 2021

It was a covid-proof celebration of all that amazing heavy stuff that came out in 2020, the first edition of the Doomed & Stoned Awards, The Doomies 2021. Nearly 30K unique votes were cast… And the stream was very nicely hosted by John Gist of Vegas Rock Revolution, Blasko of Ripple Music & Volume Forever and Billy Goate, the man behind Doomed & Stoned and initiator of this award ceremony…

And incase you missed it, that live 4/20 stream, it can still be viewed HERE… Congratulations to all that got nominated and ofcourse and extra universal nod and ‘hell yeah’ for the ones who took away the award. Here are the winners!

Best Album – Lowrider - Refractions

 

Best Song - Dopelord  - World Beneath Us

 

Best Band - All Them Witches

 

Best Cover Song – Clutch - Fortunate Son

 

Best New Band – Slomosa

 

Best Debut Album - Hail the Void - Hail The Void 

 

 Best Record Label - Heavy Psych Sounds

 

Best Album Art - Ryan T Hancock 

for King Buffalo - Dead Star

 

 

Let’s hope it becomes a yearly event and every year better still! Well done to one and all!

The Doomies 2021

The Number One album of 2013

The Number One album of 2013

Before we start the Countdown of 2019 we look back at those past 10 years of Stoner HiVe. We know it is now the eleventh edition of the Countdown. But we celebrate 10 years! 10 years of heavy riffs, romps and stomps! 10 years of heavy magic! That all started back in 2009 when the blog started, just so we would have a vehicle to count down the best 20 albums of 2009. The edition of 2013 had 61 lists to tally which of course made the outcome even more valid then when we started back in 2009. That list, deduced out of the lists sent in by 61 heavy music fiends,  started with American Sharks – American Sharks on Number 20. It featured Windhand and their Soma album on Number 3 and the amazing Earth Rocker album by Clutch on Number 2. For the entire Top 20, visit the Countdown So Far post on Stoner HiVe… But what album ended up on the Number One position back in 2013... Well, that’s when we wrote:

“In a last ditch effort, after Clutch held the Number 1 position for days on end, this one surpassed it during the final two days. It now has the Gold Medal firm in its grasp. With eight points more. It is of course the album that was highly anticipated for quite some time. One that was meant to be released earlier; but due to legal issues which arose (thanks to the one that did not partake) after their initial successful reunion run (minus one), they had to change name and lots of bass players that were also there in the very beginning decided to call it quits at that point. For the band that started it all, the band that forever will be known as the godfathers of stoner and the flag carriers of the desert sound was brought to life in 2010 thanks to the vocalist. After which the original drummer joined and plans for the future were brewing at the start of 2011. As mentioned before the project grinded to halt due to multiple legal complications and fans feared the worst. But all good things take time and will always come to pass. For it was definitely worth the wait. The album is a throwback to the good ol’ days; and that lo desert sound that we all love so dearly. But with a more loose, bluesy and perhaps even jazzy sound; you can hear the boys matured and discovered their inner soul and recognized its beauty. The vocalist sounds better than ever, the grooves are there, the riffs are damn fine and the drummer is so magnificent that he alone would have deserved a top spot this year. All that’s left to do is to poor another beer, put on the album and dream away under the starry sky as the fireworks explode above… Peace…”

Some albums wither away with time and some age like fine wine… And we were honored to have Madman Tony Maim revisit the album and scream out his words of wisdom… “Is there an opposite of rose tinted glasses? Shit tinted glasses? Because I remember thinking what is all the fuss about when this came out. Kyuss had imploded and John Garcia had started touring as “Kyuss Lives!” Various lawsuits later they changed their name to Vista Chino and released “Peace”. I thought “meh”. 7 years later I think “woah fuck” what have I missed! Comparisons were inevitable but this is a band who have a past but are also finding their own identity. It’s got a driving groove running through everything which lifts all the songs up. Fuzzed solos are stabbed through the intertwined twin vocals with wild abandon. There is a freedom to the compositions which hint at jams. This is still a great album.”

Vista Chino – Peace

(For the rest of the Top 20 of 2013, that very first one, visit the Countdown So Far post on the blog...)

Stoner HiVe's Top 10 artists listened to last month...

Stoner HiVe's

Top 10 artists listened to last month...

