“Hello, Doom Charts, my old friend I’ve come to talk with you again…”
~ probably misheard lyrics by Simon & Garfunkel
Wow, that felt like
an extremely short month! And once again chockfull with amazing
releases. So many, that the forty below only begin to scratch the
surface of the Heavy Underground. No less than 211 albums received
votes, but as always, only forty are published. And those forty and all
those others you already discovered or will in the near future, are
there to offer you some respite and relief in a world full of constant
upheaval. Getting lost in these records might allow the listener to
release pent-up, excessive emotions, leading to emotional, spiritual, or
intellectual relief and a balanced state. Perhaps the entire world
should start listening?
Indeed, what a month once again! Look at all the heavy splendor! And from the bands that made it I voted for: A Very Old Ghost Behind The Farm, Birds of Vale, Ampacity, Beneath The Skin, Tusoc, Admiral Sir Cloudesly Shovell, Black Weedow, Myar, Gurthworm, Elefus, American Sharks, Cesar Sun, White Tundra, Phantom Logic, Angine De Poitrine, Bismut, Glowsun, Spirit Adrift, Purple Skies, Abrams, Bronco Forte, Occult Hand Order and Corrossion of Conformity...
But as always... I could have voted for all who made the list! Gonna be starting the rundown soon with Number 40. The very cool Objective Counsciousness by Deathbird Earth...
Welcome to Doom Charts,
representing some of the finest bloggers, journalists, radio,
podcasters and reviewers from the heavy underground around the globe.
Each month, our critics submit their picks for the best new doom,
sludge, metal, stoner, psychedelic, progressive 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…
Maliciouz will be releasing his new album Sympathypnotic Intercession on May 22nd. But we're honored to present to you now the first single for that album called: Catharticism! There's poetry at work here. From Joshua Tree, one-man-doom-magician Maliciouz crafts a hypnotic, molasses-heavy journey
where crushing riffs and melancholic drone stretch time itself. The glacial doom feels less somber than earlier work but still unfolds in slow, immersive waves with a hallowed touch. Getting lost in the track allows the listener to release pent-up, excessive emotions, leading to
emotional, spiritual, or intellectual relief and a balanced state.It’s raw, unpretentious doom that engulfs you completely... Easy to enter, but be warned, you might lose all your sorrows, angers and frustration. You might come out at the other end, slightly healed...
PR Wire:
Maliciouz
Low, slow, and loud doom from the Mojave Desert New album “SympathypnoticIntercession” out May 22nd, 2026 Genres: Funeral doom, sludge, instrumental
After crushing 2025 with two albums “SARBERUS” and “TORTOISE”, one-man doom dealer Maliciouz returns with more oppressively heavy, psychedelic riffs on “Sympathypnotic Intercession”. A statement on grief, pain, and healing, the new album is personal and poignant.
The music of Maliciouz is described as “tectonic shifting of the earth’s crust”, “the slow, grinding decay of a planet across eons”, “almighty riffs and a dark atmosphere”, “will vibrate your skull off of your spine”,“wrapped in hypnotic, suffocating atmospheres”, “a wall of crushing weight”, “heavy as fuck”, “the riffs are gargantuan, lumbering, prehistoric behemoths”, “soaked in desert heat”, “state of the art low tempo metal”.
About the album:
What the holy blazes does Sympathypnotic mean?! A hypnotic piece of music or performance could be sympathetic if it evokes deep emotions or resonates with someone’s inner state. For example: “The hypnotic melody felt sympathetic to my grief—it lulled me into a calm where I could finally cry.” And what about the Intercession part? Inter - to place into a grave or tomb Cession - the formal giving up of rights The specific way I’m using it here is “lay down your right to heal yourself and let the music do this for you”. I fully believe in the power of heavy music to heal. My soul resonates with low, slow, and loud. Heavy music relieves heaviness. On this premise... Sympathypnotic Intercession is a collection of songs regarding life’s troubles; but with the hope of bringing relief and healing for those needing this.
