New Band to Burn One To: PUSSYCAT AND THE DIRTY JOHNSONS

Directly from the sandy beaches and hot sun of...London, England...comes a raunchy, bawdy, in your face trio of rockers who deliver a high energy brand of rockabilly retro skate surf punk fuzz. The wailing, confrontational, all out vocals of frontwoman Puss Johnson (She's going to have to marry a Hampton, I think) are reminiscent of Sleater-Kinney's incredible Corinne Tucker. The dual guitars of Johnson and lead riff-meister Dirty Jake are a colossal sonic concoction of blistering be-bop and monstrous, memorable melodies. Filfy Antz drives it all forward in breakneck crescendo and perilous climax. This trio isn't climbing into any typical box of the usual fuzz labels, but the retro punk vibe is loud, raucous, and diabolically fun.

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EP Track Stack: KING BOLETE - CANIBALES - GOATSCHLAGER - MAD CHICKEN

There are lots of quality EPs out there, both from known and established bands as well as from artists just trying to get something out there that might garner interest in what they've newly created. This is a classic case of intentionally avoiding the use of labels or identifiers and instead judging something based on its own merits. If an album has only two tracks, but those 2 tracks are pretty damn tasty, then I'm glad they've released it so I can enjoy. So, in the spirit of enjoying what's been made available, here are 4 EPs that provide only 10 tracks between them, but they're ten tracks worth your time because chances are there will be pleasure gained, satisfaction achieved, and perhaps a newfound interest in something of which you weren't aware yet was out there.

King Bolete hail from the Warrior Isles of England...and beyond that not much is known about this newly formed band. Their music is a straight up psychedelic stoner blues rock fuzzorama. What they've given us here is too short and extremely sweet. Hopefully more is to follow soon.

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Canibales is a three man band from Guadalajara, Mexico. They are veterans of stoner blues rock having formed back in 2005 and having released several albums in the interim. The music is primal and addictive. Luckily they have a sizable library on which to feed that addiction starting with the two ass-romping tracks on this new EP.

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Goatschlager, a four piece from Northern Ireland, have featured on Heavy Planet before as a New Band To Burn One To in 2016 with an initial 4 track EP, "Space Apache - Vol. I". Earlier this year they released another 4 track EP, "Dirt Mammal - Vol. II", and now this 2 track beauty "Welcome to Hog Valley" which they say was borne of the creative process for their impending "Vol. III". The music is heavy, hard, deep, and destructive, grinding out stoner vibes and subterranean riffs in memorable melody.

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Mad Chicken, are last but not least. This is a 4 track blitzkrieg of heavy metal from a 5 man Brazilian power troupe, expertly delivering an amalgam of every type of hard rock you may have listened to over the past 4 decades. Incomparable vocals lead the way for twin guitars of explosive fury and a rhythm section of shock and awe.

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Quick Hit: SIMPLE JACK - "BRAND NEW EYE"

Stoner Punk? That's the label I'd give Simple Jack's music, perhaps. As with all labels, though, it never tells the complete, or even correct story. Simple Jack's music isn't punk necessarily. It is brash and bold and unpredictable in its familiarity. Or maybe it's familiar in its unpredictability. The music is massive, with colossal guitars that riff and burn in grand stoner metal style on songs that carry incredibly clever melodies that are never sweet but always clean. Vocals are athletic and perfectly strained, adding a rapturous element to the whole. Subterranean rumble, like quarry explosions, emanate from the muscular bass riffage while the drums are immense, nimble, and deeply engaging of their own accord while still providing complementary assistance to each track

The cinematic image that comes to my mind is grainy black and white with a single Samurai slashing and dancing his way through a horde of challengers. The instrument is sharp and shiny and supremely deadly in the hands of its brash yet masterful wielder who eschews the traditional killing methods for his own lethal style.

Simple Jack are something new, something unique, something out of the standard mold yet still delivering the appropriate weighty sound as well as the important rush of primal triggers. They're raw yet precise, ragged but clever, and a whole lot of fun.

