Son Cesano – Submerge

Son Cesano – Submerge

Mono Buster Records – 2018

Rock, Instrumental, Psych, Stoner, Desert

Rated: *****

In February there were more than a hundred and fifty releases in the heavy genre that we know off. And there were probably even more. That amount is staggering. And hard to get your head around. And instead of focusing solely on those releases we go around searching for other lost gems. Ones we missed when the heavy deluge swept us under the waves of some other month. Enter December 2018, yet again, and Submerge by Son Cesano. A Swiss quartet that started jamming back in 2015 and slowly developed those jams into the tunes that we find on their debut effort Submerge. Six emotive tracks; with an almost meditative quality that quickly take you with them on their deep sea adventure. Psychedelic rock for those moments when the sun is high, the breeze is exactly right and there is nothing to do but enjoy the Singapore Sling in your hand and listen to everything in space and the music that surrounds you. Lazy in the good sense of the word; even the more swollen and rockin moments retain that quality. Which is one hell of a feat to accomplish. Graceful in every sense of the word, beautiful cadency and every six of those compositions seems like a jewel of the first water. You will lose yourself in it’s glittering beauty…

(Written by JK)

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The Madman’s Monthly Ruckus Round-up

The Madman’s Monthly Ruckus Round-up

As I hope you crazies know, Madman Tony Maim has fired up his Black Insect Laughter blog again. Well, fired up is a big word perhaps, but you will get fired up after checking out those post. Once a month the Madman will put forth his choices of Punk and Hardcore releases that made him go: ‘fuck yeah!’. And that’s the one reason we want to hear about new releases! So, head on over to Black Insect Laughter and read up on January and February before March has already come and gone. Otherwise you might miss out on Australian outfit Stiff Richards and their Dig release! “Primal punk'n'roll, digging deep from the rich well of riffs which was first mined by the MC5, Stooges, Sonics etc but much faster. Pedal to the metal! Tunes that want to make me jump up and down.” See, the Madman knows!

Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

LáGoon

Silver Devil

Pfund

Professor Electric

Stone Golem

Another week has passed and yes, once again a day late with the Top 5 Most Listened to list. But that’s just how it goes and we all know the deal. Work and no fun! But luckily we did have fun listening to those albums these Five artists delivered. First off, we won’t list Queens Of The Stone Age, cause that’s another band we listened to a lot, it has a sort of mantra to it that makes it easy getting a lot of work done. But when new stuff comes on, you just have to focus, pay attention and let yourself be mesmerized by those albums. Like LáGoon and their The Unwelcome album; garage doom and fuzzed out rock, skater vibe stoner and punky metal. Out on Forbidden Place Records and an absolute must have! But so is Silver Devil and their through Ozium Records released new album Paralyzed. Sweden turns out to be the stomping ground for massive stoner gold once again. High energy grooves that move and stun! Can’t get enough of it! Just like Pfund’s album! Pfund is exciting, crazy and simply glorious! As we already mentioned last week. The Akashic Record by Professor Electric came out a few months ago; a hideous one-man band preaching hellfire and brimstone across the desert sand as he states himself. Or as the honorable Frazer Jones from Desert Psychlist states: “Take some early Captain Beefheart quirky bluesiness sprinkle with a smattering of funk and a pinch of stuttering fuzziness and voila…” Indeed, let’s take some Beefheart! Stone Golem from the Netherlands pushes their space oriented rock opera In The Shadow Of A Titan towards a stonerrock horizon and sun dried riffs. But then enter the atmospheric elements; and enchant you like a lost soul in the desert, dying of thirst and suddenly staring at a mirage oasis… Absolutely brilliant album! But I guess they all are! So check’m out! Check’m all out!

Temple of the Fuzz Witch – Temple of the Fuzz Witch

Temple of the Fuzz Witch – Temple of the Fuzz Witch
Seeing Red Records – March 2019
Doom
Rated: *****

This will probably be the last review of a Doom album for some time. Not because I have grown tired of that genre. Far from it. I have just got tired of writing reviews using the same limiting descriptive words and trying to make it seem fresh and different to other reviews I have done countless times. Here we go: riffs, heavy, massive, atmospheric, suffocating, Sabbath worship, slow, fast, glacial, riffs, clean vocals, growls, thick toned, down-tuned, more riffs, Iommi worship, occult, solid, production, traditional, fresh sounding, inventing the wheel, fuzz, distortion, amp abuse, shit load of riffs, mid-paced, genuine, female/male vocals, sweat drenched, booze driven, weed use, bong hits and riffs. Now take some the above words and arrange into a review … or better still write something without using any of the above. What I want to write is: Temple of the Fuzz Witch have made a fucking awesome album. If you like Doom, you will love this.

