Stone From The Sky - Bakeneko (Album Review)

Release Date: May 30th 2025. Record Label: Argonauta Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Bakeneko - Tracklisting

1.The Weight Of A Thousand Thoughts 

2.Hic Sunt Dracones 

3.Hungerstein

4.Rond De Sorcière 

5.Foehn

6.Klania

7.Last Breath Before The End

Members

Florent Sicard: Guitars

Dimitri Even: Bass

Clément Laguarrigue: Drums

Review

Bakeneko is the latest offering from Psych/Post-Rock Instrumentalists Stone From The Sky and it’s a deeper, heavier and quite alternative sound compared to their previous records. Leaning further into the Post-Metal stratosphere, the band can give PELICAN and RUSSIAN CIRCLES a run for their money with their blend of Cinematic Post-Rock that soon transforms into a heavier and progressive style of music. Stone From The Sky keeps things grounded with their sense of Stoner Rock optimism which is kept firmly on the melodic side.

According to Wikipedia - Bakeneko is a type of Japanese yōkai, or supernatural entity; more specifically, it is a kaibyō, or supernatural cat. The excellent album cover showcases this fact with vivid psychedelic imagery which matches the music Stone From The Sky conjures up on this release. There’s haunting ambient melodies and progressive sounds merging for a curious and investigative style of music that appears throughout the record which is set up superbly well on the opening tracks of The Weight Of A Thousand Thoughts and Hic Sunt Dracones. 

Both tracks combine a wealth of different Post-Rock and Post-Metal soundscapes with a heavy amount of sludgy guitars adds a screeching level of violence in places which maybe quite surprising to hear from Stone From The Sky’s established fan base. The intricate spaced out themes and minimal sounds is quite distracting at first but allows Bakeneko to have a world-building quality contained within the overall creative themes the band have written for this record.

Other tracks on the album such as Hungerstein, Rond De Sorcière and Foehn explore a more mystical and mythical style of music which elevates the whole record into Post-Doom and Post-Stoner territory. The music is constantly evolving with epic strokes of Cinematic Rock being added which could easily see Bakeneko be easily compared to the recent Oscar winning (and soon to be classic) animated movie “FLOW”. Both projects are set in different mediums, however both subjects of each project are influenced by “CATS”. Maybe, I’m going off track here but both projects offer a wonderful sense of fantastical story that’s firmly grounded in the real world.

Stone From The Sky can be wholly destructive with their Post-Rock environment when they fully switch over to the dark side of “Post-Metal”. There are high amounts of uplifting Post-Rock and Post-Stoner attitude building behind the scenes with waves of Ethereal sounds allowing this to be quite a thought-provoking album at times.

The final two tracks of Klania and Last Breath Before The End allow Stone From The Sky to cover ground and play epic instrumental passages we’ve heard on their previous records but with the Progressive and Post-Metal attitude they’ve forged on Bakeneko. Nothing is as it seems with Stone From The Sky for Bakeneko as they take multiple daring risks with their music that pays off handsomely which allows Bakeneko to be their most mature, standout and breathtaking record to date.

Yeah, I adore this record and with exquisite production values throughout, Bakeneko is an unmissable record. 

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Vous Connaissez ? PR for the promo.

Bakeneko is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Argonauta Records

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Stone From The Sky Announce New Album "Songs From The Deepwater" And Release New Video For "City I Angst"

STONE FROM THE SKY : NEW ALBUM ‘‘SONGS FROM THE DEEPWATER’’ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5th 

Stone From The Sky is a instrumental stoner trio from France. Formed in 2012, the band is going to release its third album SONGS FROM THE DEEPWATER on November 5th, 2021. 

They managed to build themselves a strong reputation on the heavy psych & stoner french and European scene thanks to gigs in Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, UK or Czech Republic. Among their influences, we can mention All Them Witches, The Ocean or the French screamo band Mort Mort Mort. 

Those different references makes the band’s strength, who is able to offer us an evolution with each new album. On Friday, September 10th, Stone From The Sky will release a first single « City I Angst », alongside a music video. 

With this song, the band gives us a tour of their home town : Le Mans, France. ‘‘Songs From the Deepwater’’, The band is pursuing its transformation and keeps breaking the rules of traditional stoner rock. 

This new album is still loyal to the band’s artistic identity but drags us into a darkest and more aggressive atmosphere. No more solar songs Colour Haze style to make room to new playing fields inspired by post-rock, scream or post hardcore, without denying their fuzz essence.

Thanks to NRV Promotion, Management & Relations Presse for all of the details.

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp

Stone From The Sky - Break A Leg (Album Review)

Release date: May 03^rd 2019. Label: More Fuzz Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Break A Leg – Tracklisting

1.Vena Cava 09:47

2.Agger 04:17

3.Therapsida 09:10

4.Animal 05:11

5.Atomic Valley 07:38

6.Rataxès 09:06

Members

Dimitri

Florent

Dylan

Review

Stone From The Sky new album Break A Leg is a mixture of different sounds, moods and environments with the band creating a complex style to build their wild and vivid ideas upon. The album is purely instrumental with Stone From The Sky playing almost every kind of music that falls under the Doom/Stoner Rock spectrum. Break A Leg is an angry and progressive album and Stone From The Sky never shy away from that fact especially with the excellent opening song – Vena Cava.

Vena Cava is a mixture of Doom, Stoner Rock, Prog Rock and Psychedelic Rock with twinges of Ambient Post-Rock vibes allowing the band to create a more thrilling style of music. It can be quite challenging to listen to at times but Stone From The Sky have enough tricks up their sleeves to keep the most casual listener intrigued from start to finish. The song has quite a sombre and reflective mood that easily draws upon the angrier elements of Post-Rock/Metal that Russian Circles and Pelican are known for.

Second song – Agger – is a cool sounding Desert/Stoner Rock song that reminds me of Yawning Man in certain places but with a more progressive and heavier feel. The trippy sounds show a different side to the band compared to the opening song. This is a good little number for the band to show their more caring side and is one of the shortest songs on the album running past the four minutes’ mark.

Third song – Therapsida – sees the band create another fine offering that drifts further into the realm of Psychedelic Stoner Rock with the song being played at a slow leisurely pace. The band add different genres and levels of music with each passing moment until the soulful Post-Rock grooves give way to a more direct Stoner Rock/Metal sound. The song has quite an upbeat groove from start to finish. The excellent use of slow paced and fast paced riffs makes this one of the standout tracks on the album.

Fourth song – Animal – opens with a haunting Desert Rock/Post-Rock sound that the band do well to maintain from start to finish. The song does feel too forced at times. However, the heavier Post-Rock/Post-Metal riffs saves the day and allows the band to end this song on an exciting finish.

The final two songs Atomic Valley and Rataxes carries on the wonderful psychedelic grooves Stone From The Sky have played throughout the entire album.

Atomic Valley maybe my favourite song on the album. As it sees the band play a hopeful and more progressive style of Desert Rock and Post Rock that leaves you wanting more.

Rataxes sees Stone From The Sky play the heaviest and angriest parts of the album with this song. It’s quite depressing in places. It’s a style I wish we heard more of on the album. As the band have quite a talent for creating cinematic Post-Rock/Post-Metal sounds that have a haunting and bleak edge to them.

Break A Leg is an album that starts off very positively before transcending into a dark musical odyssey and I never expected that at all from this band or the album itself. Stone From The Sky have released an excellent sounding album and I urge you all to listen to this album. As you’ll be pleasantly surprised what Stone From The Sky have in store for you.

Words by Steve Howe

Links:

Official | Facebook | BandCamp