Hymns To The Stone

The Welsh quintet Acrimony were one of the first British exponents of stoner rock, but when their debut long-player, Hymns to the Stone, was released in 1994, the album was one of the first of its kind anywhere on planet Earth. Which is to say that, while fellow U.K. acts like Cathedral and Paradise Lost were bogging down compulsively into their fondness for monolithic, down-tuned Black Sabbath riffs, Acrimony had more in common with American groups like Monster Magnet, Fu Manchu, and Kyuss, whose influences also included elements of psych, acid, and space rock. Granted, Acrimony's songwriting talents had yet to develop on par with either of those bands, but at least from a lyrical perspective, song titles like "Leaves of Mellow Grace" and "Herb" made it clear that the bandmembers were already very well versed in the consumption, discussion, and general obsession with smoking weed (that's why they call it "stoner rock," Spicoli!). Also, much like Kyuss, Magnet, and other template-making contemporaries, when Acrimony weren't getting high and dropping out, they liked to launch into extended space rock jams like "Whatever," "Cosmic A.W.O.L.," and the excellent "Spaced Cat #6." But since the band was just as liable to strike out completely via turgid misfires like "The Inn" and "Urabalaboom," no one would confuse Hymns to the Stone with Blues for the Red Sun or Spine of God. Rather, Acrimony would carry on improving before unleashing their bona fide classic album a couple of years later: the stoner masterpiece Tumuli Shroomaroom. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia