Stonewashed was a short-lived band from (I think) Germany back in the 1990s. Way of Thorns is their sole album which was issued in 1995. After that they disappeared.
I bought it recently when learning that Leon Geowie was the vocalist. As a big fan of Leon’s two stints with Vengeance, thought I’d check out Stonewashed.
Vengeance of course being the Dutch-based heavy rockers forming in the 1980s and as well as Leon they had none other than Arjen Lucassen on guitar. Leon, in my opinion, has one of the finest vocal styles ideally suited to the big, booming, upbeat, heavy sound which Vengeance had.
In addition to the monster vocals he had a flamboyant stage presence though exited Vengeance in the early 1990s shortly before the band split then joined again with a reformation around the turn of the century.
In between times, Stonewashed was one of the projects Leon was involved with and has worked with Lucassen on some of his Ayreon albums. Indeed – Lucassen wrote a couple of songs on this Stonewashed album.
Musically it’s a little bit different (not in a bad way) and Leon’s vocal power and range is well up to par. It’s a sort of bluesy hard rock with a bit of an understated funkiness to it.
The opener – Big Fat Car is one of the Lucassen-written tracks. Big intro, nice short, clipped riff as it bounces along with some tasty guitar work.
The cover of Sparks’ This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us is fun. A Bit of Christ comes up next. A big number is this one. Proper chunky hard rocker with Leon crunching out the vocal. Have a listen:
https://youtu.be/1C-AZ9Wl_EQ?si=QXGfPfc5u-VcqhL8
Over is another big one which moves in to a more melodic hard rock style with a huge catchy hook and showing Leon’s vocal range once again.
Trigger Dog slightly offbeat yet enjoyable. Lucassen wrote to music for Outta My Brain and is a fun listen with Geowie’s lyrics being shall we say somewhat to the point.
Thirteen songs overall giving a varied listen and an album offering more than a one-off under the radar curiosity.
In a bit of a twist I believe that between the album being recorded and it being issued that band changed their name from Stonewashed to Way of Thorns though some of the albums went out still under the Stonewashed name?
I managed to track down a used copy of the CD from a third-party seller on Amazon. Pleased was able to find one as it is a worthy effort from the band and stands up well some thirty years later.