By Jonny Bakes
Some of you may have noticed that a little while ago Off Yer Rocka Records spawned a couple of smaller specialised record labels, one of which was Stoned Rocka. Now I don’t know about you, but this got me all excited – a record label dedicated stoner music? Fucking sign me up! Lo and behold, when an album arrived at ÜRHQ from the first signing to the label, I knew that I had to get my hands on it to see if the Stoned Rocka taste was what I hoped it would be.
It was a pleasant surprise that the band in question turned out to be the Midlands’ powerhouse trio Master Charger. Now this is a band I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a couple of times, and there’s a good chance that you have too as they have been pretty relentlessly gigging for the past few years. I’ve certainly managed to catch them at both Hammerfest and Doom Vs Stoner in recent years and have always been impressed with their top-tier quality doom. Unfortunately for Master Charger, they have already set the bar pretty high through their own doing, so I’m delving into this third album with some pretty high expectations.
And boy do they deliver! From the start of the album all the way through to the last note, ‘Origin of the Lugubrious’ is back to back groove-laden riffs, pounding drums, and basslines so chunky you could eat them for breakfast. Building on their previous releases, this album sees a slight shift towards the groovier end of the sliding scale that is doom/stoner metal. This suits me just fine to be honest, and it’s not as if Master Charger have suddenly jumped from being an all-out heavy doom band, this sound was always there but this time it’s more of a focus than before. Every now and again you’ll find yourself having to remind yourself that this massive sound that’s penetrating your ears is generated by just three guys, it really is impressive stuff.
Things get pretty existential with my favourite track on the album, ‘Who the Hell Are You?’, which is six and a half minutes of balls-out aggressive grooves. As a drummer, it was Jon Kirk’s drum-fill breaks in the song that grabbed my attention on my first listen through but on second listen there’s a huge amount here to really blast those eardrums into submission. John James’ shouts and wails drive the lyrics into your very being while your attention is focused on the simple-yet-effective blues grooves that he’s churning out on the guitar and leaves you begging for more.
If you hadn’t already guessed, I loved this album. Master Charger may have set the bar high coming into this review but they’ve successfully taken that bar and launched it into fucking space with ‘Origin of the Lugibrous’. It’s another step on their meteoric rise to become leaders of the stoner metal scene in my opinion. They may have already shared a stage with the likes of Orange Goblin and Raging Speedhorn, but if they carry on like this then those bands had better watch out because Master Charger could be competing for those top slots in the coming years!
- ‘Origins Of The Lugubrious’ is released today (Friday 21 August). You can get your copy HERE.
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