Nuclear Dog's Triple Blast: Geezer, Wasted Theory, Mississippi Bones

The end of the year hurtles toward us at breakneck speed. 2016 has been a signature year in many respects, not the least of which are the numerous new EPs and LPs released by both known and unknown stoner/doom bands, many of them of exceptional quality. I'm sure someone will reflect back and say it wasn't a great year for new music. Poppycock! Get off my lawn! There has been so much great new music this year I will STRUGGLE, mightily, to narrow the releases down to a 'Best Of' list of any reasonable length. But that's a chore for another day. Today's task is simple, and fun. There are three amazing, astounding, outstanding, wonderful new LPs released one each in September, October, and November that I want to share with you. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present:

• Mississippi Bones - "2600 AD: And Other Astonishing Tales"
• Wasted Theory - "Defenders of the Riff"
• Geezer - "Geezer"

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Mississippi Bones - "2600 AD: And Other Astonishing Tales"



Fresh off a banner release in 2015, followed by a 2016 vinyl release that we reviewed recently on HeavyPlanet (Songs for the Rejects, Slackers, and Rabble-Rousers) Mississippi Bones add to their prolificacy by releasing another romp stomp LP with 2600 AD: And Other Astonishing Tales, 12 more songs that rattle and crash with incredible energy, enthusiasm, and elegance.

I will be the first person to point out my own shortcomings when it comes to understanding the mechanics of music. I am simply a fan of what I love, all of which begins with big guitar, and can only be enhanced with melody and great vocals. Mississippi Bones provides those three traits in spades. When I listen through this album I hear elements of Clutch, which makes this music quite exciting to me, but that is only the starting point for what they've created here. Music of this quality, at this rate of production, has to be a product of great musicianship from each member, and with six full members that equates to a product of tremendous content and caliber. Listening to this album is like being involved in a Fight Club brawl. There are a LOT of hard hitting, bruising punches, hammer-like blows to the head, and unseen, unpredictable, razor sharp strikes, all leaving you spent, exhausted, and keenly satisfied. The difference is there is no pain or discomfort involved in listening, just sheer raucous rock n roll pleasure, a fierceness of execution, and a keen sense of joy.

Hailing from Ada, Ohio, Missisippi Bones is comprised of the following members:

Jared Collins - Vocals
Dusty Donley - Guitars
Jason Miller - Drums
Derik Dunson - Guitars and Vocals
Jason Rector - Bass
Heather Collins - Vocals

Mississippi Bones make perfect use of multiple instrumentation on their music, and I count vocals as one of the instruments. The use of three perfectly attuned rock vocalists adds greatly to the depth and quality of their songs. The blending and meshing of guitars as well as harmonizing vocals makes for a super huge sound that envelopes you in sticky sweet warmth, while simultaneously providing crystal sharp individual runs and riffs that weave a heavy quilt of intensity, intrigue, and interest.

Mississippi Bones are not signed to a label, which is perplexing as hell. They are prolific and they are accomplished. I would think there would be huge interest in championing what they have to offer for quality hungry stoner/doom rock fans. The good news is their music is easily accessible and available in this high tech day and age.

bandcamp || facebook

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Wasted Theory - "Defenders of the Riff"



You want rough, tough, edgy, loud, and lewd on your plate of underground fuzz metal? Look no further than Wasted Theory and their new release "Defenders of the Riff". This band is one of hard work, grit in your craw, grit in your hand cleaner, of big bore engines and steel-toed boots, of backyard barbecue over fluid and coal, of well worn jeans and righteous facial hair, of All American ass kickin' in whatever way needs kickin'.

I follow the awesome album cover artist Alex von Wieding, who has created dozens of incredible fantasy pieces for metal bands around the world. He happened to mention how the music behind one of his latest album covers was contagious in effect and humongous in scope. That album was "Defenders of the Riff", which you can tell by the artwork above was a great inspiration to von Wieding's vision for the album cover, an extraordinary work of art for a remarkable collection of rocket-fueled retro blues rock n roll.

