Kråkslott – The Witchhammer

 

 

Kråkslott – The Witchhammer
Self released – 2021
Metal, Proto, Doom, Sludge
Rated: ****

The three have not been together for that very long but already released a single in 2019 and self-titled five-track in 2020. Getting vocal aid in the form of a Choir Of Power and the addition of extra Gutteral Vocals for the new release they will now surely be recognized as practitioners of high caliber power doom!  The new two track release by Swedish trio Kråkslott is called The Witchhammer and it will slay every motherfucker in the room. Intense grimy and gritty the percussion creaks and skitters like a haunted galleon, while groaning guitars set forth through a dense fog of fuzz and distortion. The two tracks will count for twenty minutes of doom that mesmerize with their proto influences almost as much as they will surely do with their menacing kicks of sludge. The landscape painted crimson red and the atmosphere occultish purple; there is not a drop of blood coursing through your veins that will not agree to this o’ so satisfyingly unsettling display of powerful doom. It’s a mere two track release but The Witchhammer feels like a massive doomathon.

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

Beer

10% Reptile - The Big Boycott

 

 

10% Reptile - The Big Boycott
Self released - February 2021
Stoner, post punk, garage
Rated: *****

Four piece 10% Reptile hail from New York, New York, and on their debut album "The Big Boycott" deliver an inventive and wholly unique take on stoner rock. Politically charged and wearing their hearts on their sleeves, the crew kick things off with opener "Point Fingers". The stripped down, bouncy intro of guitar and snappy drums has an off kilter vibe, tied together with earnestly disaffected vocals. Soon enough the fuzz gets cranked up, and the stoner side of the band is bared, crunchy stop-start riffs chugging along with a touch of harsher noise rock. A garagey, Talking Heads-esque outro finishes off the track, transitioning sharply into follow-up "Long Lasting Parade" with its thudding, chunky guitar and dense low end. While the stomping riff is repeated, guitar leads snake in and out with fiery licks, calling to mind Red Fang while the drums pulse and push forward. The third track and highlight cut is "Army Ants", in which the band goes full Gang of Four. Jumpy, wiry guitar and noisy chords cut a mean groove, and the bright post-punk sound pairs beautifully with the meatier distortion. Taking the groove to a whole new level, however, is "Vote For Yourself", laying down big band swing with pounding drums and growling bass amid sinister, punchy riffs. Final cut "Laughing" brings it all home with a choppy, insidious lick locking the beat in before exploding in a blown out wall of noise. 10% Reptile have delivered one of the most unique and refreshing heavy rock albums in recent memory, spicing up the stoner sound we know and love with jolts of post-punk and a snappy garage rock attitude.

(Written by Shastabeast)

Bandcamp

Facebook

YouTube

Spotify

Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s 

Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week...

Greenleaf
The Ragged Kin
Band of Spice
Black Spiders
Liar Thief Bandit
Grey Mouse
Liquid Tension Experiment
Camera
Zålomon Grass
Gods of Space

Gods of Space – Against A Falling Sky

 

 

Gods of Space – Against A Falling Sky
Self released – 2021
Rock, Metal, Stoner, Space, Doom
Rated: ***

A science fiction themed EP by a science fiction named band called Gods Of Space. The three from Pennsylvania will release their new EP Against A Falling Sky on 4-20 of this year and the first single is already up on their bandcamp site. It’s the third track (on the bandcamp site, but second track on the press copy?) Exit Point, which gives you this three minute and thirty seconds long proggy stoner metal tune that thanks to the choppy drums in the beginning feels distinctively punk until it slows down to a doom like trod. The other four tracks seem to do the same kind of color shift during the songs, but then from doom to classic metal or stoner or even slacker grunge. For some tracks a guitar solo just forms an interlude; but for Sub Orbital it comes across as the whole deal. Cause after that majestic solo, the vocals and the entire composition just clicks together like a massive ton of melodic ballast. As if they retooled it until it finally sounded epic enough. And that’s how the entire EP comes across, as if they ripped apart the thing they loved and put things back together haphazardly, and in a much better way than it was before. Against A Falling Sky is complex, dazzling and yet so seemingly effortlessly composed. Heavy, epic and inspired!   

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

The Ragged Kin – Before Spring

 

 

The Ragged Kin – Before Spring
Self released – 2021
Rock, Hard, Blues,
Rated: ****

Been waiting to see this release pop up. Mostly because one of the guitar players played in Phe before Phe became Phe and still featured five dubious dingbats. But this is different, this is rowdy blues, this is hard rock, this is southern influenced alternative rock, this is The Ragged Kin. The five from Helmond in the South of the Netherlands that make up The Ragged Kin recorded their debut album Before Spring during the first lockdown of the pandemic that started in 2020. Separately recorded in the rehearsal studio and mixed at home we are treated to eight bluesy rockers with a definite swing and swagger. You can just as easily perceive Allman Brothers influences as well as Stones, Doors or Cult. The starting point is always the blues, the blues rock and the scruffy and shuffling take on it. Soulful lead vocals brimming with character and a bass softly emphasizing a lot of melody. Tasteful guitarwork with supple solo efforts and effective drumming dominate this album that just never seems to falter; not just because of the ability of the players but also because of the well composed and warm compositions. Damn fine debut album and the perfect quiet storm Before Spring…

