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!
Gjenferd – Black Smoke Rising Apollon Records – 2026 Rock, Hard, Seventies, Classic, Psych, Stoner Rated: ****
On their new album Black Smoke Rising, Gjenferd doubles down on their deep love for classic seventies hardrock. It was of course apparent that they drew inspiration from bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin if you’ve been hooked, like me, on their debut self-titled album from 2024. But on Black Smoke Rising, their rich nostalgic sound feels even more like a genuine continuation from that era’s spirit. It’s all happening man!
Ten tracks that immediately start to warm the soul and spread that glow throughout your body. The Norwegian quartet combine driving rhythms, gritty Hammond organ, and soaring guitars into a collection that is on some level straightforward, but also highly engaging. Tight grooves and catchy melodies immediately hook the listener. While heavier cuts hit with raw almost physical intensity. But over all, it’s the musicianship that always stands out, the interplay between organ and guitar, the way the vocals weave over it all. And that rhythm section, consistently sharp, groovy, and full of character.
And that character, a bell bottom, denim clad, flowers in your hair kind of devotion to the past makes that the album refuses to sit still. Even though atmospheric interludes like Atterganger and Stillferd drift in like hazy campfire visions, the ghostly pauses are brief, and after the mellotron fumes have curled through the air, they immediately stomp the pedal back onto the floor. And then there’s the five minute long Ride On, a dust-choked, psychedelic road trip that feels like you are chasing a mirage at full throttle, somewhere between revelation and derailment, between knowing and forever feeling lost. And if you listen to this song long enough, you can hear the entire world pass by…
As final track Like Wildfire rolls in, all sense of restraint is gone, the black smoke no longer rising slowly, but spiraling outwards into a hypnotic, pyroclastic jam that threatens to swallow the band and the listener completely. A righteous end to an album that feels soulfully raw, beautifully loud and gloriously unhinged. Wild eyed and greasy hands grabbing you by the collar, shaking you, until you remember why you love heavy music in the first place…
September 17-20, 2026 at The Far Out Lounge and Sagebrush in Austin, TX.
We just mentioned the very cool first edition of HUFR Fest; and how good it is to see the USA following Europe's example of hosting ever more amazing festivals celebrating all that great music from the Heavy Underground. But let's not forget about the ones that were there from the get-go! Like the legendary Planet Desert Rock Weekend over in Vegas and the amazing RippleFest over in Texas! Both of them not to be missed if you are living in the States. They've been hosting more RippleFests across the globe lately, with a Mexico City one and a Cologne one, it's spreading nicely. But Texas was their first and hosted by the top notch Ryan Garney from the amazing High Desert Queen... September 17-20, 2026 at The Far Out Lounge and Sagebrush in Austin, TX.... Four days of the best heavy music out there! Things will surely get hot and sweaty out there!
RippleFest Texas 2026 poster and full lineup revealed!
Feast your eyes on the amazing artwork from @1horsetown for this year’s poster!
There is no greater family reunion than RippleFest Texas. 4 days of the best heavy music in the world with absolutely ZERO band overlapping! Held every year at The Far Out Lounge and Sagebrush in Austin, TX. Come see the family!
2 DAY PASSES STILL AVAILABLE! Plus a VERY LIMITED number of PRE and AFTERPARTY TICKETS AVAILABLE!
Get Tix at: www.lickofmyspoon.com
Full Lineup:
YOB Khemmis Greenleaf Dopethrone Kal-El Daily Thompson Freedom Hawk High Desert Queen Dirty Sound Magnet Howling Giant Skloss Solace Fister Thunder Horse Rebreather Gran Moreno Robots of the Ancient World Borracho Unger Blue Heron Witch Ripper Plaindrifter Lake Lake Demons My Friends Friendship Commanders Mr. Plow Shadow of Jupiter For Fucks Sake
It's almost here! April 24th! The first ever edition of HUFR Fest! It's the Mile High Riffs 2026 party hosted by none other than S. Patrick Brooks from the one and only Heavy Underground Farm Report! You know the dude! The guy that gets you high! On Riffs, Life and more... So great to see more festivals popping up all over the USA, and this one should not be missed for any reason! It's Downtown Denver, Bar 404, from April 24th to April 26st! Get out there and get high on riffs!
LINEUP
Friday, April 24
Vashon Seed Hibernaut Violet Rising Lord Velvet Sonolith Lost Relics
Saturday, April 25
Psalm Buzzard Fight Godzillionaire Luna Sol Blue Heron Cobranoid
Sunday, April 26
Black Moon Cult Black Sunrise Messiahvore Shadow of Jupiter Electric Condor
PR Wire:
HUFR FEST – Mile High Riffs
Denver, Colorado is about to get heavier. Created by Sean Brooks, Andrea
Thomas-Brooks, and Zeth Pedulla, HUFR FEST – Mile High Riffs is a
three-day celebration of stoner, doom, and riff-driven rock, happening
April 24–26, 2026 at Bar 404 in the heart of Denver.
