Heavy Rock
Mascot Records
Release Date – March 10th 2023
Line Up:
Mark Ritchie – Vocals
Mick Malusa – Guitar
Jason King – Guitar
Sebastian Barahona – Bass
Con Batz – Drums
Track List
1 – Dark Night
2 – Sideways
3 – Nightmare
4 – Scare Me
5 – Run Free
6 – Pretty Flowers
7 – Leave A Light On
8 – I Am Tomorrow
9 – My Angel
10 – The Show
11 – Mercy
12 – Runaway
13 – Wild Hearted Son
Stonetrip hail from Melbourne, Victoria way down under. I know what you’re thinking – another AC/DC style meat n potatoes rock n roll band. Well. There are elements of the Aussie legends in Stonetrip’s sound, but I would liken them more to another legendary Aussie mob – the criminally underrated Angels.
‘Dark Night’ is an easy-going start with a low-slung gritty guitar and gets going on the gang-like chorus but this is just to ease you in because the raucous biker rock of ‘Sideways’ knocks you – sideways! (sorry). It’s heavy and bluesy with Mark Ritchie’s voice being both hard-edged and melodic then we get some rock n roll just like the Angels on ‘Nightmare’, quirky but catchy. Things get sleazy on ‘Scare Me’ before the heavy rockin’ title track and another dose of sleaze on ‘Pretty Flowers’. ‘Leave A Light On’ is an arena-sized rocker perfect for radio that dips into some west coast vibes before things get heavy again on the G’N’R like ‘I Am Tomorrow’. The acoustics come out for the 80’s southern-tinged power ballad ‘My Angel’ then we head deeper into the southern rock on ‘The Show’. ‘Mercy’ grooves on a stop/start riff and has some tasty fills from Malusa and King then it gets proper heavy on ‘Runaway’ which is huge. ‘Wild Hearted Son’ ends things on a high note with another spidery sleazy groover.
This is rock n roll at its finest. If you like The L.A. Maybe, Classless Act, Doomsday Outlaw, etc then these will be right up your alley. It’s all blues-based, has attitude, and is very melodic, heavy at times but not too heavy to alienate the lightweights. I can just imagine these guys going down a storm at any of our festivals here in the UK.
Score: 8/10
Reviewed by: Smudge
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