But it’s not much of a review.

But maybe it is all you need to know.

(Written by Tony Maim)

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Dr. Awkward and The Screws – Gettin’ Out of Style

Dr. Awkward and The Screws – Gettin’ Out of Style

Self released – 2019

70's Rock, Glam, Heavy Blues

Rated: ****

You've felt like it for days....listless, depressed, caught in a fug...your medication is wearing off and you need help. Fortunately, it arrives from Athens, Greece in the form of Dr. Awkward and The Screws. Gettin' Out of Style instantly throws you into the world of 70's Hard rock; ballsy, full of attitude and unashamedly straight-to-the-point. Subtlety goes right out of the window the moment ‘Take Me Down’ begins... The band grooving into the glammed - up swagger of Silverhead without the sequinned cat-suits. ‘Doomed’ recalls the power rock of Detroit as the inimitable Doctor struts like a fighting cock, hurling his meanest Alice Cooper sleaze at the mike. ‘Spellbound‘ explores the AC theme further, chunky and anthemic... You can almost imagine the underwear cascading towards the stage... Excellent musicianship elevates this platter to way more than mere paddling in the Past - it dives in from the top board! A thoroughly enjoyable 40 mins of Retro Rock delight. If you're in that waiting-room of Woe, here's the good news - the Doctor will see you now...

(Written by The Reek of STOOM)

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Bismut – Schwerpunkt

Bismut – Schwerpunkt

Lay Bare Recordings – 2018

Rock, Instrumental, Stoner, Metal, Atmospheric, Prog

Rated: ****

This one has also been out since December 2018. Which means we’re late to the party once again. But what a party it is! Adventurous, dangerous and delicious! But that’s only logical when the nucleus of the band is made up out of members of bands like Stonerfront Nijmegen, Bandito and Geiser. We’re talking about three-piece outfit Bismut and their first release Schwerpunkt. A powerful and wild cinematic adventure through the heavy universe. Four psychedelic progressive metal tracks that infuse so many spacey, groovy and riffy elements you might mistake it for pure crystal metal art. It isn’t fragile though! And the psychedelic, space and atmospheric elements always come second to the heavy rock that is ever prevalent. Progressive in nature their metal soundscapes take you on a journey; something you have to prepare for and something you will need your full attention for. Cause it’s raw, monstrous and massive with loads of gravitas and hypnotic energy. Yes, we piled on the accolades once again. But, Bismut is simply put that good!

(Written by JK)

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Pfund – Pfund

Pfund – Pfund

Pink Tank Records – 2018

Rock, Psych, Stoner, Sludge, Prog

Rated: *****

Released at the end of 2018 this fourpiece from the Kiel, Germany sure knows how to keep your attention with their jazzy progressive take on stoner, sludge and psychedelic rock. Well, at least that’s how their self-titled release starts off. Pfund is the name and heavy rock of all sorts is their masterful game! A game that started back around 2009 as a straight up blues rock band; but quickly morphed into more. So much more. There’s so much choppiness going on that it might remind you of Tool or Therapy? for a moment. But it’s the almost laconically sounding bass work and inhumane good drum work that takes the cake here, they propel the songs to amazing heights. And there, on the very tip of those waves the guitar just surfs and wails and riffs and will have you out there on those waves with them. You know what; there is no decent formula that can help you out with Pfund. There is so much different here and so much the same, these cats certainly know there are no rules when it comes to freaking great music. Their degree of contrariness goes hand in hand with the guts and courage the band displays whenever they decide to take a certain route. Exciting, crazy, inaccessible and easy on every heavy rock loving ear! Simply glorious!

