What I like about the Stoned from the Underground festival, aside from the lineup, is the acronym STFU, which I’m told in clever internet-speak means “shut the fuck up.” Certainly I’d never have figured that out on my own, but it’s good to know. The fest is set to take place this July in ol’ Bundesrepublik Deutschland, and will feature a host of European stoner types as well as Garcia Plays Kyuss and a few other American acts thrown in for good measure. MeteorCity, via the PR wire, make it known that Greece‘s Nightstalker will partake:

MeteorCity recording artists, Nightstalker, will play this year’s Stoned from the Underground festival in Germany. It’s the 10th anniversary of this festival and it will be held on July 9th and 10th. Other bands performing include Garcia Plays Kyuss, Yawning Man, Black Cobra, Weedeater, Firebird, Ufomammut and many others! This is clearly a festival that you should not miss!

More info can be found here: http://www.myspace.com/stonedfromtheunderground

Greece doesn’t have the stoner scene reputation of Sweden or the Palm Desert in California, but you’d never know it once you got lost in Superfreak, the latest offering (first for MeteorCity) from long-running rockers Nightstalker. The band formed in 1990 and has been going steadily ever since, but even if Superfreak is your first experience with them – as it was mine – the easily accessible songs, catchy choruses and memorable musical hooks will make the band a standout in your mind, especially if you’re a fan of a straightforward approach.

Actually, make that “especially” a double. Though on a couple tracks it can feel like Nightstalker are pounding you over the head with the repeated lines of a chorus – “Baby, God is Dead,” “The Light,” “Superfreak” – these are also some of the record’s strongest moments. Nightstalker have all the tightness in their presentation of a solid but underrated Euro act like Red Aim, but vocalist Argy alternately channels Ozzy Osbourne and Dave Wyndorf, setting the band apart from an otherwise forgettable pack of similarly-minded acts.

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Being scholars themselves, Greek trio Nightstalker would obviously be familiar with the philosophical works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Doubtless when they were composing songs for their MeteorCity debut, Superfreak, they did so with the following quote from The Joyful Wisdom in mind:

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. …Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whosoever shall be born after us — for the sake of this deed he shall be part of a higher history than all history hitherto.”

Of course, Nightstalker manage to put it more succinctly, as we can see with the title of the song around which their latest video is based, “Baby, God is Dead.” As audience members, we can be sure the speeding roadster and green-screen antics are meant to serve as an allegory for the falsehoods and distractions man inevitably must conquer on his journey toward embodying the ?bermensch. Kudos to the band on their subtlety of presentation.