With 17
bands across the weekend, HUFR FEST brings the crushing weight of doom,
the fuzzed-out haze of stoner rock, and the psychedelic grooves of heavy
underground music to the Mile High City. More than just a festival,
it’s a gathering for the heavy music community—fans, bands, artists, and
riff worshippers alike.
Prepare
for walls of sound, swirling smoke, and the kind of communal energy that
only heavy music can create. Welcome to HUFR FEST – Mile High Riffs.
Bismut – Matsutake Tonzonen Records – 2026 Instrumental, Rock, Psychedelic Rated: *****
At first it feels like wandering into a clearing you weren’t meant to find… Spores immediately circling all around you, the sound quickly rising from the ground, tangled and alive! Bismut’s new album Matsutake, immediately takes root… It grows, spreading through dense looping riffs that never feel constructed, but discovered. Like something foraged rather than written, their heaviness emerges from repetition and patience. Each riff circling back, each pattern thickening, blossoming…
There is a pulse beneath it all, for at their core lies a deep commitment to heavy, riff-driven structures, dense, circling patterns that anchor everything in a raw, physical intensity. Opening track Alienation immediately being a prime example. Steady, insistent and communal, the trio move as if one, listening closely to one another, following subtle shifts and allowing the music to breathe and sprawl. What begins as a single idea stretches outwards into something unpredictable. You can hear on record that the live animal is even wilder. Grooves deepen, rhythms fracture and then suddenly, cohere again. It’s a process. A process of getting there. A process of becoming rather than arriving.
Sticking to tone, adding to the menace, following track Neugier’s primary impulse remains physical and direct: groove, repetition, and impact. The band thrives on endurance, patiently building and sustaining energy until it becomes all consuming. Going live Friday the 17th (HERE), it’s the logical second single, building around the weight of their sound. Traces of the atmospheric and the exploratory linger like spores in the air, psychedelic hues, fleeting moments of drift, never overtaking the terrain. The ground remains firm, physical, driven by the ritual of the riff and the rhythm. And as we near the end and the movement slows… We soon get whirled around, in a dervish fashion until break down. And once again, you can hear it become absolute ferocious on stage somewhere.
Assemblage follows, starts like the desperate moment of respite needed. Touches of jazz-like wandering and atmospheric sketching, turn the vista upside down. But soon the drums get this nervous edge. And in the upside down world, the war between control and surrender commences. They build patiently, endure within the groove, and trust the unfolding, the polyphonic jazz lines sprouting beneath, the industrial reverberations echoing the darkness that hides within machines. It feels raw, forceful and like some sort of last stand. And we’re only halfway through…
They keep up the pace, the energy, the overarching tones and feelings during the other three tracks as well. Showcasing what drives the Bismut three, their true character, a balance of exploration and force, guided by instinct and driven by the power of the riff. And in that persistence, their music ceases to be a performance and becomes an ecosystem. That’s why there’s something fitting in the way Matsutake echoes the spirit of The Mushroom at the End of the World book by Anna Tsing. Both seem to emerge from desperate margins, places shaped by collapse, unpredictability, and the absence of structure. The music, like the mushroom, does not impose itself on the landscape. It listens, adapts, and grows in response to what’s there. Riffs feel like traces of something uncovered, as if the spores were always waiting beneath the surface.
In that sense, the album that releases through Tonzonen Records on April 24th, carries a kind of fragile resilience. It thrives not despite uncertainty, but because of it. The grooves stretch and persist, forming temporary worlds that feel communal and fleeting at once. Moments of connection arise, dissolve, and leave behind only a lingering sense of having witnessed something spectacular. The Bismut three seem to share an understanding that beauty does not require control or perfection. Instead, it exists in the entanglement, in the improvisation, the repetition, the patient act of staying with something as it becomes. What Bismut seem to capture is that same quiet truth… Even in fragmented spaces, among the wreckage and the ruins, something beautiful can still grow, stubborn and luminous.
(Written by JK)
Check out the first single Alienation now and be ready for the full Matsutake album on April 24th!
And while you're at it, congratulate drummer Peter, for it's his birthday!
Surprise! And not just for you crazies following the HiVe! But also for me, cause I had not expected the honorable Ronny Dijksterhuis to deliver another Quick Fire Friday round this fast! But it was suddenly there, slaved over during the night and sent before the sun rose. And you know what that means... Things will get hot and heavy from here on in!
What do you do when you want to promote as many great music as humanly possible? Well, you absorb anything that scratches your auditive senses, train yourself in the art of selective puking and spit out the things that might stick not only in your own brain, but also in the grey lump residing in the skull of all you innocent heavy underground lovers that happen to stumble across our little old blog or one of its social media pages. So, let's skilfully throw up another eight stains of semi-digested sounds at your feet and call it a new episode of Quick Fire Friday. Enjoy!
Miracle Blood - Blazing Entrails
Miracle Blood's 2024 album 'Hello Hell' got rave reviews all over the globe and their new single 'Blazing Entrails' is another slab of bludgeoning madness, combining noise, speedrock, stoner rock and punk with a singer that more that once makes Jello Biafra pop up in your mind.