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Eyrth

Dead Witches

Electric Mary

Flotsam and Jetsam

Jupiter

O’ what a beautiful sun out there! Is the winter truly over? Already? We can only hope so! Well, it’s been another full week and another week of highly different listening habits on certain days. And a few of those bands we listened to we shall keep out of the Top 5, simply because they have no merit for the crazies who might be checking this post out. Or should we mention Dream Theater and their technical prowess or that we had to rediscover Cocteau Twins, thanks to Reek Of STOOM? Nah, let’s leave’m off the list and just mention the Five HiVe relevant artists and their respective artists… Right? Well, here goes… Cold atmospheric doom metal straight from outskirts of Riga, Latvia. The album is called Fracture and the band Eyrth and turns out to be one hell of a sonic wrecking ball! Mark Greening (former Electric Wizard, also of Ramesses, With The Dead) and vocalist Virginia Monti (Psychedelic Witchcraft) joined forces to found the heaviest occult psych superbeast to see the light this year: Dead Witches! The Final Exorcism is their first release (through Heavy Psych Sounds) and offers exactly the kind of slow dragging occult sounding psychedelic doom one would expect from these heavy weights. A surprise? No, but damn freakin good anyway! Electric Mary hails from Australia and releases their new album Mother through Listenable Records. No Aussie pub rock, but sweet sounding hardrock with that fine bluesy edge. This is intense classic stuff with a modern feel. No way to not immediately fall in love with the new Electric Mary! Was uncertain if we should keep Flotsam and Jetsam on the list, but we should, we just should. Cause their new album The End of Chaos is just one hell of a kick in the nuts! Out on AFM Records the heavy metal with it’s thrash and speedy influences is pure quality. Iosomnia by Finnish trio Jupiter takes us back to everything the Stoner HiVe loves! Heavy psychedelic, doomy stoner and progressive touches! It’s one hell of an adventure! And one you should all experience! At least once! So check it out! Check’m all out!

Negative Wall – Gammagelu

Negative Wall – Gammagelu

Black Doomba Records – 2019

Rock, Stoner, Space, Prog

Rated: ****

Negative Wall from Georgia, USA offer up a surprising and entertaining romp through the world of 70's Prog and Proto-Metal with their new release, Gammagelu. Opener 'Imperii Exsules' thunders in with the Majestic Pomp of early Uriah Heep or Arcadium; heavy, slow and monolithic. 'Hybrid Genus Serpentis' immediately conjours up images of Rush and Porcupine Tree with it’s brooding hooks and twisted solos. 'Mater Saeva Kp22' switches the mood... A delicate intro suddenly bursting into a crawling, savage riff of Sabbath oppression… Final cut 'Torquemada 71' reminds me of the proto-metal of Iron Claw or Eugene Carnan revisited and re-packaged as a solid wall of pure Stoner heaven! This is an album that both excites and delights - there's nothing negative about This Wall!! Four fat Stars!

(Written by The Reek of STOOM)

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Thunderbird Divine – Magnasonic

Thunderbird Divine – Magnasonic

Salt of The Earth Records – 2019

Rock, Hard, Stoner, Psych

Rated: ****

Heavy trucking stoner rock with sweet waves of psychedelics, spacey whenever it needs to be and all out fuzzy for most of the time. We’re talking about debut release Magnasonic by Thunderbird Divine and we’ve said almost everything that actually needs to be said about this amazing four track release. Well, almost. For if you go on over to their bandcamp site to listen to these track you notice they tip Grand Funk Railroad and MC5 as influences and that is something you can quite lovingly pick up on. Cause there definitely is some proto spirit floating around and that give Thunderbird Divine such a sweet tasting edge you cannot get enough of them track. Just listen to Qualified with it’s building anticipation and it’s raw and rainy railroad vistas. This is something sweet for barreling down the mean streets of some forlorn neighborhood. Steel riffs and fuming fuzz, classic, gloomy and righteous from end to end!

(Written by JK)

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Lightsabres – A Shortcut to Insanity

Lightsabres – A Shortcut to Insanity

Self released / Medusa Crush Recordings – 2018

Rock, Stoner, Punk, Grunge, Psych, Garage, Doom

Rated: ****

And there, at the very end of 2018, was the release of A Shortcut To Insanity… The new album by Swedish one-man grungy psychedelic stoner operation Lightsabres! Mastered by Mos Generator's Tony Reed, this underground sound is something a crazy man would understand by default and all others if they’ve got that door open in their head. You know the one we’re talking about. Cause this is A Shortcut To Insanity… A grandiose exploit that combines so many different genre’s that you could easily state it becomes a new one all on it’s own. We list those genres on certain blurbs, not to limit the releases, but to point the listener in the direction of what to expect. This time around, we just want to point! Point in the direction of Insanity! This is a wild and extraordinary shortcut to something absolutely amazing!

