The Countdown so far...

The Countdown so far...

Later on, after the clock strikes twelve and this fucked up year of 2016 finally ends, we will know what the best album of 2016 is according to 76 of you lovely freaks out there who had the time and energy to send their list to us. We thank you once again, cause without you fellow freaks in the HiVe this could not be possible. It has been a wonderful year for new stoner affiliated music, without any question. So, in that respect it was a good year. But it wasn’t in every other possible way. The bands that made this year great were all featured on the Stoner HiVe Countdown of 2016. But ofcourse you guys voted for so many more great albums. Some of which we will post as well when 2017 has commenced. Let’s all pray and hope that it will be a good year. And not just for our beloved little niche of heavy music but for everything and everyone else as well! But before we tear up or start professing our love for this or that, let’s run through the countdown and prepare to let all of you know who produced the Number 1 album according to 76 or you out there! 

1.    ...

2.    1000Mods – Repeated Exposure To…

3.    Asteroid – III

4.    Goatess – Purgatory Under New Management

5.    Cough – Still They Pray

6.    Egypt – Endless Flight & Wasted Theory – Defenders Of The Riff

7.    Witchcraft – Nucleus

8.    Wo Fat – Midnight Cometh

9.    Dunsmuir – Dunsmuir

10.    Sinister Haze – Laid Low in the Dust of Death & Geezer – Geezer

11.    Wretch – Wretch

12.    Holy Serpent – Temples & Curse The Son – Isolator

13.    Brant Bjork – Tao Of The Devil

14.    Truckfighters – V & Elephant Tree – Elephant Tree

15.    Gojira – Magma & Black Rainbows – Stellar Prophecy

16.    Baby Woodrose – Freedom & Mars Red Sky – Apex III (Praise For The Burning Soul)

17.    Mos Generator – Abyssinia

18.    Baroness – Purple

19.    Komatsu – Recipe For Murder One

20.    Re-Stoned – Reptiles Return

Number 2

Number 2

Asteroid’s, III made it to the Number 3 position. And now we jump another forty-seven points for the Silver Medal on Number 2. Indeed, forty-seven points to reach they sun bleached tones and dried out fuzz. A band that made the 13th position of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2011 with their soundtrack to a super vacation. This one exposes your over and over to a truckload of fantastic riffs, fine arcs, vistas and unquestionable good hooks. Every one of the eight tracks on this record are filled to the brim with those amazing riffs and hooks, interspersed here and there with some psychedelic freak outs, bluesy solos or droning guitars. Add to this the wild bass work and intense drumming and we have a legendary album in the making. And if that isn’t enough to fulfill that prophecy we have vocal lines that are exactly, smack dab, in the middle of the mix and precisely right. Some might claim that continuous, repetitive contact with music and message could be viewed as brainwashing and mind control. Well, I don’t believe that. I do believe in this quartet. Completely and utterly! “We are the Gods, the kings of nowhere…” They are Gods alright. Greek gods, and we will worship them as they rightfully should be. By everyone!

1000Mods – Repeated Exposure To...

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Number 3

Number 3

We enter the Top 3 by jumping twenty six points from Goatess on Number 4. The bronze medal so to speak. And ofcourse, the album title also hints at the third position, so it is, once again, a fine example of poetic justice. It is also a fine example of a highly natural take on a space rock adventure that has only a tiny amount of cosmic radiation glowing over all that psychedelic goodness, stoner trucking and seventies fuzz extraordinaire. In fact, that voidian sounds could also be attributed to the progressive nature of all the compositions. Or as Tony van Dorsten of Fast N Bulbous stated on the Doom Charts, where they were a definite fixture for a couple of months straight: “They revel in the natural sounds of their instruments, letting the bass and drum interplay flow with a virtuosic groove that has more in common with the most accomplished classic rock than scruffy underground fuzz heads. They sparingly unleash the fuzz effects, most notably on ‘Wolf & Snake,’ giving me a fond flashback to Sungrazer. The album ends with a bang with “Mr. Strange,” chock full of changes from guitar harmonies to space jams and “whoa whoa” vocals. The record should seal the trio’s spot in the top tier of heavy rock bands, not just in Sweden, but the world.” And we simply could not agree more. A definite spot among the top tier in the world and a definite spot among the best records in my house. So, on the Third Spot on The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2016 we find…

