Stoner rock is about fat riffs, bluesy jams, and freaked solos.
Scorched Earth puts together the necessary ingredients and then stirs in some heavy psychedelics. Though not as timelessly transcendent as the
Queens of the Stone Age's
R,
Fed to Your Head does tip a hat to a bunch of influences. "Woman Gone Bad" updates
the Guess Who's "American Woman." "Blues for the Universe" is a late-
Pink Floyd-esque trip, circa
A Momentary Lapse of Reason.
Scorched Earth sure can play the blues, but songs like "I Ain't Superstitious" and "Killing Time" just aren't as charged up as good old
Led Zeppelin. No worries though -- the meandering, mythic, Middle Eastern psyched-out vibe of "Long Black Gown," the kind of hazy meditation that used to come out of rock stars going to places like Morocco, is alone worth the price of the disc. A whole album of songs like that would blow a few minds. ~ Charles Spano