The Countdown so far...

The Countdown so far...

Later on, after the clock strikes twelve and 2019 finally ends, we will know what the best album of 2019 is according to 93 of you lovely freaks out there. Those music fiends 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 all sorts of heavy music once again, without any question. Amazing, stunning and incredible, the amount of great music being made around the globe.

And it seems the good stuff will keep on coming. 24 of the best albums made this year, made the Top 20 Countdown of 2019… But ofcourse you guys voted for many more great and magnificent albums. All of which deserve to be on all those personal lists. Cause they’re all awesome! And yes, we shall publish the Numbers 21 to a 100 in a few days. Probably on January 2nd… We will feature the personal lists of the HiVe team members; although most of those are already up on the Doom Charts page!  And unfortunately, there was NO album that holds The Red Lantarn this year. There was not one album that was voted for on the twentieth position of someone’s list and only once… But we shall mention a few of those bottom dwellers; cause who knows, it might just be your new favorite album! But before we tear up or start professing our love for this or that, let's run though the countdown and prepare for fireworks, a truckload of champagne and the knowledge of who produced the Number 1  album of 2019 according to you voters out there! Thanks everyone and let's all make sure 2020 will become the best year ever! Or at least the best year 2020 can be! Heavy, loud and amazing!

1.    ...

2.    Hippie Death Cult – 111

3.    Salem’s Bend – Supercluster

4.    Saint Karloff - Interstellar Voodoo

5.    Duel - Valley Of Shadows

6.    Monolord - No Comfort

7.    The Devil And The Almighty Blues – Tres

8.    Arrowhead - Coven Of The Snake

9.    Witcher's Creed - Awakened From The Tomb…

10.    Clouds Taste Satanic - Evil Eye

11.    Lo-Pan – Subtle

12.    Year Of The Cobra – Ash And Dust

13.    Howling Giant - The Space Between Worlds

14.    Zed – Volume & The Lunar Effect - Calm Before The Calm

15.    Spidergawd – V

16.    The Black Furs - Stereophonic Freakout Vol. 1 , Duneeater – No Gas No Good & Valley Of The Sun - Old Gods

17.    Beastwars – IV

18.    Swan Valley Heights - The Heavy Seed      & Horseburner - The Thief

19.    Torche – Admission

20.    King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – Infest The Rats’ Nest

Number 2

Number 2

And what we mentioned about the Top 6 being in a league of their own considering the amount of points they all received, well, the Top 2 positions are even further removed from those other four we mentioned the past four days. Cause we jump almost 450 points from Salem’s Bend on Number 3 to reach the Number 2 spot… Indeed, this album received so many votes it almost broke the scale. And it’s only on the Silver Medal position! Do you realize what that means for the Number 1 spot? Cursed Tongue Records released this nugget somewhere around June and it immediately made everyone’s jaw drop, head bang and blood rush! It was our very own Reek Of STOOM that wrote it about back then for the HiVe. “… an album of Intensity, Intelligence and Invention. The band’s new opus, reads like a Rocker's almanac: a mental cognizance of every Great band you ever heard...” Exactly, it’s all there he mentions the ‘dreadnought riffs’, ‘heavy blues monoliths’, ‘glistening knives of fuzz’ and the ‘fabric of psychedelic doom’. “The band have unearthed a album that is immediately evocative of all the 70's Heavy Blues giants and the influences can be heard throughout… But Retro it is not... This is Modern Heavy Rock music of the very Highest Order that just has enough of that nostalgic feel to be familiar..” And Bucky Brown immediately predicted it on their bandcamp page: “You’re probably gonna want to keep your AOTY checklist handy and mark this debut near the very top.” Second place, the Silver Medal of 2019 goes to!

Hippie Death Cult - III

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Number 3

Number 3

We jump 30 points from Saint Karloff on Number 4 to enter the Top 3. And here we find an album that held the Number 1 spot the first few days the lists came in. An album we had definitely expected on the Top 20; but which I had not thought would be among the very top of said list. But it is here and we ofcourse put it on repeat when all you crazy music fiends out there started voting for it. We were instantly hooked when it came out in May of this year through Ripple Music. But that was May, we must confess, and the albums that came out throughout the year afterwards made us forget about this super record. But now, back on repeat, we get it! We get it for sure! Cause their super fuzzy blend of seventies inspired blues and subtle rock ‘n roll has a very sweet and sunny  charm. It ticks all the right boxes of early hardrock and super stoner grooves. There are ofcourse influences of Zeppelin and Sabbath; but the psychedelic take on some tracks, the occult atmosphere on others and the huge gestures sets them apart from those early bands and all the groups that show their colors more. This powertrio knows where to grab the mustard and then produce something super infectious. So once more, over we go, on the Bronze Medal position, with once again, seventies inspired awesomeness… Number 3 of 2019 is!

