Deftones – Private Music

 

 

Deftones – Private Music
Reprise / Warner – 2025
Metal
Rated: ****

In the foul year of our lord 2011, I had the pleasure of talking with Mr. Moreno and the then still part of the team Mr. Vega. And sure, we talked about music and the Deftones Covers album that was released for Record Store Day that year. But we talked more about their favorite spaghetti dish, the might of big company, pulling pranks, the sublime qualities of water and what the two of them would do if they would suddenly turn into a lobster the next time they did an ollie on a skateboard. All that was here nor there back then and even more so now, cause the band is back with a new album and perhaps it has absolutely no place on Stoner HiVe. For the band is no heavy underground band at all or a starting heavy band or anything to do with stonerrock of psych or doom. Or… Etc. Why do we want to mention Private Music in that case you say? Well… 

Because it’s pretty darn freaking good! And sometimes, it doesn’t have to make sense. In some ways the new album grabs back to their earlier sound of metal, shoegaze and hardcore. And in other ways it screams about post metal and an early two thousands nu metal touch. All turned up and into something all leveling, roaring and thundering. With vocals that often scratch that emotional itch, although some do sound smoothed out or edited. But then there’s one of those screams and howls, or another wistful refrain to jump on and you forget about that and scream along. There’s just so much good and heavy to enjoy, to punch along with. Shadowboxing your self into a state of admiration for almost every track on Private Music. And then there’s the guitar work, the slicing riffs, the electrifying leads, the serrated tones. Deftones’s Private Music is their tenth album in their thirty-seven years of existence and is without any doubt in my mind one of their absolute best. Which I definitely had not expected. Did you?

(Written by JK)

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Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power

 

 

Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power
Warner/Roadrunner – 2025
Metal, Black, Post, Shoegaze
Rated: ****

I could have sworn we mentioned their lesser metal more shoegaze album Infinite Granite back when it was released in 2021. But apparently, we did not. And so we jot down these words about the new Deafheaven album Lonely People With Power as if it comes back to back with Ordinary Corrupt Human Love from 2018 and New Bermuda from 2015. And on some levels, it does. For Deafheaven moves decidedly back to that metal side and the black metal screams that turned the metal world into a black metal haven, a heaven, a Deafheaven. It’s blast beats galore and granite grinding vocals, surging across crashing guitar tsunamis. But they haven’t discarded all of those Infinite Granite movements, for the dynamic range has been amplified, the waves crash harder and the flow between all the different elements feels natural and almost super natural. Otherworldly storms of blissful power and torturous components, turn into heavenly flowing dark, pop sensible melodies. With Amethyst being all of that in its purest and harmony bringing form, binding all the different elements of Lonely People With Power into one shining piece of jewelry. It’s Deafheaven, and all of it…

(Written by JK)

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Rival Sons – Lightbringer

 

 

Rival Sons – Lightbringer
Atlantic / Warner – 2023
Rock, Hard, Seventies, Blues
Rated: ****

We all knew this one was coming, because they said so when they released their other album Darkfighter, the other side of this coin, back around June. Which meant a glorious return for Rival Sons. And this new, six songs strong, release called Lightbringer will only cement that return. Over thirty minutes of more tough and ballsy Rival Sons hardrock. The release starts paradoxically enough with the track called Darkfighter, which is heavenly and blissful all almost nine minutes long. A roller coaster that takes of slowly, goes through all these maddening curves, before coming to that explosive end section. Emotional and heartfelt vocals, unsteady and honest, take you towards some of the best singing you might hear this year. And you already heard those amazing eight tracks from that earlier album sporting the amazing talent of vocalist Jay Buchanan. This takes all that up a notch. The entire composition of that one track rivals all you heard from Rival Sons before. The acoustic and electric, with the seemingly chaotic dance, flamenco and seventies blues duking it out, the transition into something more sixties oriented, the Hammond punctuating that special evolution, that change is gonna come sentiment, and the absolute intense conclusion. One of the best songs to be released this year. It is also the song that sheds light on why Rival Sons decided to release two albums, for this one shines in a different way, immediately. It casts off the shadow and doubt prevalent on that other album, it dares to state that the positive surge that you could feel underneath the tracks on the Darkfighter album, will be here from now on. And that is true for the rest of the album. If you are not convinced, just listen to that final track Mosaic, unapologetic in what they aim to achieve with this song, you can just feel the surge of energy that is behind it all. That green light slowly drawing nearer, hopes and dreams alive and fulfillment within grasp. It is all encompassing and all that Lightbringer conveys… And all we can possibly need...

