ninehertz

Aside from four songs submitted to a side on Ripple Music's Turned to Stone split series (alongside Captain Caravan), Kaiser have been quiet since their last album in 2018. That's about to change, with their return via Majestic Mountain Records of the new full length 2nd Sound.

This is pure stoner rock, or at least how that is interpreted in 2025. It is a perfect example of the modern European stoner rock sound, that ever so slight divergence charted first by Truckfighters, and now lead by the likes of Slomosa and modern era Greenleaf; still with roots charting back to the continent's lineage of Dozer and Beaver and the like.

2nd Sound is for the main terrific, exactly what you want from the genre nowadays. There are some tracks that are little more than middling, those at the beginning oddly enough, but even on these there's a noticeable trend where the song slows and goes satisfyingly heavier around three minutes through, so even at worst they're solid fillers.

The high points are in the middle to end - Awaken Monster harks back to the aforementioned Truckfighters' now legendary Gravity X, whilst the penultimate A Clockwork Green is simply excellent, heavier, crunchier, almost (at a stretch) nudging into Bongzilla territories, especially (or maybe solely) as the lyrical pattern reminds me of Greenthumb. Add in Oversized Load, where the vocals differ a little, Cornell-esque, with the bold riffs to the fore, making out like a stoner-fied lost cut from Superunknown, and you're well on the way to making a strong case for this being the stand out stoner rock album of the year so far.