It’s Kingsday over here in the Netherlands, and we’ve just returned from a two day break at the beach with our little six year old niece. Which meant, no updates and no time to keep track of everything. And last week, well, we had our Thursday and Friday spent doing all that Friday Freebie madness for the Doom Charts! As well as heading over to Tilburg for an amazing live show by Naxatras! If they ever turn up in your neighborhood, don’t miss out! But we did do a little last week and most importantly, that FULL ALBUM PREMIERE for White Tundra! Have you listened yet? Or that Black Toaster record! Which came out in February, highly addictive stuff! All of it… So check it out… All of ‘m!
The time has come! As we mentioned on Monday, today is the day we get to PREMIERE for you all the FULL ALBUM by Norwegian fourpiece White Tundra! It's called Stories From The Dark and it's brooding, menacing and full of dread... For Stories From The Dark creeps in like those eyes that watch you through those frozen woords, that glint you think you see just beyond the firelight. And as the storm approaches, you can feel the storm growing with each crushing riff and shifting shadow. Their sound stalks and lunges, one more a heavy deliberate prowl, and the next a like a cosmic void pulling you under. And then those voices, snarling, chanting, grunting in Nordic tongue or English. And beneath all that massive weight, melodies flicker like dying embers... This is no ordinary album, hell no... It's a saunter through the dark, where every step feels thrilling and just dangerous enough you dare to keep going...
Right?
If you dare, go and push play on White Tundra's Stories From The Dark!
Norwegian heavy voyagers White Tundra are back with their second full length album, “Stories from the Dark”, set for release on April 24th 2026 via Octopus Rising and Argonauta Records in deluxe vinyl and digital formats. The band also unveils their new single and official videoclip, “Kultarberget”, offering a first glimpse into the dark, atmospheric world of the album.
Formed in 2023, White Tundra emerged from the northern landscapes of Norway with a sound that fuses heavy atmospheric melodies, hypnotic grooves and a deep Scandinavian mystique. Their music drifts between desert rock energy, doom laden textures and Nordic folklore inspired narratives, balancing the raw power of 70s hard rock with modern stoner and dark rock influences. Often compared to Red Fang, Witchcraft and Skraeckoedlan, the band maintains a unique identity that is unmistakably their own.
Following their acclaimed self titled debut album in 2023, which secured a place on the Doom Charts, White Tundra spent 2024 rebuilding their creative core. With the arrival of lead guitarist Kjell Andres Nilsen and bassist Øyvind Persvik, the band began crafting what would become “Stories from the Dark”. Recording took place at AutumnSongs Recording Studio with producer Rhys Marsh, who also worked on the debut album, and mastering was completed by Joona Hassinen at Studio Underjord.
White Tundra share:
“We started working on this album early 2024 when Kjell Andres joined on lead guitars. He had been piling up ideas for a while and came into the band with fresh blood and energy. After a while, Øyvind joined on bass and we really started to focus on writing in the summer of 2024. Many songs were in the loop for this album, but we settled on these final six tracks as the ones who fit best together. The winter and spring were used for demoing and pre productions, and Ola recorded the drums in mid July. Bass, guitar and vocals were recorded during two consecutive weeks in August.
The music has partly been written after the lyrics, often starting with creating the chorus and main mood of the songs and building from there. Other songs were partly finished musically before the lyrics fell into place. Ola wrote all the lyrics, with help from singer Steven to adapt them to the music. Thematically it takes off where the previous album ended, with lyrics about escaping from society, exploring the unknown and incorporating local folklore. The closing track, White Tundra, attempts to capture the entire soul and journey of the band, from desert rock inspiration to the white, stormy tundra.”
Tracklist Healer 04:43 Huset 05:38 Riderless Horse 06:51 Kultarberget 04:56 The Lake 05:27 White Tundra 08:44
With “Stories from the Dark”, White Tundra deliver a cohesive, immersive experience that cements their place as one of the most compelling voices in the modern heavy underground. Fans can explore hypnotic riffs, soaring melodies and atmospheric heaviness that spans Nordic darkness, desert rock grit and folklore-inspired storytelling.
