If you enjoy the sensation, musically speaking, of having your face driven into hot tarmac by a roller truck, you'll really like Stoneghost.
The London metallers' debut album, New Age Of Old Ways, is vicious in all the best ways: think pummelling, riff-driven classic metal, with Dimebag-esque rhythmic sensibility and the on-the-record vitality of Slipknot.
"We thought, 'Let's make this a final throw of the dice and just absolutely go for it'"
"In Stoneghost, it's coming back to that thing about the riffs being the lynchpin of the entire sound," says guitarist Andrew Matthews. "It's uncommon in metal these days, but I like having a few rough edges in there.
"Like the first Black Sabbath albums, where Tony Iommi has doubled the guitars. There are parts where they're not entirely in-sync and it sounds amazing."
Passive aggressive
Andrew credits much of his tone to his Orange Rockerverb 50 head, which is paired with a Schecter C-1 Hellraiser refitted with passive Bare Knuckle Cold Sweat pickups - a far cry from the 'always-on' roar of metal's usual suspects, the Peavey 6505 amp and EMG 81 pickups.
Another essential ingredient was a healthy dose of desperation. "The band had existed for a while," explains Andrew.
"We hadn't had a lot of progress and our singer Jason, found out he had a kid on the way. We thought, 'Let's make this a final throw of the dice and just absolutely go for it.' Fortunately, it's seems to have opened a few doors..."
- For fans of: Pantera, Clutch
- Hear: Faceless Ghost
