Because I’m an easily distracted moron, while I was making that little list yesterday I forgot one of the albums I’m actually most looking forward to: II by Swedish fuzz rockers Asteroid. As it happens though, the band have checked in with an update via a little site called The Obelisk (wait a second, that’s this site! — yeah, that’s right, we’re breaking news now as well as stealing it) letting everyone know when what might be one of 2010’s best stoner rock releases will be out. Thanks to Asteroid for filling us in. Here’s what they have to say:

Dear listeners!

We are sorry for the delay with the album release. The hold up has a couple of reasons. But the time has now come and the album will be released, January 22nd 2010, thru Fuzzorama Records as usual. The album will be available thru iTunes one week earlier, the 15th of January.

Pre-listen at http://www.myspace.com/asteroidband

I know I did a Buried Treasure about it already, but I keep kicking around that self-titled Asteroid record, and the more I do, the more I can’t wait to hear Asteroid II, which according to label Fuzzorama, is out “this fall.” Hey man, it’s fall now, let’s do it up. These guys rule. Laid back vibes, memorable riffs, solid grooves and fuzz for days.

Because I just happened to run into it on my interwebular journeying, Here’s “SimSalaBim” from Asteroid‘s split with Blowback. Also pretty badass.

Asteroid – SimSalaBim

You ever get one of those songs in your head that just doesn’t seem to want to leave? Well, as I reported (and then re-reported) a little while ago, one of the discs in with the last All that is Heavy haul was the self-titled debut from Sweden‘s Asteroid. Turns out this record, which I didn’t know much about going into it, fucking rules, and the last song on it, “Dr. Smoke,” might be the stoniest bit of stoned out stoneriffic stoneification I’ve heard in the last year. Makes just about everyone else look like real squares, man.

Now, if you do a search on this site going by the tags, you’re going to find that the answer with the most results is “Gods,” and that second to that is “Sweden,” so understand I’m a fan of this style of the heavy, but these three ?rebro dudes (?rebroans? ?rebroheims?) have early Truckfighters-style fuzz down to a science and rock with a laid back vibe that is an instant chill. I can’t find an mp3 of “Dr. Smoke” anywhere or a clip on YouTube, but there’s a couple videos on the Asteroid MySpace page, and among them is one for organ-ic Asteroid opener “The Great Unknown,” which is also catchy as hell and presented below for your viewing convenience.

And just because the math of life sometimes has funny ways of punching out equations, Asteroid have a new record due out this fall on Fuzzorama. Hopefully there’ll be more to come on that soon.

Mania by Swedish rockers Truckfighters — number three on this site’s recent list of the Top Five of the First Half of 2009 — is an album that by now nothing more needs to be said about around here. After posting the video, reviewing the disc and tracing singer/bassist Ozo back to Greenleaf more times than I care to count, it’s been covered in just about every way possible — except an interview.

So clearly it was time for an interview.

Ozo and guitarist Dango (now joined by new drummer Pedro) took some time out to field questions for the following emailer. The fuzzmasters discuss the growth of the band over the course of their three albums — Mania, Phi (2007) and Gravity X (2005), Dango reveals his guitar setup, the band’s plans for the future and even what it would take to get them over to the States for some shows. Q&A is after the infamous jump.

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I knew right from the second I put Mania on to review it that it was one of the best albums I’d hear this year, and I stand by it. These days I rarely get to listen to music for purposes other than this site (not a complaint), but when the occasion arrises, Mania is a constant. Swedish stoner rockers Truckfighters have moved onto a level of craftsmanship and genre expansion few bands can ever claim to know and not be lying. Their tracks are both memorable and intricate, guitarist Dango‘s tones are fuzzed out and the vibe is a damn good time.

It would be no challenge to sit here all afternoon and wax poetic about how much this record rules, but the simple fact is Truckfighters made a killer album and deserve whatever acclaim they can get from it. There will be those who yearn for the simpler days of the debut, Gravity X, or its follow-up, Phi, but if you miss out on Mania you’re doing yourself a disservice. That’s just plain science.

In an effort to further prove my point and in keeping with what has revealed itself to be the format of this feature, here is the video for “Monte Gargano” from Mania. Should strike a chord with any fans of racquetball or big sexy ladies out there.

Mania (Fuzzorama), their third full-length, sees Truckfighters confirming the suspicions raised by 2007’s Phi and proving they are next in a line of spectacular Swedish stoner bands including the likes of Spiritual Beggars, Dozer (of course), The Awesome Machine and Mammoth Volume; acts who’ve managed to remain true to their sound and the traditions of their genre, but still push the limits of expectation and become wholly unique and mature, furthering themselves and the scene as a whole for their effort. It is illustrious company, and Truckfighters deserve to be in it.

The average song has gotten longer and more progressive than was the case on Phi or certainly their 2005 debut, Gravity X, which was very much in the vein of stoner for stoner’s sake, despite showing the marked potential on which the two subsequent albums have cashed in with confidence befitting a much older band. And though I don’t doubt that faithful riff rockers will someday recount the glories of “Gweedo-Weedo” the way a generation lauds Fu Manchu and other ’90s fuzzers, the Cult-like chorus of “The New High” on Mania is precisely that: a new high for the band and the style alike. Rather than move away from stoner rock, they’re taking stoner rock with them, and that is the mark of truly innovative heaviness.

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One of Sweden‘s fuzziest and most yet-underrated acts, Truckfighters, have just posted a new song over on their MySpace page, and in case you were wondering, it rules. The track is called “Monte Gargano” and it’s from their new album, Mania, which is out May 22 through Fuzzorama Records.

Oh, and in case that vocalist sounds familiar, that’s because it’s Oskar Cedermalm from Greenleaf. I only mention it because you’d probably have to look really hard before you figured that out from the picture above.