Stöner – Stoners Rule – Album Review

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Stoners Rule, the debut album from Stöner, is as self-explanatory a title as they come and the fact that Stöner is the brainchild of stoner / desert rock legends Brant Bjork (Fu Manchu) and Nick Oliveri (ex-Kyuss) means that you’re in for a smooth ride.

Hypnotic, subtle grooves and mellow, mesmeric vocals form the core of opener “Rad Stays Rad”, a track which soothes the soul and reminds you exactly why this genre remains so popular after all these years.

Masters of the craft, Stoner simply do what they do best and that’s settle into monster grooves purpose built for mass pleasure. Which they do throughout the entire album. Well, almost. There’s also a few detours into Nick Oliveri-fronted, stoner-inflected punk to enjoy along the way.

A mostly stripped-back affair, Stoners Rule is manna from heaven for genre lovers and is an album that revels in its glorious simplicity and blues-inflected bliss. Of course, there’s nothing new here to write home about and why should there be? These guys wrote the rulebook and you can’t plagiarise your own material!

Put simply, if you love stoner rock….you already know that stoners rule and, at the end of the day, “shit don’t change / rad stays rad.” 7/10

Stoners Rule was released on June 25th via Heavy Psych Sounds.