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Doom Hit: GREEN DRUID - "Ashen Blood"

Steady, subterranean, and filthy clean, Green Druid duskily flows with the drone of a thousand rusty amps through the cracks and pores of forgotten, ancient crypts. This sophomore EP from the Denver quartet is a darkly addictive monster of shadow riffs and deep earthen tones of sacred blood. This is doom, and it is mighty.

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New Band To Burn One To: MASTEROID - "HOLLOWED BEINGS"

MegaStonerRetroPunkFuzz has been quite brilliantly captured on this raw, garage rock of an album from a threesome of young and imaginative musicians out of Phoenix. It's a simple sound, yet for all the novice hallmarks of this album it manages to bestow an elegance in that simplicity as well as near genius in its melodic composition. The magnitude of the riffs is towering, brutal, and primordial while the dexterity displayed in the hooks and simple interludes is addicting. The drummers display a magnificent proficiency of timing, power, and heart. The bass is savage, ruthless, and unyielding in its driving rhythms.

These young musicians seem to be ramping up for a career in the low, dark arts of stoner/doom style music. Their inaugural oblations indicate more brilliance to come if they can manage enough notoriety. Here's to hoping that is indeed their fate, and ours.

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Quick Hit: Långfinger - "Crossyears"

Smallstone Records has been a 'go-to' place for great fuzzy music since their inception back in 1995. There is north of 80 rock bands in the annals of Smallstone, many of them pioneers of underground stoner rock, including Sasquatch, Dozer, Lo-Pan, Gozu, and Wo Fat, as well as many up and coming finds that have chosen the venerable label to ply their fuzzy wares, such as the focus of today's Quick Hit, Långfinger.

Gritty, imaginative, hard, and loaded with heavy, pulse-pounding riffs of an old school style, "Crossyears" is a rock solid and laudable Smallstone debut for this Swedish threesome out of Göteborg, who already had two 10" and two 7" productions in their canon before making their way to the notoriety of Detroit's Smallstone Records. Their music crackles with burning, searing, unfiltered energy, engulfing the listener in thick metal smoke of a euphoric atmosphere, carried brilliantly throughout by perfectly matched rawk vocals.

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New Band To Burn One To: THE BIGGEST THING SINCE POWDERED MILK

Something a bit different today. The 'New Band To Burn One To' feature is meant to showcase bands that haven't gotten much attention and perhaps are just starting out in the underground world of the greatest music ever made. Today's band, The Biggest Thing Since Powdered Milk, doesn't have much of a presence online yet, but they do have the above delectable trio. This little bit, though, will likely make a sizeable impression when you give it a spin. These three island warriors have demonstrated a knack for making big, loud, and fun stoner rock music, combining the mammoth guitar that is the hallmark, of course, of stoner rock with a keen imagination for instant hooks and memorable melodies. They have more songs in the bag and are working their way toward an official album release, so, here is what they have so far, something mighty tasty when enjoyed with a large glass of ice cold powdered milk......or something...., and hopefully piquing your interest enough to keep you on the lookout for that eventual album sure to make a large splash when it arrives.

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New Band To Burn One To: SUNDERFEET

A potent sound of high energy, agile vocals, bruising drums, brawling bass, and riffs galore are the hallmarks of this threesome from the north of France. They have mastered the art of combining great melodies with a massive sound, full of razor sharp hooks, skull stomping drums, bone crushing guitar from bass and six string, and dusky, ragged vocals. The music is stonerish and grungy, but uniquely their own as they play with relish and ferocity.

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Album Review Geezer - "Psychoriffadelia"

From that little ol' band from New York comes yet another exceptional release of guitar-racked brilliance in the form of "Psychoriffadelia", Geezer's latest foray into heavy hitting blues rock, this time with cosmic encounters of bright, burning riffs and mind melting incursions of euphoric frenzy. Adding psychedelics to their résumé, Geezer have become a top staple of the stoner/blues rock genre, eliciting ragged anticipation from the junkies of great guitar anthems.

