ALBUM REVIEW: No Return – Hashtronaut
Sandwiched between the epic Rocky Mountains and the sprawling High Plains, the metropolis of Denver is a unique place in the USA. The capital city of Colorado is a progressive and cultural hotspot, as well as being home to a number of local and national breweries alongside an active and thriving metal scene. Launching their mission in 2020, HASHTRONAUT are the latest band to emerge from the Denver underground. Red-eyed, coughing and smelling of marijuana, the American four-piece consisting of Michael Honiotes (drums – the drums on the album were recorded by Eric Garcia), Kellen McInerney (guitar), Robb Park (guitar) and Daniel Smith (bass, vocals) offer up their grimy, bong water-drenched debut album No Return.
HASHTRONAUT’s first offering was their 2022 EP Tidal Waves Of Ashen Sky, where they established themselves as avid students of the resiny stoner odysseys provided by SLEEP and BONGZILLA. For their debut full-length, they have delved further into these influences and doubled down on them, alongside the usual classic BLACK SABBATH tropes and contemporary upper echelon riff purveyors WINDHAND and MONOLORD. With their vintage gear in tow, HASHTRONAUT take you on a hazy, spaced-out journey on No Return; grimy and resiny it feels like you’ve taken a plunge into the murky bong water pools of another planet. Coupling the worship of the stoner odyssey with the band’s innate knowledge of riffcraft, HASHTRONAUT seem set to shake the very foundations of the Rocky Mountains with their music.
While the central theme is a spaced-out, weed-fuelled journey into the outer reaches of the universe, HASHTRONAUT create bolshie and bludgeoning old school stoner tracks with galactic walls of sound, monstrous riffs, pummelling rhythms – and of course some extra buds of the sweetest leaf of them all mixed in for good measure. No Return starts off heavy and gets progressively heavier as it goes on, something akin to early ELECTRIC WIZARD. It’s an album that straddles the thin line between stoner and sludge, one minute you’re trudging around like a caveman looking for his next hit and the next you’re spaced out on a hypnotic and psychedelic adventure into the upper echelons of your inner consciousness.
As a result of this stylistic shifting, No Return is quite a dynamic album and it is not for the feint of heart. It’s ominous, imposing, grim and monstrous in equal measure, as you’re pushed and pulled by Garcia’s half-time grooves and swings. The wall-to-wall down-tuned riffs from McInerney and Park will knock you out like Godfather OG (the strongest strain of weed available). Not to mention the gut dropping sub-bass sound waves being emitted from Smith’s bass.
The album opens up in a somewhat ELECTRIC WIZARD style, with Rip Wizard starting with sampled sound bites from a film or TV show about drugs. Anyway, the song is a gentle introduction to the album that conjures up imagery of a red-eyed space wizard cruising through the magical realms. After this, chaos is unleashed. Cough It Up starts up with an extreme panned guitar lead that disorientates you before launching into a titanic riff and snarling sludge vocals. This is where HASHTRONAUT really begin to ramp up the album. This is followed by the album’s longest track, Carcinogen. A slow, trudging monolith of stoner metal excellence, it is filth in musical form as the main riff has you pulling the MESHUGGAH face. What makes this song stand out is the contrast of the grimy riffs and clean, ethereal vocals which creates this hazy, trippy atmosphere.
Dead Cloud offers a brief reprieve from the bludgeoning riffs with a dreamy, psychedelic introduction before it launches into an anthemic riff that makes your body tingle when it drops. Off the back of Dead Cloud, the album then spirals into heavier realms with the fast paced Hex. Here the darkness and madness starts to settle in and you’re left with an impending sense of dread. When Lung Ruiner hits you can feel the pit of your stomach hit the floor with its heaviness; utilising the BLACK SABBATH triad it’s an eerie song. It resembles the feeling of being left alone too long in your own mind and it turns dark once the high has worn off. Dweller follows a similar formula with Smith screeching from beyond the void. Marsquake is a surprisingly psychedelic track at this point; drenched in fuzz with a bluesy feel, it rounds off the album before the whiplashing 31-second outro Blast Off.
HASHTRONAUT’s debut album is a statement of intent; No Return announces them on the stoner scene with a gut-busting punch. It’s everything you need in a classic, heavy riff-centric stoner record as well as containing a few surprises.
Rating: 8/10
No Return is set for release on March 22nd via Blues Funeral Recordings.
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