Ice Dragon

Whoof! Great stoner rock riffs with damn glue dripping from the guitar strings is offered up by Boston quartet Ice Dragon on their epic second album The Sorrowful Sun. We’re talking some pretty cool psychedelic stuff with a nice experimental edge and wicked cool haunting vocals with a definite Ozzy Osbourne feel. Heaviness intact their sound is lo-fi and pretty noisy for what you’d usually expect from the genre (they actually kinda remind me of Upsidedown Cross), making them really stand out compared to other acts.

Nine songs of pure sludge heaven clocking in around 40 minutes with some nice surprises thrown in every now and then to keep things interesting, and yet again I find myself scratching my head wondering what the hell is wrong with the modern record industry for not picking these guys up. Their first album The Burl, The Earth, The Aether is offered as a free download – you should definitely check ’em out!

Sample track:

Bandcamp: http://icedragon.bandcamp.com/
Website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ice-Dragon/59570859070

Thorun

UK stoners Thorun‘s EP Chorus of Giants is the kinda record release/demo that makes you scratch your head wondering why they haven’t been signed to a label already. Maybe it’s because they dabble in instrumental music, a genre most people in the “industry” consider hard to market, but their brand of instrumental stoner rock is just perfect. Heavy riffs, great production, songs are good and varied without ever getting masturbatory (a risk pretty common with the metal genre).

Recorded live to keep the studio gimmickry to a minimum (giving them extra punk points for me!) they’re earning some well-deserved underground press and slots opening up for more established bands. Their first effort EP 2010: Reprise is available for free on Bandcamp as well as Megaupload.

Sample track:

Bandcamp: http://thorun.bandcamp.com/
Website:  http://www.thorunband.com/