Nightstalker
superfreak
Meteor City

Two decades in and these Greeks are still hammering out classicist groove laiden hard rock taking the bikerish 70’s for a long ride through territory Nebula, Monster Magnet, Roach Powder have used as well as the fertile rumblings around the grunge thing cf. Pygmy Love Circus, Big F, Alice In Chains. Having limited intellect and scope I’d have to peg their DNA to Steppenwolf; thee* most early “70’s” of early 70’s bands (well late 60’s)-- rockin’, expansive and firmly hooked into hard rock not garage or loud pop. Nightstalker take that kickass hippie stuff whittle it down to a sturdy surly hard rock with cut and parry that pulls’m into the here ands now. You know that ominous creep of the Nuges “stranglehold” ? that tempo-feeling is well used here to cut the quick riff chomp and their previous Motorhead cover, (“iron horse, born to lose”) from the a-o fuckin’k the ritual ep , is a big clue even as they play it the loose and ‘ luded.

As the tuneage is very much guitar-bs-drums-vocals in the stripped down power-trio no frills manner the songs have to be strong. I wouldn’t be typing if the hooks and grooves didn’t lay a barb in yr rock node and keep the train a chuggin’ along. The songs keep hopping up and landing on yr brain as often as the shots land in yr mouth at my house; whoa! Another already ?, OK! The sparse phased melody chord slab of “Intro” as it lays up into ace rocker, “enough is enough” should have you sealed into purchasing mode. If not the next one, “baby, god is dead”, (hey is the guy from Rotting Christ still in the band?), has the kinda sway that’d follow “space lord” on the juke as well as a great bass part that proves they could chop off a Dust cover when the opportunity comes up. The title cut has a nice psychedelic flow with its droning hippie mantra opening and “{super-mother-fucking-freak” chant chorus. Trust me when they title a song, “the end of war”, its not about peace. The last cut, “gun” has the speediest tempo and works well; not different than the other stuff just quick enough to land it on a Super Suckers rec. before those jokers lost all their hair.

The pulsing hum they tap into is def. similar to the one MR. Wyndorf stumbled across a jillion years ago but the source of that particular thing may actually have been more about Europeans sifting through and constructing a rock that has brought us the actual center of the “stoner rock”, (not metal, sludge, etc.) sound. Dunno why right off but the new Truckfighters disc’ll put flesh on that statements bones. Probably the reupping of the European half of the original rock and roll equation, (Europe & African) , dealing with the rock and roll blowout as it sailed back towards its mom and dad. To wit; what Truckfighters, Nightstalker et.al. do with Kyuss/Monster Magnet is what The Beatles did with Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins-- add the melodic complexity and rhythmic shifts via their native soil to the template.

I’m assuming the internet will fuck this up, (the pick and choose option as “pop” sampling no matter what genre), as much as allow it; the reality of “different cultures” may be on its last leg as it gets hammered into the true one world order. Oh well, radio was integral to creating an audience and moving cultural access towards the one big bang so at least there be some quality entertainment as the ship goes down. As stated above goes done easy with Monster Magnet and Nebula as well as general rockin’ stuff ala AC DC, Wipers, Roadsaw, Unida. Check myspace, meteorcity.com

* I could be wrong here. It’s probably Grand Funk.

I have this. I enjoy it very much. Thanks.