KARMA TO BURN, Desert Storm, Alunah @Asylum 2, Birmingham 18/7/13

Birmingham’s very own Alunah are very much the go-to band when a well-known stoner group comes to town. It’s easy to see why. Their down tuned Sabbath type grooves have been honed over the years, and songs such the title track of their most recent album “White Hoarhound” arguably deserve a bigger stage.  Since we last saw the band in January – when perhaps predictably they opened for The Sword in January – they have undergone a line up change. Tonight is their first show with their new bass player and not even some initial poor sound can spoil their half an hour.

Oxford’s Desert Storm are a new one us at RTM, but not for long, if the tunes they play are anything to go by. Straddling the same type of riffs as our favourites Orange Goblin, they are tremendously entertaining. During their set they become the first band we have ever seen who asks for the strobe lights to be turned off as they were epileptic and one of the only non-death metal band to attempt a track called “Enslaved In The Icy Tundra.” The band are back in September, supporting Peter Pan Speedrock at the same venue, and you really need to check them out.

Karma To Burn  the stage with “Just The Two Of Us” blasting. This appears their little joke on the fact that, well, there is just the two of them. Don’t bother looking for explanation on their website as to why bassman Rich Mullins isn’t here, as it hasn’t been updated for over a year.

As you can tell K2B are a group that is content to let the music do the talking. Handy then, that they are instrumental band. And not just any old instrumental band. If you never heard them, then imagine Monster Magnet with no lyrics, just huge riff after huge riff.

Another thing Karma To Burn don’t bother with are song titles in any conventional sense. Rather they just deal with numbers. So it is that they kick off in tonight’s blistering heat at the Asylum 2, with “Eight,” then move into “Nineteen” and then towards the end nominal front man William Mecum – the master behind all these monstrous creations says ‘here’s a newer one for ya, it’s called “53.”

Of course, by definition this type of music is always going to have a limited cult appeal. RTM has seen them once before, when they opened for the aforementioned Monster Magnet, we liked them a lot, but the person we with couldn’t stand them, which really couldn’t be beaten as a metaphor. Those that (to use a really smug phrase) “get it” find much to enjoy, as whether a two piece or a trio there is nothing quite like Karma To Burn. They are never going to win over the doubters – and you suspect that they couldn’t care less.

THE SWORD, Lonely Kamel, Alunah @Wolverhampton Slade Rooms 6/1/12

We first clapped eyes on Alunah not far off two years ago. Since then they have released the “White Hoarhound” record and are developing very nicely. Opening at an early time tonight the crowd is a little thin, but the local stoner mob have a nice line in slow, Sabbathy tunes. The title track of the new album is perhaps the highlight of a set that not even the loss of vocals halfway through and frontwoman Sophie struggling with a sore throat can spoil too much. Here is a Brummie band playing traditional Brummie metal and doing it well.

Lonely Kamel were a new one on us. Not really surprising considering that it was, according to frontman Thomas Brenna, their first time on these shores. They Norwegian’s bill themselves as “Blues Boozers” and although they are broadly – like the rest of this bill – a stoner outfit, they are one in the same vein as RTM faves Stone Axe. Rather than Sabbath, they take their cue from classic rock bands like Thin Lizzy. It also helps that they give the appearance that they live in a van.

Their sound is built around the superb guitar work of Brenna and lead axeman Lukas Paulsen and such is the fun they are having in their 45 minute set they carry the audience with them. “Rotten Seed” and “Blues For The Dead” have an instant appeal, but really, the whole thing was a copper-bottomed triumph. One of their songs is called “Roadtrip with Lucifer” for goodness sake, how does it get better than that? Our new favourite band to bore everyone about – bet your last pound on it.

Austin, Texas foursome The Sword have plenty to look forward to right now. Tonight is the first show on their European tour and this is not just any tour either. It is one to celebrate the majestic “Apocryphon” record and happily they play most of it during their frequently brilliant set.

It is with the album’s title track that they kick us off this evening, before moving us right back to their debut record “Age of Winters” for “Freya.” Indeed it is a well structured show which sees the song “How Heavy This Axe” from the second and the fourth “Tres Brujas” being from 2010’s “Warp Riders.”