Black Toaster – Astrobird Self-released – 2026 Rock, Stoner, Alternative, Punk Rated: ****
Starting off incredibly catchy, with pop sensible alternative rock and a punkish attitude woven through the title track, the Black Toaster three make their intentions clear from the get-go. They are here to entertain and make bodies move! It’sAstrobird, the track, the six track release and the soaring quality of their sound. For it takes off like a Peregrin Falcon carrying a jetpack! This is stoner rock with its boots on the table and punk grease under its fingernails. Especially as the second track Liberty Loan commences, lurching forward on thick, rumbling bass lines that immediately declare occupation of the low end. While vocals and guitar aim to take flight once again. Drums hammer like a massive chugging engine refusing to stop. Liberty Loan is the kind of track that means business.
Lord of The Mountain follows, and you’d better be ready to rumble once again. For the bass work is out of this world, detonating through you skull and you start to understand what the band meant by their own description: “We sound like an old Jeans jacket”. But this isn’t just clothing, this is survival gear for every wild night on the town! And as those fuzzed, fried and fired up riffs shoot through your bloodstream, Lord of The Mountain becomes that magical nod machine. This is what its all about. Acid Metal Man, swinging from swaggering groove to high-speed freeway panic, the kind that makes you check your rearview mirror for consequences. It revs, it howls, it careens forward and soon feels like controlled wreckage disguised as rock ’n roll. Action rock, which captures that worn-in, blue-collar spirit with a high-octane blend of stoner rock, punk grit, and alternative brightness once again.
And this interplay of styles is seamless, punk urgency, stoner heft, and melodic accessibility blur together into a cohesive and distinctive sound. And to add to this they then decide to add a bit of slower momentum and a bit of Elvis into the mix with the longest track on the album Dead Inside, you know Black Toaster is the real deal. Starting out again like the action packed rock you have become accustomed to, rumbling base, choppy drums and spitting guitars. They slow down half way through, where the sprinkles of doom come into play and a guitar is left to fly and perform a flurry. Before the Hound Dog joins the circus… Fireflies ends the twenty five minute long Astrobird release and takes it back to the beginning. Action packed and eager, high-octane, catchy and chunky. Propulsive drumming makes the album surge forward and towards the end with purpose. The bass once again warbling like a maniac, making it all even more steaming. Powerful, and impossible to ignore just as the rest of the Astrobird release. Black Toaster! That old jacket, right? The thing you love and was always there for all those good times… Put it on! It's time...
White Tundra – Stories From The Dark Octopus Rising / Argonauta Records – 2026 Metal, Stoner, Sludge, Doom, Prog Rated: ****
It’s sludgy, it’s got razor sharp teeth, its menacing, it has style up the wazoo and we are honored to have the new White Tundra album Stories From The Dark as a Full Album Premiere for you all this Wednesday! That’s right, the Norwegian four are back! We mentioned their Honningfella release back in 2021 but should have mentioned their 2023 self-titled album as well. Both have that special edge to it, making you bit scared as well as very excited to be listening to it! Well, be sure to come back on Wednesday, if you dare, cause you will be hearing the full Stories From The Dark album here first!
Stories From The Dark kicks open a frozen door with the single Healer and drags you into the storm that blasts across the tundra. Which is followed by Huset, riffs heralded by the drums, immediately become as thick as molasses, fuzz-soaked and all of it rumbles like thunder closing in fast. And then it opens up, everything stretches outwards, and turns into a swirling expanse, where time feels optional and the sweat will be running down your back. One moment you’re locked into a swaggering, groove-heavy stomp, the next, you’re drifting through cosmic haze, guitars spiraling and bending as if pulled by some unseen gravity and a momentum that will surely send you whirling back towards that groove.
