Between the exceptional work of underground bands such as Deviated State and Wax Lead (who both released vastly different but equally awesome releases) to mainstream heroes such as Judas Priest, 2018 has shaped up to be another very strong year for rock and heavy metal! Here is my list of favorite rock/metal releases of 2018! Continue reading
*This is part of our “Louder Than Life 2018 Spotlight” series where we focus on some of the up-and-coming bands that fans can see at this year’s Louder Than Life Festival on Sept. 28th-30th. This week, we’re checking out Monster Magnet.*
1989 marks the year of birth of New Jersey’s spacerock legends Monster Magnet. Though this band isn’t one of the headliners of this years festival they have put in their time and are veterans of the rock and metal world. They have likely put in more hours on stage than most of the other early acts combined. The bands first demos titled ‘Forget About Life, I’m High on Dope’ and ‘I’m Stoned, What Ya Gonna Do About It?’ should pretty much tell you everything you need to know about the band, but there is much more you should know. The band released their official debut album ‘Spine Of God’ on Caroline Records in 1991 which became a full on genre classic literally in an instant. If you were ever looking for some stoner space rock look no further than the originators; Monster Magnet. Frontman Dave Wyndorf has expertly piloted the band through an asteroid belt of lineup changes and health scares, substance abuse and public opinion, emerging as something of a stoner rock elder statesman. The drug hazed heavy sound of the releases helped in cementing Monster Magnet‘s reputation of being the only legit descendants of the likes of psychedelic and stoner rock Godfathers Hawkwind, Black Sabbath, and their electrifying punk siblings in MC5.
Monster Magnet
Mindf**ker
Napalm Records
Release Date: March 23, 2018
Since their now-infamous 1989 demo recordings Forget About Life, I’m High on Dope and I’m Stoned, What Ya Gonna Do About It? found their way into the bloodstream of the heavy music community, nobody’s been able to pull off the whole “acid-sleaze space-rock” thing quite like New Jersey’s Monster Magnet. From the thick, lysergic swirl of Spine of God, to the revved-up MC5-meets-Hawkwind riffing of Dopes to Infinity, to the stoner-arena crossover hit Powertrip, Magnet mainman Dave Wyndorf has expertly piloted his sleek silver machine through an asteroid belt of lineup changes and health scares, substance abuse and public opinion, emerging as something of a stoner rock elder statesman. On Mindfucker, the band’s first album of original material since 2013’s Last Patrol, Wyndorf and his slam-bang gang of hellraisers throw down the gauntlet with a tough, terse set of trippy rockers that prove they’re still well in consideration for the title of Baddest Cats Around.
The UK’s premier independent festival Desertfest London returns over the May bank holiday (May 4th-6th) with what can only be described, as unquestionably it’s most biggest and broadest line-up yet!
Now in its 7th year, the festivities will take place across multiple venues in London’s Camden Town including the famous Underworld and breathtaking Roundhouse. With over 70 acts announced across the whole metal spectrum, together with the biggest names in sludge, doom and psych!
Not only that, as par tradition Desertfest will be holding their annual pre-festival party at The Black Heart on May 3rd featuring a full headline set by North Carolina’s A.S.G and London’s own Flash House as support! (Pre-festival tickets here)
Read below for full headliners and bands that are not to be missed! (Full weekend line-up follows article. Weekend and day tickets available here). Continue reading
Mindfucker, the first studio album from New Jersey speed-scuzz icons Monster Magnet in nearly five years, will hit stores worldwide March 23, 2018 via Napalm Records. The eleventh effort from Magnet mastermind Dave Wyndorf and Company, Mindfucker promises ten up-tempo, savage tunes that draw equally from the wells of early 70’s hard rock psychedelia and tweaked-out, incendiary Detroit-style garage protopunk.
In this day and age of the deluxe vinyl reissue, few releases are more deserving than ‘Spine of God,’ the debut album from New Jersey Stoner pioneers Monster Magnet. To whet our appetites for a forthcoming studio album later this year, on September 1st the good folks at Napalm Records are releasing ‘Spine of God’ (and its follow-up ‘Tab’) on glorious heavyweight vinyl for the very first time. Finally, this stone-cold classic of the genre can be appreciated in the same way as the Yes and Led Zeppelin classics mentioned in ‘Spine of God’’s Rock-and-Roll-as-Dark-Ritual stomper “Nod Scene;” with “seeds bustin’ up the spine.”
1989 marks the year of birth of New Jersey’s spacerock legends Monster Magnet. Three years after their first EP on Glitterhouse, the band released their official debut album ‘Spine Of God’ on Caroline Records, which became a full on genre classic literally in an instant. The original debut album ‘Tab’ was recorded a year earlier then ‘Spine Of God’ but only saw the light of day because of the overwhelming success of its actual successor. The drug hazed heavy sound of both releases helped in cementing Monster Magnet‘s reputation of being the only legit descendants of the likes of psychedelic and stoner rock Godfathers Hawkwind, Black Sabbath, and their electrifying punk siblings in MC5. Continue reading
