Last year, stoner music fans all across the world had great reason to rejoice at the release of the debut album from Stöner, “Stoners Rule”. Consisting of most of the members of Kyuss, how could such a combination not return in a form that can only be considered massive in every single form? Needless to say, that album made quite an impact in every regard, and I think it’s safe to say we all knew a follow-up wouldn’t be far behind. There was but one question: when? Just barely not even a year later, Stöner returns to our ears in exemplary fashion again with an effort that makes its predecessor look like a barely fleshed-out jam session.

The first album was a treat front to back, there’s no contest in that regard, but it did have its occasional trip-ups with some songs feeling repetitive, boring, or even too vanilla for the style, but these are the guys who cultivated the very sound into what it is today which, in comparison, is like giving a fish a hard time for being wet all the time. But, it’s a real wonder what else eleven months can bring to the table with talent like this moving as a single, cohesive unit. With an utterly ridiculously titled album with a fitting cover art to boot, “totally…” covers all the bases of the style while simultaneously giving us a realtime view of Stöner truly coming into their own as an act that devastates as a group rather than each musician having the glory one minute at a time. The very whole of “totally…” is the very embodiment of what the style can become when you have the necessary talent, power, imagination, and know-how to bring such a creation to life with any of the eight songs at play here offering something different such that it should cater to every single fan of stoner music out there virtually without exception. Whether it’s the rock-and-roll worship grooviness of “Great American Sage”, the supremely paced earworm that is “Turn It Around Now”, the good-times-are-now anthem of “A Million Beers”, or the brief but exceedingly satisfying excellence that is “Stöner Theme”, the sophomore effort from this extremely talented and alluring band is everything we could’ve possibly asked for, and somehow just a little bit more as well. 

This is peak rock whether you place it in the desert, in the smoke of stoners, or in the craziness of psych-rockers; Stöner has simply made a masterclass of their craft. And, truly, this is the band to produce such a magnificent creation with everything about the effort playing into our expectations, defying them in decent portion, and then managing to scratch itches we didn’t even know we had with the very soul of “totally…” something that cannot simply be turned off with every ounce of this record something to enjoy and hear at full volume with the windows down, wind in your hair, and the sun beaming on your skin. 

“totally…” releases on March 6th via Heavy Psych Sounds!

LISTEN to the advanced track, “A Million Beers”, on Bandcamp here or via YouTube below.

LIKE Stöner on Facebook here.