EP Review: Kung Funghi by Kung Funghi

Now THIS is the shot to balls we've been waiting for this new year to attack us with! Energy and aggression are the two prominant things on display on the self-titled debut EP from Sweden's Kung Funghi, mix them with beer and riffs and you've got a hell of an exciting listen on the go. The five Swedes tread a slightly different kind of line of stoner that we'd normally refer to on here, where instead of chugging riffs and headbanging, the band wander into screaming territory along with the likes of bands such as Refused, add into it elements of fuzz, and, hell, we've got a party on our hands.

Opening track 'Kill or Be Killed' hits its stride as soon as Vincent Mommeni starts screaming his guts out to a glorious cacophony of riffs and thrashing drums as you barely realise what's hit you as the energy and sheer anger of it all makes you take a step back with a thought process somewhere along the lines of "Woah....what the f.....fuck YEAH!" The fuzzy, bass laden 'One-Eyed Skoll' shows off the Red Fang x Refused crossbreed the band are mashing up so well with heavy stoner riffs mixed in with a youthfully pissed off vocal. The band don't care about what genre lines they cross over, and it's to our delight that they do this; 'No Name' has elements of 80s avant garde, stoner, sludge, hardcore and stoner, while 'Son of a Goat-Dog' is the song that Queens of The Stone Age should be writing these days.

As 'Zugzwang' closes the EP with it's funky-kind-of-Doom, you find that your heart is beating faster than normal and you're slightly panting for breath. Kung Funghi may be short but for the first time in a while it's something new to the stoner genre that can give it the kicking that it sometimes needs. Kung Funghi are that little shot of caffeine you need in the morning to start your day, that little reminder that you're not the same as all of the other droids out there, they're that little voice in your ear that screams 'let's fucking have it'!

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LP Review: I by PEDRA PRETA

Something dark, heavy, and brutal has emerged from the depths of South America in the form of Brazil’s PEDRA PRETA, and their debut record, I, with enough venom and stoner hooks to grind you to your core.

The four-piece have melded together every form of heavy music you love into one confined, suffocating space, where you can experience every head banging emotion you can muster. The riffs switch between drawn out doom and fist-pumping stoner, while the vocals have a hint of bi-polar disorder, jumping between death-like screams to laid back psychedelia. It makes for an edge of your seat listen.

Opening track ‘O Ritual’ starts off as a tribute to Sleep with its repetitive killer riff leading you into a full blown stoner death assault (or as the band call it, “funeral rock’n’roll”) as Mickael Rabello’s vocals are screeched from the depths of hell. ‘Sgurd’ displays some excellent sludge heaviness before ‘Evil Spell’ displays the bands cleaner cut stoner side with softer vocals, but the riffs remain just as dominant throughout.  

When closing track ‘Devils Way’ sucks you into its stoner delicacy, you realise that the record works better with its polar opposite vocal approaches than it would without, as it sets the band apart from the rest of their peers, but also it makes for a much more interesting listen, as when the riffs can’t get any heavier, you have to turn the vocals up to their raw, punishing best, to which PEDRA PRETA do with immense satisfaction. 

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New Band To Burn One To: Intet

If you like your riffs played with a thousand-ton hammer, with your face dragged along broken skulls on a gloomy dark night, with the constant feeling of paranoia and impending death, the holy shit, we have found the band for you! Stockholm, Sweden’s, droning doom newcomers Intet have crafted a demo of epic proportions! Mixed in amongst the slow drone of the apocalyptic backdrop comes absolute killer riffs to melt the heartiest of metallers faces, and vocals spewn from hell itself. The songs are layered, unnerving, and exciting, covering all corners of metal/doom to keep everyone happy.

This is a seriously impressive demo that shows that Intet are going to be creating something masterful with their debut record. Watch this space!

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