Asteroid – III

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Number 4

Number 4

As mentioned when we showed Cough on Number 5, every one of the bands we now encounter got way more votes than the rest below. So we jump another fifty points to reach the next cats. A band I saw live this year in a setting you would not quite believe. Okay, so it was right after Roadburn. That might explain part of it. Okay, it was in my birth town, a dusty hell hole in the south of the Netherlands. But still… Well, besides their own friends, relatives and crew, there were about five to ten people in the audience. Incredible. We pulled up barstools and set tables in front of the stage and settled down for a night filled with a truckload of beer and a band that was allowed to do whatever they wanted. And they did. With a vocalist suffering from some throat issues, they still managed to enchant and make those few freaks sitting on their stools go crazy. With their heavy nodding to Sabbath, their version of doom metal, doom rock and occult sounding heavy rock and stoner curveballs they made the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown before. Number 16 back in 2013. But this one is so much better than that debut effort, we can surely say the Devil visited Sweden again to gather up a few new souls. And we can pretty much state with conviction that he is now the new manager of this heavy quartet!

Goatess – Purgatory Under New Management

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Number 5

Number 5

Egypt and Wasted Theory, two great bands with seriously amazing albums occupying the Number 6 position. But at Number 5 we find only one and one alone. For after Number 6 come the serious jumps. Before this spot, every position we moved up was with one point, five points, a few more or even twenty five. But now, we make a gigantic leap of a hundred and fifteen points. That’s right, everyone in the top five was voted miles ahead of the rest of the field by 76 sent in lists. 76 of you lovely freaks out there thought the 21 albums we already visited were the finest of the fine. But all of you, who voted, reckoned the following were even better! So... Six years had passed since their former album. This one being a meticulous deconstruction of their feedback driven melodies. No hope on the horizon, just an endless barrage of pessimistic riffs and tortured grooves. Yes, mostly low tempo, high distortion terrorism. Drugged out thrash and warbled blues odes. Bone chilling, hair raising and blood curdling. And even if there is no hope left and no green light on the horizon… Still, they pray…

Cough – Still They Pray

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Number 6

Number 6

You can always count on Witchcraft in some form or way. Right? Well, we jump quite a few points now to Number 6. And there we find two bands, one was released on my birthday in December 2015 and the other at the end of October 2016. Oh, yes, another band from December making the list and this high even! But then again, it was to be expected, cause the album soar high in the beginning of 2016. It lead the Doom Charts in fact and the other band this as well towards the end of the year. So, it’s definitely logical to find these two cracking our flights or riffs together. Smooth, warming blues metal, hard rock and swampy doom-tinged psychedelic vistas that enchant with their majestic jams! And that’s just the first album we mentioned. The second one is different creature but big on riffs for sure. In fact, they make a statement about being guardians of the guitar magic and they surely are. Stoner metal trucking that just keeps unloading riff upon riff, getting fatter and heftier as you drive along. Infusing their love for the riffs with your heart and soul, becoming like them protectors of that charm as well. Standing with them, flag in hand, on that hill, fighting off all oncomers to defend what we all hold so dear…

Egypt – Endless Flight

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Wasted Theory – Defenders Of The Riff

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Number 7

Number 7

The fat ass Wo Fat album Midnight Cometh made it to Number 8 of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2016. We have already passed so many good albums. What hell is still to come? Well, on Number 7 we find an album released early this year. An album by a band that made the Number One spot before and has always inspired controversy among fans. Sixteen points above Wo Fat we find a band that has been doing so since their inception sixteen years ago. Wow, how’s that for poetic justice. Well, new members a plenty and with only the man responsible for forming the band back in 2000 as the only member of old around, they continue the sound of their 2012 album. But everyone must be pleased with its more organic take on that sound and the darker and doomier approach. And judging from the amount of votes, the solos, the furious backbeats, the stoner breakdowns, the psychedelic minimalism, the doomed march, the long winded stretch and all else that surrounds and whirls around the core of this album has struck a chord with everyone out there. And, if this album has not really turned you on, maybe their next will, cause they don’t go around repeating themselves…

Witchcraft – Nucleus

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Number 8

Number 8

Dunsmuir on Number 9, has been on repeat ever since our renewed acquaintance. And with a definite moment of pain we move on to the next band. But only for a moment ofcourse. For the cats on Number 8 have been riding high on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown with many of their earlier releases, and it was only logical this one would make it as well. Number 1 in 2014. Number 13 in 2012. Number 8 in 2009 and now once again in 2016. Swampedelic as ever, it is their blues rock based heavy psychedelic doom and stoner metal sounds that we simply can’t live without. It is heavier, darker and doomier than ever before. But just as epic and just as grand. There is absolutely nothing wrong with his album or out of place. Or perhaps, perhaps, track two should have opened the record. Cause it shines through like a true mission statement. ‘We live by the old ways, we know what came before. Build ourselves a purple haze. We are the Riffborn’. Right on! It’s all happening man. It’s all happening!

