Rowsdower - The Michael Jordans of Suicide

Rowsdower - The Michael Jordans of Suicide

Sludgelord Records – 2019 (August 2nd)

Doom, Sludge

Rated: ****

LA Doomsters Rowsdower bring their own inimitable OUCH! style of West Coast Doom to the masses with their new release The Michael Jordans of Suicide: Ten sludge - infected stanzas of suppressed anger delivered with true vehemence and vitriol. "New Old" is a jaw-breaking sucker punch of down-tuned desolation, "The Hit" is a crawling, misery-steeped slab of Doom which is both languid and laconic...."Men II Boyz" interjects a juxtaposition of electronic samples and quirky beats, heralding the arrival of "PCP Homeboy (I Am A Black Wizard)" which bleeds from an open wound of vile, black - blooded misanthropy. Rowsdower's sound is gratingly slow and gutteral: an echoing dark canyon where sounds ricochet and distort from its bleak walls, finally crushing you under the impending avalanche...a terror - filled trip through the Valley of Death. Marvellous!

(Written by Reek of STOOM)

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Baroness – Gold & Grey

Baroness – Gold & Grey

Spinefarm/Abraxan Hymns – 2019

Rock

Rated: ***

We continue along the kaleidoscopic Baroness journey that begun so many years ago with that magical Red album. Apparently the new Gold & Grey album was supposed to be called Orange, but he wasn’t feeling that color. And yes, Gold & Grey does alliterate nicely, so I guess we can agree with the decision. And shit, we have no say in that matter anyway… We were already jotting down these few lines about the new Baroness record when Madman Tony Maim sent in his screed about Gold & Grey and we of course stopped writing immediately, cause why do another mention about the same album. There is so much other great music out there and so little time. But even though I agree with his rant, I missed something. Something I felt needed to be said. Gold & Grey feels like a continuation from Yellow & Green. Where the experimental side was perhaps bigger but the amount of different approaches to the tracks smaller. Influences are still too many to name and the dynamics are even grander. We even get an acoustic treatment and female vocals in the form of new guitarist Gina Gleason. And the feeling we are listening to one big work of art is even more present due to all the bridges and themes connection the songs. But it still could not grab me initially, it took some time, and the reason behind that fact, I fear, was the way the mix and production feels. And that feeling has not left me, even though the album has become a favorite, a record one can spin at all kinds of different moments, there is something amiss with the mix. The tracks and compositions have this fragile edge to it, while the mix goes through the ceiling in loudness and fullness, leaving no room for the instruments to move or the compositions to breathe. It is a strange feeling to listen to an album and wanting to love it so much but feel like it is a lot of work to do so. I would give a lot for a new version of this record, but shit, we have no say in that matter…

(Written by JK)

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Ealdor Bealu – Spirit Of The Lonely Places

Ealdor Bealu – Spirit Of The Lonely Places

Self released – 2019

Rock, Psych, Atmospheric, Prog

Rated: ****

The Boise, ID quartet Ealdor Bealu has delivered their second album Spirit Of The Lonely Places to follow what might be considered as a psychedelic heavy yet ambient masterpiece called Dark Water At The Foot Of The Mountain two years ago. Did that get enough attention around the globe? Probably not. Will this one? We sure hope so! Cause it is even more impressive than their debut release. We can still see them as a heavy psychedelic rock band. Definitely! And we can still state that the ambience, the feeling and the moods they evoke are most important. But the way in which they manage to paint their colorful and naturistic tapestries is simply amazing and has grown to gigantic proportions. Less solemn and precise than on their first album, they move more into a flowing and colorful dimension. Imagery of meandering rivers and rolling hills continue to spring into your mind. Dynamic be default and demanding your utmost attention the tracks soon nestle in your heart and mind. There is no escaping this Spirit and it will not make you lonely, but yet leave you appreciative and in awe…

(Written by JK)

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Black Galaxy – Wrath of The Void

Black Galaxy – Wrath of The Void

Self released – 2019

Rock, Hard, Metal, Doom, Stoner, Proto, Grunge

Rated: *****

There’s always this intense giddy feeling when the time rolls around to produce a quick blurb for some awesome record for the new edition of the Doom Chart. This month we jumped at the chance to write a few words about the Black Galaxy album Wrath Of The Void. Cause these four crazy Canadians delivered some pure heavy gold. Hard rock, heavy metal, signs of proto-love and a grungy spirit. The Black Galaxy four have it all! And you could stop right there, buy the album and put it on repeat. But I just need to single out that second track: Death Monster. It will whip you into a frenzy and have you screaming along with the vocals within a few spins. It just rev’s you up like crazy and I can already see every crazy cat in the crowd going insane wherever and whenever they shall play it live! Holy hell, what a monster track!

