Palm Desert - Pearls From The Muddy Hollow (Full Album) Perhaps unsurprising when one considers they take their name from the hometown of California?s ?90s desert rock movement, but Poland?s Palm Desert owe a large sonic debt to Kyuss. In the four-piece?s style of riffing, tonality and propensity for the occasional stoner jam on their third album, Pearls from the Muddy Hollow, they show their allegiance to the desert style and its blend of fuzzed-up punk and laid back psychedelia. Vocalist Wojciech Gauszka helps change things up, however, with some elements of Soundgarden-era Chris Cornell to go with periodic John Garcia gruffness, so that Pearls from the Muddy Hollow?s nine tracks make a suitable companion piece to Steak?s 2014 full-length debut, Slab City, which basks in a similar mindset. That?s not to say Palm Desert bring nothing of their own to the style ? both the quick ?Rise Above? and extended closer ?Forward in the Sun? branch beyond idolatry to an individualized moment ? just that the resounding impression throughout Pearls from the Muddy Hollow is Kyuss loyalism.
Each and every track on this album is crafted with what makes every Stonerhead listen to this kind of music : First a killer voice, strong and punchy but also sweet and melodious when needed. Then take the most badass riff you can, play it smoothly, then little by little, build heavier layers of that same riff, feeling the fuzz take you from the inside?and?BAM! They BLAST you with an even more ferocious riff! And of course Stoner Rock isn?t called ?Stoner? for nothing! Yep, Palm Desert are also kings when it comes to playing mind-blowing psychedelic moments, repetitive riffs full of reverb and delay on top of groovy bass lines, free-flowing guitar solos, spacey vocals, all of this being so relaxing and calming when smoking some of your best weed. Simply one of the best Desert Rock albums of all time.