Wo Fat - Midnight Cometh

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Number 9

Number 9

We pass Geezer and Sinister Haze on Number 10 with five points to reach the band on Number 9. An album, I must confess, that only pulled me in after the new listening sessions started when I saw the votes come in. Man, how could this have passed me by when it was released back in July. Seventies inspired hard rock with heavy metal colors and stoner trucking. And yes, it surely reminds of The Company Band and even Clutch. But then we know why, don’t we? Just as it has some Fu Manchu takes here and there and faster paced Sabbath song rhythms. And there’s a simple reason for that as well. Yes. If ever there was a supergroup, it is this. I just can’t fathom why the album did not grab me right away back then. Cause it did now. But then again, this also happened with Graveyard’s Hisingen Blues back in 2011, which became my favorite album of the year very fast after that. And these cats are now doing the very same thing! It should have been higher on the list! Or did this happen to a lot of you freaks out there? It should have been higher! But that’s just my opinion… My late to the party opinion…

Dunsmuir – Dunsmuir

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Number 10

Number 10

Wretch on Number 11. What a highly deserved spot! And now, entering the Top 10, we once again find two bands occupying that same spot. I guess there were just too many albums released in 2016 that were so freaking good! And yes, once again only a few points above Number 11 and both very different animals. One of them delivering one of the best cosmic stoner blues albums of the year and the other high octane psychedelic heaviness. Yet also very alike. Both of them lead the Doom Charts at one point and both of them have this outlaw quality to their music. You know, the soundtrack to a marauding herd speeding down the middle of the highway, tense for action, long hair in the wind, beards and bandanas flapping. Riffs that shine like filthy chrome and vocalists that run flat out through the eye of a beer can and up your daughter’s leg with no quarter asked and none given. Indeed, two bands that are here to show the squares some class and give’m a whiff of those kicks they’ll never know… 

Sinister Haze – Laid Low in the Dust of Death

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Geezer – Geezer

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Number 11

Number 11

We pass Curse The Son and Holy Serpent on Number 12 to see the final album on Number 11 before we enter the Top 10. A band that names itself after the first album of the band that started everything has some gigantic balls. Yes, we just assume they did that. Ofcourse it also means miserable and unhappy. And we know it might also be because of the background of loss. But hey, let's assume for a moment that is was because of the godfather band, okay? And then naming your debut album after it as well, well, you’d better prove you are worth it. And they do. Beating the bands on Number 12 with a handful of points they received votes from many of you freaks out there. Doom metal, stoner rock and the gravity of loss. There is so much drama hidden in this record it seeps out with every riff and every guitar color. Born out of the demise of The Gates Of Slumber and born out of the loss of a close friend, the new power trio moves through seven tracks that memorize all the goodness of doom, heavy rock and the world of fuzz. Raw, heavy and emotional. Once again, we must state with a heavy heart that so much great stuff has to be born out of loss and good things coming to an end… 

Wretch – Wretch

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Number 12

Number 12

Ofcourse Mr. Bjork always makes this list. Responsible for so much, and we’ve just been loving so much of the music he has been putting out over the years. And Tao Of The Devil on Number 13 was no exception! But we do jump a lot of points again to head over to Number 12. Where we, yes, find once again, two bands! Two albums that have been riding high on the Doom Charts. Lysergic rock soundscapes are pouring out of the majestic fuzz viscera’s of this album with sluggish fury and so they stun the senses, numb the body and intoxicate the brain with their abysmal doom aura and thanks to the rich talents of this trio, who sprinkle their grandiose heavy sound with hazy sludge touches and almost imperceptibly grunge hues and funk timbres that accentuate their muggy stoner aesthetics, we are offered an extremely heavy and almost irresistible album of high stoner/doom quality. Yes, that’s what Lyk from Phantasmagoria wrote back in April for our Doom Chart. And Clint from Hand Of Doom wrote this: In scenes, reminiscent of the progression between the first and second albums from Elder you will bear witness to a band raising the stakes in crafting their own sound – heavy and oozing with melody, unexpected twists and surging riffs, searing wah soaked solos and that mile-thick guitar tone has so much bite, incredible… The album seems to slow down and get heavier with each track… And both were right on the money! So, let’s curse the serpent and isolate our temples!