(Written by JK)

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Rival Sons – Darkfighter

 

Rival Sons – Darkfighter
Atlantic / Warner – 2023
Rock, Hard, Blues, Seventies
Rated: ****

The eight tracks on the new Rival Sons album Darkfighter will be followed up this year with another release called Lightbringer. The duo of records are the result of all the hard work the band put in during the pandemic. In fact, they’re the first albums they wrote outside of the studio, sending pieces back and forth and writing about all they experienced and saw while the world was spiraling through the lockdowns and twisting through all the cultural division in their home country. They’ve always been on our radar but some reason we only ever mentioned their 2016 album Hollow Bones. Al lot of atrabilious and melancholy songs about loss and darkness, wolves at the door and death calling. Only a couple of more hopeful songs are allowed to shine their light on Darkfighter. But really shining, are the compositions, the guitar work and of course, as always the case with vocalist Jay Buchanan, the vocals. Recorded by Dave Cobb in Nashville, Rival Sons manages to glow most whenever their hardrock is allowed to go off into whatever territory they want. The slower, still soulful, tracks lack a bit of urgency and sparkle. Bright Light for instance just sort of meanders on, perfect for a moment of rest but, when you know there are also tracks like closing track Darkside on the album, you will surely be listening to that side more. With acoustic parts, the beastly groove that offsets it, turning every dynamic rabbit out of every rocking magic hat, Darkside is one of the highlights on an amazing album. And even though there is darkness and melancholy here, you can feel the positive message that seems to be surging underneath and when that final Darkside tracks slowly dies away, it will leave you with a feeling of hope and gratitude. Thank you Rival Sons.

(Written by JK)

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Mastodon – Hushed & Grim

 

 

Mastodon – Hushed & Grim
Warner – 2021
Rock, Prog, Sludge, Stoner, Metal
Rated: ****

We do that sometimes, we look back at the amount we mentioned a certain band on the HiVe. And in when it comes to Mastodon, well, Crack The Skye made it to the Number 2 spot of the very first Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown we did, back in 2009, when the Stoner HiVe started…  We mentioned Jonah Hex and The Hunter reached Number 15 of the 2011 Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown. Once More ‘Round The Sun got a mention in 2014 and then it got quiet. For some reason we never gotten round to mentioning Emperor Of Sand, even though we definitely did dig it. And now it’s 2021 and Hushed & Grim has arrived. A fifteen track album that might definitely be labeled as a magnum opus. Fifteen tracks that will take you with them and give us that Mastodon sound we all love so dearly and then turn the tables on you and explore some more exotic atmospheres, borders and genres; making the entire effort even more prog and even technical than before. Along those lines we might also view the vocal execution, with the different voices of Hinds, Sanders and Dailor adding the perfect, crazy or wild other dimension of a certain part to the other. Highly dynamic and incredibly warm; even the bleakest and darkest moments will not make you shiver but instead reassure and comfort. And they add an amazing guest spot for Marcus King on The Beast turning it into something weirdly southern, otherworldly prog and bluesy yet also dark and heavy. David Witte from Municipal Waste aids on ominous sounding Dagger, quickly turning oriental, eastern and classy. It’s followed by Had It All which features Kim Thayil from Soundgarden, which might be viewed as the most modest and thoughtful of the fifteen, offering insights into retaining sanity and peace after, well, life happens. It also features Troy Sanders mother Jody Sanders on French horn. And then the end run, those final tracks, pounding, sludgy and ending it all with closer Gigantium. What a track! What an album! Authentic and honest. Compelling and intense. Fiery and inspired. Hushed & Grim.

(Written by JK)

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