Stoner rock tends to thrive in places where musicians have room to spread out -- California, Texas, and the Midwest, for instance -- which may explain why New York City's bringers-of-the-heavy
Mirror Queen
take a different approach than most of their peers. On their second album, 2015's
Scaffolds of the Sky
,
close out the set with a cover of
Blue Oeyster Cult
's "Wings Wetted Down," and the glossier, artful big-city mysteries of
BOeC
's classic period seem to have made a serious impact on
's style (as did the trippiness and electronic overlays of
Hawkwind
, another acknowledged
MQ
influence).
sound precise where many '70s-obsessed stoner bands are willing to get a little loose, and if the tunes sound a bit doomstruck, the band manages to give them clean surfaces to go along with the towering guitars (from
Kenny Kreisor
Philippe Ortanez
, and on four tunes
Thomas Bellier
) and relentless drumming (by
Jeremy O'Brien
). Like
seemingly want to be a thinking man's heavy band, and they know how to play this stuff with impressive chops and thoughtful style, and on "Vagabondage," they rev up with enough energy and forward velocity to plow through any resistance.
should be commended for trying to rock while contemplating a few of life's bigger questions, and
is a step forward from their debut. ~ Mark Deming