zaterdag 3 juni 2023

The Doom Charts for May 2023

 

  

Doom Charts

 

“Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

~ Lou Gehrig

Here we are, on the First Friday of the new Month looking back at yet another Month filled with amazing releases. A month that might have felt a bit quiet on the Doom Charts front, and that is because yours truly left on a holiday to Scotland for three weeks of hiking and completely off grid stuff and had limited time to arrange things properly before he left. This will not happen again. My apologies. Returning to the Heavy Underground always feels like a warm embrace though, especially when you see so many amazing albums all waiting to be spun. And even more so when some of the Contributors immediately contact you raving about this or that album. Some frantically so, because his blurb was received a fraction after the deadline. Which means it will be used for the Peroration post in two weeks. He stated: “Five tracks of leviathan, tectonic soundscapes coupled with the harmonies of twin vocalists… EPIC is an understatement: The Very ECHT of Doom: Panoramic, Epic and Majestic every which way you turn!” and ends that blurb with: ” … have a Unique vibe, Appealing sound, Awesome Concept and may well have just catapulted Themselves into the Echelons! Unmissable!” So, you best believe we were listening to that album immediately! And then to think there were more Contributors with other favorite albums that demanded to be heard as soon as possible as well. Amazing! In fact, 323 albums received votes this month. How lucky are we that we have this abundance of great music to listen to and love? Cause that’s a lot of love for all that Heavy Rock once again. And some of that love is now featured below… Go check’m out! Check’m all out! 


There she booms! The May 2023 Doom Charts containing, all that's heavy, psychedelic, stoner and dooms! A mighty fine list once again!

And due to that little holiday, I will need to check a whole lot of them this time around... Personal votes of the ones that made it went out to Dozer, Ruff Majik, GOZU, Apex Ten, The Machine, Birds of Nazca

Started my run down of all forty yesterday with Sacri Suoni, Psychic Mass, Takezo and Ruff Majik... Continuing on now with Rusty Bonez and their Brainworm release and make my way to Number 1 !! Stil feeling all sorts of lucky!!


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 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 Charts for May 2023

 

donderdag 1 juni 2023

Cooling Tower - Saint Vitus

 

Cooling Tower - Saint Vitus
Self-released - March 2023
Psych, Doom, Stoner
Rated: ****

Cooling Tower's second full length and personally long-awaited follow-up, Saint Vitus, sees the Melbourne crew continue to explore their dark corner of psych rock to powerful effect. Made up of members from two death metal bands, Gravepeeler and Hormagaunt, the Cooling Tower project is an outlet for a different brand of evil, one that creeps and crawls with patience to spare. Opening track "Necromancer" is as good a mission statement as any for the seven track LP, leading with a slow, eerie chug that's just off-kilter enough to create an atmosphere of unease, a signature of the band that permeates the album. A crunching jagged riff eventually interrupts with punchy drums and plaintive vocals, a horror movie soundtrack waiting to happen. The chorus surprises, however, with bright, cathartic guitar before dipping back into the gloom and doom. More twists and turns await throughout the remaining six tracks, from the epic classic metal riffage and bluesy shuffle of "Hound of the Baskervilles" to the cool, laid-back spaghetti western licks of "Psychic Drive". Another highlight cut is the most aggro of the bunch, "Delphi", whose patient start belies a swinging, hard-hitting drive of ripping blues and drums that roll through like a train barrelling down the tracks. The penultimate "Nighstalker" returns to the doomier, uneasy fare Cooling Tower do so well, and they finish things off by absolutely nailing a cover of Sir Lord Baltimore's "Kingdom Come". Saint Vitus is an impressive sophomore effort that sees the Aussies digging deeper into their now trademark creep, twisting the genres of psychedelia and doom to dark purposes known only to Cooling Tower, and sounding like no one but Cooling Tower.


(Written by Kyle SB / Shastabeast)

 
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Poste 942 - La Ligne

 

 

Poste 942 - La Ligne

We’ve been following these punk outlaws, these outback stoner rocking crazies for quite some time now, and have always dug whatever Poste 942 came up with. As you can read in our coverage of their Extended Play EP from 2014, their Extended Play 2 from 2016 and the Long Play they released in 2017. But this new single and video is new territory for Poste 942! Well, they already released their La Gorgone single in December 2022, the first time we got to meet Virginie D as the new vocalist for Poste 942. But La Ligne takes all that grunge and punk we knew they did to new stoner rocking heights! The addition of these French vocals make La Ligne that perfect chased rock song! You know the one, running from the devil, from your demons, from whatever might be on the hunt and knowing that no matter what they try to do, you will continue down your path... In a straight line! La Ligne rocks like the perfect anthem for the rock 'n roll soul!



