SINGLE REVIEW: Half Drunk & Hollow Eyed - Hell or High Water

Half Drunk & Hollow Eyed take the swampy grit of stoner rock and inject it with bluesy swagger on ‘Hell or High Water’, a track that feels as raw and untamed as a backroad bar at closing time. The guitars hit with a thick, grinding fuzz, the kind that drags through the dirt but never loses its groove. There’s an undeniable weight to the riffs, but they don’t just crush—they move, pulsing with a rhythmic drive that keeps things locked in. The bass rumbles with sludgy depth, the drums swing with a loose but heavy feel, and together, they create something both forceful and hypnotic.

That balance between heaviness and flow is what makes this track hit so hard. It leans into the slow-burning, atmospheric haze of stoner rock but never lets the energy dip too low. Instead, it rides the groove with the confidence of a band that knows exactly when to let the riffs breathe and when to unleash a killer guitar blast. The solos rip through like fire, intricate but unpretentious, landing somewhere between freewheeling jam session and razor-sharp precision.

The vocals are just as laid-back and bluesy as they need to be, a relaxed drawl that settles into the mix like it’s always belonged there. There’s a certain looseness in the delivery, adding to the track’s effortless charm, but it never feels detached—it’s got that smoky, lived-in authenticity that makes the whole thing hit even harder. And then there’s the instrumental outro, where the band fully stretches out, letting the jam-based structure take over as the reverb-drenched textures swirl and the groove locks in deep.

‘Hell or High Water’ doesn’t try too hard to be anything—it just is. A blues-soaked, stoner rock-infused, swagger-drenched beast of a track that knows exactly when to punch and when to drift. It’s got that Clutch and Viking Skull spirit, but Half Drunk & Hollow Eyed make it their own, blending funk-infused grit with pure rock ‘n’ roll attitude.