Album Review: Mother Corona - "Out of the Dust"

Early rock and roll of Fifties America influenced the youth of Britain who eventually overwhelmed the music world themselves with the British Invasion of the sixties, inundating radio waves and album sales with new, fresh, exciting music that was a forerunner of massive change in the worldwide culture of man. The British Invasion’s music legacy still rings loud and clear today as music from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, and so many others can still be enjoyed as everlasting masterpieces. But the seeds were sewn with the tremendous music of 50s America, music that begat change, inspired a generation, and lit the ignition to a musical explosion of incalculable proportions spanning continents and generations.

There are plenty of indications, most notably in the number of bands now in the UK playing variations of stoner, doom, and psychedelia, that select American rock music from the 70s and the 90s has sewn its own seeds, adding to a groundswell across the pond that is just now beginning to burgeon into something significant, something hopefully steadfast and powerful, something that can add to a worldwide development of the ‘good stuff’, music that is real, enjoyable, massive, that has taken the essence of those two rock eras and suffused it with newness, creativity, and sheer volume of both decibels and choice selection. No place represents that uprising better than the warrior islands of the UK where a large number of bands are creating, playing, and producing music that is the sole reason rock n’ roll has not yet died a death of ennui brought about by the decadence of a single controlling voice for what gets played to the masses.

Today’s spotlight falls on one of the highlights of the stoner/psychedlic groundswell with the superb band Mother Corona, who this past April released their first full length LP, “Out of the Dust”. The band consists of Lee Cressey on guitar, Rob Glen on bass, and Dave Oglesby on drums and vocals, a three piece band that creates a whole lot of magic without a whole lot of help. I suspect one of the keys to their beautiful renditions is the simplification in instrumentation, a formula most bands follow whose music makes its way to our site, keeping the music simple, clean, and raw, where distortion is in the amplification of one guitar, where the frequencies aren’t over-mixed to confusion, and nothing gets drowned out by over-instrumentation.

Mother Corona plays stoner music to the maximum, incorporating the very best of the low frequency, fuzzy distortion that is the hallmark of the genre. They incorporate quite a bit of Dozer in the way they structure their music, the best Dozer stuff, the “Coming Down the Mountain” Dozer. The “Trail of a Comet” and “Madre de Dios” Dozer. There’s quite a bit of Firestone, Truckfighters, and early Freedom Hawk in there as well, not to mention some Astroqueen. What they really sound similar to, which is a great thing, are their fellow UK upstarts Steak, Enos, and Trippy Wicked & the Cosmic Children of the Knight. Make no mistake, though, these guys carve out their own superb, face stomping, diesel fuel burning inter-continental ballistic mayhem filled with huge, powerful, balls to the wall sound that drives hard and deep without relent.

These guys have been kicking it around since 2006, trouping down the same roads as their warrior isle compatriots, building up a grassroots following by playing in bars and taverns with the occasional gig opening for better known acts that weren’t better acts. This is the typical story. What’s not typical is their music. While it is derivative, it is also unique, a result hard to engineer to say the least. Their music sounds like what you love while not being a copy of anything else you’ve ever heard. Oglesby’s vocals are reminiscent mostly of Alice in Chain’s Layne Staley, but are uniquely suited to Mother Corona’s loud and abusive music, setting the tone perfectly on each song and carrying its weight in instrumentation throughout. At the same time for Mr. Oglesby the drumwork is mighty and fierce, doing more than the typical requirement of keeping the time by relentlessly driving the music forward with panache and heart. Rob Glen’s bass adds a stout component to the melodies and pace of the music with a thunderous, raucous, and raunchy delivery filled with passion and skill. The guitar of Lee Cressey is adept, masterful, wonderful, and wild. He takes it places that induce wonderment and deep satisfaction, plunging into the darkest depths of distortion and soaring to the heights of psychedelic stratospheres. Blended together these 4 instruments deftly and expertly rendered by the 3 musicians of Mother Corona combine to form some of the finest stoner/psych music of a generation.

The six minute track “Hedonist King” starts off the album and immediately sets the tone with some trippy guitar to go along with the energetic drums of the opening seconds. Vocals become a focal point quickly into this funky, fun tune where “ . . . dancing in the rain, drinking in the sun . . . “ sets the tone for a hedonistic trip replete with groovy riffs, head swinging bass, and chunky, heart pounding drums, overlaid with sing along vocal decadence.