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Luna Sol

Luna And The Moonhounds

Eternal Black

Beastwars

Ealdor Bealu

A Quick list before we head out into the cold and gray weather. Where did the summer go all of a sudden? Still getting the most spins is the awesome new Below The Deep record by Luna Sol! But there’s another Luna on the horizon! Luna And The Moonhouds, great band with a great record called Moonbase! Slow Burn Suicide by Eternal Black continues its round, it did not end up on the 8th position of the June Doom Charts for nothing! And the same could be stated for Beastwars! There IV album sits nice and cozy on the number 2 spot of the Doom Charts. And record we hope will start making the rounds is Spirit of The Lonely Places by Ealdor Bealu. Cause there is so much beauty hiding among the atmospheric heavy psych and downtuned smooth and sweetness. Be sure to check it out! Check’m all out!

Ealdor Bealu - Ebb and Flow

Ealdor Bealu - Ebb and Flow

 From their first and majestic album Dark Water At The Foot Of The Mountain.

Check out the new record Spirit Of The Lonely Places, it will leave you breathless!

Waingro – III

Waingro – III

A No List Records / Sludgelord Records – 2019 (August 16)

Stoner Doom, Punk’n’Roll

Rated: *****

Oh man, I have never heard of these guys before but with a blast of aggression and a raw as fuck stoner template, I am hooked! Waingro have produced an album that blasts along like a shotgun to the head. This is dirty punk rock’n’roll with a metallish edge that takes no prisoners. Fast Motörhead type riffs propel the songs along which have hook ridden chorus breaks, angry but tuneful vocals and heavy-as-fuck attitude. With killer solos that hurtle along but have a sweet, sweet tone to them that make me want to punch walls, this is the good shit. One album ain’t much to sum up a band but when the world ends and I am riding my open-topped convertible through a nuclear ravaged landscape, wearing clothes made from skinned dogs and wielding a baseball bat with nails in to hunt and kill zombies, this is the soundtrack I will be playing!

(Written by Tony Maim)

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Danko Jones – A Rock Supreme

Danko Jones – A Rock Supreme 

AFM – 2019 

Rock , Hard

Rated: *** 

I’ve had the pleasure of talking to Danko Jones a couple of times. Unfortunately, those times were never my best moments in interview history. I guess we never recovered from that first time when I messed up the radio interview that was going on before me because I did not recognize the journalist that was talking to him before me nor the record company representative sitting off to the side trying to intercept the rest of the press. I stumbled in from the other side, drink in hand… The taxi interview from hotel to venue the following time was only slightly better. And the third time and fourth time, well, let’s not dwell on the past. The best thing about Danko though, he sticks to his guns, knows his stuff and of course, the real best thing is the music and the live show. Don’t expect philosophical insights or political commentary about the state of the world. The best one may expect is some rock ‘n roll poetry. Some scruffy lines about being in a band, how he loves rock n roll and how he loves women. Hey, what more is there? So, it’s a new Danko Jones album. A Rock Supreme! And it is exactly what we have come to expect from the Mango Kid. Heavy stompers, rhythmic riffs and a big rock n roll sound. And hey, what more do you need? 

(Written by JK) 

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Elder – The Gold & Silver Sessions EP

Elder – The Gold & Silver Sessions EP
PostWax Records – 2019 (July 12th)
Stoner, Psych, Progressive
Rated: *****

Since 2006, Boston's Elder have shone like a beacon in the Underground: a band who's output has been met with universal acclaim and admiration, culminating in 2017's triumphant Reflections of a Floating World. The World stood, poised, baited-breathed and eager for their next foray... The Gold & Silver Sessions heralds the return of a band who's assuredness and constant striving has delivered a jewel of a release: a multi-faceted, shining stone of effortless Psychedelia that bathes in warm shallows of serenity, meanders through Inner-spatial mind caverns and ion-fueled excursions into the Outer Realms. 'Illusory Motion' rolls out a lush red carpet of velvet textures and delays, drawing the listener into a plethora of pleasures. 'Im Morgengrauen's arrival by way of soft Rhodes tinklings and smooth, subdued bass defies all sense of time...like a blunt burning to the roach without you even knowing nor caring, before the seeping melodic guitar passes through your mind like a sweet flow of treacle. The epic on the EP at 18+ minutes is 'Weißensee'...opening with Krautrock rhythm patterns and Gottsching-like guitar weaves before the solar sails unfurl and venture forth into galaxies of groove and glee… Elder have become the Elon Musk of the music world - bold risk-takers who not only see the Bigger Picture but daub the canvas with style, grace and eloquence... Ultimately finding True Glory!

(Written by Reek of STOOM)

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And did you know they reached the Number One position of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown at the end of the year with every studio album they released from 2011 on? 

