Band:	Toner Low
Album:	II
Style:	Doom metal, Stoner metal
Release date:	November 28, 2008
A review by:	Lucas

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03. Five
04. Three

Toner Low is a Dutch threesome with a thing for Doom, Gloom and quite probably a lot of weed. Well, let's not generalize too much but fact is that with Toner Low's brand of Stoner, every normal-functioning body will immediately develop a mighty craving for some good ganja. Or is that just me? Anyway, fact is that these Dutch guys have their second album out now, "Toner Low II", and it's pretty much an hour long stoner droner fest.

An hour long stoner droner fest usually sounds like a pretty neat idea to me, but unfortunately, "Toner Low II" doesn't really deliver. Simply put, it's pretty boring. It just drones and drones and drones some more, but doesn't really go anywhere. It fails to grab me by the balls with a slow, brooding crescendo simply because there is no slow, brooding crescendo. Hell, there isn't even a decrescendo on this release. There's only the repeat repeat repeat of their heavy crunchy sound, without the hypnosis or atmosphere that separates the genius from the lame. Okay, every once in a while the band slightly drifts off into the territory of the highly underrated and overlooked Hyatari - and with that really spikes my interest - but the Dutch threesome never comes close to the greatness of said Hyatari on any of those occasions.

Perhaps I need the aforementioned ganja, but hey, I don't do that shit. Music should be good on its own and drugs should only be an enhancement, and sadly, that is not the case here. Although the band has it's moments, in the long run this release is pretty unconvincing.