Salem's Bend - Supercluster

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Number 4

Number 4

We talked about the big jump in points that started with Monolord on Number 6. It continued to a lesser extent with Duel on Number 5. But now we jump once again more than 80 points to reach Number 4. An album that for us,  we must confess, suddenly appeared on the Number 1 spot of The Doom Charts a while back, and it was thanks to that fact, we must confess, we discovered it ourselves. So we thank our fellow contributors, our fellow bloggers, our fellow podcasters and all those crazy music fiends who keep doing that thing they do for the Doom Charts and their own sites. Cause we all discover our own favorite bands and albums; but every so often we thank the universe that there are others out there who discover them for us. Well, all heed this hard hitting power trio from Norway. Cause they stand tall like a ghost smoking on top of mountain of loudness. Deep, dark and total doom. Out on that awesome Majestic Mountain label the Sabbath worshipping music shifts gear without every loosing track of the fact that it’s all about the journey and not the destination. A progressive stoner opera that take its time and slowly and sweetly sinks into your blood. There’s some otherworldly magic going on that keeps you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what corner the band will take and how big the swerve will be. Groovy by default its one hell of an experience; so buy the ticket, take the 1-track, 40 minute ride! On Number 4 we find!

Saint Karloff - Interstellar Voodoo

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Number 5

Number 5

A bit more than fifty points are needed to jump from Monolord on Number 6 to reach this band and their album on Number 5. One that I had definitely not expected to end up this high. Yes, we dug it, we dug it a lot when it was released through Heavy Psych Sounds around the middle of May. But we just assumed all you crazies out there would be swamped with all the other great releases to forget about this one. “Their Old School Metal approach is heavy, hard, fast and addictive!” crazy cat of  doom, Sir Reek of STOOM wrote that back then and that it really and truly is. But a lot of that storming metal does border more on the hardrock side of it all and that age old sound. That sound from the gutter and from those marauding bikers back in the seventies. Yes, there is that proto-edge to everything they do and there is charging power to their riffs. This gallop and pounce, this wicked way of heavy metal release. And those riffs, guitarlines and coloring, we must confess, has gotten even more dramatic, intense and riveting on this album. Very catchy, very hooky and very big! Get loud with Number 5!

Duel - Valley of Shadows

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Number 6

Number 6

And now for the lift off! We come to the big jumps in points! For the Top 6 positions seem to be in a league of their own. We jump almost 150 points after The Devil And The Almighty Blues on Number 7 reach Number 6. Indeed, Number 6 stands tall above all that came before and the rest as we shall see, even taller. But even so, we can all find comfort in the fact that even though these albums all got way more votes then the other albums, those other albums still got a lot of votes or a few votes, making them all good, great or amazing in the eye of the beholder. And that is the only eye that counts. Right?  But as we arrive on Number 6 we can look back at the times these cats made the Top 20 Countdown before. Reaching Number 14 in 2014 and Number 2 in 2017. Can we compare thee to a summers day? Or the new album, released on Relapse Records in September, to those earlier two? Ofcourse we can. But should we? It was the honorable Bucky Brown that has always been pretty vocal about his lack of understanding why everyone was so smitten with this trio’s sound, that stated what perhaps means the fans are divided on this one. He stated that this was the first album he truly dug and could perhaps even love. And we heard that mentioned by others that were never on board with these cats. Which means it is a step in another direction for the low, slow, yet crushingly loud and fuzz-laden doom of the three. Where the build and the break and the pound and the push was always key on earlier albums, this has more emphasis on melody, while still retaining their colossal side. And still retaining that immense boom these cats create! Oh yes, there shall be no comfort when Number 6 gets loud!

