« Volcanic Rock » est le deuxième album influent du groupe australien de hard rock Buffalo, initialement sorti en 1973 et désormais disponible en format CD chez Aztec Music. Ce disque est une référence majeure du heavy rock naissant : guitares puissantes, chant brut et énergie authentique incarnent l?esprit de cette époque musicale audacieuse. Des titres phares comme « Sunrise (Come My Way) » ou « Shylock » illustrent la fusion entre lourdeur blues-rock et touches psychédéliques propre à Buffalo. Le groupe s?impose ainsi comme pionnier du genre ; leur premier opus « Dead Forever? » avait déjà marqué les esprits par son originalité.
Le label Aztec Music se distingue par ses rééditions soignées d?albums australiens emblématiques : qualité sonore restaurée et livrets détaillés permettent aux ?uvres majeures telles que « Volcanic Rock » de toucher un nouveau public tout en valorisant le patrimoine musical national.
Released in 1973, this true underground gem is quite an awesome find. Metal was just sprouting back then, and its definitive forces were Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Sir Lord Baltimore, and the list can go on. Numerous band that tried copying these band's sound appeared and disappeared almost every day, and Buffalo from Australia were one of those bands- but they took the new sound a whole new direction:
They created stoner rock.
After listening to this album, Kyuss and early Soundgarden sound like Buffalo replicas, and Sleep seems like a new heavy reincarnation of the band, with tracks like Freedom and The Prophet being the best examples. Their riffs are very drug fueled, semi-progressive and have a very distorted sound, a thing that won't be heard until Soundgarden's debut EP- which shows how much this band was way ahead of its time. The rest of the songs also play a major part in the album, with the most notable Sunrise and Shylock that can be called as forerunners to Motorhead, and 'Til My Death showing some very fast drumming and very unorthodox solos compared to other heavy metal bands of 1973.