Band : Sungrazer
Album Title : Sungrazer
Label : Elektrohasch Schallplatten Records
Distributor : Sonic Rendezvous
Release Date : 14/01/2011
Review : CD

The threesome Sungrazer have been hyped up in the Dutch soil as of late, so I sort of wanted to find out what’s this all fuzz around them; basically I have somehow convinced myself have they really been worth hyping for. And yes they are.
The disc opens up splashing in the groovy waves of Queens rivers in ”Zero zero” a song that is striking in its rippling melody and fuzzy guitars. The middle part comes whipping out with a fast paced tempo and some great melodic moments. Lead singers Rutger Smeets (g) and Sander Haagmans (b) both have smooth voices that are easy on the ears.  The Fu Manchu-like “Common believer” is an up-tempo rocker which will get you instantly hooked. Most of the songs are given a boost with vocal melodies that are very appropriate for the music. “Somo” drops the pace majorly into a hypnotic 35007-esque tripedelic groove   “If” and “Mountain dusk” add a little more of the stonerish lurch to the rhythms and thoroughly remind of Kyuss and Colour Haze in song and sound.
Sungrazer is perhaps not completely original, but their mixture of mammoth stoner and psych groove will win over many fans to their cause. .Although everything seems to be going great up until now, I have to criticize one aspect. The cover artwork is truly horrible and looks cheap. So don't be guided by your eyes on this one, it does not reflect the awesome music of the band. This debut is made of 5 tracks totalling a little over 35 minutes, and they go by pretty fast, leaving me craving for more, and with no alternative but to replay the album.
I wrote this review in 2009, now we’re two years later and this album is re-issued on Stefan’s Elektrohasch label with a bonus track, a short Floydian intermezzo “Intermezzo” with loungey sax.. I’ve seen Sungrazer twice now, at Yellowstock and at Elektrohasch Label Night (Depot-Leuven www.orangefactory.be) and Sungrazer’s blend of stoner  and psych does go down very easy with the Up In Smoke-horde.
Sungrazer will perform a 75 minute set at the Green Room on Roadburn Festival Afterburner Sunday April 17th, and showcase a heavy jam ethic, as they’re definitely one of the most promising bands to appear on the stonerrock scene in a while. (Roadburn)

90/100

Cosmicmasseur.