Monster Magnet - 4-WayDiablo

Mon 26th Nov, 2007 in Music Reviews

This is the first Monster Magnet I’ve heard for a really long time, and I was happily impressed by this release. Dubbed by press as ‘stoner rock’, which in my opinion is an overused and inspecific classification, Monster Magnet are an indie rock band that have been heavily influenced through the years by their drug-taking experiences. What this means is that they play trippy rock; call it psychadelic rock if you want, stoner rock if you have to. Basically, smoke week, drop acid, take some mushies, and Monster Magnet albums are probably enormously enhanced. This recording is no exception.

4-Way Diablo is full of smooth, flowing technicality. It’s polished, energetic, catchy, and soulful all at once. One of the great features is the technical, light-fingered fast guitar work laid over slower beats. Many bands try to do this, and not all of them can do with the type of class that this band can. It’s a way of laying technical fretwork over a slow-moving canvas without compromising the energy or movement of the release.

This album is really diverse, as is the band! It has faster tracks, slower tracks, gloomy tracks. Some of them are just killer: from the contemplative Cyclone to the eastern-inspired Freeze&Pixillate, to the quiet, despondent, final little tune Little Bag of Gloom. The stand-out track for me on this release, though, is the spaced-out, fascinating cover of the 2000 Lights Years From Home, originally done by the Rolling Stones. The Monster Magnet version of this seems to make the title far more apt. It’s a bit out there.

If you’re a Monster Magnet fan, or a Tumbleweed fan, or just like your indie rock, you will get into this album. If you can appreciate the diversity of an indie rock band that’s a bit out there, and that has with a lot to offer, then you’ll likely dig this release.

4-Way Diablo is out now on SPV/Riot.