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woensdag 31 mei 2023

The Psychlona Beer Coozy appreciation post!

 

 

The Psychlona Beer Coozy appreciation post!

Hiking around Scotland, you have to keep your beers cool! I mean, sure, there’s snow on top of Ben Nevis; and the water of the North Atlantic Ocean near Durness is actually only seven degrees. But hiking up the mountain definitely warms you up and after swimming around in that pretty cold water, you need something to quench your thirst! Luckily, we had some Psychlona Beer Coozies with us! Indeed, they do not only make amazing albums and rock the hell out of stages, they produce some damn fine beer coozies as well…

There to keep your beer cool and your devil horns warm! 



SEE! There to keep your beer cool and your devil horns warm!


Back from Scotland...

 

 

Back from Scotland...

Hey everyone, back and for once in one piece...

And ready for action... 


Had a glorious hiking adventure through Scotland and everyday was as brilliant as the day before... We had the luck to climb Ben Nevis with incredibly sunny weather and a view across entire Scotland, which apparently almost never happens... (Picture above) And in fact had almost no bad weather at all! Three weeks in Scotland, and no bad weather, that also apparently never happens!

Can't wait to get back into everyhing Doom Charts, Stoner HiVe and Heavy Underground related!

So... What album, should we listen to first? 🤘

zondag 7 mei 2023

Off to Scotland...


 Off to Scotland...


Well... Off to hike around Scotland for a few weeks. Visit Ben Nevis, a wee few distilleries and walk around a lot of beautiful lakes... Hence the recent silence on Stoner HiVe, had too much work to do before I could leave. And now that we go, there will be more silence... Fitting as we get lost in the fog in some dubious moor or two... Think we need some horror books and music to accompany us... 

Off the grid for this little old blog as well as Facebook... We might do an occasional hiking update on the instagram page though... Which can be found here: INSTAGRAM ... slàinte!


Seeya in a few weeks!



The Doom Charts for April 2023

 

 

 Doom Charts

 “Once you start down the Doom Charts path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you, it will.” ~ Yoda

April has been heavy! Heavy on all fronts! Music wise the amount of stoner and doom masterpieces has once again been staggering. And on a personal note, I’ve been swamped with work, which meant there was little time to do stuff for the Doom Charts or Stoner HiVe. In part due to a little holiday to Scotland that will start after Sonic Whip Festival. Which is a different kind of heavy… not being able to spend as much time with this heavy rock thing we love. Cause it is and remains for all of us, a labor of love. Or perhaps obsession or addiction. Cause I forsee withdrawel symptoms hiking around Scotland. But don’t worry, I will be taking the forty below and all the others I love with me; so when the need arises I can inject some heavy rock into my veins! Cause below you will find once again, 39 brand new and amazing heavy rock albums that will cater to your progressive, stonerrock, psychedelic rock or metal and doom needs! 275 albums received votes this month and the Top 5 ran away with a lot of them… But perhaps you already saw it coming, cause you’ve been as hooked as the rest of us…

The April Doom Charts went live two days ago... But after posting it we jumped in a car and headed for the Sonic Whip Festival in Nijmegen! Which was amazing once again! Saw awesome shows and met up with some cool dudes!

Of the forty that made it, personal votes went out to: Dozer, Margarita Witch Cult, Ruff Majik, Wolfnaut, Faerie Ring, Milana , Void King, Giöbia, King Potenaz, The Golden Grass, Karma Vulture, The Crooked Whispers, :Nepaal, Psychedelic Source Records, 𝐈𝐑𝐎𝐇, Familiars, This Summit Fever ...

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 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 Charts for April 2023

donderdag 4 mei 2023

Faerie Ring – Weary Traveler

 

 

Faerie Ring – Weary Traveler
King Volume Records / Wiseblood Records – 2023
Metal, Heavy, Classic, Stoner, Doom, Punk, Space, Psych
Rated: ****

We in the Heavy Underground are blessed with so many great labels that only release quality stuff. King Volume Records for instance is one of them. Not one to mess around and one that is careful with whatever they select to put out. So, when the new album by Evansville, Indiana foursome Faerie Ring arrived, we knew we were in for a good listening session. And Weary Traveler, as the album is called, is not so much a listening session as it is a damn fine adventure, start to finish. They went for this august and lofty production value, squeaking with a love for late seventies and early eighties metal. Indeed, classic on all fronts, they marry that love with a tasty infusion of doom and stoner elements. But they do not stop there. Blues, punk, space, psych and even something wicked and bouncy make an entrance whenever the urge arrived to do something different. And in doing so, the Faerie Ring for crafted something timeless and memorable. Those first two tracks alone, the beginning eighties synth lead towards that first guitar tone, the perfect way to start off opening title track Weary Traveler. A song that lurches and looms and starts the mystic vibe with a proper crystallized explosion, especially once those soaring vocals start, and that beginning riff returns after the big, towering rise. Following Silver Man In The Sky, goes slower, goes bigger and goes the way of the anvil! For that is what the song eventually will also be known for, the fact that the guys took an iron skillet with them into the studio and rammed it ‘in front of 20.000 dollar Telefunken microphone.’ But those two songs alone, as we just started saying, set up the entire vibe of the album. A vibe of something righteous, of a knight errand, on a quest for the queen, of something honorable. And then there’s something that feels like it’s all over the place, bouncing of the walls, and getting your blood pumping even more. That guitar wail in Never Rains At Midnite, the bass running against the grain, thumping in some extra notes here or there. Wild! Never weary at all, this is fresh and crushing! And album to fall in love with and one to take with you on whatever journey you go…


(Written by JK)


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maandag 1 mei 2023

Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week…

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week…


Ruff Majik
Ghost
The Hives
Dødheimsgard
AJEEB
Mars Red Sky
Acid King
Mudhoney
This Summit Fever
Apodemus

Another week in the books. A week filled with interviews with The Hives and Ghost, preparing for Sonic Whip festival and the holiday in Scotland that will follow. As well as preparing for the new Doom Charts edition, that goes up on Friday. Indeed, loads of stuff to do before we can go rock out at Sonic Whip… Let’s get to work! And let’s put on some good heavy rock to get the job done!

donderdag 27 april 2023

Ruff Majik – Elektrik Ram

 

 

Ruff Majik – Elektrik Ram
Mongrel Records – 2023
Rock, Stoner, Garage, Punk
Rated: *****

The Devil is in the details. And of course, in whatever your regular poison might be. Combine the two for a lengthy period of time and the world will spin away from under you and at the bottom of the bottom of the bottomless pit, you will have to pay your dues. But you will, if you remember any of it, have those details. And those, when you are guitarist/vocalist Johni Holiday from the Ruff Majik foursome, can become pure gold and the way out of that dark and dirty ditch…

It might speak volumes about my mental health, or how I liked to dance on that tightrope high above the insanity abyss for quite some time. And yes from time to time, and not as often as it used to, it might still happen. But I got things under control, for the most part. Almost entirely. And we think Mr. Holiday has as well. But there are certain albums that immediately feel part of my every fiber due to a certain manic edge it might have. There aren’t that many though that strike that chord immediately and from the very first instance you hear it. The last few albums that really sparked that hyper craziness inside of me, were Blood & Fire by Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and yesteryears Black Space Riders album We Have Been Here Before. Well, the new Elektrik Ram album by South African quartet Ruff Majik has it in spades, hearts, clubs, diamonds and more. And you will feel that psychotic energy, and ADHD poetry from those first moments when opening track Hillbilly Fight Song starts. Restless and like an absolute battering ram it bursts through the door and knocks it clean of its hinges. And Hillbilly Fight Song makes it feel even more like they made this album especially for me because of the simple fact that they did not use this brilliant opening track as a single. Cause yeah, I bothered you all before with my thoughts about this, but I always feel the opening track should be a total surprise. That opening sample, that guitar revving up, and then the smash ‘n grab blast off, so hungry, so thirsty… And fearless! Hillbilly Fight Song takes no prisoners and gives absolutely no fuck about the mess it leaves behind as it barrels through your life… 

 

And then they top it off with single, and second track She’s Still A Goth. Simple in delivery and even in lyrics, but you don’t mind, because they fit so perfectly, and you will be in love with the imagery before you know it. That apparent simplicity is probably its brilliance, ‘You got a Bella Lugosi shirt, you don’t mind a little dirt…’  and ‘Your favorite poet is Edgar Allan, You drink red wine by the gallon…’ Are pure adoration for rhymes and the woman it is meant for. The same thing happens with the following Mourning Wood, a road song, off to get your rocks off, sauntering down the streets looking for the next party to wreck. Fire in the nuts! Rave To The Grave, is that rave and punk inspired rock song, which turns blatantly poppy and catchy, in part thanks to the handclaps, and you really did not see it coming. That such a rough, dance punk song could turn out to be that addictive, attractive and appealing. You are four songs in, the manic, hyper energy only let up during Mourning Wood, to be replaced by some lurid swagger. But everywhere else it’s been this amazing speeding and bouncing force...