Monolord - No Comfort

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Number 7

Number 7

You might not want to believe it, with so many votes coming in, but we move only 1 point, yes 1 point from Arrowhead on Number 8 to reach the album on Number 7. These cats reached Number 20 of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown with their sophomore release two years ago and their bluesy sound has been capturing our souls and imagination even more this year. It's released on that wild Blues For The Red Sun label from Norway. And their sound has become even grimier, dirtier, nastier and more commanding. This is dark blues, doomed and destined for those souls that live in the shadows. The groove even mightier than before and the scorching riffs inflaming the gut, the intestines and every other organ it can reach. There is a flow to it all that just seems to continue throughout, whether on fast-paced moments or the overall languid tempo; that flow whips you into a frenzied state. And every one of those tracks will keep you intrigued with every new listening session; they just seem to morph into something you need at that right and particular moment in time, and you probably did not even know you needed it; whatever it may mean. Indeed, it’s wicked and it’s powerful. It’s heavy and it’s blues. On Number 7 it’s!

The Devil And The Almighty Blues – Tres

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Number 8

Number 8

A jump of 35 points today to leave Witchers Creed on Number 9 behind us. We arrive at Number 8 today and it’s one that has been on very high rotation over here and probably at the drummer of Phe’s house as well. Cause we suggested it to his wife to buy as a birthday present… We're looking at another Ripple Music release... And we’re Down Under once again, in the country already so dramatically plagued by climate change. These cats don’t do the ever present Pub Rock from the island, no no no, these crazies move distinctly into the past to gobble up all that came from the seventies. But then they turn into something spectacularly groovy, fuzzy and modern. This booms and this thunders, this quakes and this shakes your bones! It’s intoxicating, like the drinks served in a premier dive bar, those sun-dried Australian tunes will have your mind drift back towards the atavistic stoner bands, the proto metal outfits and the doom gods. It is that good. And then some. It’s rock. Menacing, tough, resilient rock. It’s heavy rock. And it will induct you quickly in their dangerous midst! On Number 8 we find!

Arrowhead - Coven Of The Snake

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Number 9

Number 9

An eleven point jump is needed to leave Clouds Taste Satanic’s Evil Eye album behind on Number 10 to reach the Number 9 position of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2019. An album that soared high when the votes came in and actually holding on to the Number Two spot for quite some time. As it did when it came out at the end of February through Ripple Music. The four from Sweden created their own little niche to curl up into and out of the cold, warming themselves by the cauldron fire bubbling with a mixture of traditional doom, classic metal, NWOBHM and the old rock atmosphere of when it first started sounding evil. The infectious heavy riffs seem to have been summoned straight out of the seventies and when they get their hooks in you, there is no letting go. There are so many dynamics and so much dark passion at work throughout the record, it really is dizzying. Like awakening from a proto doom dream and not really being sure if you’re awake and where you are… On Number 9!

Witchers Creed - Awakened From The Tomb…

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Number 10

Number 10

A very close call indeed getting into the Top 10! Cause we jump only 4 points from Lo-Pan on Number 11 to reach the album that features on the Number 10 spot! A band that we have loved since the very beginning and which we mentioned on the HiVe with almost every release. They however never made it to the Top 20 Countdown for some insane reason. But here they are now! They in fact almost made it with another album as well. Cause yes, this band managed to release two amazing records in one year. And the other one ended up around the 30th spot. Madman Tony Maim wrote about these cats when the album came out: “These guys just do it right. Expansive soundscapes carry you along – in my head I am riding a skeletal horse across a blasted city ruin being trailed by mutated wolves and shambling cannibal women who are strangely sexy. Stunning guitar work and song composition make me want this piped directly into my ears at all times. This is the good shit.” Strangely sexy, strangely satanic and strangely evil! On Number 10 we find!

Clouds Taste Satanic - Evil Eye

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Number 11

Number 11

On Number 12 we found Year Of The Cobra and from that great album we jump almost twenty points to arrive at Number 11. Released in June through Aqualamb Records the album comes from a band that has made the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown multiple times. Reaching Number 9 in our very first year, making it to Number 3 in 2011 and Number 16 in 2014. They just have that unique sound that worms itself into your blood, bones and heart immediately! And guess what, they’ve done it again! This album seems to have even more catchiness and melody to it than their earlier albums. If that was even possible? It retains all of its heaviness, it has a high degree of dynamics and pushes for a mighty groove every time again. And all that with so much dirty nuance and gritty chugging, simply colossal! It’s hard rock, it’s desert rock, it’s stoner and it’s soulful! And it’s on Number 11 !

