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Stonewall Noise Orchestra: Something Familiar Here…

That tornado is about to get Saturn!Someone remind me to send Narthracht, the horned pagan god of the forest in which I live, a thank-you card for providing me with an internet connection, because from the second I put on Stonewall Noise Orchestra‘s Constants in an Ever Changing Universe (The Unit), I knew there was something familiar about the singer’s voice. When I opened the digipak to see his name was John Hermansen, it was right on the tip of my tongue, but if not for Google, I never would have gotten to sleep last night.

The Swedish stoner rocker has done time in the criminally-underappreciated The Awesome Machine and following that, the not-quite-as-interesting-but-still-pretty-cool Mother Misery, who wear their Monster Magnet influence (Dopes to Infinity-era) in more than just their initials. Hermansen gives some of his lines a Wyndorfian flair on Constants as well, as on “Venus Travel Agency,” but on the whole, SNO has that kind of fast-paced sense of action that the Swedish scene has always done best, running a line between Spiritual Beggars minus Michael Amott and fuzzier acts like Truckfighters.

Hermansen‘s may be the name that stood out to me initially, but further research shows guitarists Jansson and Snicken as alums of Swede-stoner visionaries Demon Cleaner and the former also having contributed to Greenleaf — no small shakes indeed. The riffs on Constants in an Ever Changing Universe evoke a surprising drama in the songs, undercutting their own superficial simplicity with a deep seated tonal warmth. Backed by some straightforward classic rock rhythms on “Headlights,” they’re free to roam as they will but still held in check enough to avoid self-indulgence.

Different sources provide a different story as to Hermansen‘s place in the band, whether or not original singer Singe came back to replace him, but for now, the vocalist’s style sounds appropriate enough over a cut like “Dynamo” to make me point to the song as typifying 21st Century European stoner rock. That might be a roundabout way of calling it generic, but provided you dig on the Swedish scene, I can’t see what complaints you’d have with it other than that.

The party comes to an end with the mid-paced “Unknown of Me,” unsurprisingly the longest track on Constants in an Ever Changing Universe. By now the rockin’ shake of “The Inventor” and the psychedelic break of “4:54” (actually 3:46) are distant memories and the album rides out to the tune of a pied (bag)piper atop another semi-memorable riff. Ultimately, Stonewall Noise Orchestra come down on both sides of the line; they give a strong showing of themselves with an album that has them standing out in their scene, but I still feel there’s room for growth. Whatever the status of the band, whoever is singing, the focus SNO shows on songwriting is bound to payoff sooner or later as the band further develops their individuality.

Stonewall Noise Orchestra see the light.

Stonewall Noise Orchestra on MySpace

The Unit

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