The Stoner Rock Compilation (Spitfire)
by Craig Regala
A nice bandwagon-jumper of a comp aimed to get you on board with some of Spitfire’s heavier rock’n’roll bands. Generally, they tool the liquid grace of grand pappy Sabbath through groove metal/early grunge and the 10 years of non-tech hard rock (read: no real Judas Priest influence), post-blues rock after Blue Cheer/Vanilla Fudge hit the map in ’67. Oh yeah, there’s also a bit of Kyuss perfuming, mainly in the Natas track, those guys being pretty much part of the Sons of Kyuss movement that means a lot around the house. Better chuck Gunfighter in there too.
Crowbar‘s “Dream Weaver” is great, and the slice of redneck stomp from Sixty Watt Shamen sits nicely between Karma To Burn and Clutch on any “stoner rock” shelf. In the midst of this, you get Murder 1 doing AC/DC’s “Whole Lotta Rosie” nicely, but, uh, how ’bout a homegrown track to tell if they got the goods? The Bakerton Group throw a chunka fusion funk rock (non-suck) 2/3s of the way through the disc – how ’bout a full-length from those guys, Mr. Spitfire? Sunride, Supafuzz, Terrafirma, Rotors to Rust and Herbert all behave like Soundgarden’s last moment (the singles collection’s bonus track, “Bleed Together”) was a harbinger of the future and not sorrow. I hope they all can develop into bands that crack ass like the rest of the Soundgarden A-sides thing does. Oh, there’s a The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight tune not on their phenomenal Tee Pee release. That disc rounds out my top three, along with Poem Rockets’ Psychogeography and Entombed’s Uprising. Another of my recent favorites, Mammoth Volume, is represented here by “Seagull,” a tune off their self-titled debut. Although it’s a bit less stompesque than the seven-track EP Norara Dance, it’s worth hearing a few dozen times.
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