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

Yawning Sons – Sky Island

 

 

Yawning Sons – Sky Island
Ripple Music / Purple Sage PR – 2021
Rock, Desert, Stoner, Prog
Rated: *****

We’ve been floating along the majestic tunes of Sons Of Alpha Centauri, Yawning Man and everything Gary Arce ever produced for quite some time now. So when the new Sky Island album by that most wonderful of collaboration projects called Yawning Sons emerged we could not stop spinning it. Even more so since this time around they invited quite a few other desert magicians along for the ride. Maestro Dandy Brown, Mario Lalli, Scott Reeder and Wendy Rae Fowler all joined the Yawning Sons line-up to help produce an album that will definitely blow every languid prog, laidback desert and dreamy stoner loving fiend’s mind. Imploring mastering aid from John McBain this is once again a stunning release by Yawning Sons. Evoking subtle and little echoes from David Bowie and Chris Goss during a few instances, being lyrical pronunciation or alchemic melody, the eight tracks will transport you to a different plane of existence altogether. And we must confess that those tracks (Low In The Valley, Gravity Underwater) that feature that sweet and blessed voice of Dandy Brown simply take the breath away. The same can be said for Cigarette Footsteps, featuring Mario Lalli. All of them not only excel in vocal delivery, the compositions seem to mirror the sky, with ringing guitar work, pulsating bass and controlled slow moving drums. And it feels extremely unfair to single those out, cause the rest of ‘m, are just as good. Cosmic and yet very earthy, astral and o' so tangible... What an amazing album!

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Ripple Music

Nepal Death – Nepal Death

 

 

Nepal Death – Nepal Death
Kommun2 – 2021
Rock, Psych
Rated: ***

The magic bus is waiting indeed! The debut self-titled album Nepal Death starts out with a psychedelic bang and absolute wild ride on a track called The Hippie Trail. ‘Charles Manson and Anton LaVey teaming up with a band of fake Hare Krishna cult members speeding towards Kathmandu in a run-down VW bus along the dusty Hippie Trail in 1966. That may give you the idea what this is all about.’ Well, exactly! The five from Sweden have taken a heavy dose of mescaline, implored the aid on a few tracks of fellow psych rock artists Yuri Gagarin, Agusa, Coph Nia and Rymdstyrelsen and turned the whole thing into one giant smoke filled ritualistic orgy. The band was founded by Tobias Pettersson, and I guess we keep waiting to see him and his band of pranksters grin and look sane for a moment, but they never do. So, when the realization comes that they are in it for the long haul, we arrive at the conclusion, understandable if ill-advised, that all bets are off. Why hold back? What’s the worst that can happen? Better join in, take a dose of whatever carnival drug these cats are on and parade through the circus ring with them! Soon you will be on your knees worshipping the eastern inspired psychedelic sounds emanating from the speakers and reliving some weird and twisted nights that might not even have happened. Mangled bodies tell no tales! And now I feel the sun coming out from behind the clouds and I feel like taking off my shirt, pour beer over my fat belly to facilitate the tanning process and I feel like reciting impromptu, five-hundred-stanza-long poems now. It’s time.

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Youtube

Facebook

Instagram

TarLung / KRPL - Split EP

 

 

TarLung / KRPL - Split EP
Kerberos Records - March 2021
Sludge, stoner, noise
Rated: ****

Beneath the deceptively sweet cover art, Austrian trios TarLung and KRPL's Split EP is a fuzzy mass of tasty riffs and brutal weight. The first pair of tunes comes courtesy of Vienna's TarLung, who build a bouncing groove into a swinging, stomping mammoth of sound. Filthy sludge riffs saw their way through crashing cymbals, and as if the assault wasn't heavy enough, the gravel-belching vocals are nearly death metal-level guttural. The groove is never lost amid the noise, however, and continues into the head-nodding pulse of "Deceit". Joined by some classic stoner bounce, wave after weighted wave of fuzz pushes forward before slowly tumbling into a climax.

 
Following in their countrymen's plodding footsteps, Graz, Austria's instrumental outfit KRPL are an altogether different beast, and deliver a shot in the arm with "Konkurs". The tempo jumps up and a never-ending deluge of cutting riffs is let loose, refusing to let the listener catch their breath. The guitar is labyrinthine in its maze-like turns and switchbacks, pairing with crashing and driving drums to create stoner/noise rock insanity. Closer "Grapefruiting" is no less abrasive, building and building with thrashy energy and pummeling kitwork, until finally diving into a mire of hammering low end. The licks are taut and whip smart, and end in a gory finale of caustic riffery. TarLung and KRPL live at two very different parts of the heavy spectrum, but their shared talent for nasty, relentlessly crushing audio makes their Split EP a triumphant slab of sludge and noise rock.

