Munich, Germany, has just spawned the heaviest stoner
record of 2016 so far! Swan Valley Heights’ debut self-titled record is one of
biblical stoner rock proportions, combining thick heavy assaults, drawn out
riffs, and warm, grunge-like vocals that wraps the whole thing together in an
awesome package.
The record opens with ‘Slow Planet’, which at over seven
minutes, is one of the shortest songs on the record, with enough stoner and
doomy elements to lay waste to those looking for a good old slice of heavy rock
head banging. With all songs on the album hitting around the 10-minute mark,
the band choose to exemplify their song writing skills as opposed to simply
droning out the same riff repeatedly, and it makes for a worthwhile listen as
the layers of guitar riffs, time signatures, vocal ability, speed, and peddle
dabbling is stretched to its full potential. The band basically make the most
out of every second they’ve got. It’s a good five minutes into ‘Alaska’ before
the delicate vocals enter the frame, not rough or shouting, but gentle, dare we
almost say, singing, and it matches perfectly over the top of their stoner
riffage, a cross between Arctic Sleep and Truckfighters
, and how awesome does
that sound?
, and how awesome does
that sound?
Words such as “epic”, “colossus”, and “thickriffheavysonofabitch”
are all that needs to be shouted while listening to Swan Valley Heights, and
that is most elegantly shown on the track ‘Mammoth’: eleven minutes of stoner
doom/psychedelic riffs to melt the coldest of faces, and destructive breakdowns
to rob your lungs of breath. It’s when you think these three guys can’t do
anymore, they take it up one more notch.
The rest of the album continues it the same devastating fashion;
‘Let Your Hair Down’ rattles the speakers off the shelves with its Neanderthalic
riffage, ‘Mountain’ lulls you into a false sense of comfort before remimding
you just exactly who you’re fucking with, and closer ‘River’changing course
between slow delicate playing, to doomesque meandering, to an all-out riff fest
as the band decide to simply go out all guns blazing!
Swan Valley Heights is a stunning record, using every
riff for a reason, and that reason is to fucking destroy you. The first
essential stoner record of 2016.
After your top albums of 2015 and this recommendation, you have a now committed reader. This shit is seriously good.
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