It’s what they do best, White Tundra craft a dense, riff-driven sound that fuses the weight of doom and stoner metal with the color and sprawl of psychedelic and progressive rock. Their music leans heavily on fuzz-drenched and sludge guitar tones. But there are always those groove-centric rhythms, and a raw, unpolished edge that keeps everything feeling immediate, visceral and slightly menacing.
Like a wolf grinning from the dark, there’s a wildness to it all. Vocals snarl, chant, grunt and beg to be howled along with. Beneath the noise, though, rising from the dark, there’s craft: hooks buried in distortion, melodies glowing through the murk, and a deep-rooted love for heavy rock tradition and a progressive edge that gives the right amount of atmospheric story telling. Just listen to the opening section of third track Riderless Horse for instance. Elements of classic heavy rock and Nordic atmosphere seep through, giving their sound a windswept, ghostly quality. Fitting for that track, but bleeding through on more moment throughout this magical album.
Vocals in both Norwegian and English, vocalized by a duo of voices, implore you to shout along or sound like a shadowy ritual. The gravel voiced prophets know exactly how to hit the right moments as they shell out their sermons across all the thunderous tones and grooves. It’s all walking a tightrope between hypnotic communion and creeping deception, dark Nordic woods are conjured and all those magical whispers will linger, like ominous echoes that both entice and unsettle. Do you dare to wander through all these Stories From The Dark?
(Written by JK)
It’s out, April 24th on Octopus Rising / Argonauta Records, but you can hear the Stories From The Dark album this Wednesday, the 22nd, right here on Stoner HiVe!
Or check out White Tundra’s chosen opening track Healer right now!
As we run into the new week, we take a quick look back at the albums we listened to the most last week and of course take a gander at the limited amount of posts we were able to put online. We keep struggling to find the time to do more. And we fear there will not be much time for a lot this week. We do have a FULL ALBUM PREMIERE lined-up for Wednesday and probable interviews on Thursday and Friday. One of them will even be for the HiVe! But hey, we try and thank you all for keeping track of what we try to do…
So, last week, we managed to do a quick Premiere Post for that wild Beneath The Skindebut and wrote some words for the new Abrams. We saw the Doom Charts Peroration for March 2026 go live and jotted down a word or two about the heartland rock album by Gatlin Black. And last but certainly not least, motherfuzzing Mothertruck album by Fuzzing Nation got mentioned. So, we did do something, but it never feels like enough. But we try! Thank you for following along and keep listening to all that good music out there! All of it!
Abrams – Loon Blues Funeral Recordings – 2026 Rock, Grunge, Alternative, Hardcore, Metal Rated: *****
Out since yesterday, the brand new Abrams album Loon! An outfit we always admired, but we only mentioned their 2022 In The Darkrelease. Shame on us! And shit, they might even sound a bit angry about it. Nah, they’re angry about the state of the world I reckon… And has turned their sound ever more intense! A sharp electrifying evolution for the sound the Denver four has sent out into the world, morphing ever more into something volatile and confrontational. There is no backing down from this, it’s in your face, and stays there from opening track Glass House till the final Sirens. It’s transmutation of their very own blend of melody, shoegaze haze and hook driven riffs into kamikaze like machine metal. Shot through with an intense sense of anger, urgency and attention seizing power. Surging with abrasive energy, the seemingly chaotic and noisy wild outs still retain all of the emotional pull that has always defined the band…
The already mentioned opener Glass House and following White Walls lunge at you, foaming at the mouth. Riffs slash and convulse, drums hammer with feral intent and the whole thing feels only moments away from total collapse or mind shattering explosion. And yet, through all that splintered noise, you can feel the vocals rise, ragged, frayed, human and almost warm, like someone is trying to confess or implore, over the roar of a city burning wild with flames. It’s an approach they perfect on Loon. Sometimes, pulling back long enough to let dizziness set in, teasing with respite and melody before plunging back into the fray. A high wire act above all the chaos, where every note might be the one to make it snap. Exhilarating and dangerous! Do you feel lucky?
