It’s camping season in more ways than one. Just dusted off
the old Dutchman Classic 26’ RV Trailer for its first trip of the season over
Memorial Weekend. Thanks to all the veterans who did what they did to help
allow us to keep on camping like we do. And hey, how about technology? While we
are out camping (real life) I was able to link up to some Bluetooth speakers
and play some tunes right in camp via the trusty bandcamp mobile app. That and
the last few weeks have yielded some good finds. Take a look below for issue
#73 of Bandcamp Bonanza.
Zodiac Rippers – Demo These guys absolutely rip! Strong demo sounding somewhere in the middle of early Danzig and Motörhead with an undeniably catchy groove. Bust out your dancing shoes, the bar room floor is calling your name.
Mountain Dust – Seven Storms I had no idea that Mountain Dust was releasing a new album. Being that their last one ‘Nine Years’ was in my top five bandamp albums of 2016 it was a no brainer to get right on the new one. Much to my chagrin, the album does not suck. Seven Storms brings us 9 tracks of smoldering retro groove, whereas Nine Years gave us 7 songs. What remains is the bands ability to stand above the sea of sameness in a genre where the competition to get heard is at an all-time high. Seven Storms ups the ante on complexity and darkness. The textures are on the sinister side, and I get more of a touch of Graveyard meets Jim Morrison with a variety of psychedelics, hard-edged groove, and sultry grit in the vocal delivery. This one will be mandatory on vinyl as its being released by Kozmik Artifactz later this year.
Mr. Bison – Holy Oak Mr. Bison trample us with a lysergic array of hairy riffs and pummeling groove. The Hendrixian fuzz echos a wicked tone as the rhythm intensifies each and every song. Holy Oak stands tall and will be considered a paramount heavy rock release of 2018.
Zen Bison - Krautrocker Speaking of Bison, there is something about bands in the hard rock scene with the burly beast in their title. This is the 3rd band with 'Bison' in its name I've listened to this week and further cements the 'bison' bands as an indicator of high quality, hard rock n roll. The psych vibes are strong on Krautrocker as is the spacey groove and powerful groove. Much prefer 'Bison' over 'Goat' bands. Favorite track: Krautrocker.
Kint – Stoned.Immaculate This is an absolutely crushing display of atmospheric doom with a soothing balance of heavy rock hooks and progressive sludge power. Extremely accessible in its class and highly recommended. Not since this year’s Boss Keloid release has an album tickled my fuzzies quite like this.
Atomonaut – Inner Space Vol. 1 This is right down my alley. The combination of hazy southwestern blues, proggy stoner riffs, and soulful psychedelics really hit the spot, hard. I can’t get enough. Not much else like it out there right now.
Red Mesa – The Devil and The Desert The Devil and the Desert takes us on a conceptual journey through Southwestern riffs where the Devil‘s red dust cyclones clouds of psychedelia upon the distorted Desert dunes of rock n roll. Seamlessly Weaving heavy groove and spiritual acoustic passages the band preaches the gospel of Americana in the tone of heavy fucking metal!
Cleophuzz – Wizard of Phuzz Hazy vocals with a psychedelic grit accompanied by a downright wicked assortment of phuzzy riffs and progressive textures. The combination of the sitar and cello with the dueling vocals and stoner groove exhibit surreal stature. Favorite track: Mirage.
Gods & Punks – Ceremony of Damnation Pt. 1 Welcome to the Ceremony of Damnation folks. 4 tracks of subliminal doom etched in stoned out blues and serrated with hypnotic psych will have you worshipping the almighty riff as if you weren’t already. Top band!Favorite track: Welcome to the Ceremony.
El Rojo – 16 Inches Radial No frills hard and heavy rock n roll is the name of the game with El Rojo. The red as translated in English is an Italian band that just arrived on the scene and debuted a fantastic hook-laden rocker. As I mentioned in the Doom Charts Bandcamp code giveaway,“The riffs are dusty, the groove is hazy, the vocals are beefy and melodic. El Rojo is gassed up and ready to shred a heavy bluesing twang your way on its debut EP. You have nothing to lose but your mind so get in before the dust settles.”
-The Huntsman