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

The Grand East

Colour Out Of Space

Davenport Cabinet

Skirt

King Cig

Good Monday. Or errr, I mean morning. Finally someone righteous winning a Grammy. Congratulations to Matt Pike and High On Fire ofcourse. But as he already stated: “We don’t need an award for doing something we love.” Right on maestro! Right on! We shall refrain from mentioning that we listened to David Bowie a lot; because we need to! And shredder Ygnwie Malmsteen, cause we need to prepare for an interview with the man. No, we shall list the other five we listened to the most… The Grand East for instance and their What A Man release. Soulful rock that just mainlines the groove directly into your heart. The self-titled release Colour Out Of Space was instant love! We don’t know much about these cats, except that we immediately understood that this is stoner metal from out of this world! Davenport Cabinet is a side-project Coheed and Cambria's lead guitarist Travis Stever. We had their 2013 album Our Machine on a lot, mainly because we were tracking projects maestro Pete Stahl had been a part of. But it’s damn good and the Stahl track hauntingly majestic! American trio Skirt released their new record Reinstate The Guillotine a few weeks ago and we it’s still on heavy rotation. Spacey heaviness with overtones of fast paced psychedelic goodness and a garage sounding take on hardrock. Grimy and druggy! And if you’re looking for something messy, check this out: King Cig! Stoner punk straight from the Melbourne gutters.! And their new EP Cult 45 is an intense and wild ride through those sewers filled with lovely filth and energetic nastiness! You just gotta love it! So check it out! Check’m all out!

Stone Witch – Desert Oracle

Stone Witch – Desert Oracle

Self released – 2019

Rock, Doom, Proto

Rated: ****

Something wicked comes this way. Something ominous is afoot. Calamity lurks and the very spirt of malevolence will be here by the end of the day. So, the cartomancer speaks! The Stone Witch! The Desert Oracle! On this new release the hair-rising, spine-chilling atmosphere gets an ominous treatment.  It evokes that atmosphere with lo-fi, gritty, proto doom and an ancient sounding ritual of skiving riffs, echoing rhythms and an intense granular sound…  And then there’s the Dutchman… An acoustic Americana inspired doom ballad that sends off waves and waves of David Lynch like tales of woe. And that broken voice; and that despairing echo. Ye gods, this is the real deal! 

(Written by JK)

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The Grand East – What A Man

The Grand East – What A Man

Self released / BB Records – 2018

Rock, Blues, Soul, Classic, Psych

Rated: ****

Are you looking for something soulful? Something with an irresistible groove? Check out the new effort What A Man by Dutch five-piece The Grand East. These cats show their love for their influences and there are influences a plenty. Think The Doors, The Who, Velvet Underground and even something classic like the Allman Brothers. But none of them become more than influences cause it’s The Grand East we hear here. A feel for the days of yore and everything retro; but with so many modern touches that it never becomes anything but a majestic rock record that quickly warms your heart. Producers Pablo van de Poel (from DeWolff) and Simon Akkermans (from Bombay, Jungle By Night) have delivered an intense crispy and energetic sound that works extremely well on the song with a more garage approach, the psychedelic ones and all that soulful gold that is spread out across the album! What A Man, what a record!

(Written by JK)

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The Grand East - What a Man

The Grand East - What a Man

Official music video for the song 'What a Man' from The Grand East, out since October 2018. What A Man is featured on the album with the same name. And check out the mention just above this video post... What a record!

Dreckneck – Dirty Habits (Rule Us All)

Dreckneck – Dirty Habits (Rule Us All)

Self released – 2018

Rock, Stoner, Hard, Blues

Rated: ****

We enjoyed the hell out of their first self-titled release back in 2017 but never got around to mentioning those crazy Dutch stoner fiends named Dreckneck! Well, let’s remedy that dubious neglect by spinning their new album Dirty Habits (Rule Us All) until we are Dreckneck insane! The Dutch trio firmly roots their sound in the heavy blues rock but without ever turning it into blues. Indeed, this is blazing hot stoner trucking and a big fuzzy riff explosion. No less than eleven meaty, heavy stoner tracks that grind up against metal here and there. Just listen to opener Route 69 and pound along with that chugging rhythm! And that’s what’s often taken the cake here, this wild almost animalistic pounding. You Can Have It All for instance, that ancient sounding thrashing, ye gods, you would want it go on forever! And then for a moment, seeing the song title, I imagined Dreckneck doing a cover of the Motherfucker Jones track by another Dutch band called Voltage. But this is a totally different animal! This Motherfucker Jones truly sounds bad to the bone! Bad to the bone, just like the rest of Dirty Habits!

