Number 10

Number 10

Just be sure we mention everyone gets how the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown works we mention once again that it is a voted list. It has been since 2009. And no less than 79 music fiends sent in their list of favorite albums this year. And thanks to all the votes that came in for the Number 11 album, we pass Boss Keloid and their Melted On The Inch album on the eleventh position and enter the Top 10 of this Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2018. We move another eight points up now and find two bands occupying the same position. We have featured both bands on the HiVe before but not their latest works, which makes it okay for all of you out there to chase us down the street and throw dead possums at us until sunrise. Cause both albums are simply put: amazing! One band comes once again from Ukraine and the other from the USA. And both of them are heavy in their very own way. Progressive, groovy, pop sensible, aggressive; mixing stoner and metal with punky psychedelics on thirteen tracks it’s a masterpiece meant for a majestic sunrise. While the other mixes all that up with much more post-rock, shoegazing and atmospheric elements without ever leaving the heavy waters. Luscious is a word that comes to mind with both albums and so does epic… So, before we started naming even more words of praise let’s starting listening to the two albums we find on Number 10 !

Somali Yacht Club – The Sea

&
 

ASG – Survive Sunrise

Sonic Whip

Sonic Whip

Tomorrow will be the first edition of the new Sonic Whip festival in Doornroosje, Nijmegen. And it’s quite a line-up they’ve got there! For some weird and possibly insane reason, there are still a few tickets available? Starting with Insect Ark, we get served a tasty dish of psychedelic doom noise. And then we get Church of The Cosmic Skull, Pendejo, ASG, Monolord, Radio Moscow, Monster Magnet and the night ends with GNOD. A wild ride it will be! O’ and did ya know they serve good beer over there! Not just some pilsener, but all different sorts of Triple, Blonde, IPA’s and Porters. And you know the deal. Good people drink good beer, so it will be jam pack with good people! 

Seeya there!

ASG – Blood Drive

ASG – Blood Drive

Relapse – 2013

Rock, Hard, Stoner

Rated: ***

Vocalist Jason Shi’s sound still resembles that of Perry Farrell from Jane’s Addiction. But we are in fact still dealing with ASG from North Carolina. Founded in the year of our lord 2001 the band has already delivered four damn fine albums, but has never made a jump towards the bigger crowds. With their new record Blood Drive that forward bounce might just be waiting around the corner. For they sound like a less aggressive cousin of Mastodon or Baroness and one that was been dabbling in the fun sounds of grunge and nineties alternative. The ever churning riffs, tight drums and impressive solos usually go for that gritty nineties sound but on occasion slow down to knee level banging. And on those moments ASG might impress the most for it shows they do not just simply rumble on without a destination but plot a course and stick to it. Tough, sturdy and solid but with true elegance!

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp