WARLUNG is a Houston grown Stoner Metal band that formed in 2016 with a couple of brothers and a couple of friends. Since that time, they have released four albums, each one progressively better than the last. Their fourth album, "Vulture's Paradise," was issued on November 4, 2022 via Heavy Psych Sounds and is the most refined, best produced WARLUNG to date. Even their cover art (courtesy of Meike Hakkaart - Maquenda) has leveled up.

"Vulture's Paradise" includes nine tracks and has a full run time of 44 minutes with the majority of tracks hitting north of four and even five minutes. Which is to say, the band takes enough time to develop the movements and phases in each track, which adds depth and impact. It's not quite Prog level, but certainly in keeping with their past recordings. No three-minute hit-and-runs or instrumental fillers.

The hyper harmony of George Baba and Philip Bennett, both in terms of vocals and guitar work, is arguably the most notable feature of the album. There is plenty of strong, distorted riffage, but the polished and melodic interplay between Baba and Bennet take the edge off it-which I think is the reason so many people categorize WARLUNG as Psych Rock and not Psych Metal. Not that I'm discounting their Metal worthiness-I think in a live setting with the appropriate amount of ampage, WARLUNG is undeniably visceral-but they are more about melody and harmony than discord and dissonance.

Having offered accolades for Baba and Bennet, I should mention the tightness of the rhythm section-tight like brothers, which in fact Chris Tamez (bass) and Ethan Tamez (drums) are. Dave Grohl in his book "The Storyteller" briefly discusses the idea of musical DNA. Could it be that some of the cohesiveness of this band is a matter of DNA? Dave also notes that even with the gift of musical DNA you still need practice. For WARLUNG that's eight years, four albums, and countless gigs. So, yeah, I'd buy into that theory.

Of the nine tracks, eight are standouts. If I had to pick the best of the best, and allowing for differences of opinion and taste, I'd go with "Grave Marauders" for its monster riffs, "Caveman Blues" for its infectious groove, and "Return of the Warlords" for its mega asskickingness. Yep, that's a word. As far as weaker tracks, I wasn't thrilled about the first few minutes of "Runes" . . . and you know what they say about first impressions. It felt like they were trying to wrap up the overall narrative to a satisfying close. Didn't quite work for me.

Comparisons to fellow Texans THE SWORD, especially circa the "Warp Riders" and "Apocryphon" era, are likely to abound and that's okay. There is a similarity but there is a reason you can find pyramids all over the world from China to the Middle East to South America. There are only so many ways to stack blocks so that they don't fall down . . . and only so many ways to lay out Stoner/Psych/Doom before it starts sounding similar. I mean, that's pretty defines the parameters of a subgenre, so no crime there.

Final verdict. WARLUNG has arrived. Okay, so maybe they arrived in 2017 but today, with "Vulture's Paradise," they have arrived arrived. I once called the Houston area home and I still have plenty of family and friends there, so I can't but help to root for the home team. WARLUNG has built a solid track record and has the catalogue to prove it. They simply just keep getting better and better. If you are just discovering WARLUNG, "Vulture's Paradise" is a great place to start, but you'll also want to check out their early albums. There's still time to claim you were into them before they got huge!