Lo-Pan – Subtle

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Number 12

Number 12

A mere five points difference between Howling Giant on Number 13 and the album we find on Number 12. A duo that manages to sound huge, loud yet very contained within they space they define. A drum sound that clashes against the walls like gigantic waves; a compelling and distorted bass over which the almost ethereal voice floats and shines and gives air to the immense stoner doom that just continues to wash and tumble over you. Dark by default the continuation of each of the melodies keeps you on the edge of the abyss, never pushing you over, never exploding and holding a tight grip on one of your extremities. It is an unholy push and pull, that only really whips you into a different state when the title track rolls around. A Stand out track if ever there weas one and complete different from all that came before and comes after; sinister, raw, punky and venomous. Released early November through Prophecy Productions it immediately struck a chord with all the heavy music fiends out there and they took heed of the coming year… On Number 12 we find!  

Year Of The Cobra – Ash And Dust

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Number 13

Number 13

From those two amazing bands, Zed and The Lunar Effect on Number 14 we jump 35 points to reach Number 13. It’s lucky Number 13 today and it’s Friday; (can anyone crush the cosmic numbers on that one?) and it features an album everyone loved since it came out and I personally had expected higher up on the list. Some otherworldly heavy psychedelic and progressive gold that will have you floating through the space between dimensions in no time! Or as hombre Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker (Riff Relevant) already stated on the Doom Charts of September: “Nashville’s genre distorting, cosmic craftsmen to the power of 3 blast off on their first full-length journey. It’s a conceptually-themed construct capturing one of underground music’s most promising acts in all their psyche-punk / stoner metal glory… with Sci-Fi ever their muse, they have set the bar high outside the box and way above the stratosphere. One may stamp Album Of The Year Contender on this opus… One small step for Blues Funeral Recordings, one Howling Giant leap for greatness!” And we could not agree more, Number 13!

Howling Giant - The Space Between Worlds

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Number 14

Number 14

We jump only nine points today. We leave behind Spidergawd’s  V album on Number 15 to yet again find two albums on Number 14. Two albums that I personally immediately dug the shit out of; but had not expected to reach this high on the list. Or perhaps I did? Cause we mentioned one of them back in August when it arrived on Ripple Music and then we raved about the pure and intense groove portrait on this record. A groove that goes back to the hardrock and blues roots, but in an unholy trucking or fast paced version. There is such a drive behind all ten tracks, a force to be reckoned with. And those vocals, man, exactly the kind of grating, raw, harsh and inspiring voice one needs. And then there are those soft and clean moments which are just as amazing. The other album arrived from London throught Kozmik Artifactz at the very start of 2019. Heavy psychedelic blues that shows these cats know where it all started and still manage to look into a not to distant future to see where it is all heading. Yes, it is seventies, it is sixties and it is so much more. It’s Zeppelin, it’s a bit of Sabbath and it’s the Doors. Thanks to majestic bass work, astonishing vocals, wild guitar colors and so much soul it will surely turn your pants to flower power bellbottoms. On Number 14 we find!

Zed – Volume

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The Lunar Effect - Calm Before The Calm

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Number 15

Number 15

How about those three bands on Number 16! All of them delivered a majestic album this year and it’s almost a sin to go on to Number 15 today! But we do it anyway, cause the Top 20 Countdown is relentless! We jump 26 points to reach Number 15 and a band that has been delivering amazing albums since their conception but has never actually made the final Top 20 list of the yearly Stoner HiVe Countdown for some weird and probably insane reason. But now they have! For their fifth album got voted one massively by all you crazies out there. It arrived in January through Stickman Records / Crispin Glover Records and it quickly became a household favorite with many. It’s still their golden post-boogie, swinging seventies, approach to heavy rock. The album starts out with a glorious and filthy sax. And then quickly follow eight tracks with their take on how a monstrous and moving rock song should be made. Tracks filled with amazing licks, vocals and melodies, all produced so crisp and choppy it almost feels like a pop record! On Number 15 we find!