We haven't written the full review yet, but we cannot idly sit by as this amazing release hits the streets, across the globe, right now! It's the full self-titled album by Beneath The Skin! We were honored to bring you the single premiere for Fade Away and cannot stress enough that the Kansas fourpiece have managed to create a very own style after only releasing their Pay Up EP in 2025...
Their very own style, like a rusted freight train tearing through a dive bar at midnight, loud, filthy, and impossible to stop. Their riffs ooze and grind, thick as asphalt in summer, while the bass snarls like a busted engine ready to explode. Machinal in execution, but entirely human. Just like the drums, stomping, swinging, and dragging you into a lurching, headbang trance. It's all so relentless, overpowering, a surging wave that just washes over you. Or a slow motion landslide, filled with doom and sludge and all soaked in sweat, blood and whisky. We use the word grit often, but this is the personification of it. Back alley ambiance inviting you to join the brawl, there's pain here and scars, but it all feels so triumphant!
Go press play on the full Beneath The Skin album, out now!
PR Wire:
Beneath The Skin Doom & sludge with soul from Kansas City
Self-titled debut album out April 18th
Genres: Doom, sludge, stoner
FFO: Crowbar, Down, Sleep, Electric Wizard, Black Sabbath, Acid Bath, Melvins, CoC
Hailing
from Kansas City, Missouri, Beneath The Skin is a doom and sludge metal
four-piece poised to unleash their crushing debut self-titled album
this April, with lead single “Fade Away” dropping April 3rd.
Following
2025's “Pay Up” EP, an uncompromising chronicle of drug addiction and
recovery, the band are back with more hard-hitting groove and gritty
soul. Hailing from the Crowbar and Corrosion of Conformity school of
heavy, the riffs and swagger are front and center. Frontman Mike Riley’s
grizzled, wildman vocals growl and croon, oozing charisma atop a wave
of punishing grooves.
IN THE BAND'S OWN WORDS:
"We
worked on this album for around 2 years. We had a pretty aggressive
show season in 2024 and 2025 on top of recording our debut EP "Pay Up"
in early 2025, but “Pay Up” represented the band’s early days. Joshua
joined in spring of 24 and “Pay Up” was already written. With this one,
we wrote it all together in rehearsals during a challenging show
schedule so it was more of a complete project for us. We have
intentionally kind of explored the whole spectrum of the genre. This
thing moves around while still having a cohesive sound.”
“Through the worst we prevail So the Doom Charts will be heard…”
~ probably misheard Hatebreed lyrics
Good people listen
to good music and good albums deserve to be heard by one and all. Hence,
we have this Peroration Post, to give just a little bit more attention
to albums our Contributors love so dearly. And when albums made the
regular post, but two, three or four more Contributors wrote about that
album, it must be something special. Right? But all 32 albums listed
below have something special, you can bet your ass on that! So, we
implore you once again, to check them out… All of them! And spread the
word! Cause good music needs to be heard…
The other monthly Doom Charts post is here! Peroration time! And this time around, once again, no less than 11 of those blurbs were
written by one of the crazies that occasionally writes for the HiVe... So, go read up on: Wielded Steel, Starf**K Electric Company, Spider Goat Canyon, Kaleidobolt, Gong, Goatsmoker, Fangus, Desert Colossus, The Crooked Skulls, Corrosion of Conformity and Bad Mothers Union... And of course, all the others! Or scroll down, and find posts about many of those albums already published on the HiVe... Well now, no rest of the wicked! Take your pick and listen hard!
