That might as well apply for My Home On Trees, a band hailing from Milano, Italy. Fuzz-induced female fronted stoner doom with sharp edges and a hazy atmosphere, what else could a stoner rocker want, right? Since 2012, this band have been paving their way through the psychedelic rock spectrum and now they throw an amazing debut into the battle. Frankly, I don't really care how they reach home, as long as they keep on touring with this material.
The album opens with the heavy rocker 'Winter'. Steve Moss from The Midnight Ghost Train comes in as a guest vocalist but, as far as I'm concerned, he didn't have to. Laura Mancini can handle the job quite well on her own, as she clearly shows in the rest of the songs. Although her voice sounds quite distant, mixed behind a thick wall of fuzz, she doesn't lack power at all. Her strong, resolute vocals perfectly fit in with the riffs and drums.
My Home On Trees obviously are inspired by the stoner and doom legends, suchs as Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, Sleep and so on. However, they manage to do their own thing with these influences. Halfway through 'Don't Panic', a massive doom rock song, I've started to note some shoegaze elements too, mainly in the thick wall-of-sound and the subdued, distant vocals. Maybe they're unintentional but they certainly raise the level of enjoyment on this album.
I don't really understand the 'War Of The Worlds' intermezzo, which, if I'm correct, comes directly from the original radio play by Orson Welles. It seems a bit out of place in the overall occult atmosphere of this album. Luckily, this piece is followed by one of the most energetic pieces of stoner rock I've heard in a while. 'Arrow' could be a Doro meets Ramones song, produced and mastered by Monster Magnet, uptempo, heavy and with a solid 'hell-yeah' caliber. This probably is my favorite on this album.
'Resume' somehow reminds me of the stoner blues approach by Goatsnake, only better. Again, that's mostly because of the vocals, although the riffing is immense and highly immersive. This is another excellent doom song, nothing more, nothing less. The album closes with another massive highlight in the brilliant 'My Home On Trees' song. Dark, gloomy and so immensely thick riffs, this really is hard to resist for fans of the Desert/Roadburn/Up-In-Smoke audiences. So buy this album, one day you'll be damn glad you did...
Serge