When guitarist Juan Montoya left the stoner metal group Torche, my heart sank a bit. His playing is part of what attracted me to the group, and I’ve been wondering if I’d ever come across it again.

Well, I can now praise the stoner/sludge/doom metal gods, because Montoya has assembled a new group, Stallone, and they’ve got a new, free self-titled EP out on their Bandcamp.

The recording on these three tracks isn’t stellar, but the message and the heaviness comes across pretty well. The monstrous guitar riffs are loud and clear, and they’re supported with some directions that are a rarity on music in this style. The glockenspiel solo on the opening track was a bit of a surprise, and the atmospheric guitars behind the glock sound great. The track “La Cobra” has some softer elements to it as well, making the track pretty dynamic and fun to listen to. The thrash-inspired riffs on that one get my blood pumping, too.

“The Battle of Miami” has a great build going for it, and the three tracks here, overall, are pretty solid. Can’t wait to see what this project does next.