Metro. The Blue Stones

The Blue Stones almost had me fooled there. The start of Metro is nothing short but horrendous. I heard some electronic sound far too loud, so I never reached the female announcement voice. The beyond distortion guitar riff of 'Your Master' sounds horrific when it comes in too loud over headphones. In other words it's a wonder I'm writing on Metro at all. I am the kind of person who gives the third track a chance as well.

The effect of 'Your Master' is the same on me as I had in 1993 hearing the first song on 'In Utero' too loud. (I also knew for 100% certain my very young baby was not deaf.) By the way, the "hey" in 'Your Master' resembles the "hey" in 'Heart-Shaped Box'. The circle is round it seems here.

The Blue Stones, vocalist and guitarist Tarek Jafar and drummer Justin Tessier, is Canadian band from Windsor, Ontario. The band featured on this blog with album 'Hidden Gems' in 2021. Metro is the band's fourth album. Where in 2021 I found a host of influences, Metro is more conform. If anything The Blue Stones are The Black Keys as if that band started recently and added to their version of the blues a whole does of fiery alternative rock. And then the more dance oriented 'Kill Box' comes by.

Metro is far more dark and dirty. The Blue Stones drag us through the mud and muck, roll us over and add some spittle for good measure. The gore we wallow in is what we listen to. The lady making the announcements, is not unlike the groupie on Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'. But where the latter desperately tries to get contact with "Pink", this lady pushes band and listener into the harsh realities of our lives, on this record as far as I'm concerned.

A duo setting, unless you're Simon & Garfunkel, is a limiting environment. Just drums, a, heavily distorted guitar and a voice. This is all The Blue Stones presents. There may be a guitar and voice overdub, okay. That doesn't stop the band from presenting a great song like 'Happy Cry'. Even in the sty one can find pearls, right?

The darkness Metro presents is rather enticing and a good place to be for a while. Far more then 'Hidden Gems' Metro is an album in search of a larger audience. The Black Keys were able to make that step to a bigger audience. On the basis of Metro, nothing ought to stop The Blue Stones doing so as well.

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