Delirium Tremors stops the energizing bunny dead in its tracks for forty seconds with a humorous skit before it gets wild and all over the place again. Which fits perfectly with the subject of the song. Which hits hard. Home. So much of this record, or all of this record, hits a homerun, yes, it really hits home. Not necessarily a fun homecoming. Those manic episodes, going off the rails entirely, where the great lady that bears witness and worries and finds you on the floor, where she, steaming with anger, asks if you had enough and then you go and answer her slurring and sly, I’ll have one more. It’s all coming back. Those weeks of no sleep, only drinks and wild times, and then crashing, having those deliriums, thinking some of it might have actually happened during those weeks, that yes, that girl you knew got molested by a Poodle and you were doing shots in an extremely filthy pool at 5 in the morning with a buddy that seemed to be floating above all that muck with a bunch of balloons. Strange memories on this sunny afternoon, while finishing a review about a wild and wonderful album. And none of those weird and twisted nights might have actually happened. Indeed, they never really happened anyway…

Cement Brain takes the tempo down and the delirious sounds further up; and we get to accelerate again once title track Elektrik Ram hits. Brilliance in its pure and fast paced delivery. Queen Of The Gorgons continues this velocity, but with a bigger groove and less delirium. A Song About Drugs (With A Clever Title) and Shangrilah Inc, give you the feeling you are working up to a different kind of ending. Both songs have this breaking tempo, this pause and action kind of tension. Keeping you on the edge of your seat or worn-down couch, where the lukewarm beer never tasted finer. And then that real ending of the album comes on with Chemically Humanized, a beautiful cry, a howl towards an endless horizon with some impressive lyrics. “I tried to steal the Devil’s note, I even borrowed David’s chord, but all the poetry I wrote, never seemed to please the Lord.” Fuck man, I wish I were dead now, because I did not write those four lines. But seriously, will this album, Elektrik Ram, hit everyone as hard as it did me. Perhaps not. It definitely deserves to. But I’m sure that was never the goal to begin with. This feels like the outpouring of a lost soul. Of a life reclaimed, of inspiration reclaimed and fulfilled with minute details. None of them out of place. And all of them really happened…



(Written by JK)


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AJEEB – Refractions

 

 

AJEEB – Refractions
Spinda Records – 2023
Rock, Grunge, Alternative, Stoner, Psych
Rated: ****

We were honored to premiere two singles of the Refractions album and we have not put the album down ever since. We’re talking about Canary Island trio AJEEB! On their sophomore release they take you on an eleven-track trip though the alternative rock and grunge landscape. With some noise, stonerrock and psychedelic influences, they excel in making it all sound sonically dense and rough. Rough in the sense that it’s all either sticky or gritty and does not seem to want to please by going the easy route anywhere. Do not expect many catchy choruses or returning ear pleasing riffs. No, this is freak out grunge, compelling or should we say compulsory overdriven guitar lead deep dives into the rabbit hole. Open track and single Hollowed Out immediately shows its colors and you will know you are not in Kansas anymore. Perhaps you might think you are in Seattle of the nineties for a moment, but second track and second single Far Enough will fast forward you to a later decade and deliver what you will come to understand as the most pop sensible track on the album. A logical single, but my love goes out to most of the other tracks and especially those four songs at the end. How about that final song Tail Chasing? A bass propelled masterpiece that slowly develops into insistent and intense freak out, that never complete explodes and seems in the way of restraint to deliver even more. AJEEB is grunge, first and foremost, but AJEEB is more. And more is always more!


(Written by JK)


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AJEEB's new album is coming out via indie label Spinda Records, in collaboration with a bunch of other Spanish labels such as Violence In The Veins, Quebranta Records, Noizeland Records, Hey Boy Hey Girl, Bandera Records, Naife and Hombre Montaña, as well as Clever Eagle Records and The Ghost is Clear Records, both from the US. The impressive artwork is by The Braves Church, based on photographies by Sara GDM and Daniel L. Fleitas.