Progressive alternative noise metal. That's probably the best way to describe Pharm's new single 'Crackhead Arachnid'. A highly technical wave of swirling glory that sticks a knife in you well-trained ear and then gives it an extra twist to let you know they mean business. But however complex and jumpy it gets, the song remains the focal point and the vocals are excellent. Arguably the best song released so far this year.
In the comments under the March Doom Charts post on Facebook someone suggested to check out Seasick Gladiator as they haven't made the Doom Charts yet. As I never heard of the band before, I gave their latest EP Unhinged (released in January this year) a go. And I'm a bit ashamed not having discovered them earlier, because this is some tasty stoner doom with an interesting twist with the lead instrument being an atmospheric violin played in a manner that's quite similar to the one on My Dying Bride's standout album 'The Angel and the Dark River'. Add that to the powerful, traditional stoner setting of drums, bass and guitars, and you end up with a damn fine release that's different from anything else in the genre.
When heavy blues has got that slow, dragging swagger with a stripped-down stoner rock undercurrent, it means it's good. The Fixed Trio's second single of their upcoming sophomore album 'Our Guilty Pleasure' has all that and more. A steady beat, a nicely rolling bass line and a great guitar solo make this a perfect tune for this time of year where nature comes alive again and the sun is making its way back from a long winter's sleep.
Two Russian refugees, living in Bordeaux, France with one obvious mission: deliver some filthy and nasty sludge noise. Their first ever release is the single 'Worse'; a big ball of anger, bouncing off the cliffs of desperation. Wonderful indeed.
By now you might ask yourself: what about some good, old-fashioned Scandinavian stoner rock? Well, we're happy to oblige and present you Tidal Wave's new single 'Sideburns'. It's so goddamn catchy and full of energy, you probably don't want to hear you'll have to wait until June 5th for the arrival of their new album 'Volume Three', which will be released through Ripple Music.
Coming from Santa Cruz, CA, Stump Grinder delivers a furious mix of stoner, sludge and hardcore that will knock your teeth out. No other words needed to give you an impression of their music. But one advise could come in handy: be sure to make an appointment with the dentist before listening to this shit, because you might regret it if you don't.
During the 12 day war between Israel and Iran in June 2025, while having to hide in a bomb shelter, Israeli drummer Lior Izhaki turned one of them into a live creative space. He recorded ten different jam tracks with ten different guitar players. No vocals, no bass and no rehearsals. The results are being presented one by one, showcasing the raw intensity that situations like this are obviously bound to summon not only in the hearts of creative people, but to everybody who is involved in that kind of drama one way or another. The creative people are merely able to give those feelings a voice, or in this case a pure heartfelt explosion of drums and guitars. Oh yeah, 'Dabur' is number 8 in the line of 10 and the heaviest and most aggressive one of them all.
Devil Electric – Tahlia Kozmik Artifactz / Black Throne Productions – 2026 Rock, Doom, Psych, Stoner Rated: ****
Their self-titled 2017 album was still spinning when the amazing Godless record was released in 2021. That occult edge, wired though that vintage sound and all smoothly delivered by heavy riffs and a seductive voice sent sparks up and down my spine. Which seems logical once you know the band is called Devil Electric. And now they’re back, with a new slab of heavy rock worship called Tahlia, out on Kozmik Artifactz and Black Throne Productions and igniting all over the globe…
It’s been five long years, but Devil Electric detonates with Tahlia, a sultry, sexy storm of bluesy stoner-doom. Smoke curls from thick, hypnotic riffs, while Pierina O’Brien’s voice drifts from earthy growl to soaring, spine-tingling heights. Songs strut with playful menace, while others and especially the nine-minute epic “This Hereafter” twist through psychedelic, seductive depths. Each track pulses like a heartbeat… Teasing, swelling, and exploding in an intoxicating journey of desire and doom. Devil Electric sends sparks everywhere as Tahlia whirls around you, it ensnares, seduces, and lingers, leaving you craving the next smoky, thunderous lightning bolt… Tahlia is here, fresh and tastes like all that unholy sweat you can't stop licking…
We never wrote about the earlier Without A Trace release, and we certainly should have. But luckily we can now remedy the fact that we neglected to write about Misty Route by publishing a few words on the wild and wonderful new album Ethos! For it has a certain burning desire to it all, a story to tell and in a way only Greek bands seem to be able to do it. Their countrymen of The Same River, for instance, have that gift as well. Well... You just have to let go and follow the music as it leads the way.
A traveler steps onto a shadowed path, where each turn reveals a new shade of sound and emotion. Misty Route’s Ethos unfolds like this journey. Driven by modern, muscular riffs, thunderous bass, and powerful, haunting vocals. The road shifts between heavy rock grit, grungy undertones, and progressive metal complexity, never settling, always pulling you deeper. Moments of melody break through the darkness, only to be swallowed again by brooding grooves and dynamic contrasts. Each track feels like a chapter, rich with tension and release. By the end as the mist clears… You are left with a striking, immersive album that lingers long after the final note fades…
