MASTERS OF REALITY

The Masters of Reality are a formidable, retro psychedelic rock band fronted by Chris Goss. He is probably best known for his glossy yet fiery and extremely heavy production work for stoner/desert metal legends Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age. Chris Goss' vocal work is impressive. It is very smooth and reminiscent of Eric Clapton's vocals with Cream. Master of Reality's sound is melodic, psychedelic blues rock with some tinges of metal. Their music exhudes a hazy and smoke filled 1970's gloss. My two favorite albums of theirs are their debut album "Masters of Reality" (1988) and their 1992 follow up "Sunrise of the Sufferbus". The first has a more straight ahead rock feel at times, while the second is more subdued and melodic, but nonetheless potent. Both are highly recommended.

Here's 'Domino" from their self titled first album...


...and "Tilt-a-Whirl" from "Sunrise on the Sufferbus".

LEAF HOUND

Leaf Hound were a classic, bluesy psych metal band that released one album in 1970 called "Growers of Mushroom". Let me start off by saying that Leaf Hound's works are very expensive and only available as imports. I do not own any of their material, but have heard plenty of it on the web. Their first album reminds me a lot of Led Zeppelin, but with a looser, more garage psych feel with some healthy undertones of Black Sabbath. This was their only release until they reformed in 2006 and released a brand new album titled "Unleashed". Judging from what I have heard so far, this is a masterpiece of stoner metal. It reminds me just as much of modern heavy stoner adrenaline fueled acts such as Kyuss and Orange Goblin as it does early Zeppelin, Sabbath, and Cream. Smoothe, heavy, cool yet burning riffs with excellent melodic vocals a la Eric Clapton of Cream and Chris Goss of Masters of Reality. I really encourage you to check these guys out. One of these days I'm going to have to break down and fork out the big bucks for their music.

Here's "Stagnant Pool" from "Growers of Mushroom".


To listen to songs from from their new album "Unleashed", click here. Check out "105 Degrees" and "Breakout". Incredible, massive, classic psych metal. Great stuff.