Orange Goblin

If you’ve got a beard, own a bong, or ride a bike, chances are this year’s most anticipated release for you is Orange Goblin’s A Eulogy for the Damned. And why not? The band released its first six albums in ten years, and its now been damn near five years since 2007′s Healing Through Fire, so chances are you’ve got one hell of an itch to take to the starry highway to hit up OG’s cosmic dope show once again. But where the UK quartet was once raw and bloozy it is now cooked and mean, and the smoky caravan kitsch it once proudly boasted in its space-brewed riffs has given way to a prouder, louder form. In fact, aside from vocalist Ben Ward’s chain-link preaching, the Southern boogie doom of “Save Me From Myself” or the bold groove of “Return to Mars,” there’s very little left in the way of OG’s former scuzzy self, and what stands before you today is a tyrant fifteen stories tall, an angry world-eater with a heavy metal law to lay the fuck down. And this is a metal album in many ways thanks to songs like “Red Tide Rising,” “Acid Trial,” “The Fog,” “Death of Aquarius,” and “Bishop’s Wolf,” which is not something you could have really said about any past OG album. It is also very much a statement album, the aforementioned songs leaving the deepest cut, but even OG’s familiar stoner rock fare, like the melodic “Stand For Something” and “The Filthy and the Few” contain a demented edge to ‘em, and the acoustic-psych intro on closer “A Eulogy To The Damned” points to OG’s dark, force-fueled approach to making this record. If you’ve ever hoped that Orange Goblin would one day step up and make a power move, that they’d drop all that whiskey-soaked astro-noodling and put some steel and muscle into their tunes, A Eulogy for the Damned is your hope come true.

Listen to “Red Tide Rising” from A Eulogy for the Damned!

The Parlor Mob

It’s been three years since we last heard from The Parlor Mob, whose debut album And You Were a Crow successfully cradled the fine line between mainstream exposure and underground appeal, a rock n’ roll record borne of barefoot ideals and mustache machismo that was part Led Zeppelin, part Black Crowes, and all radio play. But the New Jersey band has surfaced with their follow-up, Dogs, which, like its predecessor, should curry compliments from people on either side of the popularity divide. However, unlike And You Were a Crow, Dogs has a more commercially viable edge to it, a darker, heavier hard rock flavour, heard especially on the songs “How It’s Going to Be,” “Fall Back,” “The Beginning,” and the album’s first single, “Into the Sun,” complete with a pop-driven chorus. What Dogs lacks, however, is the hippie groove that packed And You Were a Crow full of dust and soul, and while “Hard Enough,” “Slip Through My Hands,” and “Holding On” capture some of that ol’ feel good vibe, it’s clear The Parlor Mob have kicked it into attack mode this time around. You know, Dogs could have a little more boogie for my buck, but now that Dirty Sweet have rode off into the hazy horizon, it’s The Parlor Mob or bust. And I’m not ready to go down just yet.

Check out the video for “Into the Sun” from Dogs!

Monster Truck

The Brown EP is Monster Truck’s second four-song output in as many years, and despite the fact that they roll through an EP’s worth of mean, 70s-fried rock in the same amount of time bands from that era devoted to one song, it’s still well worth the two beer it takes to get through it. A product of Steel Town, Canada (that’s Hamilton for you non-Canucks), Monster Truck is all hairy chests ‘neath leather vests and The Brown EP boasts a bad-ass, big-wheeled boogie that’ll blow your mud flaps way back. Nationally speaking, I’d put ‘em somewhere between the laid back roots n’ groove of The Sheepdogs and the million man spark of White Cowbell Oklahoma, but the way “I Am Freedom,” “Love Attack,” “Seven Seas Blues,” and “Righteous Smoke” crank the crotch mojo into the red, ride the organ like it was Gravedigger, and preach about souls on fire make ‘em sound like KISS, Grand Funk Railroad, and Mountain mud wrestling at a biker rally. Best part is, you can get this EP, and their self-titled one, for free right here. Boss, right? You bet, just like the tunes.

Listen to “I Am Freedom” from The Brown EP!

Dixie Witch

This album, Dixie Witch’s fourth, with its gold chrome letters on crushed black leather, is the simplest, most uncomplicated, and appropriately textured statement the band could make concerning their return after a five year absence. As if anticipating the inevitable question, ‘Well, what are you going to do now?’ they’ve just gone and shrugged and said, ‘Let it roll, motherfucker!’ With all due respect to the Small Stone bands who’ve already released albums this year, and many condolences to the ones yet to come, this here is the Olympic pinnacle, and the trio of long-toothed Texan troublemakers have stormed Zeus’ Godly realm and confiscated his throne. Armed with an arsenal of lightning bolts and cloaked in the kind of invincibility you can only get from a mountain high, Trinidad Leal, Curt “CC” Christenson, and new guitarist Josh “JT” Todd Smith now seem to hold dominion over all things ROCK; their Southern stoner sound, once drenched in the earthly confines of mud and fuzz, has found a magical, heavenly edge. It’s still every bit the beast Smoke & Mirrors is, but they’ve elevated the power and melody to rocket-fueled levels (and left out the ballads), making Let It Roll as much a supreme n’ sizzling cock rock record as it is a boogie n’ blues truck stop tango drenched in AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, and Alabama Thunderpussy influences. I suppose Let It Roll has the potential to piss off anyone not enamored with a polished production, but if deliciously dirty dynamics and majestic riffs are your bag, you’re in for one hell of a treat.

Listen to “Let It Roll” from Let It Roll!

Gideon Smith and The Dixie Damned

With one of the most recognizable voices in all of heavy music, the swamp wizard himself, Gideon Smith, returns to howl at the moon with 30 Weight, another album of psychedelic motorcycle blues that has me (and no doubt others of my ilk who have also previously written about The Dixie Damned’s Southern boogie doom) tripping over myself trying to come up with a fresh way to sell the North Carolina band’s super-charmed snake oil. Just like previous full-lengths, 2004′s Southern Gentlemen and 2008′s South Side of the Moon, 30 Weight mixes the spiritual fire-eating of The Cult and the steely-eyed machismo of Circus of Power (see, I’m doing it already) for a deadly concoction of outlaw riffs and acid groove where songs like “Feel Alive” and “Shining Star” are this album’s “Whiskey Devil” and “Shimmering Rain,” respectively. That would also make the song “South” quite self-explanatory, as well. However, Gideon manages to add a few new ingredients to his brew this time around, like a female back-up singer on “Ride With Me” and a couple of covers, including a slow cooked version of Saint Vitus’ “I Bleed Black” and G.G. Allin’s “When I Die,” a poignantly raw country and western song in which Gideon strips it all down, even his voice. While GS&TDD fans will find a familiar comfort in 30 Weight‘s cattle skull savagery, the inexperienced can start here and work their way back down the dusty highway the band has forged without feeling like they’ve arrived late to the midnight ritual dance.

Listen to “Black Fire” from 30 Weight!

Danava/Earthless/Lecherous Gaze

Killer threesome of eclectic rock n’ roll from Danava, Earthless, and Lecherous Gaze, each of whom show up to this party flying the freak flag for their respective brand of druggy metal. This cross-label union featuring two Tee Pee bands and one Kemado band is a melting pot of heavy music with the retro-psych rock of Danava’s “The Illusion Crawls,” the 70s stoner boogie of Earthless’ “Demon Eyes” (aka “Woman With the Devil Eye”), and the leather-biting proto-punk of Lecherous Gaze’s “Get You Some” creating one big happy weird beard culture. It’s also a treat for the simple fact that it’s the first new music from Danava and Earthless since 2008 (the Earthless track an especially surprising departure for the band in terms of length, vibe, and the fact that it contains vocals), and it introduces newcomers Lecherous Gaze to anyone unfamiliar with their 2010 Audio Testament demo in proper, esteemed fashion (more on them and their recently released self-titled EP to come later). This is a unique and worthwhile amalgamation, so get on it.

Listen to “Get You Some” by Lecherous Gaze!