“Sunscope” brings the fuzz, hot and heavy, relentlessly rendered by both guitars in a display of power, with primeval solos delivering long, satisfying salvos of chest thumping dynamism in over five minutes of a superb specimen of stoner rock music.

The third track gets to showcase an opening with strictly bass and light, acid induced guitar work dancing above, along with a bit of cymbal spangle to accentuate the deep distortion that is strictly a setup for the booster engine explosion that becomes “Sonic Tomb”. The pace is fast, the effort is maximal, and the sound is deep and brutal.The listener becomes the poor ringer slated to fight the champ and gets round after round of constant jabs and right hooks, each heavier and more fierce than the last, relentless in delivery, and somehow beautiful in ferocity.

“Cosmic Collisions” at number four comes in at seven and a half minutes of deep, dark, distortion, low, slow, heaviness pouring through every crack and crevice until you are filled to the brim with big chunks of fuzz. Steady all the way through but overlaid with cloudy riffs and foghorn guitar solos, this song is the megaton meteorite from space that has punched a hole in the atmosphere before cratering the landscape with its sonic boom of distortion.

Track 5, “Qualuude 74’ “ is another low, slow fuzzbomb with a beautiful tempo within each stanza that leads into chainsaw choruses before giving way to a series of skillfully rendered solos, along with athletic and powerful bass riffs, and finally leading into a final but urgent stanza and chorus set. The lyrics are a longing for an old favorite in recreational mind and mood alteration, qualuudes, a prescription medication no longer available but fondly remembered for its effects.

“V.A.G.” gets my vote for favorite song. Not necessarily best, because they are all superb, buy my favorite nonetheless. It has a classic tempo, upbeat and pure enjoyment, striking that primal, tribal chord that triggers movement from deep down, exploding outward in a shiver of sparks and energy. It is a short treatment but packs a mighty wallop of fuzz and fun. It is primarily an instrumental with a short vocal set brimming with intense delivery. Riffs and solos abound, drums are intense and insistent, the bass as primal as the rhythm.

Number 7, “Nuclear Winter”, is an eight minute treasure that strikes a chord somewhere between nostalgia and yearning, conjuring all the best music of eras gone by while promising the best of what’s to come. This song leans toward the psychedelic with a trippy trek that meanders through the minstrel waters of early seventies Steppenwolf while towing high tech equipment utilized to the max by the guitar solos of Lee Cressey, rhythmically driven forward by the scull-like strokes of Oglesby’s sticks as he croons beautifully that it’s “ . . . oh so cold . . . “ Perhaps this is the best song on the album, no one would argue the point I’m sure.

The title track is number 8, an up tempo fuzz bomb that sets a livlier tone than the majority of the songs on the album while still unleashing furious and heavy nap and pile gutiar work. The song ends at about the 4 minute mark, but leads into a hidden jewel after 2 minutes of silence. After the 6 minute mark Mother Corona lay down a beautifully rendered ode to the fathers of stoner metal and fuzz rock music, Black Sabbath, by playing “Into the Void”. It’s not Ozzy and Tommy, but Dave, Lee, and Rob do a superb job of covering the song, putting as much into it as they do their own stuff, which is a considerable tribute from a trio of musicians that play music at its best to one of rock’s biggest legends who can certainly be considered as one of the all time best.

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Album Review: Steak - "Disastronaut"

Today’s journey into the unknown centers around an as yet unheralded band from London appetizingly named Steak, who have just released this past May their first album, “Disastronaut”, on Stargun Music, available as a download on bandcamp.com (see link below) as part of a ‘name your price’ arrangement. But, beyond a few reviews on your favorite obscure rock websites and a couple of YouTube videos, not much about the band or its members can be gleaned from rooting around the etherverse via Google. This almost incognito presence belies, though, the heft and quality of the 5 finely crafted songs this feverish foursome have conjured forth from what must be the murky backstreets and alleyways of London. At least I assume the music was borne from such seedy environs and dingy surroundings, because how else can you explain the sheer weight and magnitude of the five nearly perfectly conceived stoner songs that Steak have laid down on their inaugural release? Music like this surely begins from a place of gloom, a place of despair, someplace deep, dark, and murky, before it is summoned forth and molded by a mixture of talent and hunger into something unique and rare, a dark and deadly treasure of immense and profound value.  

