"A feeling of craft that underscores everything they do." -- The Obelisk
"They paint their sandy vistas with lush, yet crisp guitar work and catchy clean vocals against a backdrop of muscular, laid-back drums." -- Toilet Ov Hell
"Across ten lean tracks, the band conjures desert campfire mystique and amplifier hum, and those fuzzed guitars glowing like heat lightning, will have their rhythms cruising like a midnight drive through Joshua Tree. There’s groove, grit, and a storyteller’s sense of pacing: choruses rise like mirages, riffs crunch like gravel under tires." -- Stoner Hive
“A clear-eyed reminder of what heavy rock was built on: driving riffs, unforgettable melodies, and songs that actually stick… It feels less like a nostalgic exercise than a necessary course correction.” — Metal Injection
"Imagine a Queens of the Stone Age 45 played at 33rpm or maybe a less baked Kyuss and you get a pretty good sense of what this bunch are getting up to here." -- Decibel Magazine
"Excelling as true auteurs... This is the sound that made me fall in love with the doom-stoner scene, and it's good to have it back in capable hands... One of my favorite listens of the year so far." -- Doomed and Stoned
Los Angeles quartet Bronco Forte release their debut full length album Lightning Scars today, available on Bandcamp and all DSPs HERE.
Bronco Forte also recently released a beautifully crafted D&D themed video for the lead single "Lightning Scar", produced by Zograscope Studios and featuring actor John Ennis (Better Call Saul, Mr. Show) in a very creative production design. An early preview launched via Metal Injection HERE. The "Lightning Scar" video is now also available to watch & share on YouTube HERE.
Decibel Magazine also launched the premiere of the Zograscope Studios video for "Sixteen Lanes" HERE. (Direct YouTube HERE.)
After so many iterations of heavy, desert-inspired doom rock over past decades, it seems the essence of purely driving riffs, earworm harmonies and strong songwriting that defined a genre has been forsaken. Bronco Forte are a return to the stark blast that made bands like Kyuss, Alice In Chains and Soundgarden legends.
After years of creative toil and preparation, Los Angeles quartet Bronco Forte is stepping into the spotlight as a fully-formed heavy rock phenomenon, with roots in the classic heavy music of the 1970s, seasoned with a deeply modern sensibility and sonic approach. The songs on their debut full-length album, Lightning Scars, chronicle the uncertain lives of ordinary people in the cities and wildernesses of California and beyond, as the characters they depict strive to maintain their integrity in the face of a rapidly-changing world.
The band’s lyrics balance literary style and kitchen-sink realism. Their riffs are deep and dirty, conjuring up the kinds of swinging grooves that cause involuntary head-nodding. The song structures are clever without being cluttered, and the band’s judicious use of vocal harmonies brings a powerful pop sweetness that cuts like a ray of light through the deep swampy stomp of their songs. It all adds up to a fresh yet familiar take on hard rock for a new era, as they draw inspiration and energy from their musical ancestors while casting aside the weary genre cliches of the past.
On Lightning Scars, guitarist and vocalist Chris Klepac’s focused songwriting and poignant lyrics meld seamlessly with guitarist Sako Injaian’s (All Hail the Yeti) energetic riffs to create a sonic tapestry that is somehow as catchy as it is heavy. Together, bassist Jen Glomboski (White Forest) and drummer Geoff Summers (Batillus, A Storm of Light) lay down a rhythmic foundation that is as solid and unwavering as the endless expanses of concrete and asphalt that blanket the band’s home of southern California.
Lightning Scars was tracked and mixed by engineer Kevin McCombs (Linkin Park, Story of the Year) at legendary North Hollywood studio The Steakhouse – the same studio where Queens of the Stone Age recorded Era Vulgaris. From there, the band took the audio to heavy rock mastering wizard Nick Townsend (Alice in Chains, Frankie and the Witch Fingers), who cut the resulting album to lacquer on his own personal lathe. Album art from Kevin “fetusK” Bernier (Prosthetic Records, Intronaut) completes the package.
Lightning Scars is available on LP, CD and download on April 3rd, 2026. Orders are available HERE.
Artist: Bronco Forte
Album: Lightning Scars
Label: self-released
Release Date: April 3, 2026
01. Emberwalker
02. Cultist Canyon
03. Goat Church
04. Towers
05. Hellascope
06. Scuffed Up
07. Dust Jacket
08. Lightning Scar
09. Obvious Alias
10. Sixteen Lanes
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