Hailing from the great states of Maryland and Delaware, Wasted Theory are:

Larry Jackson, Jr. - Vocals, Lead Guitar
Brendan Burns - Drums
Dave McMahon - Rhythm Guitar
Rob Michael - Bass

Just the song titles alone are enough to get your juices flowing with handles like "Get Loud or Get Fucked", "Belly Fulla Whiskey", and "Throttlecock" to name a few. The music behind those titles are big gauge buckshot blasts of big boulder stoner blues, without a doubt. All of the music on this album is a romping good time, with upbeat tempos driven by mangy riffs, decibel heavy, low tuned rhythm, and one sweet gravelly voiced front-man deftly leading the way. The music gives an aura of rawness, but is thoroughly grounded in melodies that immediately cut to the listener's primal core, carving deeply chiseled niches that will have you constantly playing the songs in your head long after you have had to plug in for a re-charge.

bandcamp || facebook


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Geezer - "Geezer"



If you ever want to study a band that is the absolute epitome of stoner rock then look no further than Geezer. While they don't stand alone in this category, they certainly stand at the top of the hill, a hill that they've worked hard to surmount. There are no tricks, no gimmicks, no shortcuts to their music, just good old fashioned heart and hard work laid over tremedous talent and uncanny ability. This has rendered a deeply beautiful collection of fuzz and grit on their latest release, the self-titled "Geezer", on both the Ripple (digital/CD) and STB Records (vinyl) labels, their fourth overall.

Hailing from Kingston, New York, band members include:

Pat Harrington - Guitar, Vocals
Richie Touseull - Bass
Chris Turco - Drums

There are two huge hallmarks of Geezer's music that immediately pull you in when you first hear them, the huge presence of wire melting FUZZ, which I love, and Harrington's equally fuzzy, gritty vocals. He has a quality that is perfectly suited to this style of heavy metal, full of metal shards and crunching concrete, but also crystal clear and athletic in range, a rarity among vocalists in a genre that too often relies on yelling more than singing.

But the goodies don't stop there. Behind the fuzz, of course, are the guitar and bass of Harrington and Touseull, but not before you are treated to the heart pounding stickwork of Turco to kick it all off and keep the music grounded in primal flow. There is absolutely nothing straightforward about what they do as they explore an exciting and enticing variety of sounds, tempos, emotions, and sensations on their intricately beautiful riffs and eloquent runs. This album ranges from darkly haunting as on "Sun Gods", and sweetly melancholy on "Dust", to jump jiving blues rock boogie on "Superjam Maximus", with mind and soul bending psychedelic carpet rides, such as those featured on "Bi-Polar Vortex" and woven throughout.

bandcamp(Ripple) || facebook || bandcamp

Nuclear Dog's Atomic Split: Wheelfall - "Interzone" / Stoner Train - "Hobo From Outerspace"

Today's Atomic Split features two bands unique and disparate in style, but with a common trait of deep, gravelly voiced vocalists. One band is from France and plays excellent stoner/doom music. One band is from Russia with a sound straight out of Alabama or Mississippi. Two different approaches, doubling up on the pleasure of the best rock n' roll in the world.

WHEELFALL - "INTERZONE"

Wheelfall are a very enthusiastic band, excited about playing their version of rock, equally excited about it being an all out assault of stoner/doom tunes, down tuned to the max, underpinned by heavy piledriving bass, and all bracketed up by the snap and thunder of the drums.

Band members include:
Wayne Furter - guitars, vocals
Niko El Moche - bass
Cactus Flo - Guitars
Niko Elbow - Drums

The riffs are determined and fuzzy, rendered with passion by Wayne and Cactus Flo, with Wayne topping the layers off with his deep, gravelly vocals that fit expertly into the groove of these doom tunes. Everything is big and bold, a relentless assault of steady jabs and left hooks, punctuated by an occasional uppercut, each landing a jarring blow that renders you senseless and wobbly from the weight and force, but smiling from the pleasure of the brutal encounter.