The album opens with the cover of Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog", a staple of 70s rock standards. Geezer make it theirs without trying to emulate the sound of the originators and do a superb job of injecting their own signature sound of massive riffs and searing solos overlaid with ragged vocal brilliance. "Stressknots" is a standard blues rock jam, the kind that Geezer are known for - fun and infectious. The title track sits in the middle of the tracklist and is their first foray into colorful runs and trippy rolls, cruising through a full ten minutes of mind-melting musical munchies. The odyssey continues on "Red Hook", a long slow burn of intoxication and escape. The closer is the incredible, massive "Dirty Penny", a thirteen minute excursion into bright explosions and cosmic detonations. It, too, burns slowly, but powerfully, as it wraps you in warmth and euphoria on its musical journey of magic and satisfaction.

Geezer are:
Pat Harrington - guitar/vocals
Richie Touseull - bass
Charles Ruggerio - drums

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Quick Hit: King Hiss - "Mastosaurus"

Yesterday's Quick Hit was a band from Belgium. While cruising through the land of chocolate, beer, and diamonds I stumbled across another fine act, King Hiss, who have been expertly wielding their 4 piece stoner/doom arsenal since 2011, conquering the metal scene both in studio, with 4 bulging albums and a two track acoustic segue, as well as in the live venues and festivals of Europe where they have made their reputation for delivering towering, stellar performances.

The music is an exceptional blend of stoner and doom sensibilities with some traditional metal thrashing thrown in to spice it all up. The songs are written with an ear for what's intriguing and memorable, while the vocalist lays waste with his well honed sonance in the vanguard of blistering solos, abundant riffs, and ravaging rhythms.

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Quick Hit: Fire Down Below - "Viper Vixen Goddess Saint"

The focus today is on Ghent, Belgium's Fire Down Below and their debut album "Viper Vixen Goddess Saint". There is everything to say about this album. It's an injection of intense musical exhilaration, evident from the opening riff of the first full song, "Through Dust and Smoke" and never wavering in intensity or satisfaction through to the aptly titled closer "The Mammoth". The melodies are the star here, songs written so beautifully, and delivered so expertly and heartfelt that it's an intoxicating opium rush of warmth and pleasure, paradoxically sharpening senses and expanding sensuality, opening dormant avenues of perception in efforts to experience every little nuance of riff and searing solo, of flourishes of stick on skin, of deep bass blitzes, and of every ingress of those brilliant and exquisite harmonizing vocals.

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QUICK HIT: Cloud - "Indeterminate"

Cloud have been around for a short minute, releasing their first EP on bandcamp back in 2015. "Indeterminate" is their second release. It's savory. It's toothsome. It's intoxicating. I very much hope this Pittsburgh trio thrive and continue to manufacture psychedelic stoner/doom riffage just as they have done here and extend that minute into legend and legacy.

The perception sometimes is that instrumental music has to work that extra bit at developing enough creativity to engage and entertain those who experience their music due to the absence of vocals, and the structure vocals tend to supply in stanza and chorus. If that's the case, then mission accomplished, Cloud. There is no ramp up period on any track as each song manages to immediately connect to an atmosphere of intrigue and a depth of discovery. They do this by expertly and eloquently wielding their instruments of stoner brilliance, cranking up the fuzz factor in addictive riffs of low-tuned ecstasy and psychedelic progressivism.

Cloud have added a cunning deviation in the middle of the song selections by inserting the provocative song "Desert Weed" in which they've recruited the vocal inspiration of Mephistofeles' Gabriel Ravera, whose style, at least on this particular rendition, is a magnificent homage to the metal legend of Ozzy Osbourne.

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Band Submission: Swamp Things-Hard Rock From Oslo, Norway

Band Name: Swamp Things
Genre: Hard Rock
Location: Oslo, Norway
Brief Bio/Description: The Norwegian four-piece band Swamp Things have now submitted our second album, 'Blue Desert, Red Skies', for mastering, and a release is imminent.

We've been playing together, with different line-ups and Ola being the only founding member, since 2009. Our first record, 'All Beer and Skittles', was recorded in 2012 and released in 2013.

We play a hard-hitting form of rock, inspired by stoner, hard rock, prog and doom.
Band Members:
Ivan Reigstad (lead vocals)
Ola Solheim (guitar)
Pål G. Sivertzen (drums, programmed synth, backing vocals) Ruben Carlsen (bass)
Links: Facebook