author: Cosmic Masseur

The turnout to this triple bill was good. About 150 people were there from the beginning and it remained the same all the way through. First to enter was COWBOYS AND ALIENS, a foursome of Bruges (Belgium) who shortly released their debut album "A trip to the stonehenge colony" with an approach Unida has taken on their mini-album. Allthough they don't score high on the originality department (the spirit of the allmighty Kyuss never left this universe, and thank God for it) they haven taken Belgium on the map again in the heavy rock region (who the hell remembers Channel Zero)Most regular visitors of the stoner-scene know this bunch by now from their frequent gigs with Leadfoot, Sons of Otis, Nebula and last but certainly not least Monster Magnet.
I bet there are many outfits who want to have a C.V. like theirs. Their sound is filled with catchy choruses , rather simple song-structures and good vocals. Henk ofcourse has an obvious John Garcia-influence, but is a little bit more laidback in the aggressive vocal parts."Share the goods", "Bad Sexxx", "Mickey mouse evil head" and "Demolition derby baby" are fast energyfull motherfuckers, but they sound a bit alike. I hope in the future they'll write more longer, characterestic tunes like "Cruiser" and "Asteroid blast" which groove til the end.
Sweden is a certain breeding ground for great bands (Lowrider, Mammoth Volume, Halfman, Spiritual Beggars, The Mushroom River Band,.), but THE AWESOME MACHINE isn't one of them. Don't get me wrong their kicking in the ass stoner rock'n'roll is executed very well and is the right music to party and to cruise on a highway, but the songs don't stick that much, have no soul and there should be more variety in it. . All in all a better performance than last time when they supported rather unexpectedly the fuzz-masters of Dozer.

When KARMA TO BURN took the stage, I was upfront, filled with beer and stroken by marihuana-tokes, ready to ROCK! Supremely tight and together, KTB were quickly into their stride, with the axeplayer dishing up some pounding, excellent riffs at a tremendous volume, backed up by (in) human drumming of Rob (animal) and with Rich crunching out some of the most freaked out bassparts you are ever going to hear. I can't emphasize a particular song, cause they're all outstanding. KTB also took time to play a bunch of brandnew tunes and I can't wait to lay my hands on the stuff. Yep, this certainly is not a copycat., They blend Lynyrd Skynyrd, C.O.C., Pantera, AC/DC, Clutch, Pissing Razors, Crowbar, ZZ Top,. into a lethal dose of screwed-up liquor which will crush our ears and brains for a long time. Yet again, a great night at the SOJO, the dungeon of stoner/doom, and hopefully you'll be there next time. See ya!!!