Stöner – Stoners Rule
Release Date: 25th June 2021
Label: Heavy Psych Sounds
Bandcamp
Genre: Stoner, Desert Rock.
FFO: Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Hermano, Slo Burn, Truckfighters.
Review By: Paul Franklin
With that band name and album title, legends of the stoner/desert rock scene, Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri have eliminated any possible ambiguity over how their new project might sound. Unless of course it’s a bluff and this is an album of synth-heavy disco numbers?…………Nah! There’s only one way this shit is going to sound.
Aligning neatly with the stoner ethos, the album has a very chilled, relaxed feel, almost like having dropped in on a jam session. This is perfectly illustrated by opener Rad Stay Rad with Oliveri’s growling bass and Bjork’s laid-back vocal style, they quickly find their groove and there they stay for the song’s six and half minutes. Looking at a few online comments for the accompanying video, the words ‘boring’ and ‘repetitive’ do appear quite frequently, and I must admit upon first listen I may have agreed, but the more I replayed the album, the more my mind was changed as it enveloped me in its fuzzy goodness.
Firstly, you need to play this bad boy on some good quality speakers/headphones, not just ones that can handle the disgustingly low rumbling bass tones that could give orgasms to blue whales, but ones that are detailed enough to pick up all the subtle little tricks that Oliveri and Bjork sprinkle throughout each track. As an experiment I listened to the song online through my laptop speakers, then again on some decent headphones and the difference was amazing, it explains the negative comments that the video received, so much of detail and nuance is just lost. Secondly, you need to be in the right frame of mind, you need to let your mind meander with the music, this is not an album to put on in the background while you do something else, unless that something is sitting in the sun with a cold beer (or the natural relaxant of your choice!)
Although Rad Stays Rad and Stand Down are probably the most Kyuss-like tracks, there is some variety on display as the band explore some of their other influences. Own Yer Blues gets even more laid-back starting with the trio’s take on traditional delta blues before descending into the depths of the swamp for some filthy riffing. Oliveri then takes the mike for the short, punky blast of Evel Never Dies (a tribute to the motorcycle stunt legend) that provides some QOTSA-style time signature changes. Nothin’ is another short blast of a track with more than a hint of Neil Fallon in the vocal dept. (Stöner are supporting Clutch on their upcoming tour). The finale to Stoners Rule is the 13-minute Tribe/Fly Girl, an epic stoner groove that rounds thing off with warm sense of camaraderie inviting you to “Get your boots on/We’re going to town/We found our tribe/we’ve found our sound.”
To be honest, they found their sound a number of years ago, but as they proudly declare in the opening track “Shit don’t change/Rad stays rad”.
Amen to that.
(4 / 5)
