Customer Reviews

Qualone

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4 star:		(1)
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Pete Nema

http://www.petenema.com/

Qualone was formed in 2002, just about 30 years too late to really be on the cutting edge of hard rock. The first track Another Way starts out with the sounds of early Deep Purple and then moves quickly into Black Sabbath. When you hear the opening line "When you came passing by..." you'll swear you're listening to a lost track released by Ozzy himself.

The Ozzy comparison is hard not to make, but fortunately the vocal likeness isn't steady throughout the entire CD. And that's not to say that Qualone's music is unoriginal. It's not. Instead it's familiar, like some of the best 70's heavy metal or hard rock, but it also has it's own sound.

The CD starts with five well structured songs, then leads you through an instrumental called Thetan Stomp, eventually dropping you into an 8 minute psychedelic ride called Mushroom Flower. In addition to the strong Black Sabbath influence and the hints of Deep Purple, I hear some Alice Cooper, a little Pink Floyd, and even a tasty bite of 90's alternative rock. The tracks are laden with heavy riffs, classic rock drumming, and lyrics that support the music. The guitar solos are screaming and the drum fills are satisfying. After two listens, I had rated six of the ten songs three stars or higher in iTunes.

So, put on your most trusted 70's rock concert t-shirt, grab a case of beer and a friend, head down into the basement, and turn the stereo up to 11. This CD is a strong debut effort and if you're in the right mind set, it will have you rocking hard 'till morning.

Roadburn.com (Netherlands)

Winter edition 2004 - Roadburn Picks

QUALONE

"S/T" [ CD - Lucid Haze Records ]

Is there a musical nexus between the likes of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Pink Floyd and The Move? Well, I think there is, and it's called Qualone. Referring to Quaaludes 714 on the insert back of the cover art, the band, made up of former Plaster members, delivers a psychedelic wall of sound that is pleasingly heavy, trippy and very familiar sounding.

Yet Qualone can't be pigeonholed as a rip off or a generic stoner band coz' their take on psyched-out heaviness is really fresh, injected with strangely effected rhythms, leads, dreamy sounding vocal harmonies, layered guitars and a vintage, 'real' sound -the most marked characteristic of the band's "S/T" debut album.

Add to that the infectious use of vibe-meandering journeys via fuzzy riffs and soaring leads which evoke a heady psych feeling that plays off well against their riffrock stylings. So it comes as no suprise that Qualone makes a mockery of some of their musically single minded peers. The band's debut S/T is a fine, honest statement that deserves to be heard by the widest possible audience. Who's up for some Psychedelic-Jam-Heavy 70's-Riffrock?

Walter Hoeijmakers Chief Editor