Riff rock and band reviews: My favorites in heavy fuzz/stoner/doom & metal
Live at Hampton Beach Casino in Hampton, New Hampshire, USA *September 15th 2024* I have only seen Fu Manchu live once and it was a long time ago. Five years ago, I was planning on seeing them play in Boston and the tour got postponed until the year after, and then ultimately canceled because of the pandemic. I have been...
Mammoth Volume is from Lysekil, Sweden and formed in 1996. The current lineup is: Kalle Berlin on bass, Nicklas Andersson on drums, Daniel Gustafsson on guitar and Jörgen Andersson on vocals. The band’s past releases include: 1999’s Self Titled, 2000’s Noara Dance EP, 2001’s A Single Book Of Songs, 2002’s The Early Years, and 2022’s The Cursed Who Perform The...
High On Fire are heavy metal band from Oakland, California. The band formed in 1998 by front man/guitarist, creator, and songwriter Matt Pike. He is also the cofounder of seminal stoner rock band Sleep. The other band members that compose the current lineup are: Jeff Matz (formerly Zeke) on bass guitar and new drummer Coady Willis (Melvins and Big Business)....
Live at Widowmaker Brewery in Braintree, Massachusetts, USA *September 13th 2024* For over twenty years I’ve waited to see Dozer live. I became a fan back in 2003 when Call It Conspiracy came out and have been following and listening to them ever since. I was super excited when the band reunited and released last year’s masterpiece, Drifting In The...
Abrams was established in 2013 in Denver, Colorado. The band’s sound has been described as heavy rock, shoegaze, grunge, and post metal. The latest album Blue City came out May 24th, 2024 on Blues Funeral Recordings. Abrams has been active since releasing their debut EP entitled February in 2014. The band’s full length albums include 2015’s Lust, Love, Loss, 2017’s...
Live at Sonia’s in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA *September 12th 2024* Week night shows are always a challenge for me. It’s almost a guarantee to pay the price for lack of sleep the next day or two later, while trying to function normally in my work environment. However, there are some situations that the sacrifice is worth it, and last night...
Scott “Wino” Weinrich could be considered the godfather of doom and stoner rock. His contributions to those genres date back to the late seventies in which, since that time, he created a huge musical body of work. Some of the bands that he was in includes: Saint Vitus, Spirit Caravan, The Hidden Hand, Shrinebuilder, Place Of Skulls, Premonition 13, Wino...
Starting tomorrow night, I’ll be attending three rock shows in four days! Thursday night at Sonia’s in Cambridge, Mass, I will be seeing Boston’s own sludge metal merchants, Leather Lung and Sweden’s psychedelic doom gods, Domkraft. I was supposed to see Leather Lung two years ago at Desert Fest New York. Due to traffic and poor planning, I showed up...
Young Acid is a supergroup from some of Sweden’s accomplished heavy rock artists. The band members use the first names “Mio” and consists of: Arvid Hällagård on vocals (Greenleaf), Alex Stjernfeldt on guitar (Grand Cadaver, Novarupta), Martin Wegeland on bass (Domkraft), Andreas Baier on guitar (Besvärjelsen, Vordor), and Svante Karlsson playing drums (The Moth Gatherer). Young Acid released their debut...
Live at the Jewel Music Venue in Manchester, New Hampshire, USA *September 5th 2024* There are a few bands in my life that have had a huge influence on me since I was young and into adulthood. DRI, which stands for “Dirty Rotten Imbeciles”, has been one of those such bands for me. I have been a fan of their...