Stoner Metal

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Stoner Metal is a sub-genre of metal music that rose into prominence in the early 1990's, pioneered by bands such as Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Sleep, as well as the grunge band Soundgarden. The genre is known for it's fusion of the sludgy riffing of doom metal, the fuzzy distortion of psychedelic rock, and various other styles of music such as blues rock and southern rock.

The origins of the genre is often attributed to early metal bands like Black Sabbath and Blue Cheer. The former's Master of Reality album of 1971 was especially influential in the development of the genre, sometimes even being cited as the first stoner metal album. Space Rock pioneers Hawkwind are also noted to have a substantial impact on the genre, with many stoner rock and metal bands taking elements from space rock. Stoner Metal pioneers Monster Magnet covered Hawkwind's "Brainstorm" on their 1993 album Superjudge. Hardcore punk is also sometimes cited as influencing the genre, with Kyuss's Josh Homme and John Garcia stating Black Flag's My War album of 1984 as having an impact.

Some stoner metal bands took more from blues rock and southern rock, and blended it with their own take on the stoner sound. Corrosion of Conformity and Clutch are among these acts, with the former starting out as a crossover thrash/hardcore punk band in the 80's before bringing in a southern/stoner sound on their 1991 album Blind. Speaking of hardcore, bands such as High on Fire and Kylesa are often considered stoner-sludge metal due to their common usage of hardcore punk elements.

Stoner-doom metal: Stoner doom was pioneered by bands such as Sleep and Cathedral, who started their careers playing traditional doom metal. While much of stoner metal takes influence from doom metal, stoner doom puts more emphasis on said influence. Notable examples include Sleep's Dopesmoker, Cathedral's The Carnival Bizzare, Electric Wizard's Dopethrone, and Acid King's Busse Woods. Some stoner doom releases are placed under doom if there is more of a focus on doom than a balance between the two.

Stoner Rock, while having much in common with it's metal offshoot, has less of a focus on the metal aspect of the sound and is included in the Hard Rock sub-genre on MMA.

- Biography written by Unitron.

Sub-genre collaborators (shared with Doom Metal and Drone Metal):
  • Nightfly (leader)
  • MorniumGoatahl

stoner metal top albums

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SLEEP Dopesmoker Album Cover Dopesmoker
SLEEP
4.29 | 32 ratings
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4.28 | 30 ratings
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4.31 | 14 ratings
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SHRINEBUILDER Shrinebuilder Album Cover Shrinebuilder
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4.37 | 7 ratings
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DOWN Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow... Album Cover Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow...
DOWN
4.23 | 14 ratings
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DOWN Down III: Over the Under Album Cover Down III: Over the Under
DOWN
4.21 | 13 ratings
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THE SWORD Gods of the Earth Album Cover Gods of the Earth
THE SWORD
4.19 | 16 ratings
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ELECTRIC WIZARD Wizard Bloody Wizard Album Cover Wizard Bloody Wizard
ELECTRIC WIZARD
4.26 | 8 ratings
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KYUSS Welcome To Sky Valley Album Cover Welcome To Sky Valley
KYUSS
4.09 | 57 ratings
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OM Advaitic Songs Album Cover Advaitic Songs
OM
4.18 | 10 ratings
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STONED JESUS Seven Thunders Roar Album Cover Seven Thunders Roar
STONED JESUS
4.31 | 5 ratings
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HIGH ON FIRE Death Is This Communion Album Cover Death Is This Communion
HIGH ON FIRE
4.14 | 14 ratings
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stoner metal Music Reviews

VALHALL Red Planet

Album · 2009 · Stoner Metal
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UMUR
"Red Planet" is the third full-length studio album by Norwegian stoner doom metal act Valhall. The album was released through Housecore Records in June 2009. It´s the successor to "Heading for Mars" from 1997. I´m not sure the band were split-up in the years between the two albums but they at least had a longer hiatus. Valhall formed in 1987 and originally featured Gylve Nagell (aka Fenriz from Darkthrone) on drums on their first two demos (and on some tracks on their third demo). Nagell left in 1990 and didn´t perform on Valhall´s two 90s studio albums, but he has returned to the fold and plays drums and performs vocals on "Red Planet". Lead vocals are still handled by Ronny Sorkness though.

While Valhall played a hybrid traditional doom metal and stoner doom metal style on their first two releases, they have completely shed the traditional doom metal elements from "Red Planet" which is a pure stoner doom metal release equally influenced by Black Sabbath and later contemporary psychedelic tinged stoner metal bands. With "Red Planet" I finally got what I was screaming for on the first two releases, which is a bottom heavy sound production, and although the drums feature a slightly powerless and dry tone, the heavy fuzzy guitar tone and organic bass make up for a lot of that. Even Sorkness who I have previously critisized for his non-distinct and sub par vocal performances has stepped up on "Red Planet". Don´t get me wrong the vocals are still the weak link of "Red Planet", like they were on the two preceding album releases, but here they are decent and tolerable.