“….Brujas” neatly sums up the band. It’s verses about “the sacred smoke” wrapped up in an extremely catchy and tight track. It is a style that the “Apocryphon” album has built on superbly and its second track “Cloak Of Feathers” sounds incredible in this setting as does set closer “Veil of Isis.”

There is a time for an encore of “Winters Wolves” with frontman John D Cronise explaining it was the only choice for a gig in a place called Wolverhampton. At its end you are left to reflect on the jaw-dropping power of the group.

There is nothing remotely flashy or gimmicky about The Sword, indeed, if they suffer from one flaw it is a slight lack of charisma. They are a group, though, that rather like obvious brothers in arms Red Fang and Mastodon, prefer to let the music do the talking. It didn’t so much talk tonight as shout very loudly.

A quite superb way to start 2013.

STONE AXE, Cultura Tres, Stubb, Trippy Wicked, Banda De La Muerte @Scruffy Murphys 5/4/2012

The cramped, dark confines of Scruffy Murphy’s basement suit this gig. Actually, it’s not so much a gig as mini festival, with six 70’s influenced bands on one evening. And it’s a League of Nations type of affair with people coming from all over to be with us this evening.

The early start time and work commitments mean that RTM misses Birmingham’s Alunah, who were originally slated to come on second. A shame, because last year we were impressed – ironically enough when they opened for Stone Axe at The Asylum, and were looking forward to seeing how their Sabbathy psych-rock had developed.

However the sliver lining to the late running order swap is that we are there to see Argentina’s Banda De La Muerta. And they prove that metal music truly is a universal language. Singing in their mother tongue they are no less enjoyable for that. Their obvious debt to the classic British Heavy Rock sound means they were always going to go down well here.

Like Alunah, Trippy Wicked And The Cosmic Children Of The Night were with Stone Axe last year. Since then Axe main man T Dallas Reed has lent his mellotron skills to their new album, and their set is a fine one. Wicked are perhaps the most overtly experimental of the bands on show tonight and they play a riff heavy take on psychedelica. New track “I Want Another Drink,” with its key line “I got my weed and my Innis and Gunn” about sums them up. This is all about having fun.

Following them are Stubb. Keen students of the Brit underground scene would know that three piece contain two thirds of Trippy Wicked. Bassist Pete Holland (guitarist and singer in Trippy) and drummer Chris West are joined by frontman Jack Dickinson and offer a more straight ahead rock option. Their just released self-titled debut album (produced by the ever busy T. Dallas Reed) is a magnificent affair and its highlight and opening track “Road” is ripped into here. Ones to watch.

Final support band are Venezulas Cultura Tres. They are the heaviest band on show by quite a way, with a quirky, sludgy sound. Most of their tracks are Spanish, although, like Banda De La Muerte this barely matters. Their message is one of hope and inclusion and the fact that music can bring everyone together and there is nothing wrong with that.

There is nothing wrong, either, with Stone Axe. RTM – and we will admit it – are totally besotted with the four piece from Seattle and have been since hearing the marvelous “There’d Be Days” a few years ago.

Here is a band that – almost literally given the t-shirts they are wearing – wears their influences on their sleeves. A little bit of Led Zep, a bit of Free some Sabbath and a whole heap of Thin Lizzy all adds up to a sound that is both retro and superb. Playing the UK is something of a double-edged sword for them since, as singer Dru Brinkerhoff, only half in jest, notes: “You guys know where we stole this from.”

We know and we don’t especially care either, to be frank, Not when songs as good as the aforementioned “…Days” are rubbing shoulders with stone cold (or should that be Stone Axe?) classics in waiting “Shine On” and “Chasing Dragons.”

They are called back for encore that proves either they genuinely good actors or genuinely weren’t expecting to be, and they finish with the song that might well be on their epitaph “It’s Still Rock N Roll.”

With the classic rock revival in full swing (and serving us rubbish like the execrable Morning After) you would love to think there would be some way for the likes of Axe to break out of the basement shows. We all know, though, that the music business being what it is they will always be something of a cult.

For those of us in the know, however, they are the best-kept secret in rock music. Join in, you might just find your new favourite band.