Spidergawd – V

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Number 16

Number 16

After Beastwars on Number 17 we jump 35 points to reach three bands on Number 16! Indeed, all you freaks sending in their list managed to get no less than three bands the exact same amount of points on Number 16. Let’s start with the one that made Madman Tony Maim come out of nowhere like a sixties beat freak: “This album is one great big dose of lip-smacking, booze-guzzling, feedback-shaking, riff-making, occult-worshiping, coke-snorting, drum-pounding, sleaze-walking, retro-loving, fist-pumping, head-banging, heavy-making, groove-strutting, wah-wah working, trance-inducing, snake-licking, bass-thumping brilliance.” It came out of nowhere for me and after it also made the Number One of the Doom Charts that month we knew it was something special! And it is! What a release through Stoner Witch Records! Death blues with a doom groove, and so gritty it might have been found on a landfill somewhere. Second up is that Kyuss vibe, that Fu Manchu soul, that very Californian, that surf, skate or die take on stoner; but in this case from Down Under. Excellent album for every hot car ride, for every track through the desert and for every sweaty moment. Atavistic and pure stoner this will be a go to record for every sun blistered day! Last but not least from these three is a band that references the sun in their bandname. Which means we are in for something equally legendary right? And it is. Once again there is some glimmer of the ones that started it all, stoner, desert and some old grungy vibes but all of that condensed into something highly their own and divine fuzz. And those interludes, man! Out on Fuzzorama Records, new dimensions await and all of it is dense and massive! Yes, go check out all three of the bands we find on Number 16 !

The Black Furs – Stereophonic Freakout Vol. 1

Duneeater – No Gas No Good

Valley Of The Sun – Old Gods

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Number 17

Number 17

Swan Valley Heights & Horseburner; we found both of them on Number 18! But we’re on Number 17 now and we got there by jumping 15 points. Their fourth album, aptly titled IV, had been hanging in a horrible kind of balance, there was so much strife and bad omens for the band and it’s members that it was highly doubtful this album would ever be recorded. That pain, that existential fear and angst gets so loud, mournful and tangible when the vocalist sings: ‘I want to be alive, to see my child grow.’ A sting in the heart… On those moments, when the vulnerability shines through all those heavy riffs, those thundering drums is when this album impresses the most. That piano in the final song. The guitar lines on the third track. All so wonderfully done; as is all their metal noise, their fast paced sludge, their crush and stomp, their animalistic and warring sound! On Number 17 we find…

Beastwars – IV

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Number 18

Number 18

Torche occupies Number 19! And now we jump no less than 35 points to reach Number 18! A position which is occupied by two bands and their respective albums. Both of them released their second full-sized album, either early August or early September. One through Fuzzorama Records and the other through Ripple Music. Let’s talk about the Germans first. Cause they manage to put out a fuzz and a haze that seems to swim in an endless current of pure groove. After the first slow sensual sensory minutes the boom goes loud and the stoner, the psychedelic meandering gets you high and heavy. Oh man, how this power trio can turn you on and tune you in! They sow a seed deep inside that slowly grows until it blossoms during a three minute knife fight! And then there is the other one, the four from West Virginia, USA that try to steal the glory quickly gallop away!  “The vocal harmonies between the drummer and guitarist have never been stronger, and the layered instrumentation gives it a lush and colossal sound.” Bryan Coffey from Indy Metal Vault wrote on the Doom Charts of September. And he was right! They fit so perfectly on those in blues rooted hard rock rhythms, that stoner metal trucking and those all-out heavy tracks. So perfectly! Just like the balance between light and dark, raw and crisp, simple and complex! Both bands have outdone themselves and rightfully reached the Number 18 position! 

Swan Valley Heights - The Heavy Seed

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Horseburner - The Thief

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Number 19

Number 19

We jump 20 points from King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard on Number 20 to reach the album on Number 19! One that I, I must admit, I had personally reckoned would end up a bit higher on this years countdown. It is the bands fifth full-sized record and sees them, once again, changing everything up! Not just musically, but also in line-up. But don’t you worry, the sound still moves through the stoner landscape, the sludge scenery and the metal vistas. As always, yet as never before. Cause there seems to be so much more over the horizon. Something even more dynamic and hinting at endless possibilities. So big, so grand and then they manage to condense all that into something simple and elegant; yet low, robust and effective! Does it hold a candle to their earlier releases? Does it torch everything they did before? I must admit, I am still uncertain where exactly to position this album among their earlier releases; but you crazy lot voted it to become Number 19 of 2019!

Torche – Admission

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Number 20

Number 20

And so it begins indeed! The end times of the human race on this planet... Errr?! Where did that come from? Anyway, these freaks release so much music every year that not everything can be that good. Right? In fact, they released another album this year than the one that made the list… Hmmm… But, well, a lot in fact might be a pretty bad miss. Right?  Maybe they should condense all those releases into one record and stun everyone? Or perhaps they already did? Cause one of their releases has reached the Top 20! Their fifteenth studio album sees these Aussie crazies transform their heavy psychedelic rock into something remembering the great thrash metal of yore. Shredding like never before the band weaves their poetic imagery of a world gone to hell into nine tracks that will set your soul ablaze. It will infest your blood like a doomed Superbug and will want to make you move, with the band, to another planet. And well, Venus seems to be the only planet left not infested by Rats!

