Windhawk
Swedish outfit STONEWALL NOISE ORCHESTRA has been an active unit since they started out back in 2004. Mostly in the European live circuit, but in between gigging they've also managed to find the time to hit the recording studio. "Sweet Mississippi Deal" is their latest studio effort, and was issued by Swedish label Transubstans Records in October 2010.
Musically this production opens with heavy compositions residing somewhere in between Soundgarden and Black Sabbath in overall expression. Steady drums and heavy bass underscore dark but warm and organic sounding guitar riffs, massive and distorted but with somewhat of a glossy and slick overall expression. The defining blues base of metal is given something of an emphasis early on, in particular on third track A Song for the Fool.
The massive creation that is One Hundred marks a shift on this CD. Apart from being a standout track in itself, and the only track where droning, psychedelic laced textures slowly crawls forth with only occasional mid-paced interludes, this track also heralds the start of a more psychedelic tinged approach for the remaining songs on this album. While the opening efforts resides pretty well inside a stoner or doom metal description, the increasing use of psychedelic details and a growing tendency to include lighter and more groove-oriented themes kicks off at this point, and in the second half of this disc there's a fair few items where the metal contents are evenly balanced out with a more distinct 70's stoner rock expression. In a case or two arguably with more of an emphasis on the latter.
The album is an engaging affair from start to finish, the band mastering their metal excursions just as well as their stoner rock flirts, and may arguably be at their best when incorporating psychedelic details in a fairly liberal manner. Stoner metal and stoner rock fans should make up something of a core audience for this act, but liberal-minded doom fans should also add this band to their list of acts to check out at a later stage. And for some reason or other, I suspect that seeing them live would be the best way to check out their booty, so to speak.