The Second Wave of Stoner Rock (1998-2008)

Boris, High On Fire, and Clouds Follow the Riff

May 15, 2009

After a small decline in the stoner rock stock, a new batch of rockers return to the riff-filled land. With bands building upon all the past, it thrives again.

If the first wave of stoner rock took the sounds of Black Sabbath and combined them with their own personal preferences (Black Flag’s violence, Hawkwind’s psychedelic tendencies) and regional touches (the vastness of the desert, the gloom of the Pacific Northwest), the second wave started from the first and departed. While touches of the original Sabbath-sound are still there, the overall feel embraced different aspects of classic rock and turned them up to infinity.

These nine albums showcase the flipside of the also emerging second wave of doom metal. Whereas doom metal was oppressively slow, feedback-laden, and tortured, the new stoner rock sound was up-tempo and feel-good without being happy, music cool enough for those too cool to care.

As the mighty Kyuss broke up and splintered, lead guitarist Josh Homme went on to form Queens of the Stone Age with former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri. Though the band is known for the hit “No One Knows,” their first album is a mentally-swirled sex-trip through the dirtiest riff rock known to man. The first Queens album is what Whitesnake’s Slide It In would sound like if David Coverdale and the boys dropped a bunch of acid before recording it.

Another float-over from the first wave, Sleep guitarist Matt Pike embraced his love of Motorhead and formed High On Fire while bandmates Chris Hakius and Al Cisneros went on to be the sole members of the trippy drone-groove band Om. With The Art of Self-Defense, Pike buries his vocals and focuses on what made his contributions to Sleep so effective: crushing riffs and epic solos.

With a power-trio swing and a chesty howl reminiscent of early Chris Cornell, Grand Magus came roaring out of Sweden with their self-titled debut. Falling somewhere between a classic doom rocking and a stoner rolling, Grand Magus throw down a powerful groove and keep it simple without getting stupid.

After three albums of gritty, backwoods metal, Virginia heshers Alabama Thunderpussy put out an album that sounds like someone dropped a bottle of bourbon on a Saint Vitus album and played it at 45 RPM instead of 33RPM . And it has a naked angle on the cover. That’s tough to beat even with bad songs, let alone songs as deadly as the ones found on Staring at the Divine.

Perhaps Madison, Wisconsin’s finest export, Bongzilla play single-note riffs on Orange amps that can’t possibly get any louder. Songs like “Sunnshine Green” and “666 lb. Bongsession” are forward-moving stoner doom anthems that act as a testament to the power of simple riffs and their mind altering drug of choice..

Alternating between abrasive drone music and charging stoner rock, Boris take 1971 and turn it in on itself for the 2000s. Opening track “Heavy Friends” is a gut-wrenching Neil Young guitar bend with a dirge of a riff behind it. The album doesn’t let up from there, and even after it finishes there’s still the ringing in the ears to deal with.

Years after nearly perfecting air-tight stoner jams, Clutch released an album of air-tight stoner jams without the minor problems that stuck out on their previous albums. Gone are Neil Fallon’s harsh vocals and present are radio-friendly hooks that only make the band that much more endlessly listenable. They never leave the blues-box, and they never have to.

Former Karp and Tight Bros From Way Back When member Jared Warren and Coady Willis of Murder City Devils combined forces to release a hectic, punishing album of pummeling fuzz bass, excited drumming, and layers of screams. With such an impressive debut, it’s no wonder that stoner rock legends the Melvins handpicked them to join the band in 2006.

By far the most “classic rock” of all the stoner rock bands going today, Clouds plug Les Pauls into Big Muffs into Sunn amps and turn it all up. Their second album is just as catchy and twice as heavy as any compilation of 1976’s greatest hits.

Masters of Reality

As stoner rock finds itself nearly 40 years separated from Black Sabbath’s classic Master of Reality, listeners may put on any record in comparison to it and see that the genre has held up and stayed true to its original sound. Stoner rock may go in and out of vogue, but the circle of jamming on groove to listen to music to jam on grooves to will remain unbroken.

The copyright of the article The Second Wave of Stoner Rock (1998-2008) in Metal Music is owned by Ryan Werner. Permission to republish The Second Wave of Stoner Rock (1998-2008) in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.