HEY SATAN - Orange Moon

Release date April 5/19 (Cold Smoke/Bandcamp)

Expecting doom metal to come out of the speakers upon initial listen to Hey Satan's sophomore full length, I was somewhat surprised to hear a stoner rock concoction instead. No problem I thought, my error in assumption and expectations then adjusted, the first two tracks ('Housewife Blues' and 'South Is The New West') satisfy with its hard riffage getting the blood flowing. More than meeting expectations, the bluesy, blubbering hard rock with a vocalist aping Ian Astbury (The Cult) contained enough edge to appease this headbanger.

The rest of the album doesn't quite live up to the promise of the initial songs, but they are by no means throwaways. In general, these latter tracks find the Swiss unit ratcheting back a bit on the aggression (with the exception of 'Show Me Your Teeth, Fucker!'), adding in some psychedelic overtones and the vocalist crooning instead of shouting. A tad too laidback for my tastes (or maybe just too much rock instead of metal!), but there's no doubting that this record sounds really good, the guitars and bass coming across fat and full, as is required for this type of fare. Bottom line - if you're a stoner rock fan, you should check this out.

[7]