Album review: STONETRIP – Run Free

March 12th, 2023 by GRTR! HQ

Golden Robot Records [Release date 10.03.23]

If you’ve ever listened to our weekly new release show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio ‘New to GRTR!’ you’ll know that we feature a fair number of releases from Golden Robot Records. Established by entrepreneur Mark Alexander-Erber they cover a wide range of genres and are also responsible for resurrecting the fortunes of bands like The Answer and Faster Pussycat. But they do foster a whole load of new bands, many from Australia where Alexander-Erber was originally based.

This debut album from Australia’s Stonetrip includes those tracks we first heard on their EP back in 2021. If you like groove-laden riffage with memorable choruses look no further.

Opener ‘Dark Night’ sets the tone with both wonderful swagger and appealing guitar figures which propel it to the chorus and the groove is repeated on ‘Sideways’.

‘Nightmare’ is one of many highlights and really immediate so if you are time poor go to that track first. The chimy guitar harmonies remind me of All About Eve (that band again) but the whole is much heavier. What a track!

Guitarists Mick Malusa and Jason King (not the early seventies TV lothario) complement each other well whilst vocalist Mark Ritchie impresses throughout.

There’s a bit more of the blues influence (and slide guitar) on ‘Pretty Flowers’ whilst ‘Leave A Light On’ vies with ‘Nightmare’ as one of the most immediate and the closest thing to a “radio hit”.

Stonetrip remain convincing when they slow things down as on ‘Run Free’ which could be post-Paul Rodgers Bad Company and ‘My Angel’ channels the band’s inner Guns ‘N Roses for a lighter-in-the-air ballad.

I have to say the album only really dips when the band plump for a handful of slower tracks, and this is simply because they are somewhat predictable. And that’s not say there’s anything intrinsically bad about a track like ‘The Show’.

But, thankfully, the riff quotient increases with ‘I Am Tomorrow’, ‘Mercy’ and a humongous and quite wonderful ‘Runaway’ which is the first track we played on the radio station and one of our highlights of 2022.

These tunes are in the main economical, consistent, mostly in your face, and – frankly – must be heard. For lapsed heavy rockers and those who never gave it up in the first place. You have been vindicated. ****1/2

Review by David Randall

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 20 October 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 22 October 2024.

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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
RIOGHAN Hands (Inverse Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)