THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Ripple Music’s new Beneath The Desert Floor series unearths long-lost stoner rock treasures from the ’90s-’00s. The first instalment features Swedish scene veterans The Awesome Machine and their cornerstone 2000 album …It’s Ugly Or Nothing. An indestructible mass of fuzz-drenched heft, it contains 11 tracks of uncompromising stoner rock goodness for the ages, an authentic classic of Swedish-brewed mastery.
The Awesome Machine were formed in late 1996 by guitarist Christian Smedström and former bass player Stefan Magnusson, followed by vocalist Lasse Olausson and drummer Peter Thorne. Tobbe Bovik took over the drum stool in March ’98. Following the release of their self-titled debut 10-inch vinyl in October 1998, Magnusson left the band and was replaced by Anders Wenander. With their background set firmly in the heaviest of legendary rock bands, they knew their direction immediately and recorded their cult demo Doom, Disco, Dope, Death and Love.
Following almost a year of composing and rehearsing combined with local club shows, The Awesome Machine went on to record their first full-length …It’s Ugly Or Nothing at Los Angered recordings with Andy La Rocque (King Diamond, Mercyful Fate) as main engineer and co-producer. The summer of 2000 was spent mostly on the road, including some of the biggest festivals in Sweden. In 2006, the band went on indefinite hiatus.
About the Beneath The Desert Floor series, Ripple Music founder Todd Severin says: “There were so many amazing albums released in the underground heavy stoner/doom/desert/heavy psych during the late ’90s (and) early 2000s that have gotten lost in the passage of time. These albums, from incredible bands, came out in a time before social media was fully formed to help push public awareness before the vinyl resurgence happened so they were never pressed to wax before digital channels existed to spread the music far and wide. My goal is to do our part to change that. To look beneath the desert floor and see what gems and treasures lay there. And spread them with the world.”