Jefferson Airplane

Massa

Razorlight

Ape Machine

The Youngbloods

The Chats

Atavismo

Clutch

Massive Wagons

Monster Truck

Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Jefferson Airplane

Massa

Razorlight

Ape Machine

Clutch

Right on. We’ve been back now for about a week, slowly getting back into action. Work wise and HiVe wise. Trying to catch up on so many great albums that we released in a the two and half weeks we were gone. What the hell, right. So many, so little time. The Top 5 of Most Listened to album the past week does have two entries that are both off the heavy track in some respects but it was impossible to steer clear off. My love for psychedelic rock and acid folk started with Jefferson Airplane and those first five albums have ever since I first heard them been on heavy rotation whenever the moment was right. With the passing of founder Marty Balin, it was only right to have those first five on repeat for the rest of the day. He was a hippie in soul and heart and every fiber of his being, he still believed in ‘make love, not war’ and we thank him for all the amazing tunes he provided. RIP master Balin… Another weird entry is Razorlight and their new album Olympus Sleeping, out on Atlantic. Due to an interview with Johnny Borrell their first album in ten years was on repeat for two days straight. Definitely energetic and will definitely become a favorite among the Razorlight fans. The great HiVe albums come in the form of the Massa release Walls which we mentioned on Saturday. What a fine five tracks! Cinematic post rock enveloped by both sludgy moments and spacey seventies elements and executed with perfection! Another HiVe favorite ever since their first release has been, was and is Ape Machine! And their new album Darker Seas, out on Ripple Music, is yet another amazing addition to their already damn fine legacy. Punchy riffs and a majestic dynamic give their seventies inoculated rock a stormy groove and a whole lot of heaviness! What an album! And the same goes for the new Clutch! Which is always a treat, and Book Of Bad Decisions, out on Weathermaker Music, tells us what Clutch is all about. Setting course for a big sunset with a gigantic groove and songwriting that seems to come out of some grand old secret tome. A volume only used by grand magicians and old sages, and Clutch has them both in their line-up. You gotta love’m! And you gotta check’m out! Check ‘m all out!

Number 9

Number 9

We pass Geezer and Sinister Haze on Number 10 with five points to reach the band on Number 9. An album, I must confess, that only pulled me in after the new listening sessions started when I saw the votes come in. Man, how could this have passed me by when it was released back in July. Seventies inspired hard rock with heavy metal colors and stoner trucking. And yes, it surely reminds of The Company Band and even Clutch. But then we know why, don’t we? Just as it has some Fu Manchu takes here and there and faster paced Sabbath song rhythms. And there’s a simple reason for that as well. Yes. If ever there was a supergroup, it is this. I just can’t fathom why the album did not grab me right away back then. Cause it did now. But then again, this also happened with Graveyard’s Hisingen Blues back in 2011, which became my favorite album of the year very fast after that. And these cats are now doing the very same thing! It should have been higher on the list! Or did this happen to a lot of you freaks out there? It should have been higher! But that’s just my opinion… My late to the party opinion…

Dunsmuir – Dunsmuir

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Number 16

Number 16

“I am not strict vegan, because I'm a hedonist pig. If I see a big chocolate cake that is made with eggs, I'll have it.” ~ Grace Slick

Three points above those two crazy bands on Number 17 we find no less than three groups celebrating all that goodness that free rock and stoner trucking entails. Three bands that came through with albums this year that a lot of you out there thought were the best of the entire year. But still, they did not get enough points to end up higher than this wild Number 16. Perhaps there was some heavy warfare on route to the country. Or perhaps the psychic power never made it completely into the mind of everyone. Well, they did make into yours! And they sure as hell made it into mine. So above We Hunt Buffalo & Ruby The Hachet we find…

Clutch – Psychic Warfare, 

Freedom Hawk – Into Your Mind &

 The Sword – High Country

Clutch

Freedom Hawk

The Sword

Clutch – Psychic Warfare

Clutch – Psychic Warfare

Weatherman – 2015

Rock, Hard, Stoner

Rated: *****

Two years ago their tenth album Earth Rocker made it all the way to the second place in the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2013. Which was yet another reason with which Clutch, who have been around since 1991, proved to be an always evolving band eager to progress. This time around however the guys seem content or even keen on deepening the sound they provided us with on that much celebrated album Earth Rocker. Their eleventh album is called Psychic Warfare and on it we hear even swampier stoner, intense blues influences and straight trucking hardrock filled with grimy guitar solos and an angry vocalist howling his truth at us. Sometimes a bit funkier and sometimes air dry and sun baked. Most impressive is probably the way they managed to make all that more enigmatic, stirring and cinematic. Songs like Our Lady Of Electric Light are meant to be used in movies, you can just see the landscape pass by and the Hateful Eight wandering off into the sunset. But don’t worry, there’s no atmospheric nonsense here; just a savage wasteland full of grit teeth and bloodshot eyes!