Dead Roots Stirring

Lore

Reflections of a Floating World
 

Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Luna Sol

Josefus

Perry Farrell

Black Galaxy

The Black Keys

Sorry my fellow music fiends! Still in full fucked up work mode. No rest for the wicked! So no time to actually write a few worthwhile lines about the albums we listened to the most last week! But before to check’m all out and we hope to be able to do something soon… But we still have Reek of STOOM holding guard for us all! Check out what he wrote about Elder’s new The Gold & Silver Sessions!

Hippie Death Cult – 111

Hippie Death Cult – 111

Cursed Tongue Records – 2019

Stoner, Doom, Sludge

Rated: ****

Portland, Oregon has long been lauded as the US Capital of Doom and it's no surprise that it should once again spawn an album of Intensity, Intelligence and Invention. Hippie Death Cult's new opus, 111 reads like a Rocker's almanac: a mental cognizance of every Great band you ever heard... It's all here - laid bare, unashamed and honest. Opener 'Sanctimonious' sets the stage with dry - ice and dreadnought riffs… A Heavy Blues monolith to the mighty Sabbaths and Iron Claws of yore. 'Breeder's Curse' stabs glistening knives of fuzz through the fabric of Psychedelic Doom, grappling hooks and gravel-gargled voice on counter-attack. 'Myrtu's gentle guitar refrain provides a brief, calm oasis... Reflective and wistful before the punishment begins again and the raging maelstrom that is 'Pigs' stomps and stamps its command on your ears. HDC have unearthed a album that is immediately evocative of all the 70's Heavy Blues giants and the influences can be heard throughout… But Retro it is not... This is Modern Heavy Rock music of the very Highest Order that just has enough of that nostalgic feel to be familiar. A Triumph!

(Written by Reek of STOOM)

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The Doom Chart for June 2019

Doom Chart

  "We want the old Rome! But a better version of Rome!" That’s just me going 'you want a better version of yourself in the future'. I want to build a better version of me who’s more compassionate, more understanding, more awakened more loving. All those things that you think 'I could have been but I chose not to be'. My New Rome is a place where you are a better person."   ~ Matt Hyde (Beastwars on the new song Storms of Mars)

I mentioned we would surprise you this month and we did something a little different. Like always, the top 25 ranked albums based on the combined tally from over 30 active contributors is featured below. This month I figured we’d share the top 30 giving just a link to the albums that barely missed the mark. The total votes yielded around 316 unique albums making the top 25 on individual lists sent in and we thought we’d give you a taste of what barely missed out. Its a slippery slope so before long we could end up with a top 300 list each month. That would just freak everyone out though. Congrats to all the bands making this months Doom Charts. Check them all out, visit their pages, buy their vinyl, and go to their show. Its you guys keeping the scene alive. Tell your friends too.

As Bucky stated on the Doom Charts intro, it's a slippery slope and a very steep on counting many albums. Why don't we share all those 300 plus albums every month? Well, because it would defeat the purpose of the votes and the charts themselves. The fact that the Top 25 albums are on that position is that for whatever reason they spoke more to the contributers that voted for them. Which means a bigger selection of music fiends dug it; which probably means a bigger selection of other music fiends will dig it too. We want to serve that up, those tasty dishes and wonderful spices. And that doesn't mean that all the sidedishes we discover along the way aren't just as good, it just means that it will probably take a more specific taste to be able to truly savour it... 

To state the obvious: among those Top 25 on 30 in this case are only 4 of my picks this month... And I could easily have voted for all those albums that did make it. Ye gods, can you imagine? The sheer amount of soul food of delicious musical magic. And ofcourse we all know that it's the only thing that really matters... Anyone who's crazy about music ultimately knows that all that matters is: is it good? Does it give pleasure?

Welcome to Doom Charts, representing some of the finest bloggers, journalists, radio, podcasters and album reviewers from the heavy underground around the globe.  Each month, our critics submit their picks for the best new doom, sludge metal, stoner-psychedelic and heavy rock albums.  The results are compiled and tabulated into the chart below.  This is a one-stop shop for the best new albums in the world…

The Doom Chart for June 2019

Dust – The Fall Of All Things

Dust – The Fall Of All Things

Self-released – 2019

Doom, Blackened Sludge

Rated: ****

German Doom outfit DUST return with another chilling slice of crusted Sludge Doom! The Fall Of All Things... A five - track phantasmagoria of filth that sweeps across your mind like a forest fire... Quick, vicious and deadly! 'Shattered Existence' opens with a pummeling drum rumble, then the bottom falls out of the world when the bass drops... 'Cloak of Silence' gurns and contorts with menace whilst title Track 'The Fall Of All Things' creeps, festers and permeates your skin like a weeping sore of woe. All in all, a fine effort and one that leaves you spent, abandoned and drained... …as all good Doom should!

(Written by Reek of STOOM)

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