Dopes to Infinity
One of the last great heavy metal/psychedelic combinations, the early '80s tour "Black & Blue" featured Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult laying waste to stoned freaks nationwide. First you'd get blitzed by BOC's post-Armageddon, intellectual metal space show--"Don't Fear the Reaper", "Godzilla", and so on--and then, while everyone's brains were still reeling from too much rat weed and cheap booze, Sabbath would come out and bash everyone square between the eyes with two-ton riffs. Black and blue indeed. The members of Monster Magnet no doubt took in a few of these shows as whelps and have absorbed and regurgitated everything that made that tour so great on their recordDopes to Infinity. Witness some of the heaviest riffs you'll ever hear, and be dazzled by subtle acoustic numbers and instrumental wizardry. And if that's not enough for you, they've even thrown in a certified hit in "Negasonic Teenage Warhead", equal amounts BOC's "Godzilla" and Cream's "White Room." Like Kyuss and Corrosion of Conformity, Monster Magnet has suckled at Sabbath's teat, and though they owe the Sabs their existence, they've grown up and created their own vision. This is by far the best, most fully and successfully realized Monster Magnet record and will no doubt stand as one of the classic psychedelic metal albums of all time.--Adem Tepedelen