(Here we have DGR‘s review of a new EP by California’s Upon Stone, which saw release in June of this year via Century Media.)
Southern California’s Upon Stone continue to remain an interesting proposition in the world of melodeath. A newer upstart project in a world in which melodeath is starting to see acts of varying throwback styles – it seems right now we have groups specializing in particular ‘eras’ of the genre as a whole – Upon Stone could’ve easily gone the route of being a complete influence-worship act.
Considering that the band’s first full-length arrived early last year by way of Century Media after a single EP in 2021, you could’ve imagined the Upon Stone crew arriving with a gloss and sheen that might’ve blinded people from space. Instead, the band hewed pretty close to the late ’90s, early ’00s melodeath roots and combined it with a lot of gravel and grit that would’ve otherwise been associated with more thrash and trad-metal leaning counter parts. The result was a surprisingly fiery if not equally straight-shooting full-length in Dead Mother Moon and one whose bloody-knuckled scrappiness at least could not be denied.
Upon Stone still had some gas left in the tank though, as late June saw the arrival of a new three-song EP from the band entitled End Time Lightning. Armed with two new songs and a cover of the Manowar song “Outlaw”, it would seem as if Upon Stone felt they needed to resume right where they left off last time, just with a little bit more focus on the double-bass roll because you don’t get to entitle your new EP End Time Lightning without at least one of the songs sounding as if you were riding into a world-ending battle.
With any EP there are of course things that are expected, and likewise things unexpected, that reveal themselves. The story of an EP these days is pretty well-worn; they’re either extensions of the album prior, a tease of things upcoming, or a place of wild experimentation that the band couldn’t find anywhere to make fit within the writing of their albums and equally just couldn’t let go. In some ways, EPs are places wherein musical demons are exorcised and let loose upon the world. Sometimes, you even get a band whose album may not be what you’re looking for, but just prior to and post that release, they’ll have a set of killer EPs.
Upon Stone’s three songs on End Time Lightning split the difference pretty evenly. On the expected front you have “Fury, My Master”, which basically not only picks up the baton in the relay with the group’s previous album Dead Mother Moon but practically runs backwards and cuts that album’s 100-meter leg of the race short to extend its own out to 125 meters. “Fury, My Master” is constructed entirely around a double-bass roll and ‘TO BATTLE!’ level guitar riff that could easily make Upon Stone’s fellow leather wearing and worshiping crowd jealous. It is consistent with the group’s sound as demonstrated on their full-length and has some righteous lead-guitar work that rips the mask off to immediately reveal itself within the opening segments of the song. It is a song both pyrotechnic and wild-haired and blinks out quickly for a song that clocks at nearly four-and-a-half minutes.
Its follower “Autumn Evermore” is a little more goth-rock tinged but a large part of that may in fact come from a surprisingly present keyboard. It’s not used much for ominous backing or melodic work but it does spring to life in the introductory passages of the song as well as the closing bit. It’s something that comes from just a little left field after you’ve already got one song made for riding into war, and then a following sped-up and made flashier by way of flamethrower cover of Manowar’s “Outlaw” to close out affairs. In some ways one might wonder if this is a tease for where Upon Stone may be looking to unleash future musical conflagrations.
End Time Lighting is an EP that is much like its title: over in a flash and leaving charred ground behind wherever it struck. Upon Stone could split a tree in half with this one. While this EP doesn’t quite provide much of a glimpse into the future – or at least not enough that our prognostication mirrors could prove effective – it does make for an enjoyable eleven-and-a-half minute blast of grittier melodeath. Upon Stone continue to bathe themselves in fire here and the music remains as adrenaline-rushing as the material they had on their first album.
With End Time Lightning being only the band’s second EP – and basically third release overall – it still provides a tantalizing hint toward the future, but perhaps the most promising part of it is the pulse of life that they are, in fact, still going as a project. Upon Stone easily conjure up armageddon-like battle and circle-pitting on this quick blast of music, and as just a sampling it could easily draw people into the band’s career as a whole.
https://uponstone.lnk.to/EndTimeLightning-EP
https://www.facebook.com/uponstone/