ALBUM REVIEW: Stoners Rule – Stöner

As an entity, STÖNER should not be too much of a surprise, given Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri‘s history together, most famously in KYUSS. As you would expect from a band with this name, the music is definitely heavily slanted towards the stoner market, but not in a manner that seems to alienate some people – rather, it remains a highly accessible body of work that would stand easily on its own feet, even without the illustrious band members. There is plenty that fans of more mainstream rock, blues or even classic psychedelia should find of interest as you meander around the rather chilled, fuzzed-out approach taken through the majority of the album.

There are three fairly distinct sounds interweaved on the album, with their desert rock history mixed well amongst some blues rock and some pretty trippy guitar and bass licks introducing a fairly psychedelic approach. Tracks such as Tribe/Fly Girl and opener Rad Stays Rad definitely harken back to their KYUSS days quite heavily, without the heavily phallic or sex-based lyrics their former band used at times, while Stand Down, Nothin’ and The Older Kids are a touch less influenced by their previous works but still well-crafted songs that combine melody and the more psychedelic end of the BLACK SABBATH back catalogue to a rather glorious effect.

Own Yer Blues is the track that most deviates from the bulk of the album in its approach, sounding far more Mississippi delta than Californian desert canyon, yet still so infused with the spirit of Bjork and Oliveri that it feels still in tune with the overall spirit of the release, rather than a true deviation. Oliveri‘s songwriting is most evident on one of the two shorter tracks, namely Evel Never Dies, being far more up-tempo and almost prog-punk in its musical approach, with the time signature swaps almost providing a slightly jarring, yet welcome, experience in contrast to the other tracks on the album.

The only real negative with this album is that it feels a touch on the safe side, in that they stick to things they have done before, though spending over a quarter of a century creating musical art in the manner they have will certainly have that effect. They do push the boat out a bit, but not quite as much as one might have hoped for given their collective history for doing things a bit differently. That said, it’s the debut release of this new project and the three different variances of songwriting they show in it certainly gives them plenty of scope for expanding their approach in subsequent releases. The production is slightly raw, yet this actually adds to the charm rather than being any kind of deterrent to its enjoyment.

Their years of experience writing together does shine through in the end, the comfort in their process being quite obvious. What this release comes down to is that while it is not ground-breaking, it is a good body of work. There is some variety in the soundscape, perhaps more so than during their KYUSS days even, with one quote from album opener Rad Stays Rad summing up the entire experience: “Shit don’t change/Rad stays rad.”

Rating: 7/10

Stoners Rule is set for release on June 25th via Heavy Psych Sounds.

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