STONECAST rocks seriously fucking hard. Their strong energy will draw you in and their anthemic hooks will make you stay. Their third album, “I Earther”, is no exception. This earthy metal is sturdy and its sound is nothing short of mountainous. There’re incredible performances by all of the bandmates, but Franky Costanza’s (ex-DAGOBA) drumming is something else. His grooves are always colourful and complement the rest of band perfectly.
The first three songs are exceptional. “I Earther” begins with some weird spaceship samples but quickly proceeds into a chugging beat in the opener, “Captors of Insanity”. It’s definitely the best song choice to kick off the album; the vocal variety is shown, from lower rough vocals to powerful shrieking, there’s some solid riffage, and the chorus is catchy. “Goddess of Rain” delivers ridiculous shredding power and is the first taste of “Flying” Saliba’s insanely impressive soloing.
The best song on the album, however, is the third song “The Cherokee”. It contains so much in its eight minutes, with mighty war cries from “Kanon” Ghirardi and more impressive soloing. The real highlight of the song, though, is the rhythm section. Every one of the riffs and grooves are skillfully done and the drums don’t fucking quit. Similar to the rest of the album, the beats have some intricate details sprinkled in that separate STONECAST from being just another heavy metal band. Oh, and the ending is one of the best endings to a song I’ve ever heard; it’s actually an ending section, rather than just the final chord of the progression being dragged out or a lazy tagline.
The rest of the album is great, except for the only song that I can’t seem to enjoy: “Resistence”. It’s relatively slow, drags on for a couple minutes too long, and, especially when compared to the rest of the record, is pretty messy. It’s the only point of the album that the lo-fi production quality really bothers me, because the combination of the song and mastering make it pretty rough.
Aside from that, however, this is a phenomenal record. It’s got great musicians, excellent songwriting, and has massive replayability. STONECAST is rock-solid when it comes to metal, and they’ve pounded their way into my heart.
Originally written by Kane for powerthorn.com.