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – Infest The Rats’ Nest

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The Stoner HiVe top 20 countdown of 2019

The Stoner HiVe top 20 countdown of 2019

And so it begins…

We have long since passed the 12:00 CET deadline on December the 13nd of this once again amazing musical year of 2019. Each year, since the beginning of the Stoner HiVe back in 2009 has been filled with so many great albums. It is simply stupefying to think of all that magic and musical mojo! Really, it blows my mind… So, my thanks goes out to all those amazing bands and artists who provided us with so much incredible music, so much musical mojo, that we all love so dearly. But hey the deadline for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2019 has passed! And we have received the amazing amount of 93 lists! A record for us! Thanks everyone for sending your list. We will raffle out a little gift a little while into the Countdown.. For right now… Now... We cannot wait, we want to reveal the Number 20! The Number 20 according to all you cats out there who decided to vote for the Countdown this year! 

So, one final thank you, to all of you, the ones who made all those heavy albums we all love and to those who listened to it, fell in love with it and decided to vote for it for the HiVe! Cause without you gals and guys this would not be possible! And yes, this year there were, once again, a few of those crazy cats that went as far at putting way to many albums in order. Crazy… But that’s how it goes… The votes have been cast, the lists are in… Let’s start the countdown!

So… without further ado…

We give you, according to all of your votes,

NUMBER TWENTY!

The Absolute Final Hours

The Absolute Final Hours

After that small intermission post about the Pain Is Joy album by Nothing Is Real, provided by the honorable Reek Of STOOM, we wait out these final hours before the Top 20 Countdown of 2019 starts. There are still a few hours left before the deadline closes. So if you still have time, energy and the will to contribute: send your list of favorite albums to our EMAIL . And yes; there will also be a raffle, lottery thing around Christmas time to send out a little package to one of the lucky ones that provided the HiVe with a list of their favorite albums of 2019. The Final Deadline is a few hours away: December 13th 12:00 CET. It’s already shaping up to be a good one! So join in on the fun!

Send your list of favorite albums of 2019 HERE!

Nothing Is Real – Pain Is Joy

Nothing Is Real – Pain Is Joy

Self-Released – 2019

Doom, Sludge, Experimental

Rated: ****

Mysterious L.A. Doomsters Nothing Is Real whip up a crusting cocktail of horror on their latest release Pain is Joy. Expanding on the themes of their previous album "Only The wicked Are Pure", N.I.R. muscle in with opener 'Existence is Pain', spiralling in atonal guitars and grimy sludge undercurrents flexing with eastern harmonics. A carnage of evil riffage, fuzz-saturated and abyssal manifests plaintive ghouls of sax. 'Realms of Madness" treads malevolently, potion-fuelled with poisons and dread. Then the alluring, dark vocals wrap themselves in cloaks of hard Doom and compliment the noise perfectly, brimming with imminent presence. The musicianship and concept here is powerful, original and deeply rewarding on all fronts. Heavy as a planet. Title track 'Pain is Joy" opens with an aching hangover of strings and snares then snarls with contempt, crushing riffs which bleed into cruel guitar sharps and barbs then plummet the very depths of Doom in sinister slow - mo. Technically brilliant, bold and adventurous, N.I.R. find alchemy in their style. A superb example of Progressive Psychedelic Doom.

(Written by Reek of STOOM)

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The Final Hours

The Final Hours

That was the final glance back at all those Number One albums that have been featured on the past Top 20 Countdowns of every year, here on the Stoner HiVe. And how hard is it to choose your favorite of that one? Of all those Numbers Ones? Or perhaps there were others that you loved even more? Well, the reason the Stoner HiVe was ever started was so there was a vehicle to countdown the best albums of a year. Voted for by the freaks in the HiVe… And so, after revisiting all those amazing albums we look forward and back again. Forward to the Top 20 Countdown that will commence tomorrow and back into the hazy past of 2019! There are still a few hours left to send your list of favorite albums of 2019 to us! So far we are on the verge of breaking the record amount of lists and we hope there are still a few crazies out there that will send theirs right before the deadline… The final deadline will be tomorrow, December 13th, 12:00 CET. And we will see the first post, the Number 20 of the Top 20 Countdown of 2019 appear a few hours after that…

Send your list of favorite albums of 2019 HERE!