Mos Generator - 'Nomads' (Ripple) 4.5/5

Its been five years since we last heard any brand new material from Seattle grungy stoner retro rockers Mos Generator, but now at long last we have album number five, and believe me, the wait was worth it.

This one kicks off with the riff heavy Cosmic Ark with its post Sabbath riffage, Ozzy-u-like vocals, it's sludge and grind soundscapes and mellow middle section resulting in something that sounds like it could be taken from Sabbaths Technical Ecstasy, a belter of a track. And having set up the stall, Mos Generator continue in fine style. All that time out hasn't changed them at all, all the classic Mos Gen trademarks are here, the heavy as hell riffage, the searching and emotive lyrics, the flashes of 60's psyche rock, the undercurrent of Seattle grunge, the sweet blues licks... all the elements that have marked Mos Gen out as leaders in the current field of retro fueled stoner rockers. OK they may not have shown a huge amount of progress since that classic eponymous 2002 debut album, but hell, progress for progress sake is a bad thing, Mos Gen have got a winning formula and if it aint broke don't fix it.

Highlights? well the whole album is just great, but listen out for the highly intelligent and well realised re-working of the Judas Priest classic Solar Angels, the vast and highly headbangable I Can't Get Where I Belong and the epic closer This Is A Gift Of Nature with its hard and heavy riffage and wonderful breakdown and slow build section leading to a truly earth moving climax. However my fave cut on offer has to be the dark and doomy Step Up with is sub death metal sensibilities and big anthem style hook.

Basically Mos Gen are back, they are in fine form and anyone who loves their rock, raw, grungy, classic and in your face should sit up and take notice.

Great Stuff

For fans of... Stone Axe, Soundgarden, Black Sabbath, The Groundhogs...

Various Artists - 'The Ripple Effect Presents Volume 1 - Head Music' (Ripple Music) 5/5

Five years ago a couple of Californian music lovers set up The Ripple Effect, an online magazine where they could share their love of old school stoner and modern underground rock. To say the idea was a success is a vast understatement. Since the site was launched Ripple has grown into one of the most respected music sites in the world, has its own radio station and of course Ripple Music, a label that has rapidly become one of the most vibrant and cutting edge in the whole realm of underground music with such acts as Grifter, Stone Axe, Mighty High, Mos Generator and Iron Claw on their books. Now to celebrate the first five years of The Ripple Effect they have issued this twenty three track compilation album, representing the very best of the kind of stuff Ripple have been championing over that time.


Now this compilation is a real delight to listen to, most of the 23 cuts here are previously unreleased, and every track is of the very best of whats happening on the current stoner, retro and underground classic scenes.


I'm not gonna give you a track by track breakdown, this is a free download album, go get a copy for yourself and have an explore. However I will point out a few highlights. There's the glorious stonehead groove of Torso with One, the fantastically sleazy Swear It To The Sun from Voodoo Johnson, Dark Earths highly headbangable eponymous post Sabbath work out and Concrete Sun with the underground classic of Silver Tear... infact every track on this one falls somewhere in between the 'yeah thats pretty damn good' and 'fuck me sideways that was great' camps.


There is still a huge market out there for this kind of new wave old school rock, and with retro rocking bands like Gypsyhawk and Dear Superstar on the edge of the mainstream, the market for this kind of classic rock is only gonna grow, and I have no doubt that Ripple will be there to bring you the very best of it for many years to come. Whats more this is a FREE record, so download it NOW and expand your head with the effect of ripples of superb music


Get this album NOW


For fans of... Stone Axe, Mos Generator, Fen, Black Sabbath, the classic and the underground....

Get your copy here for FREE - http://therippleeffect.bandcamp.com/album/the-ripple-effect-presents-volume-1-head-music

Gypsyhawk - 'Reverly & Resilience' (metablade) 4.5/5

Pasadena hardrockers Gypsyhawk have been causing a bit of a stir in classic rock circles over the past year. Certainly their reputation reached my ears long before any of their music did, tales of a band from California who sounded like a mad mix of Thin Lizzy, Golden Earring and UFO certainly made me keep a special eye out for them. Then I got hold of Hedgeking, the lead single from this album, and that really impressed me, and now we have this their debut album for Metalblade on our hands.