The songwriting is solid but nothing out of the ordinary for the genre, and I can think of quite a few contemporary releases in the same genre which I would put on before this one. So, upon conclusion "Red Planet" is a decent quality comeback release from Valhall, but it´s probably more a hobby project for the members than a serious band as we haven´t heard from them since. I don´t know if that´s what keeps me a litte unconvinved of the overall quality of this release, but to my ears it´s simply a bit redundant. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.

VALHALL Heading for Mars

Album · 1997 · Stoner Metal
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UMUR
"Heading for Mars" is the second full-length studio album by Norwegian stoner doom metal act Valhall. The album was released through Head Not Found in 1997. It´s the successor to "Moonstoned" from 1995. Formed in 1987 it took no less than five demos and a stylistic journey from a hybrid death, thrash, black, doom metal style too a more pure doom metal style on "Moonstoned" before Valhall landed on the music style heard on "Heading for Mars"...

...which is a Black Sabbath influenced stoner doom metal style combined with more epic traditional doom metal moments and even some 70s hard rock touches. Lead vocalist Ronny Sorkness gets the job done, but he doesn´t have a distinct voice or vocal style and the vocals are arguably the weakest link of "Heading for Mars" (just as they were on "Moonstoned"). Another issue from "Moonstoned" contineus on "Heading for Mars" too and that´s the below par sound production values. Doom metal and stoner doom metal releases need a heavy organic bottom end but this sound production is thin and lacking the heavy bass bottom which is so important for an album in this genre.

Repeating the same mistakes isn´t a plus in my book and Valhall seem content playing a similar doom metal/stoner metal style to the one found on the debut album (although leaning more towards stoner doom this time around), which in itself isn´t an issue, because the compositions are actually relatively well written and effective. But continuing with a lead vocalist which sounds out of his league and a thin sound production lacking bottom end are unforgivable. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.

ELECTRIC WIZARD Dopethrone

Album · 2000 · Stoner Metal
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SilentScream213
Dopethrone is an odd one for me. I’ve never been a fan of Stoner “Doom” (most of which is not really doomy at all, but just slow and heavy Stoner Metal) and I hate the fact that a bunch of the most revered “Doom” albums and bands fall into this category of not really being Doom, but either Stoner + Trad Doom or Stoner + Drone stuck with the misnomer.

The thing that makes Doom what it is isn’t simply being slow or heavy. It’s a focus on mood and atmosphere, ranging between dark and misanthropic to depressive, melancholic, and lonely. Always the goal is to evoke some sort of emotional response on the listener, to manipulate their mood using the darker, more painful human emotions.

Stoner “Doom” rarely does this. It’s not focused on mood and certainly not emotionally evocative. In contrast, it’s some of the least emotional music out there, being groovy, chill and drugged out. To some extent it relies on the already altered state of the listener (via drugs etc), whereas true Doom seeks to actively alter the listener’s emotions with music, lyrics and so on. Most of the lyrics in Stoner “Doom” are silly, surreal, and of course, psychedelic and hedonistic. Despite the sluggishness and lethargy, actual Doom is an ACTIVE genre whereas Stoner is a PASSIVE genre.

Electric Wizard are one of the top bands in that game. Their first two albums are exactly what I detest in the genre, with sophomore effort “Come My Fanatics…” being one of the worst Metal albums I’ve ever heard. But as far as this one goes, let’s just say I was pleasantly surprised. While this certainly won’t be making any top “Doom” list of mine, the band took a sound I tend to dislike and made something quite enjoyable by my standards. While the riffs and drumming are nothing to write home about, they’re certainly a step up from the braindead droning of the previous record. The use of feedback and sustained, repetitive notes reaches an apex here, where the texture of the music is palpable and pleasant. The noise and fuzz adds a warm flavor, a spice used sparingly rather than overwhelming the whole dish as on other records in the style such as “Jerusalem.” Perhaps that’s why this album is considered the best; it takes an extremely inaccessible sound and makes it a bit smoother and conventional to appeal to the general palate.

I will certainly give this album credit in doing that much. Despite being many years into the style, “Dopethrone” remains the crown jewel of the Stoner “Doom” style and managed to make something new and unique without really changing any of the core components or techniques. All that being said, it’s still completely emotionally vacant, devoid of mood or passion, and I don’t want it anywhere near my Doom Metal.

SEVENTH VOID Heaven Is Gone

Album · 2009 · Stoner Metal
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UMUR
"Heaven Is Gone" is the debut full-length studio album by US, New York based stoner/doom metal act Seventh Void. The album was released through Big Vin Records (Vinnie Paul´s label, who is also credited as producer on the album) in April 2009. Seventh Void formed in 2003 and to many, part of the band´s appeal is probably the fact that two of the four members of the contemporary Type O Negative lineup are included in the lineup who recorded "Heaven Is Gone". Johnny Kelly on drums and Kenny Hickey on lead vocals and guitar. Bassist Hank Bell and lead guitarist Matt Brown complete the quartet lineup.

The material featured on "Heaven Is Gone" was recorded during a pause in Type O Negative band activity after finishing their tour supporting "Dead Again" (2007), and Seventh Void was probably just meant to be a project to keep Kelly and Hickey busy while they waited for Peter Steele to write material for the next Type O Negative album. Of course that never came to be as Steele unexpectedly died in April 2010 and in November the same year the official announcement came that the remaining members of Type O Negative would not continue without Steele.

