Customer Reviews

Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is easily one of the best stoner rock albums released in the last 10 years and another example of the Scandinavian countries showing the underground music world how to do this stoner/retro rock thing properly. The songs really groove, from the stoner anthem Too Stoned through to the fuzzed out, foot tapping, head nodding, bum swaying song (if your a chick) Sit Down. Lots of influences going on here, including Hendrix, Hawkwind and the Stones. But it all sounds fresh and boy does it groove. The production is as heavy as hell but full of classic rock melodies.

Apparently they only made 500 copies, luckily I've got one.

Open the CD insert to this album, and you'll recognize the implicit acknowledgement of the debt this band owes to Kyuss. The stark desert scene photographed does more to convey a sense of cultural unity among so-called "stoner" rockers (an unfortunately derogatory term which has nonetheless been embraced by fans of the subgenre) than it does to express the musical content of "Pleasant Journey." Gas Giant offers a number of catchy heavy rock tunes which rarely lag or disappoint. While their effort here isn't quite as psychedelically/progressively tinged as is, e.g., the work of Sleep or Red Giant (or for that matter the aforementioned Kyuss), the catchy songs are far from pop, and far (fortunately) from overproduced. The guitar sound, in fact, is quite a raw tone, almost unsettlingly so at points.

If you're looking for a British take on the movement associated with Doom, Desert, Stoner, or however the hell you want to say "heavy" rock, this is a release to pick up. Certainly it is not to be overlooked in favor of lesser (but more popular) lights in the space-rock sky.

Another worthy band from Denmark - as this was the second Gas Giant disc I've heard. Not quite as outstanding as 'Mana' (see my review) but still a pretty good / heavy 'stoner rock' effort. Couple of tracks that I was impressed with were "Too Stoned" (a possible anthem?), "Freak Sensation" and "Storm Of My Enemies" (awesome riffs). Personnel: Stefan Krey-guitar, Jesper Valentin-vocals, Thomas Carstensen-bass and Pete Hell-drums. As hard as I try, I could not ignore how much this CD had sort of like a Monster Magnet-like vibe to it.

Hawkwind never had such balls.