HIGH DESERT QUEEN and BLUE HERON - Turned To Stone: Chapter 8 The Wake LP

"High Desert Queen kick the split off with Black Moon, which I can only assume was going to be the title track of their album and then got inexplicably left off – inexplicable because it’s a seriously kick-ass tune. The track is more doom and grunge flavoured than I remember the rest of the album being and its mid-paced plod really locks into a sweet groove. There are nice guitar harmonies and a ripping guitar solo just to polish things off. I’d forgotten how good a voice singer Ryan Garney has and there’s something about how his vocals sit in the mix that reminds me of some band back in the day. Player’s Club maybe?

Next up is Drift Into The Sun, showing their quieter, mellower side. In terms of guitar tone and the overall feel of the song, it’s very much like one of the brooding, low-key songs that Monster Magnet would drop onto their records on occasion. Think Your Lies Become You and you’re not a million miles off. Good stuff. Last up is Roll The Dice, a more straight-forward rocker with a decent chorus. It’s a solid tune at a little over four-minutes but not much more than that really.

On the flip side are Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Blue Heron who I think would be the best card in any sort of stoner rock Top Trumps set, should such a thing exist. Apart from hailing from a real desert, Blue Heron are fronted by Jadd Shickler – co-founder of MeteorCity Records and All That’s Heavy webstore (ask your parents), who now runs Blues Funeral Recordings. Because that clearly isn’t quite enough scene cred for one man, he also fronted Spiritu and recruited old bandmate Mike Chavez to play guitar." - Sleeping Shaman

"... here with their eighth edition that we see an entry the likes of which hasn’t been matched since the second with Sergeant Thunderhoof and Howling Giant." - Head-Banger Reviews