Asteroid
II

Many always say the same thing: "Stoner Doom is a genre with little innovation"...It probably is, indeed, because quite a few records do sound similar to one another, but tonight we find ourselves in front of something different, not unique or unrepeatable, but at least different. Asteroid. Three guys from Örebro, Sweden, who initially tried their hand at classic stoner doom, beautiful yet similar...then they released the self-titled album: a nice piece of stoner rock mixed with blues with plenty of harmonica and a few rare keyboard interludes, featuring beautiful songs that contribute to an overall good result.....but in 2010, they came back with "II"...what can I say? With this album, they improved on all fronts, despite the absence of the harmonica. Just listen to the opening "Garden" and you immediately understand the beauty of this album: the blues influence has been exponentially accentuated, adding a few tiny touches of Prog here and there, gifting us with beautiful harmonies, small tempo changes in some songs, all seasoned with perfect phrasing and riffs that get stuck in your head, inspired solos, and old school class touches like the speed crescendo at the end of "Towers". Overall, the songs are quite varied and enriched by perfect vocals, courtesy of the leading bassist Johannes Nilsson and guitarist Robin Hirse, with duets and choruses so melodic they give you goosebumps..but the peak is reached with the third song, "Karma": it starts very softly with a few chords, crescendo accompanied by the drums, stoner explosion, and that damn minimalistic text reduced to 5/6 counted lines that get into your brain and make you sing along..in 5 minutes and 35 seconds, perfection:

So I die with a smile upon my face.
And kiss the world goodbye.
With one last embrace.
I've opened all my 47 doors.
The rest my dear is all yours.
So I dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee............

And finally, I add the final detail of this masterpiece...a thing that many bands rather underestimate....the cover art: a nighttime background featuring a huge psychedelic yellow/orange moon imprinted with the faces of the 3 members of Asteroid...perfect. Moreover, the cover art perfectly connects with the album's atmosphere...and here emerges another strength of the album, the atmosphere..in classic Stoner Doom records you usually hear undefined airs, still related to atmospheres normally desertic or warm....with this album you feel cold! YOU FEEL COLD! IT'S FANTASTIC!!

I challenge you. Go to the pine forest of Castel Fusano, on an autumn/winter night, that area surrounded by street lamps, sit on a bench, put on your headphones and blast this record in your ears...I swear, you'll end up on another planet!