10-slice pepperoni, a million beers, and Ace Frehley on the tape deck. "Totally . . ." And exactly. STÖNER is back not less than a year since the release of their 2021 self-titled debut and their follow-up live album, "Live in the Mojave Desert" (volume IV of the livestream series from Heavy Psych Sounds Records). After a long string of solos, it looks like Brant Bjork, along with partners Nick Oliveri (bass, vocals) and Ryan Güt (drums), might gift us a few offerings of some precious Desert Rock done just right. On May 6, 2022, STÖNER drops their second full-length album, "Totally . . .," via Heavy Psych Sounds.

"Totally . . ." packs in eight tracks and times out at around 38 minutes. It's pretty much a party package with a bit of everything. You have heavy groove, strong rocking tracks like "Party March," "A Million Beers," and "Space Dude & The Burn"; slow-burning, bluesy numbers like "Driving Miss Lazy" and "Great American Sage"; and there's even the obligatory tongue-in-cheek song-in this case, "Stöner Theme"-with some spoken word clips from what seems like a really familiar movie that I can't for the life of me pin point.

Ironically the strength of the album-its diversity and variety-is also its weakness. I have to admit that after the promise of "Party March" and "A Million Beers," I was a bit let down with the slower numbers-like coming off a strong buzz and entering that lackadaisical zone. But even as I write it, I see it. Stoner Rock is a lot about the blues and the mellow. If you want to amp up, you gotta slide over to Stoner Metal.

With that said, I enjoyed side A better than side B of this album. While I do appreciate the full-flavored approach, I prefer the amplified and intensified. End analysis says, no hard rocking, dune shaking event here . . . but sometimes you don't want to ride the lightning and would rather relax in the moment of the moment. Again, got it and can appreciate it. Just takes me minute or two to adjust. I will say the one consistent thing throughout the album-and this is what makes the album really good even though it's not heavy-is its sense of rhythm and soul. As Brant declares in "Great American Sage": "If it ain't got soul / then it ain't no rock and roll."