•    150x STANDARD BLACK VINYL (all labels)
•    150x CLEAR VINYL (all labels)
•    100x COMPACT DISC (Spinda Records)
•    50x CASSETTES (Spinda Records / Clever Eagle Records)




woensdag 26 april 2023

Mars Red Sky - Mars Red Sky & Queen Of The Meadow

 

 

Mars Red Sky - Mars Red Sky & Queen Of The Meadow
Mrs Red Sound / Vicious Circle Records – 2023
Rock, Stoner, Doom, Folk, Psych
Rated: ****

Turning a doom and dark folk corner is Mars Red Sky with their collaboration with Queen of The Meadow. A partnership that is not at all strange, seeing as Mars Red Sky’s guitarist Julien Pras was always there to lend his guitar to the Queen and to let the voice behind Queen of The Meadow, Helen Ferguson, shine and enchant, and do her dark faerie, misty folk magic. And even though Mars Red Sky has always been masters in telling their story, cinematically and atmospherically, with the addition of Helen Ferguson’s voice, it manages to turn their combined narration into an ominous fantasy story. You will see in all detail the sleeping villages, rolling out across the glades before the maze takes over the entire landscape beneath the dark tower, with all its twisting staircases and bizarre turns. On her solo records Queen of The Meadow always had the ability to make you feel the dark clouds moving over head as well as those rays of light that might shine through, sober orchestrated songs and her more lavish folk songs intertwined to paint her dark folk tapestries. This time you feel the dew drops and the mist stick to your skin, due to the way her slightly masked singing and the way the guitar seems to drip behind it all. There is another side of the coin though, where you will experience moments of sweat running down your spine as a shimmering heat surrounds you. And they manage to tell their story with only two tracks, and one shorter version of the opening track. The way Maps Of Inferno starts to surge around you, as if you are in the eye of the storm, a fiery maelstrom consuming all around you, when that middle part hits, otherworldly wonderful. And then the vocals pick up again, spellbinding and a kind of widescreen experience that conjures up a convincing world and a slow treacle moving stream of doom lava. Second track Out At Large, feels less dense and less dangerous, thanks to a bit more air for the instruments, as well the vocals that are more soaring and keep climbing to syrupy heights. Radiant, the Queen does not shy away from taking center stage here and much of the song seems to be there to almost fulfill a stoner and doom chamber orchestra background. But even then, the Mars Red Sky three manage to remain mountainous and a looming shadow growing ever taller as the song goes on. The two tracks combined tell a magnificent story with every kind of color, movement, and greatness… Mars Red Sky & Queen of The Meadow, a match made in fire!


(Written by JK)


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Mudhoney – Plastic Eternity

 

 

Mudhoney – Plastic Eternity
Sub Pop / Konkurrent – 2023
Rock, Grunge
Rated: ****

The last Mudhoney album we mentioned was Digital Garbage back in 2018. And it still is one hell of a kick ass album! But then again, a lot of Mudhoney albums are still kick ass. Indeed, you can grab back to many of them and they will still feel as vital, vibrant, and vibrating with energy as when they were released back in the day. And even though Plastic Eternity definitely isn’t dull or lacking energy, it might not be the most convincing one in their thirty-five-year long history. Plastic Eternity is their pandemic album… “The recording of Plastic Eternity delivered several firsts for the band. With Maddison planning on moving his family to Australia, Mudhoney was forced to work on a deadline, booking nine days at Crackle & Pop! in Seattle with longtime producer Johnny Sangster. Since the pandemic had made it impossible for them to convene in their practice space for nearly a year and a half, this meant they were going in to make a record with an assortment of half-forgotten riffs and nascent ideas rather than fully-fledged, well-rehearsed songs.” It sort of shines through in some of the songs. When it doesn’t, they come in full force, attacking the stupidity of our western society with furious anger and kicking our asses like the Stooges did. Or riffing over some Middle Eastern rhythms and floating down some muddy psychedelic waterfall of ‘crap’… The best thing about Mudhoney might be the fact that as godfathers of grunge, instead of mellowing with age, they seem to get angrier and more politically charged. And that is something we could definitely use right about now! And when you look at it in that light, Plastic Eternity will be seeping into your bloodstream and the rest of your body like the enteral micro pieces… Mudhoney, I love’m!


(Written by JK)