Graveyard

Graveyard seem to be a strange pick-up for metal label Nuclear Blast, but there were days before speed and aggression when the psychedelic blues riffs of bands like Led Zeppelin and Blue Cheer were considered heavy metal, so if you want to look at it that way, the foggy longhair tumult of the Gothenburg, Sweden quartet’s retro rock is plenty metal enough. Shaking with raw, analogous boogie-doom and acid-fried magic, Hisingen Blues, the band’s second album, is rarefied fuzzdom, a kind of electric catnip that makes bell-bottomed leaf hounds go bat-shit. Much like its self-titled predecessor, Hisingen Blues baits you into unconscious reminiscing thanks to a sound best received via vinyl’s hypnotizing spin. Although Graveyard find themselves essential players in a growing Euro-led 70s revival with bands like Witchcraft, Ghost, The Devil’s Blood, Dead Man, and Asteroid, they bypass the more flagrant ceremonial/occult vibes of some of those bands (although they’re not shy on the demonic themes) for a more straightforward rock n’ roll approach that might call to mind a candlelit version of latter-day Hellacopters. Songs like “Ain’t Fit to Live Here,” “Hisingen Blues,” “Buying Truth (Tack & Förlåt),” “Ungrateful Are the Dead,” and “RSS” are propelled by pelvic power and sorcerous solos, while songs like “No Good, Mr. Holden,” “Uncomfortably Numb,” “Longing,” and “The Siren” take a dip into murky, mystic waters, and all the while vocalist/guitarist Joakim Nilsson replies in kind with an impressive range that stretches from Plant to Pelander as the situation warrants (sometimes within the same song). I predict this one will gain a hell of a lot of traction before the year’s out, and that’s all right with me, friends, because when the weird inherit the Earth, we’ll have Graveyard to thank.

Check out the video for the title track from Hisingen Blues!

Mothership
Eagle Soars Demo

Three-song demo from a Dallas family trio (that’s two bros and their dad!) who blast some low-pro mutton chop rock at you like filthy UFO exhaust. Full of deep woods boogie, bluesy fuzz n’ roll, chuggin’ Grand Funk-meets-AC/DC riffola, and play hard, party harder, get-ready-for-the-revolution lyrics, this demo panders to your inner basement hero; opener “City Nights” ought to incite barroom fuck-ups across the land into beating each other with their over-sized belt buckles, the title track delivers a choice cosmic metal groove, and “Mothership” barrels its way through rusty skies before giving in to the freak jam. Oh, there’s plenty of solos too, the kind that drove your mama crazy back in the day. Mothership might not be musical rocket science, but they do give up some good, honest, burly action.

Listen to “Eagle Soars” from the Eagle Soars Demo!

Stone Axe
II
Music Abuse Records

Stone Axe are so good it’s stupid. How two men (in this case Dru Brinkerhoff on vocals and Tony Reed on everything else) excel beyond most any measure at harnessing the sheer muscle and genius of rock n’ roll, I’ll never know. And listening to songs like “We Know It’s Still Rock ‘N’ Roll,” “On With the Show,” and “Those Were the Golden Years,” I have to believe they can raise the dead too, as each one of ‘em are triumphs not heard since AC/DC and Thin Lizzy lost Bon Scott and Phil Lynott, respectively. Classic rock sucks for the most part, but rock that is classic never wavers, and from their debut to II, Stone Axe have flown that golden flag high and proud, boasting a groove n’ roll that not only honours the greats, but makes its own irrevocable hay as well. Expect a DVD, a deluxe reissue of their debut, Stone Axe, and a possible third record next year.

Listen to “On With the Show” from II!

Asteroid
II
Fuzzorama Records

Asteroid’s second album, II, came out way back in January and shame on me for not getting into it until right now because it delivers — in delectably medieval fashion — the kind of retro boogie-doom we’ve been waiting on from Witchcraft these last few years. Distinguishably less fuzzy than its self-titled predecessor (but still fuzzy enough to back up their name), II is a folksy acid rock record that fuses black forest riffs with organic grooves for a barefooted psychedelia that’ll instantly add three months growth to your weird beard. The dualistic nature of the songs contain both a strong influence of Stahl-esque melodies that evoke evil yearnings and mystic, hippy vibes more akin to Dead Man*, and they work wonderfully well together to cast some heavy spells, man.

*Speaking of Dead Man, it seems as though some of the dudes in Asteroid and Dead Man have formed a band called Hexan. How ’bout that?

Listen to “Towers” from II!

Monster Magnet

Yes, twenty year stoner rock veterans Monster Magnet are still around, and yes, their megaton dope n’ roll still glitters and shakes, so put on your tinfoil pants and swallow your purple pills because the mastermind himself, Dave Wyndorf, is still preaching volcanic decadence from high atop his asteroid throne. Sure, the third dimension apocalyptic vision still dominates the Monster Magnet narrative, and sure, they’ve still got their tongues wrapped around the live wires coming out the back of the cosmic boogie machine, but that just means their sonic, silver riffs still roll over you like a marching army of radioactive spacemen with exploding balls. Nobody does Monster Magnet like Monster Magnet, baby, and it’s still the best and it’s still bad-ass.

Check out the video for “Gods and Punks” from Mastermind!