Swedish band PONAMERO SUNDOWN have been around since 2005, and after honing their craft and producing half a dozen demo tapes they made their official debut in 2009 with the production “Stonerized”. “Rodeo Electrica” is their sophomore effort, and was issued by Swedish label Transubstans Records in the early spring of 2011.
Going through this CD proved to be something of a frustrating experience. Mostly because this is music that is made with an approach I usually enjoy. These guys seek to break down boundaries, experiment with set expectations and to expand their musical and compositional palette. All positive in my book, but in this case the end result isn’t as intriguing by far as what the band presumably aim to achieve.
Opening track Evil Wand kicks off quite nicely however. An intense creation closer to stoner metal than rock as I hear it, sporting rich, compact riffs of the dark and downtuned variety, excellent drumming and a powerhouse vocalist in the Ozzy Osbourne vein. Pace-filled, energetic and compelling in it’s warm layers of bleak aggression. The following Highway Messiah not that impressive, but a shorter and slightly more brutal affair that should cater for the tastes of many metal heads young and old alike. Next up is Sorrow, a delightful surprise with it’s gentle psychedelic guitar textures carefully and fragmented supplementing the otherwise vocals and rhythms driven ballad this compositions turns out to be. All in all a good start to this disc, with a nice, delightful surprise. And then this disc heads out into rollercoaster territories for me.
There are many good sides to this CD. It is excellently if not brilliantly produced, the guitar sound warm but clear and distinct, they have a good quality vocalist and instrumentalists of a better than decent standard throughout. With drummer Peter arguably the best of the lot. And they experiment quite a bit with the type of music they explore, be it the distinctly punk-inspired opening of 1025 or the delightful psychedelic guitars that sets Rodeo Electrica part I off into a gentle trot. Gentle and harder hitting passages are set up to contrast each other, a 50’s inspired rock and roll piano are added to the chorus on one occasion, we’re treated to off kilter instrumental inserts and a generally innovative take on stoner rock and metal. But for me the songs doesn’t manage to gel. Dramatic stop and start inserts breaks the flow and continuity for me, the lead vocals tend to be a bit too much in powerhouse mode to suit my tastes and in general there’s something of a dramatic, high impact approach used that isn’t quite my cup of tea.
Final track Rodeo Electrica Part II does end this disc in a nice way however, and along the way there’s a select few items of interest too: Sinners Breed and the following Not the Time the most compelling ones to my ears.
While “Rodeo Electrica” isn’t a production that is custom made to suit my personal taste, it is a very well made album that should be both enticing and compelling for many. If you enjoy Black Sabbath inspired material, stoner rock and metal and also generally enjoy encountering bands that make an effort in creating material of this kind that is inventive and innovative, Ponamero Sundown is a band you should spend a few minutes with. As I see this production has been given glowing reviews many places, I’d suspect that there’s a substantial amount of people out there who will be thrilled by this disc.
My rating: 65/100
