RICKY DIAMOND: Already Dead (STONER): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Don't be fooled by appearances, Ricky Diamond is not the name of a musician but that of a band, a Spanish power-trio eager for fat riffs, hairy curves and vocals that smell like tobacco and Bourbon. After a first short record in 2017, the trio comes back this time with a LP called "Already Dead" .

Some will see it as a stoner's opus. Yes, but a stoner with heavy, beautiful cojones, patibular and rough. Although it sometimes exhales the water pipe ('Sweet & Salty', by the way, aggressive), this rock'n'roll never gets soft, on the contrary, it has a greasy, motor oil-lubricated shaft all the way through. The form of the band, guitar/bass/drums, dictates a direct approach, which gives its compositions a rough intensity.

Prisoner of an oiled gangue, "Already Dead" is fond of ultra-heavy mid-tempos that owe nothing to the stoner, unless you consider as such Black Label Society or High On Fire ('Wall Of Stone'). With its instrumental bridge not devoid of beauty, 'Bullet In Your Soul' shows, however, from the top of its seven minutes, that the Iberians don't lack finesse when they want. Except that they don't often want to. Kicking ass is still their favourite and best activity.

Infused with an almost punk energy in the soul, like in 'W.T.O.I.L.', the album offers an arid plateau whose surface is cracked by a westernian heat ('Ride Your Time'). Soaked in fuzz and beer, 'M.o.M Told Me So' is a pure slice of old-fashioned rock, heavy and turbulent. Two adjectives that sum up Ricky Diamond pretty well. With him, we're not bored, he makes us want to ride a harley and carve the road before putting our luggage down in a smoky bastringue populated by naughty girls.

Coagulating rough vocals and instruments soaked in motor oil, "Already Dead" is the work of lumberjacks who have fire on their lips. - Official website

RICKY DIAMOND

ALREADY DEAD

BAD REPUTATION

STONER