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John Garcia and Kyuss set the high water mark for low-ended Heavy Rock many a desert moon ago, bursting on the scene with their rumble and thud styled driving Blues bouncing over the bumpy roads carved by the Sabbath's before them. When Kyuss disbanded in the early nineties', the band members went on and continued to forge an individual niche in the Stoner community. 

None are followed more closely, however, than the voice behind the ruckus, John Garcia, who more so than his former band members has jumped from project to project and kept closer company with the prehistoric power outing that's carved the "classic" label to Kyuss long after they made like their own circus and left town. 

Hermano actually resulted at the urging of bassist Dandy Brown, veteran of many an evening's buzz, who sought to assemble a great band to "record a rock album." So to simply calculate this as another Garcia-led side project is natural considering his marketability, but not the whole story. 

"Only A Suggestion" features eight tracks that combine the depth and intensity of early Kyuss, owing greatly to the two guitar swing, more Blues scaling (Creem), and of a more active Rock leaning typically associated with fellow retro-activists of the community, Fu Manchu, Queens Of The Stone Age, Solarized, Sons Of Otis… The tunes are catchy and pack plenty of punch but considering the overall short list of tracks and that this was done back in 2000, "Only A Suggestion" could well be taken for only a short trip… another of Garcia's project hopping. 

Hermano does serve its intended audience well with driving anthems like "The Bottle," or the fiercely oppositional "Manager's Special," (and after all these years is it still worth the risk of trying to tie the title to the lyric?-none included btw), the trippy "Senor Moreno's Plan," the spry "Landetta Motherload," right out of the last chapter of the Kyuss song book, make it a staple for longtime followers but it lacks the overall melodic necessity that made the work of Garcia's previous, Unida, such a winner.