If you know stoner rock, if you’ve been around the genre for a while, then you know there are bands from all around the world who use the sound as a launch pad for highly unique and creative endeavors, and there are bands who, quite simply, don’t. But even most of those acts have something individual about them, whether it’s their subject matter, a specific songwriting quirk, or even an exceptional player who stands out from the unit, making the whole band noteworthy in the process.

In the case of Danish distortion-junkies Fuzz Manta, it’s the latter, and the exceptional player is frontwoman Lene Kj?r Hvillum, whose soulful vocal delivery helps lift her band’s full-length debut, Smokerings (Bad Deal Records) out of the trap in which genericism might otherwise wholly ensnare it. Even with her going punch for punch, note for note with the lead guitar on “Night Fright,” however, there is little else on the album to catch experienced listeners off guard.

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