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Toner Low Bury the Treasure Deep

It's actually really cool packaging. You don't get a sense of it from this picture.Sometimes I run into bands I don’t want to check out just because they’re so highly recommended they can’t possibly live up to the hype. Case in point: Toner Low from The Netherlands. Everything I’d ever heard about them rounded out to, “Oh my god this is the best shit ever you need to hear it right now why are you still standing here go listen to it it’s as good as Sleep,” with emphasis on that last part. As good as Sleep? Come on, man. Your name better be John Garcia if you’re gonna talk that kind of crap.

But, because it was bound to happen eventually, I recently snagged a copy of Toner Low‘s aptly-named second full-length, II, from a certain interwebby shop I probably don’t even need to name at this point (hint: it was All that is Heavy). Even after it came, I sat and stared at it for a long while before putting it on. “Oh yeah, think you’re so good?” Holding the hype against the band when the band had literally nothing to do with the hype isn’t exactly fair, but neither is life, so screw it. Alright, Toner Low. Bring it on.

And they did. For a solid hour of Sunn and Orange-amped stonerly psych drone doom with, yes, a Sleep influence, but stretched into four Goastsnake-thick numbers-only tracks all over 13 minutes long. Parts reminded me of Ufomammut‘s take on heavy and sprawling psychedelia, but II was less outwardly experimental and more bent on riff worship and dooming out. I’ll say this for it: it was fucking s l o w — and yes, that is absolutely meant as a compliment. So many bands out there think they’re playing slow just because they’re not Slayer-speed thrash. No dice. Toner Low is the slow’s slow. They’re slow like continental shifts. Slower than those days at school where the clock moves backwards. Really, really slow.

And they’re slow too.

As it happened at the time I was listening, I needed a good dose of slow, so it was perfect. I don’t know if it’s as good as Sleep, since that’s like saying Sleep is as good as Sabbath, but I’ve no doubt II is in line for many return trips. Now just to track down a copy of their 2005 self-titled and I’ll be good to go for Toner Low. Obscure European distros here I come.

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4 Responses to “Toner Low Bury the Treasure Deep”

  1. Mike says:

    Welcome to the club my friend. I have fallen in love with this band just this year myself. You should aslo track down their comp, 1998-2008,One Stoned Decade. It’s a collection of unreleased tracks, demos and material from various splits and 7″. You won’t be sorry.

  2. Bufftbone says:

    Two things here. First I need to brag, I was the first person in America to order it and receive the album from the band. Second, contact them through their MYspace page. Last time I talked to them they still had copies of their first album that you can get straight from them.

  3. Shrike says:

    I gotta agree there, Toner Low’s II really is the shoite, while I really liked their previous offering a lot aswell, I was not ready for this. I do reviews and previous such album was EW’s Witchcult Today… Monkey3’s 39 Laps is close there as well.
    I’m just really happy that the band is getting some momentum, they truly deserve it. Now, how to get them to do a live show here in Finland…

    I’ve been meaning to drop some band names for “The Obelisk” to check out for a while, so I’ll just do that right now.

    Temples – http://www.temples.fi/
    Droney, psyched out doomy and stonery. They release all of their stuff as downloads as well.

    Mr. Peter Hayden – http://www.mrph.net/
    Spacey, doomey, proggy, psychedelic stuff, just saw them live last weekend where they played the unreleased new album all the way through for the first time live… now they’ve got a saxophone in the mix too. Some free downloads available through Last.fm.

    Dark Buddha Rising – http://www.varjotila.org/dbr/
    Black Psychedelic Rock/Metal, I know, it sounds ridiculous but these guys actually sound like that. It’s simply amazing, especially live. Some of these guys are also in another project called Galacticka, which is psychedelic rock and also worth checking. http://www.galacticka.net/

    All of these are highly recommended (by me)!

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