Wheelfall take inspiration for their lyrics from science fiction and fantasy, from books and movies alike, naming John Carpenter, HG Wells, and David Cronenberg as some of their favorite influences. Every song is deliberate and devastating, including the opening track "Howling" where they waste no time with a beautifully rendered stoner opening that quickly gives way to the crunch and crack of Wayne's rough hewn vocals. The opener is perhaps the highest tempo song on the album, but it leads eventually into a low down delivery of mud slugging fuzz. "Parasite Ravages" is huge and powerful, evoking the slow but inevitable catapult advance of heavy booted warriors of old. The best is saved for last, with the title track "Interzone" delivering the largest and grandest song in the stack, going over 22 minutes of grind and grit, with cast iron filings flying all over the place from the non-stop riffs grinding it out with the roll and boom of big, powerful bass, along with the pounding fury of the relentless drumwork.

This foursome from Nancy, France bring the metal, all fuzzed out and distorted to the max, with helpings of thunder and doom on the side.





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STONER TRAIN - "HOBO FROM THE OUTER SPACE"

Our next full throttle, full throated album comes from a prolific Russian band, Stoner Train. Hailing from Moscow, they have released 3 separate albums in the course of 2 short years, all of which are more than worthy of the time spent getting to know these fun and singular songs. The newest album is "Hobo From the Outer Space", released in June, which more than makes up for a lack of proper English grammar with a huge dose of international rock n fucking roll that has the unmistakable sound of Southern U.S. rock of the seventies, displaying huge, bluesy guitars, along with heavy doses of banjo and harmonica.

Stoner Train consists of:
Serj Gdanian (Burning Beard) - guitars, vocals
Johnny Palchikov (Johnny Basstard) - harmonica/banjo
Vladimir Terterin (Cowboy 'Old Face') - drums

The harmonica is used prolifically throughout "Hobo" as well as on their previous two offerings, "Sluts for the Rebels" and "Rusty Gears", where it is wielded with force and power on many tracks, and while not normally an instrument of choice for music that prides itself on being as heavy and as forged in the high temperature foundries of hard, hot steel, the enthusiastic and crazy members of Stoner Train make the harmonica work, and make it work beautifully. The harmonica slides right in next to the down tuned riffs of Burning Beard's guitar as well as complements the lightning hot blues guitar from Serj.

The opening track, "Cannibal Hobo", is a perfect introduction to this singular collection of music out of the distant, cold capital of Russia. The guitar begins slicing away immediately upon takeoff, and charges straight through to the introduction of the wonderfully guttural, gravelly vocals of Mr. Gdanian. "Land of the Unheard Song" incorporates generous portions of the harmonica, not to mention a deft and incredible vocal rendition from Burning Beard that is worth the price of admission on its own. Both those elements are complementary to the deep and acoustic strumming of the guitar on this track, a feat of unusual accomplishment. Perhaps the best blending of high energy, adept guitar with Stoner Train's unique wielding of harmonica comes on "Dancing on the Grave"

The songs on "Hobo From the Outer Space" are all well written, with beautiful melodies that lend themselves perfectly to the high energy signature of the Stoner Train musicians. With songs that have such titles as "Dogs From The Outer Space", "Coelophysis Stuthiomimus", "Tractor Driver Fred", and "Frozen Booty Jam", there is a dominant theme of huge fun and high energy on their newest release that matches or surpasses their earlier albums, something that is sometimes hard for bands to sustain over the course of several recordings. Stoner Train, though, not only sustain their high energy and superb creativity, they demonstrate on "Hobo" significant growth in their ability to develop their craft, no longer relying upon cover songs of their favorite musical influences, instead developing high quality melodies that incorporate the discipline of good song writing on the collection of tunes on this album.

Music this fun and unique is nothing but pure enjoyment when it comes along once in a blue southern Russian moon.





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