Stoner Kings
Brimstone Blues (Rebel Breed)
by Brian Varney
Sporting one of the more unfortunate names in recent memory, the Finland-based Stoner Kings are bound, thanks to said moniker, to be pigeonholed as “stoner rock,” a label which the band doesn’t deserve and, I’d imagine, doesn’t want.
Rather than following the path such a name would suggest, the band these guys remind me of more than any other is Backyard Babies. Squatting somewhere between the Babies’ G’N’R-damaged debut, Diesel and Power, and their 1998 supernova, Total 13, Stoner Kings mix glammy preening (ala Hanoi Rocks or early Crüe) with heavy riffing and bursts of hair metal melodicism. And just in case you missed these clues, they hit you over the head by starting “Stonehenge” with a coupla second lift of the drum intro to “Rock and Roll Part 2” (though they may’ve stolen it from Iron Maiden’s “Running Free”). So think of them as early Mötley Crüe with heavier riffs and more ass-end but without a flashpoint like “Live Wire” or “Looks That Kill.”
(www.stonerkings.net)