And I gotta say from the off that its every bit as good as I was expecting. Kicking off with Overloaded, a track that just drips classic Thin Lizzyisms; bass playing singer Eric Harris doing a damn fine Phil Lynott impression whilst guitarists Andrew Packer and Ian Brown do the twin lead bit in the style of the 'Renegade' era pairing of Scott Gorham and Snowy White. Hell if the late great Mr Lynott was still with us this is what Lizzy would be sounding like.

Having laid out the goods in fine style Gypsyhawk then take us on an eleven track cake walk through a damn fine classic rock soundscape. Highlights include the Golden Earring fueled The Fields, Frostwyrm with its hat tips to the likes of The Almighty and Wild Horses, the majestically epic Night Songs From The Desert and the post Motorhead rock out of The Red Wedding. Chuck in a belting cover of the Rick Derringer classic Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo to wrap the whole thing up and you have a damn fine album indeed.

It is indeed great to find acts like Gypsyhawk, who along with the likes of Crash Street Kids, The Muggs and Antique Scream are keeping the old fashioned, no bullshit hard rock flag flying proud and proving once and for all that not all modern rock and metal is inaccessible sub genres and and angry youths with emo haircuts. And long may they continue.

Highly Recommended

For Fans of... Thin Lizzy, Golden Earring, Airbourne, Crash Street Kids, Motorhead etc.....

Mighty High - 'Legalize Tre Bags' (Ripple) 4/5

You don't need to do much lateral thinking to work out where New York stoner punks Mighty High are coming from with their second full length release. If the title and the album  cover art isn't a big enough give away (tre bags is New York street slang for a small cheap weed deal), then a quick look at the song titles confirms that this lot like all thing herbal and combustible - add in the fact that that this albums out on Ripple Music, home of all things cool and groovy in the stoner and retro rock scene and you have a record that really does exactly what it says on the tin.

Kicking off with a glorious MC5-U-like sub two minute thrash out entitled I Don't Wanna Listen Yes ('They sound even worse when I'm high') this record is a glorious rough as fuck cake walk through stoner culture. You get cuts like Moochie ('I'm gonna get high off your supply'), the riff heavy The Ram - a cut that sounds a little like UK alt rockers The Treat, the slick and groovy Tokin' and Strokin' and the doomy post Sabbath work out of Chemical Warpigs; 11 tracks in all every one dripping old school garage punk sensibilities and packed to the coda with drug references. And a very enjoyable listen it is to.

Musically there is a very strong MC5, Stoogies, New York Dolls vibe going on with this one, with hints of the likes of Black Sabbath, Hawkwind and The Deviants thrown in for good measure. As I hinted at earlier, the production here is minimalist and a bit rough round the edges, but that only helps re-enforce the whole garage rock feel to the music and serves to compliment the lyrical themes and ideas the band present.

Over all this is a pretty damn fine record, and there aint that many acts doing this kind of thing now days, and providing the feds don't cramp these guys high, long may they continue.

Worth Checking Out


For fans of... MC5, Inner City Unit, The Deviants, The Pink Fairies, Hawkwind, New York Dolls.....

Stone Axe - 'Captured Live! Roadburn Festival 2011' (Ripple Music) 5/5

US stoner rockers Stone Axe have been causing waves over the past couple of year, two cracking studio albums, an impressive series of live dates that's taken them to the four corners of the world and now we have this rather excellent live album add more fuel to the flame of Stone Axes excellence.

Now I know some people don't like live albums, but personally I love them, and this is a bit of a gem. From the opening double whammy of Stonin' / On with The Show, via the dark and sleazy Diamonds And Fools, the damnation boogie of Old Soul and the dance floor friendly We Know It's Still Rock 'n' Roll (my fave SA track) to the shuffle riffage of the closer Nightwolf, this album is fifteen cuts of Stone Axe style stoner rock excellence, that compliments their two studio albums in fine style

Highlight? well the whole album is one long highlight but if I was to pick one track it would be the spine tingling and very chilled out Skylah Rae.

All in all this is one fine record and it pens another chapter in the high history of Stone Axe with a flourish few other acts can match.

Highly Recommended

For fans of... Mos Generator, The Muggs, Blue Cheer, Groundhogs....

Gringo Star - 'Count Yer Lucky Stars' (Gigantic Music) 3.5/5

Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, Gringo Star are another one of the current wave of American retro rock outfits that seam to be popular stateside at the moment. This is their second album.

