Rating: * * * *
Alongside Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, multi-instrumentalist Brant Bjork was one of the songwriters in 90s stoner rock pioneers Kyuss. Then he had a stint with fellow bloodshot-eyed rockers Fu Manchu before going it alone.
His solo material, most recently with his band the Bros, is not as heavy but still owes much to the paranoid and unrelenting groove of his first big band.
Punk Rock Guilt was recorded three years ago - apparently he had other albums to get out of the way - and it's stripped-back and laid-back stoner blues. But rather than being cruisy, because it's dark, stomping and heavy at times, this relaxed vibe comes from it being his most self-assured solo album.
The title track is a lively beast, with seething, sniping cymbals, and among his most catchy and tuneful songs yet; Plant Your Seed gets into a relentless moody rumble; and the highlights are two 10-minute songs that bookend Punk Rock Guilt. Opener Lion One unravels slowly, almost ambiently and finale Locked and Loaded's ambling groove is broken by Bjork's deadpan delivery of "It's a hijacked groove of electric boogaloo".
