A serrated, swagger‑heavy sophomore strike that proves guitar music still knows how to bare its teeth.
Two years after detonating their debut Fear Life for a Lifetime, British rock band STONE return with their sophomore record AUTONOMY – and they cranked up the volume to the limit.
Guitar music is in a strange era. Bands are everywhere, but few manage to carve out something that feels unmistakably theirs. STONE do. Fin Power’s vocals carry a serrated anger, that feels lived-in rather than performed, and the band behind him refuses to sand down the edges. Their influences bleed through but never overshadow; instead, they fuse into a sound that feels like a fist swung with intention.
Very early on, it becomes obvious that these songs were built for the live circuit. The sticky, sweaty, shoulder-to-shoulder venues where bodies collide and lyrics become communal property. AUTONOMY is engineered for catharsis, for the kind of nights where you leave the venue wrung out and grinning.
One of the clear standouts on this album is NEVER AGAIN, which erupts into a chaotically cathartic bridge that feels like the band tearing through their own restraints.
MOULIN ROUGE doubles down on the sound STONE do best: loud, lean, and dripping with attitude.
The album closes with FREEZING, and it’s genuinely fun. It’s a clear shift from the record’s angrier core, but I can already imagine it landing live as the perfect breather – a momentary mosh‑pit cooldown without losing the energy.
Across all 13 tracks, STONE flex a very specific British swagger – the kind that nods to Pulp, Oasis, The Stone Roses without ever slipping into imitation. Those ghosts are there, sure, but STONE sharpen them into weapons of their own.
STONE aren’t reinventing the wheel, but they’re spinning it with enough force to leave marks. AUTONOMY is a feral, sweat‑slicked reminder that rock still has a pulse and STONE are determined to make it beat harder. A sophomore strike that landed exactly where it needed to.
AUTONOMY OUT NOW.
Words by
Marie Müller, 2026.