Holy Serpent – Temples

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Curse The Son – Isolator

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Number 13

Number 13

Will Number 14 which featured Truckfighters and Elephant Tree be the last position with two bands? Or can we count on more albums getting the exact amount of votes? Well, on Number 13 we find just one. And one alone. Well, ofcourse the man did receive some help from some weird punky friends. But, the man has been reaching the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown with each album he has released in the years the Countdown has been running. So, since 2009 that is. Reaching Number 7 in 2010 and Number 3 in 2014. O’ and let’s not forget about the band he was a part of back in 2013, which reached all the way to Number 1 thanks to 61 of you voters out there. He was ofcourse also part of the band that started everything and is without a doubt the one master and guru of the laidback desert scene. The new record just proves it all over again. It contains universal truths and sundried tones, raw and edgy on some moments, funky and soulful on others and always warm, windswept and dusty. And above all much more bluesy and with an intense groove. The Tao cannot be articulated with mere words. But the man has found the right amount of music to do it with…

Brant Bjork – Tao Of The Devil

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Number 14

Number 14

We jumped a few points here and there the past positions to reach Number 15 featuring Gojira and Black Rainbows. But now we jump another ten points to reach place Number 14 which is, once again, occupied by two bands. Swedes and Brits. One of them delivering their debut (full-sized) album this year while the other one came out swinging with their fifth. Everyone loves those Swedes and seeing them live will only make you love them more. Their stage antics and wild shows are always highly entertaining. You can count on them to show you a good time. With their fifth album they even managed to outdo their former album that reached Number 8 back in 2014. And they managed to outdo themselves, turning their wild no nonsense stoner rock into something much more adventurous. Which took quite a few fans to take slowly to their new album. But once the coin dropped, they were ofcourse once again victorious! The Brits rode high on the Doom Charts for four months straight. And rightfully so, their debut album is so chuck full of swing and groove, so densely packed with melodies and songwriting skill, you almost forget about the high intensity desert rock and blues roots that fuels it all. Riff upon riff and hymn upon hymn…

Truckfighters – V

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Elephant Tree – Elephant Tree

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Number 15

Number 15

After the amazing Baby Woodrose and stunning Mars Red Sky albums featured on Number 16 we once again find two bands on Number 15. One of which was definitely not expected! So, let’s start with that one first. For we definitely recognized its glory and merit, it’s just that this kind of metal isn’t featured a lot on the HiVe. Sure, one could always claim this French band to be a weird kind of lovechild of bands such as Meshuggah, Neurosis and Mastodon. And that the band has been drifting ever forward towards its own sound. A strange amalgam of prog, death and math metal. And all of that, in a very open and hopeful way. And listening to this record again, while writing this, it immediately proves why all you freaks out there voted for it. It is universally good and an album that transcends boundaries. The Italians however, who received the same amount of points for the 2016 Top 20 Countdown are ofcourse definitely meant to be on it. Expected even, probably. Right? For every one of us heavy rock lovers dug their former album. The one released last year and which ended on Number 5 of the Top 20. This time around the trio aim their fuzzy electric blues for the stars and riff out a new prophecy for themselves. Much more esoteric and grandiose and less meant to this earth or this time. This is meant for the ages and to live on forever!

Gojira – Magma

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Black Rainbows – Stellar Prophecy

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Number 16

Number 16

We climb only three points from Mos Generator on Number 17 to reach the first position occupied by two bands. Both from Europe, one hails from France and the other from Denmark. One of which aims for the psychedelic free rock adventure, while the other produces adventurous extraterrestrial stoner rock. And ofcourse, those French space age travelers appeared on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown before, on Number 6 of the 2011 edition to be exact. Still highly atmospheric the band seems to slowly build towards an apex with every song and the entirety of the album. With less tempo, the arcs are shaped with dreamlike vocals, space rock explorations, pop sensible melodies and hefty doom-ridden riffs. The Danes give us their absolute best when professing their desires and thoughts for the human race. Intense psychedelic rock with garage influences that culminates into the perfect example of  free rock. Free being the operative word without any doubt! Yes, Open Doors and get hooked! It’s…

Mars Red Sky – Apex III (Praise For The Burning Soul)

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Baby Woodrose – Freedom

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Number 17

Number 17

Oh yes, Baroness at Number 18. But to reach number 17 we jump more than 10 points and notice another familiar band to the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown. For back in 2014 they reached the Number 12 position with their Electric Mountain Majesty album. And with a new drummer on board for this record we head toward a recognizable territory filled with heavy rock that is bluesy, soulful and decidedly stoner. Energetic rock filled with amazing riffs and vocals that keep getting better and better. Mr. Reed perhaps besting himself with one of the later songs on the album There’s No Return From Nowhere. Which is heavy in every aspect possible, thanks to the acoustic parts and monstrous guitarwork. In fact, the entire record shifts and turns like that and keeps you on your toes. Spicy, hot and luscious! Time to visit Abyssinia!