The following
are love letters from Doom Charts Contributors, devotions to albums they
could not stop spinning. Each month, our writers gather to celebrate
the finest in doom, sludge, metal, stoner, psychedelic, and other heavy
realms. Their selections are woven into the Doom Charts, published on
the first Friday of every month. But some affections run too deep for
the regular edition. Some albums fall just outside the chart, or inspire
so many write-ups, and only one was chosen. Here, those excesses of love remain… Unfiltered, unbound, and still echoing…A few last words which hopefully will inspire you to listen to those albums…
Gatlin Black – Modern Spirit Swear Word Records – 2026 Rock, Country, Alternative, Americana, Grunge Rated: ***
Been meaning to start up a recurring post section called: ‘Bands I Miss’. Cause even though we are bombarded with amazing new music, new bands and new albums, there are moments when I intensely miss certain bands. One of them: The Penny Black Remedy. And then I pressed play on Gatlin Black’s debut album Modern Spirit. A five piece from Pembroke, Ontario, Canada, and the alternative Country and Americana vibe, together with the vocals immediately reminded me of Keith M Thompson and his Penny Black Remedy outfit. Sure, PBR used more ska elements and more humor and Gatlin Black opts more for the laidback and lazy approach. But still…
Their heartland storytelling, soulful, sometimes gritty alternative take on Americana, Country and Rock carries all those deeply human narratives towards something almost hypnotic. It’s almost like you are gazing at a reflection in a pond somewhere and forgetting about time and all the worries that might trouble you. Even though the lyrics still channel all those troubles, judgement, struggle and quiet despair. And with those circling riffs and rhythms that mirror the emotional loops in their lyrics this is the kind of music that simmers rather than explode. But you can also hear this is the kind of music that expands live, goes big, loud and might become entirely cathartic. It’s an immersive escape and you need to be ready for the moment when you topple over into that pond…
Fuzzing Nation – Mothertruck Argonauta Records – 2026 Stoner, Rock, Metal, Fuzz Rated: ****
You might start thinking that we’ve turned into an Argonauta Records promo site soon enough, cause we’ve been working on quite a few reviews of albums released by that label or their imprint Octopus Rising. Shit, we even have one or more PREMIERE’s for albums from them coming up. But it can’t be helped, they’ve been releasing grade A stuff of late! And well, actually, always. And yes, there are more labels in our cozy little Heavy Underground that all do stunning stuff. And we hope to review all of those too! But there are only 24 hours in a day, and the album reviews soon to be published just caught our ear and got our fingers itching…
And itching to get behind the wheel of a Mothertruck! Speed out through the desert, stereo blazing some sandy stoner and filthy fuzz! For today we want to mention the Greek trio Fuzzing Nation! We mentioned their Into The Desert EP from 2024 during a Quick Fire Friday segment and kept our ears open for more of their moving grooves. And move it does! Shit, my fingers move out of their own accord across the keyboard ever since they heard the Mothertruck engine roar!
For Mothertruck roars in like a supercharged war rig, cresting the dunes, all chrome glare and burning the horizon. With these three Greek crazies behind the wheel and no intention in hell of slowing down! A high speed desert pursuit, the spirit of post-apocalyptic wasteland fury distilled into molten riffs and weaponized groove! And in between it all, the band builds a sound that feels equal parts gasoline, fire and defiance!
The tracks surge and collide like badland convoy clashes, with hypnotic , heat warped passages giving way to explosive bursts of punk fury and doom soaked weight, all fuzzed out, as the new commonwealth is known for. And then there are tracks like The Open Wound or The Elder’s Code, which are here to fracture the landscape into something stranger and more dangerous or danceable. While Dead Old Tree, stuck in the middle of those two, just lumbers forward like a rusted engine on the brink of collapse. But everything, always, brought to you in a savage, loud and wild style! As we might have said it before, and borrowed from the famous Doctor, this is the kind of music that will make your machine drive another hundred miles with the gasoline meter on empty…
Been running around like a headless chicken, seen days turn to nights and Monday suddenly thrust upon us! Well, let’s have a quick glance back at what happened on the HiVe and hope to do more this week. You check out Gjenferd yet? Great seventies rock! Got tickets for RippleFest Texas? Or HufrFest, happening almost next week? Hope so! If not, get inspired by the instrumental beauty that is Bismut! Get electrified by Devil Electric and mystified by Misty Route! And if all that isn’t enough, make sure to revisit that Quick Fire Friday segment done by Ronny Dijksterhuis, eight gloriously heavy bands there! So, check’m out! All of’m! Have a great week!
