“Fuzz, crushing drums, loud guitars, spaceship sounds, riff madness, rock n roll… for the sake of all STONEKIND”.
This is the description Winston Salem’s Stonekind introduce themselves with on their Bandcamp-page. Stonekind seem to come out of nowhere with an outstanding first ep that was released in june this year. The band consists of David Templeton (guitars), Jeff Ayers Jr. (drums/vocals) and Jacob Shelton (bass guitar).
Ember kicks off this ep with the aforementioned space sounds and some gentle acoustics. The acoustic guitar interacts with an electric guitar part which creates a beautiful melody. This short instrumental is followed by Talk Of Fire. A slow bluesy doom riff opens the song with harmonizing vocals in the background. The deep vocals of Ayers sound quite charismatic and warm on this song. Sometimes his voice reminds me of Chris Goss (Masters Of Reality) with some Mark Lanegan thrown in. The song picks up some speed with a fast guitar riff that reminds of Black Sabbath’s Sabra Cadabra. The last instrumental part of this song – which starts with some nice drumming – sounds amazing. Davis Templeton’s (wah-wah) solo’s are especially outstanding.
Black Molasses is another awesome tune. The meandering guitar parts in the beginning sound beautiful. Ayers’s vocals pick up that guitar melody. The song has a great bluesy feel to it. Every bandmember contributes to the greatness of this song. Ayer’s vocals are really strong. The rhythms created by bass and drums are playful but tight. Besides Templeton’s awesome guitar solo’s he really adds a variety of effects to his guitar. Especially at the end where some of his guitar parts seems to be manipulated in a way that it sounds like it’s played backwards. Very Beatles-like. It’s small things like this that really makes these songs even better and interesting. It’s Alive sounds a bit darker than the other ones. It contains nice fuzzy riffs and Sabbath-gallops. The chorus isn’t huge, but still quite catchy.
There’s a lot to love about this ep. Stonekind left nothing to chance and really took care of this songs. The vocals are really strong. There’s some double tracking and vocal effects which really work well. And also thumbs for combining the vocals with drumming. Not an easy task. I love the guitars on these songs. The solo’s and riffs are cracking, but I love the variety in the sound effects also. And last not but not least; the rhythm section really creates a tight foundation for this bluesy stoner/doom greatness. What else is there to say or do, besides making a deep bow for this great music.
Links:
Orange Maze 