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Dreckneck

Emanuel Desperados

Diggeth

Skirt

Turkish Delight

Monday Monday… Sure, the melody from The Mamas & The Papas sticks in your head, but those lyrics; can’t agree with those. It’s always been more about the Boomtown Rats version for me! But let’s not dwell to long on the fact that the weekend is over once again and the week is only just starting. Let’s mention those five artists we listened to the most during the past week! Dutch stoner trio Dreckneck has been spinning like a whirlwind over here! There new album Dirty Habits (Rule Us All) is righteous stoner and desert release that will have you stomping your feet, pounding your fists and banging your head! Released some six months ago is self-titled effort Emanuel Desperados! Sublime Norwegian stoner and hard rock with twists of metal and grunge. And it’s out on a very limited run of vinyl! Awesome stuff! Another Dutch outfit that has been digging through our head is three-piece Diggeth and their new album Gringos Galacticos. This hard and heavy rock! Absolutely smashing stoner with some progressive touches here and there; some metal infused southern touches or even Americana grade blues and most of all grade a songwriting and production. This is simply put: solid gold! American trio Skirt released their new record Reinstate The Guillotine a few weeks ago. Spacey heaviness with overtones of fast paced psychedelic goodness and a garage sounding take on hardrock. Grimy and druggy! And damn tasty! Just like Kadaif, the Turkish Delight album, released through Reality Rehab Records, tipped by our newest member The Reek of STOOM, who seems to have the good news for the tasty stuff! “Kadaif offers the listener a sumptuous platter of seven tasty instrumental morsels, each infused with heavy Eastern influences.” And more! We can’t get enough of it! Just like the other ones. So, check’m out! Check’m all out!

The Doom Chart for January 2019

 

 Doom Chart

 May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! My own plan is to swear off every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall! ~ Aleister Crowley

A new year is upon us and we find ourselves thinking how incredibly impossible it could be to top the year prior in terms of quality music. Lets be honest, it just keeps getting better each year. We are going to have to come to terms with that and its a glorious thing. The January chart features 20 new entries each bringing something special to the table. We have added several new contributors recently and the voter turnout for the January 2019 Doom Charts was stellar, mentioning over 300 different albums with a couple ties and some clear victors. Please follow along as we bring you the best of the heavy underground each and every month.

Bucky is right on the money there! There is so much great music being released every month; it's freakin difficult to keep up. But we try; in some way... Exacltly five of my personal list of 25 made the Doom Charts this month. And I reckon of the other 70 (plus) contributors it won't be much more. Can you imagine? As Bucky already stated: over 300 different albums... All those idiots stating rock is dead or there is no good music out there or whatever crazy thing should just look up a few editions of the Doom Charts... It's all there dingbat! And you need start listening...

Welcome to Doom Charts, representing some of the finest bloggers, journalists, radio, podcasters and album 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 Chart for January 2019

Stoner HiVe's Top 10 Most Listened To Last Month...

Stoner HiVe's

Top 10 Most Listened To Last Month...

De Staat

Bob Mould

Wille and the Bandits

Mark Deutrom

A Pale Horse Named Death

Dreckneck

John Garcia

The Black Lodge

Biblical Proof of UFOs

Spidergawd

A few days late; but these are January’s Top 10 Most Listened to Artists…

Black Lung – Ancients

Black Lung – Ancients

Ripple Music / Noisolution – 2019 (March 8th / 22nd)

Doom/Heavy Rock

Rated: *****

I was having a couple of drinks before heading home when The Snake walked in –fuck it. Why is he here now? Ever since kicking the habit, The Snake was the last person I wanted to see. He always had good shit but I was trying to escape that world now. He wandered over to me.

“Alright mate, got some good stuff for you today.”

“Fuck off Snake, I’m clean now and don’t need the stuff you are trying to sell me.”

“But mate, this is top quality Doom. Heavy riffs, top notch solos , the works.”

“Snake, you know I have given up Doom for good. I was sick of female vocals suddenly making a band ‘Occult’ or just slowing some 2nd hand Sabbath riffs down and playing some blues over the top.”

“Tony, this is different. This is really great. Tell you what. Listen to the first track for free. If you don’t like it, walk away, no charge”

It did sound tempting and to be honest could a little bit of Doom hurt? I slipped some headphones on and Snake put the 1st track on. DOOOOM!!! Thick heavy doom with thunderous riffs that had a feral urgency to them. Impassioned vocals over solos that went straight to my brain. And so quickly and easily I was hooked again. Black Lung had become my drug of choice and their album Ancients a contender for my end of year list.

(Written by Tony Maim)

Thanks to Richard S Jones & Sheltered Life PR for the promo.

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