Black Toaster – Astrobird
Self-released – 2026
Rock, Stoner, Alternative, Punk
Rated: ****
Starting off incredibly catchy, with pop sensible alternative rock and a punkish attitude woven through the title track, the Black Toaster three make their intentions clear from the get-go. They are here to entertain and make bodies move! It’s Astrobird, the track, the six track release and the soaring quality of their sound. For it takes off like a Peregrin Falcon carrying a jetpack! This is stoner rock with its boots on the table and punk grease under its fingernails. Especially as the second track Liberty Loan commences, lurching forward on thick, rumbling bass lines that immediately declare occupation of the low end. While vocals and guitar aim to take flight once again. Drums hammer like a massive chugging engine refusing to stop. Liberty Loan is the kind of track that means business.
Lord of The Mountain follows, and you’d better be ready to rumble once again. For the bass work is out of this world, detonating through you skull and you start to understand what the band meant by their own description: “We sound like an old Jeans jacket”. But this isn’t just clothing, this is survival gear for every wild night on the town! And as those fuzzed, fried and fired up riffs shoot through your bloodstream, Lord of The Mountain becomes that magical nod machine. This is what its all about. Acid Metal Man, swinging from swaggering groove to high-speed freeway panic, the kind that makes you check your rearview mirror for consequences. It revs, it howls, it careens forward and soon feels like controlled wreckage disguised as rock ’n roll. Action rock, which captures that worn-in, blue-collar spirit with a high-octane blend of stoner rock, punk grit, and alternative brightness once again.
And this interplay of styles is seamless, punk urgency, stoner heft, and melodic accessibility blur together into a cohesive and distinctive sound. And to add to this they then decide to add a bit of slower momentum and a bit of Elvis into the mix with the longest track on the album Dead Inside, you know Black Toaster is the real deal. Starting out again like the action packed rock you have become accustomed to, rumbling base, choppy drums and spitting guitars. They slow down half way through, where the sprinkles of doom come into play and a guitar is left to fly and perform a flurry. Before the Hound Dog joins the circus… Fireflies ends the twenty five minute long Astrobird release and takes it back to the beginning. Action packed and eager, high-octane, catchy and chunky. Propulsive drumming makes the album surge forward and towards the end with purpose. The bass once again warbling like a maniac, making it all even more steaming. Powerful, and impossible to ignore just as the rest of the Astrobird release. Black Toaster! That old jacket, right? The thing you love and was always there for all those good times… Put it on! It's time...
(Written by JK)
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Black Toaster – Flying Rage Machine