Shadows On The Sun

This prolific stoner rock ensemble continues to kick out the jams with Shadows in the Sun, a raucous party album that honestly melds soul, blues, grunge, and garage rock. In the tradition of such seminal blue collar outfits as Grand Funk Railroad, MC5, and the Stooges, Zen Guerrilla play clamorous, dirty, and spirited. Akin to their ancestors, what the band lacks in finesse they make up for in bombast. The guitar riffs go no further than Willie Dixon while singer Marcus Durant wails as if James Brown and Howlin’ Wolf were standing right behind him. Like all great American bands Zen Guerrilla draws from a deep well of contradictory influences. The psychedelic acid groove of “Subway Transmission,” the cowpunk of “Fifth and Cecil B” and “Where’s My Halo,” the primal heavy metal of “Staring Into Midnight,” and the amphetamine-fueled funk of “Barbed Wire” prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there is no better cultural melting-pot than rock & roll. There are three ways to hear this album: loud, louder, and loudest. – Tom Semioli