Such is the nature and stature of “Disastronaut”. It contains only 5 songs, but they are that rarest of the rare, songs that can be thought of as pure stoner rock, unadulterated fuzz of the highest order, displaying the absolute best qualities of the sub genre as well as the overarching genre of metal rock. Steak provides the brilliant and signature sound that conveys stoner rock, with  heavy, down tempo, distorted, and LOUD guitars, hard, insistent bass, and the high energy rhythm of the drums, all accentuating melodic song structures chock full of hooks, riffs, and solos of the highest standards.

Steak’s music is reminiscent of many of the best stoner bands, such as Dozer, Firestone, Truckfighters, Cowboys & Aliens, and Astroqueen, to name a few. While their sound isn’t directly reminiscent of stoner rock’s standard bearer, Kyuss, the quality of the melodies, as well as the guitar work are of the same high caliber. But what Steak offer of their own accord, beyond what has been delivered by these great bands, is a blend of the best of the stoner sound but stepped up beyond anything presented heretofore The songs are heavier, louder, with more fuzz and volume, and melody structures that are easily followed, yet never too simplistic or boring. They’ve taken the sound of what they so obviously love, and have added new and improved ingredients to enhance the sustaining power of the entire product.

Stargun Music has released a compilation album of some of the UK’s best stoner/doom/sludge type bands, titled “Sonic Titans”, which includes the track “The Butcher” from Steak. The compilation album, as well as the song “The Butcher”, were reviewed on Heavy Planet this past May to a bit of fanfare. As it turns out, “The Butcher” is the opening track on “Disastronaut” and it exemplifies the very best of the stoner genre. This song could stand alone as a prime example of what the stoner sound should be. It is 4 minutes of sheer bliss, kickstarting the experience with loud, insistence distortion and vocals that provide a high quality aspect. “The Butcher” starts off with a high energy tempo that brilliantly gathers force as it moves through its main chorus of fuzz, leading into a short, down tempo bridge stripped to bare knuckle might, before moving into the closing moments of inspiration where the energy builds and moments of artistic genius can be gleaned.

The second song is titled “Machine”, and if there were a song that might possibly be considered the best track on the album, for me, it’s this one, although you could very well make that same argument for any of the five. “Machine” is a psychedelic fuzz trip through laid bare electricity, and radiation overflow. The guitar work here goes right to the center of the pleasure lobe, accompanied heavily by vocals that are sublime in delivery, entreating the listener to ‘ . . . try and save yourself’, while providing a glorious atmosphere from which no one truly need be saved.

The tempo moves back into a snappier pace for “Gore Whore” and the vocals here are more insistent, providing a fresh perspective on the delivery of the lyrics, accompanying the usual panoply of huge, ferocious guitar and drum work. The solo here is wicked, warbling with aesthetic inspiration.

Number four, “Fall of Lazarus”, is another candidate for best song of the album, deploying an engaging and ever changing landscape of guitar riffs and vocal delivery that take the listener on a splendid journey through the might and muscle of a slow, deliberate beginning delivery that then grows in amplitude and distortion. The journey is full of cool little tidbits of guitar work and enthusiasm from the the rhythm section that can be discovered on every listen through this example of stoner quality and class.

The album closes with “Peyote”, a near sheer departure from the established sound of the initial four songs. This piece is an instrumental and displays none of the standard fuzz and distortion of the stoner sound, but instead uses an almost acoustic milieu to display the artistic wizardry of the musicians of Steak, who adeptly render a quality song, just as before, but in a totally new and refreshing manner that accentuates the quality of the previous songs, the album, and most importantly, the four stoner rock musicians of Steak.


The members of Steak are:


Kippa - Vocals
Cam - Bass
Reece - Guitar
Large - Drums

While Steak is not yet a known commodity, the quality of their work will surely carry them through to heights beyond the perch they now occupy. Their music is as good as any rock music ever made, and they have rendered a collection of songs that are what we’ve always wanted to hear, giving us exactly the music we always hope to find whenever a new discovery of music is made. It is fresh while familiar, artistic yet attainable, rendered with heart, energy, dexterity, and aplomb.






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