So a lot of talk about Type O Negative above, but name dropping that band is not only valid because of the shared members, but also because of musical similarities. Seventh Void are generally more straight forward delivering heavy stoner doomy riffs and rhythms and no gothic rock/metal influences or lyrics about depressive vampires or dark romance, but when Hickey sings it´s impossible not to think of his then main band, as he has always complimented Steele, with his high pitched voice and semi-aggressive delivery. Here he is the sole vocalist, and while he does a good job within the boundaries of his abilities, a whole album featuring his voice is a bit much. Other than that the material is decent enough, although seldom reaching excellence. In many ways Seventh Void remind me of another Type O Negative offspring in A Pale Horse Named Death (minus the gothic metal influences). So the heavy riffs and rhythms are at times complimented by alternative rock/metal elements.

The sound production is well sounding and obviously the work of a professional, but I would actually have prefered a more raw and organic sounding production, which I think would have suited the material better. Upon conclusion "Heaven Is Gone" isn´t exactly a revelation, and I probably wouldn´t have given it a shot if it wasn´t for the names involved, but with that said it´s still a decent quality release, and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

HIGH ON FIRE Cometh the Storm

Album · 2024 · Stoner Metal
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UMUR
"Cometh the Storm" is the ninth full-length studio album by US, heavy/sludge/stoner metal act High on Fire. The album was released through MNRK Heavy in April 2024. It´s the successor to "Electric Messiah" from October 2018 and there´s been one lineup change since the last album as drummer Des Kensel has been replaced by Coady Willis. The latter is known for his work with artists like Big Business and The Melvins. Kurt Ballou is credited as producer. A role he has also played on the last couple of albums by High on Fire. Actually every High on Fire album from "De Vermis Mysteriis" (2012) until this one have been produced by Ballou.

Personally I haven´t always felt that Ballou´s production style fit High on Fire´s music, but on "Cometh the Storm" he has aimed for a more organic, heavy, and meaty tone, which suits the band´s ultra heavy stoner/sludge metal riffs, heavy organic grooves, and occasional bursts of heavy/thrash metal aggression really well. To my ears the sound production on "Cometh the Storm" is the most well sounding production on a High on Fire album since "Snakes for the Divine" from 2010. This album has the right bite and venom dripping from it.

High on Fire are as well playing as ever and the addition of Willis to the ranks is not a bad decision. If you´re familar with his work with both Big Business and The Melvins you won´t be surprised by his high quality output and creative drumming ideas. He adds a lot to the sound of this album. Frontman/guitarist Matt Pike sounds as raw as ever (and has over the years also built upon his arsenal of vocal styles) and bassist Jeff Matz, who completes the trio lineup, is a solid heavy anchor. High on Fire´s relatively unique combination of stoner metal, sludge metal, heavy metal, and thrash metal riffs and rhythms hasn´t changed drastically over the years, and the material on "Cometh the Storm" follows in a similar style to the many preceding releases.

So it´s the songwriting and the production values which set one High on Fire album apart from the other albums by the band, and to my ears "Cometh the Storm" is in the better end of the High on Fire album releases, both when it comes to the memorability of the compositions and certainly when it comes to the sound production (as mentioned above). A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

stoner metal movie reviews

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY Live Volume: The Movie

Movie · 2001 · Stoner Metal
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Kingcrimsonprog
Corrosion Of Conformity’s Live Volume: The Movie was recorded live in Detroit at the Harpo's venue and released in 2001. This was the band’s first and to date only live DVD and captures the band live in support of their America’s Volume Dealer album from 2000. Jimmy Bower, who plays alongside Pepper Keenan in the fantastic Phil Anselmo fronted super group Down, provides the drums for this live concert as the band were in between losing and reuniting with long time Drummer and founding member Reed Mullin.

The band really hammer home a strong and confident performance, aided by Bower’s fine drumming. Each member puts in a good show, the guitars are big and heavy as they should be, the bass really stands out and Pepper’s vocals stand up very well in the live environment.

The setlist is strong, concentrating mostly on the band’s Pepper Keenan era material. Standout tracks include ‘Wiseblood,’ and ‘King Of The Rotten’ as well as the big hits like ‘Clean My Wounds,’ and ‘Albatross,’ which go down a storm live.

The sound mix is pretty great, really conveying the heaviness and southern edge to some of the riffs and letting you hear what each member is doing perfectly for most of the duration.

In terms of camera work and visuals the DVD is also pretty successful and it has certainly aged better than some of the concert DVDs that were released around that era, some of which are now feeling comparatively dated.

If any complaint were to be leveled at this Live DVD it would be that the editing is perhaps a little overenthusiastic, there is a lot more double-exposure than one would expect, things brake into slow motion at unexpected points and there is sometimes a seeming desire to get across how much fun the fans are having, even at the expense of the visuals.

If you can forgive this one flaw then there is a lot to enjoy about C.O.C’s Live Volume: The Movie and I would highly recommend it.

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