Now this lot worship firmly at the alter of the mid to late 60's British Invasion sound, coming over like the result of a multi-band horror smash between Beatles, early Yardbirds, Psyche era Status Quo and The Kinks, with The Monkees and Amen Corner piling into the wreckage. And to be honest, whilst this lot are no where near The Pillbugs in their attempt to recreate the swinging 60's pop sounds, they aint to shoddy either. Cuts like the Yardbirds influenced title track and the Beatleseque You Want It are all groovy little workouts that  really do make you want to put on your Carnaby Street threads and find a go-go to go-to.

However there are a few other places such as the sub Tom Jones ballad Esmeralda and the Herman's Hermits B-side sound-a-like Jessica where they seam to get too caught up in the nostalgia trip and forget that not everything that came out of the UK in the 1960's was fab. Still there are enough good tracks like the Kinks fueled riff heavy Make You Mine to make up for a the few dropped balls.

Worth a look

For fans of... The Pillbugs, The Beatles, The Kinks, Lois etc....

Stone Axe - 'Stone Axe II - Deluxe Edition' (ripple music) 5/5

It's only been a couple of years since this, the second album from Washington (US) based retro rockers Stone Axe first hit the racks, already the band have decided to give the whole thing a revamp and re-issue the whole thing as a double disc set featuring a whole album of live tracks, rare b-sides and other lost goodies.

If you've not encountered the main album before, you've been missing out big time. There are 10 cuts on offer that take a delightful wander through the classic sounds of 70's rock. You get cuts like the Free / The Who influenced instrumental One More Time Before I Die, the Thin Lizzy inspired David Bowie tribute Those Were The Golden Years (where vocalist Dru Brinkerhoff manages to pull off a fantastic Phil Lynott impression (see comments below)),  We Know It's Still Rock and Roll with its head nods to the likes of Status Quo, The Sweet and Mott The Hoople and the wonderful organ lead Turn To Stone which brings back memories of Uriah Heep, The Moody Blues and Procol Harem. This record is flawless, perfectly performed and produced by a bunch of guys who have a real love and understanding of the classic era of rock music.

Then you have the bonus disc, and the delights continue, from the first track, the semi-psyche rock out of SWLABR to the closing cut of Transmissions Pt 2, which sounds a little like the tripped out sounds of the pre-Michael Schenker UFO, you have one your hands a treasure trove of some wonderful rare gems. Just to point out a few personal highlights; there's grinding and dirty blues of The Devils Hand, the Stray-U-like For All That Fly, the Groundhogs influenced When I Come Down and my fave cut offer The Last Setting Sun, a tune that to my ears has hints of long forgotten New York outfit Starz about it. Hell if you have already got this album its worth getting again for the bonus disc alone.

All in all, this this one helluva album, and with all the revived interest in 60's - 80's rock and metal going on at the moment this set will help mark out Stone Axe as one of the very best in their field. and long may they continue.

Buy or DIE

For fans of... Crash Street Kids, Mos Generator, The Muggs, Budgie, Thin Lizzy, Free......

Blood Ceremony - 'Blood Ceremony' (metalblade) 4.5/5

Canadian occultic rockers Blood Ceremony have recently signed to Metalblade, and as so often happens with metalblade signings before any new material surfaces there is a little archive raiding, and so we have this re-issue of the bands 2009 debut album.

Now anyone getting this one expecting walls of Behemoth style satanic deathism, or Slayer-u-like devil thrash are going to be in for a big shock. While there is a strong early Black Sabbath vibe haunting this record the most noticeable influences here are more in the Jethro Tull, Black Widow dark folk rock style, with goodly dollops of Iron Butterfly influenced primordial hard rock thrown is as well.

Tracks like The Rare Lord and Into The Coven are all sweet and engaging folk metal work outs with haunting flute solos, jiggy organ passages and seductive female vocals from the hugely talented Alia O'Brien, which perfectly counterpoint the primitive doomy folk metal backing from the rest of the band. The result is an album that sounds like it was conceived and created about 1971 as the sound track for a long forgotten Italian horror movie. And any album that features a short sound clip from the classic Brit biker horror flick Psychomania 'There you go my little green friend' has gotta be alright with me.