(Written by JK)

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Number 2

Number 2

 

 

“New Belgium Brewing declares a snow day for everyone! This joyful phrase conjures universal meaning: forget work and enjoy.  2ºBelow is New Belgium’s winter seasonal, bringing warmth and relaxation to cold winter days. It carries the subtle chocolate and caramel flavors of the newly developed Midnight Wheat malt. Pleasantly hoppy, the Styrian Golding, Centennial and Cascade hops bring a bright note to complement roasty undertones.  It is the deep garnet of roasted walnut and presents a creamy tan head. “With its layered hops, it delivers the depth people crave in a winter beer but it’s very drinkable,” said Grady Hull, assistant brewmaster at New Belgium Brewing.  “We intentionally created a beer that could carry its weight without weighing you down…””

 

The Silver medal position has eighteen points more than Number 3, Windhand. For the longest time this album held the Number 1 spot in its clutches, which was a pretty big surprise for me. It is a damn good album but I had not expected it to reach that or in fact this position. The same goes for the current Number 1. But; let’s focus on the Silver medal first. Their ninth album made it to the Number 19 position of the 2009’s edition of the Stoner HiVe top 20 countdown. On their tenth studio record the fellas go for the gusto in a big, fast and heavy way. And it may function as a blueprint for all bands out there who might feel like they’re stuck in a rut, format or lack the guts to have the dealer set them up with an additional set of cards. For even though some of the changes seem to be floating beneath the surface and there is still much stoner groove and metal blues to be enjoyed; all limiters are thrown out of the window here. They implore a skinned off sound where instruments crackle and vocals pop. The riffs growl and claw at your face without tearing off your fur. And all eleven compositions are equally powerful and where the band used to loose themselves a bit in extravagant earthly, native or eccentric meandering they now use all those influences much more subtle and have it transport the groove like an underground current. And all those earthly up-tempo beautiful rockers are even more infectious thanks to the vocals that stun with humor and melancholy truths.  All of which are brought to us with care by blues poets, stoner souls and deranged vicars… If you’re gonna do it; do it on stage…

Clutch – Earth Rocker

 

 

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Polkadot Cadaver – Last Call In Jonestown

Polkadot Cadaver – Last Call In Jonestown

Razor to Wrist – 2013

Rock, Metal

Rated: ***

Dog Fashion Disco exploded in 2007 and from its ashes grew Polkadot Cadaver. And with Last Call In Jonestown the guys have already released their fourth effort. It essentially carries on the former group’s experimental and cultivated weirdness. It’s a tasteful mash up of groove metal with sidesteps towards thrash, industrial, progressive and something artsy incorporating less tasteful themes and disturbing subjects. Dark, twisted and aggressive the album washes over you with brutal riffs and manic drumwork. It’s lunacy translated to a heavy shock and aggravating degree, which paradoxically enough leaves one relieved and refreshed. And with Neil Fallon of Clutch lending his soulful vocals to the Transistors of Mercy track the record calls out to everyone needing a tall glass of schizophrenic rock ‘n roll!

(Written by JK)

Razor to Wrist

Number 19

Number 19

This is the ninth album of these American freaks. They formed somewhere around 1990 and have been mixing their styles of music ever since. Starting with Metal and Punk and migrating over to stoner and incorporating funk, blues and many other styles. This album sees them retro-rocking all over the place with fine and dandy stoner influences. Sometimes heavy and aggressive and on other moments experimental and adventurous. We have grown accustomed to their greasy, raw and savage sound. So let’s shift gears:

Clutch - Strange Cousins From The West

http://stonerobixxx.blogspot.com/2009/09/clutch-strange-cousins-from-west-2009.html