Mos Generator – Abyssinia

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Number 18

Number 18

Komatsu charged at us from Number 19 and now we jump quite a few points to find another band that has making the list from day one. Yes yes, Numero 13 back in 2009. And yes yes yes, an album released in December 2015 made the list! So, in short, these guys wowed the crowd when they were Red and Blue, left loads of fans divided when they were Yellow and Green, but seem to have exacted revenge on those of us that were unsure the band still had it when they changed color once again. Twin guitars, heavy sludge riffs and a distorted breeze that just blows your mind back. There is nothing on this album that seems out of place. What color will they shift to next? We will see, but for now let's just enjoy this Purple monument! Yes yes yes yes, we are ofcourse talking about…

Baroness – Purple

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Number 19

Number 19

After going into the space of old with Re-Stoned on Number 20 we now climb only one point to find a stoner machine. A sludge monster. A beast that has been growing into something gigantic since its birth back in 2010. Slowly capturing the imagination of everyone in the world. Not to mention almost every Kyuss member ever. Cause they can proudly claim to have shared a stage with John Garcia, Nick Oliveri, Josh Homme and Alfredo Hernandez. Touring with John one year and Nick the next. Who also plays on the new record by the freaking way. Opening up for the new Hernandez band Avon a few months and Queens Of The Stone Age a few years ago. But even if that is quite something, the new album is the real reason we are here. There is no holding back on this one, they go all out and seem to have found their sludge rock, stoner metal forte. Bigger, badder and bolder! The growth and simple brilliance displayed on this record is stunning and will leave you breathless. Yes, we are talking about those freaks from my hometown and their new recipe. So, enough about me! So, how’s about… ?

Komatsu – Recipe For Murder One

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Number 20

Number 20

It almost happened. A band that released its album in December of 2015 making it to the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2016. No less than 8 freaks voted for Yuri Gagarin’s At The Center Of All Infinity. And it would have been righteous. For December 2015 counts and it is an amazing album. But it was not to be. Cause they were bested by one single point by these Russian reptile loving cats. Already making the Number 16 spot on the list back in 2010 and now once again. The instrumental psychedelics and excellent stoner tracks on this album are filled with amazing guitar work and massive bass-lines. And there’s always this bluesy undercurrent that flows along. Or as Frazer Jones stated when the band made the Doom Chart back in August: “… re-turn with a mix of old and new tunes, re-mixed, re- recorded and utterly re-markable soundscapes that criss-cross across genres like tire marks on an old dirt road. Funky and experimental sit side by side with gnarly and rocking, on a breath-taking journey of musical excellence.” And we could not agree more! So get rocking with these freaky lizards! 

The Re-Stoned – Reptiles Return

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And so it begins… The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2016!

The Stoner HiVe top 20 countdown of 2016

And so it begins…

We have passed the 20:00 CET deadline on December the 13th of this dramatic and horrible year of 2016. Ofcourse we are not referring to the incredible music that came out, cause that has been stellar once again. But to the personal tragedy we have suffered. But we shall not dwell on that here any longer and continue with what we came here to do. To do a righteous countdown of the amazing array of albums that came out in this foul year of our Lord 2016. Thanks to a bunch of you who decided to send their lists at the very final minutes before the deadline closed, we can now state with some pride that we received 76 lists. There was so much great music released this year there were a lot of albums that first made the Top 20 and then fell off and then made it back on again and round and round it went. And yes, there are once again more than 20 albums on the Top 20. My humble thanks goes out to all the bands who delivered so many great albums this year, the fans that buy their music and go to their concerts and ofcourse to all you lovely freaks out there that voted for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown, cause without you guys and girls, rodents and quadrupeds, this would not be possible. I bow before you!

So… Without further ado… We give you… In a few minutes time...

Number TWENTY!

The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2016 will start tonight!

It is not too late!

The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2016 will start tonight!

So the final hours to send your list of favorite albums of 2016 to StonerHiVe@hotmail.com or via PM on Facebook has arrived.

The amount of lists already sent in is staggering! Thanks so far to everyone who has found the time to do so!

If you have a chance, a list lying around somewhere or a spare moment or two... Send your list before 20:00 CET... And send it HERE!

Be well amigo's!

It starts tomorrow

It starts tomorrow. 

The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2016!

So the final day to send your list of favorite albums of 2016 to StonerHiVe@hotmail.com or via PM on Facebook.

The amount of lists already sent in is staggering! Thanks so far to everyone who has found the time to do so! 

Send your list HERE