In world of metalcore, post thrash, and ham fisted Djentisms, the fact that bands like Blood Ceremony are still out there and recording albums like this comes as a welcome change and a breath of musical fresh air and I for one await their next record with great interest.

A devilshly good album

For fans of... Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Black Widow, Skyclad, Inkubus Sukkubus....

Mos Generator 'Mos Generator - 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition' (Ripple Music) 4/5

Now it can't have escaped many peoples notice that there is a big retro rock scene going on in the US underground at the moment. Acts like Crash Street Kids, Stone Axe, Stone Mask, Antique Scream, The Muggs and many others are looking back to the classic primordial heavy rock sounds of the late 60's and early 70's and reworking the vibe for a new millennium. One of the founding fathers of this movement are Seattle outfit Mos Generator. Formed out of the ashes of the 90's Seattle grunge scene in the year 2000, this classic power trio have issued a string of really quite remarkable albums over the past ten years or so most of which are still available. But until now there have been two releases missing from the back catalogue. Their 2002 eponymous debut album and the follow up live album “Live At The Manette”, have been unavailable for a good few years, but now, ten years on the band have issued not only that seminal debut album, but also packaged it up with the full set from the gig that gave rise to the aforementioned live CD and thrown an unreleased early demo track in for good measure.

Now listening back to this album I am struck at how fresh this stuff still sounds. The trade mark sound of Grand Funk and Blue Cheer influenced old school hard rock fused with the Seattle grunge sound of the 1990's makes for a very ear friendly vibe. On the studio section of this release tracks like Sleeping Your Way To The Middle, Acapulco Gold and the superb Pentagramagraph come over like the rampaging inhabitants of a sonic Jurassic Park; thunderously heavy, jaw droppingly magnificent and maybe just a little bit scarey. This is music that went extinct many years ago, but against all expectation and logic, here it is alive and thriving in the modern age.

However its on the “Live At The Manette” section Mos Generator really come into their own. Here we have a warts and all, ball out, no holds barred exercise in classic old school stoner rock sensibilities. Listening to these live tracks my age addled mind is dragged screaming back to to those old gigs I used to attend back in the days of the NWOBHM when not only were new acts doing this stuff in the pubs and clubs of the UK, but old original purveyors of this kind of raw stoner-psyche rock such as The Groundhogs were back in fashion. In fact I have to keep reminding myself that this material dates from 2002 not 1982 or 1972. Highlights of the live stuff? well Stone County Line is fantastic, Opium Eyes is classic, but my fave cut is the Zep influenced You Bring The Wine, I'll Bring The Weather, which has a riff that just drives.

All in all this is great stuff and this reissue belongs in everyone's collection if you have the original versions or not.

For Fans of... Stone Axe, The Muggs, Blue Cheer, The Groundhogs, Antique Scream....

Stone Axe - 'Stone Axe : Delux Edition' (ripple music) 4/5

This is a weird one. The band looks like they come crawling from the early 70's acid rock scene, sound like they are left overs from Woodstock and even the album cover yells retro archive material at you. Yet Washington (US) based stoner rock outfit Stone Axe (a duo in the studio and a quartet live) have only been around since 2007 and are part of that interesting 'retro rock' movement that is doing interesting things stateside along with the likes of Crash Street Kids, The Muggs, Antique Scream et al.

This is their second eponymous full length release and its a a very catchy little opus. Rooted firmly in the classic sounds of the likes of Foghat, Blue Cheer, Led Zep and the like it certainly sets out to keep alive the flame of old style stoner rock and achieves the goal with ease. Tracks like The Skylah Ray and Black Widow are as trippy as hell and feature some damn fine extended instrumental passages that make you want to skin up something illegal and listen to in a darkened room at very loud volumes.

On this deluxe edition of the album there are 10 great studio tracks that stand up to repeated darkened room listening, but its on the eight live bonus tracks the band really come into their own. The live tracks have more power, more spirit more of a wow factor and I'll admit that I'm spinning the live tracks more than I'm playing the studio ones, the live version of Diamonds and Fools being particularity note worthy with it's AC/DC on hash stoner boogie beat and Bon Scott-esque vocalisations.

In short a damn fine album. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

For Fans Of - Blue Cheer, The Muggs, Spirit, Grand Funk Railroad etc