"They both make me want to pull out..."

Metal Mark's Heavy Metal Time Machine weighs in -

Sometime I get kind of cautious about split albums. Sometimes it's because I am only into one of the bands and don't want to hear material by a band I am not interested. Other times I am apprehensive because if it's good I know I will regret that I didn't get more than a a sampling from each band. Newcomers Ripple Music managed to get highly explosive bands onto a 7" with each act contributing a track. Stone Axe are lead by Mos Generator's Tony Reed. They have been extremely busy knocking out three albums in less than two years. For this release they have recorded "Metal Damage". This track has me thinking of pre-Stained class Judas Priest. The kind of mid-1970's metal where band's kind of took their time and built up the sound with a steady boil of activity. This is slightly heavier than I am used from these guys, but obviously it's a style that they enjoy and that shows through. It's good to see them expanding some and this is an approach that works for them as well.

Now as good as the Stone Axe song is I think that the Mighty High's track "Don't panic it's organic" is even better. The main riff is huge and dripping with 1970's fuzzed out goodness. This is the perfect tune for playing about two minutes after 5:00 on a Friday as you race home for weekend with the windows blasting this out your windows for all to hear. They hit this one right out of the park as just sounds like it came so easy for them to crank out this monster. So without a doubt both bands deliver the goods on this album. Most importantly each song was so good that I did feel that I got plenty from each band. Okay, they both make me want to pull out their other material to hear more, but that's a good thing too.

http://metalmark.blogspot.com/2010/06/stone-axemighty-high-7.html

"I personally prefer the more stately ‘Metal damage’..."

This is what Sonic Abuse has to say -

A split 7” used to be the way to discover new music. Split records such as the legendary Nirvana/Jesus Lizard disc or the Mudhoney/Sonic Youth were classic ways for fans of the emergent punk/grunge/art-rock wave from the US to check out a couple of unfamiliar names at the same time. Here we have a split from two retro-styled bands who are heavily into ingesting huge quantities of a certain herb if their music is anything to go by and neither side disappoints.

First up is Stone Axe who provide the distinctly Led Zeppelin (filtered through a mid-tempo Iron Maiden plod) sounding ‘metal Damage’ (an inspired title if ever there was one). It’s a relatively short track, but it is pure old-school metal sung with passion and conviction (the singer is somewhere between Robert Plant and Rob Halford) and played with a power that is sadly rare these days. Throw in a decent solo and what you have is a four minute track (well, 3.41 for pedants) that will leave you lusting for more if an ounce of rock and roll spirit throbs in your veins.

The opposite side (which comes with spectacularly lurid artwork) sees the equally fantastically titled ‘don’t panic, it’s organic’ by Mighty High kicking off a stoned punk squall that sounds like Queens of the Stone Age playing Rancid Covers (indeed the singer sounds suspiciously similar to Tim Armstrong) but with a production that Josh Homme frequently aims for but never quite attains (try playing this against the excellent, but weedy-sounding ‘Regular John’ and you’ll see what I mean).

While I personally prefer the more stately ‘Metal damage’ both tracks are well worth your time and money and it’s hard to imagine rock fans not wanting to track down at least one of the albums by these fantastic bands. Either way with two bands of this quality on one release this is something of a must-have.

http://www.sonicabuse.com/2010/06/stone-axemighty-high-split-7-review/

"Wretched Metal Excess"

Great review from the snobs at Lucid Culture -

Seven Sick Inches of Mighty High and Stone Axe

“Brooklyn’s #1 regressive rockers,” Mighty High have a brand-new split 7″ with fellow 70s metalheads Stone Axe and it’s a blast of skunky hydroponic smoke, perfect for dropping on what’s left of your brain. It’s impossible not to crack an illegal smile when you hear this. Metal Damage by Stone Axe sets Drew Brinkerhoff’s woozy/silly David Lee Roth-ish vocals over your basic mid-70s riffage: Kiss might have sounded this good if they’d ever learned how to play their instruments. A smoldering cherry of a guitar solo turns into a twin solo – Hotel California, here we come! Stone Axe are actually a much more diverse band than this would indicate, in fact one of the best retro metal acts around, with a new album due out sometime in the fall.

Mighty High’s Don’t Panic, It’s Organic is classic – there’s nobody better at making fun of wretched metal excess. This is a fast number, Aerosmith’s Mama Kin as Motorhead might have done it. When the lead guitar blurts out of the break before the last verse like a belch that couldn’t be contained, it’s priceless. And of course you gotta have a pickslide! Sweetest thing about this is that it’s on vinyl, with all the low end and sonic yumminess you can’t get from a cd or mp3. Scheduled for release in July at independent stores who have the good taste (well, sort of) to carry music like this, it’ll also be available from Mighty High, Stone Axe (currently on west coast tour, where the single is already onsale) and from Ripple Music, who are already taking pre-orders.

http://lucidculture.wordpress.com/2010/06/23/seven-sick-inches-of-mighty-high-and-stone-axe/

High Times Pot 40 - August 2010

Check out #31!