Asteroid - II

Published February 15 2010

*=Staff's pick	Garden* Disappear* Karma* Edge River Lady Towers Fire Time

Genre	70's Hard Rock/Stoner	R. Hirse/J. Nilsson	Vocals
Tracks	9	Robert Hirse	Guitar
Runningtime	44 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Fuzzorama Records	Johannes Nilsson	Bass
Release	23 January 2010	Elvis Campbell	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	Grand Magus, Dozer, Spiritual Beggars

Fuzzorama Records. The name kinda says it all! They have proved the validity of the name with a range of fuzz-oriented releases by bands like The Durango Riot, Truckfighers and Blowback. Asteroid made their debut album in 2006, following a spilt with Blowback. When listening to the band's new album much of the fuzz is actually placed in the backseat.

I however assure you it's not less heavy because of this, oh no. Take a listen to the old Black Sabbath and Zeppelin albums and you'll notice that most of the heaviness doesn't actually lie in the fuzzy guitars, but in the sound and the way the bass and drums sound and interact. Take a listen to the solo section of second track "Disappear" and you will immediately feel the Wade/Butler vibes hitting you like a ton of bricks, while the guitar is really clean and pushed to the side. That's ambience people!

This is a really cool album where the songs build up to a crushing crescendo, such as the track "Karma" which just keeps building, adding layers, fatness, intensity and pushing up the level until it bursts like a volcano with the lava rolling down the hill eating up everything in its way. In the subsequent "Edge" you also hear most of the heaviness in the riff lies in the crunching distorted bass, while the guitar builds on top adding clarity to the riff. I also really like Robin Hirse's vocals which remind me quite a lot of a young Bobby Liebling (Pentagram) with an interesting late 60s vibe to it.

There are a few tracks in the second half that don't hit me that hard, such as the up-tempo shuffle "Lady" and the slightly too spaced out "River". All in all an interesting album well worth checking out!

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
8	7	7	8	7

Summary
7,5 chalices of 10 - Stark