(Written by Shastabeast)

TarLung
Bandcamp

Facebook

SoundCloud


KRPL
Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram


Kerberos Records

YouTube

 

Grey Mouse – A Moment of Weakness

 

 

Grey Mouse – A Moment of Weakness
Addicted Label / No Name – 2021
Rock, Noir, Blues, Americana, Country, Gothic, Psych
Rated: ***

A Moment of Weakness is a beautifully composed and executed bluesy Americana, country rock album filled with gothic and noir elements. It’s their ninth release (perhaps more?) since Russian Grey Mouse started back around 1990. The vehicle for all that Alexey Chunikhin wishes to convey. Down beat and filled with slow and mysterious sounding instruments that seem to draw out this babbling brook with tiny pencil lines. The cello of course takes centers stage and casts its long and magical shadow across the entire album. Highly atmospheric it touches on certain seventies inspired psychedelic elements but never actually goes that route, it just slowly meanders through the deep thought landscape. Gloomy, dreary and dark the eight tracks evoke images of sand slowly being cast across a table of light turning into the most wonderous of images. But even though you are enjoying this impressionistic, magic realist approach to rock noir, you might feel it’s just a bit too serene, too peaceful for the stories it tries to relate and it could use a waterfall or two or some rapids turning A Moment of Weakness into a twisted twinkling of turmoil…

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

Addicted Label

Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s 

Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week

Motorpsycho
Grey Mouse
Mt.Mountain
Mothman and The Thunderbirds
Slowburn
Antabus
Bort
Sunburned Hand of The Man
Camera
Shepherd

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

As we might be about to see Iceland disappear below the waves; we felt we should do everything we could to let out as much molten lava as possible to keep that from happening. So, let’s do a massive Quick Fire Friday round to do just that! A much to big Quick Fire Friday! Cause we just want to get the word out on as much of it as possible and we do not have the time to do things in better way. Cause we know, we know, the albums and bands deserve more than the few words we will jot down here. More attention and more of our time! But there is so much out there and we just simply cannot ever do it all justice. So here it is. The Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday! And its burns hot like molten lava!

 

Dunbarrow – In My Heart

Out today, the new In My Heart single by Dunbarrow! The Norwegian quintet have teamed with the Blues For The Red Sun label to get their majestic proto doom out into the world. Fuzzy blues indeed, gloomy yet warm to the touch and extremely fulfilling. And let’s hope that these foggy riffs tells us as much about the heaviness of the new album III set to appear on Friday May 28th, cause this is the sound we want, we need and we have buried in our heart!

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

Blues For The Red Sun

Abakas – Royal Tide

We love Norway! More Norway! Royal Tide is the new two track single by Norwegian trio Abakas. The seventeen minutes, two tracks long release is comprised out of ‘The Boats of the Glen-Carrig’ which is accompanied by a video and ‘Dirt’. With a vintage sound their hardrock not only uses the seventies as a sounding board it also implores the prog of that age as well as the doom. Two stunningly amazing tracks!

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

Youtube

Metal Music Bookings

Old Horn Tooth – True Death

London doom trio Old Horn Tooth will release their new single True Death this April, on the nineth to be exact. Twenty-one minutes of hallowed, sinister doom and once again seems to herald the coming of something evil. A crushing sludge process of deified riffs and rhythms. We can once again enjoy in all its glory that harrowed doom brought to you by Old Horn Tooth!

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

Sloth Wampa – The Monk and The Mechanical Mollusk

The Monk and The Mechanical Mollusk is a 2020 release by instrumental cosmic doom project Sloth Wampa. Sometimes heavy sludge and other times trippy, mellow or stoner trucking. Five instrumental tracks that will definitely make you give the universal nod. And it’s Name Your Price over at bandcamp! Go check it out!

Homepage

Facebook

Bandcamp

Melkor – Brandmale

Out on Crawling Chaos Records is the new Brandmale release by German one man black metal project Melkor. A black metal release that opens up its compositions and instrumentation just enough to let in some room and really make it a hugely atmospheric album. One that also keeps the sound in check with everything old and ancient. Making Brandmale perhaps one of the best black metal releases you will hear before the sun rises in the west…

Bandcamp

Facebook

Crawling Chaos Records

Final Void – Symphony of Lies

Symphony of Lies is the lead single for the new album Visions of Fear by Finnish metal quintet Final Void. Released through Inverse Records, Visions of Fear features eight metal tracks (and a prelude) that move through the power, nwobhm and gothic environments. Clean vocals offset by some growling and grunting make it a highly diverse ride through the metal landscape. Kippis!

Homepage
 

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

Youtube

Inverse Records

Cales – Chants of Steel

After almost ten years of dormancy, the two-song vinyl single precedes the release of the seventh Cales album, entitled Chants of Steel. It features Blackosh and Hellbutcher from bands like Nifelheim, Root and Master’s Hammer. Epic, pagan, gothic and black metal all rolled into one. Or should we say all rolled into two tracks.

Bandcamp

Facebook

 

 Gears – So What?

Hard rock, groove metal and much of all that alternative rock shifted together into one catchy, pop sensible arena rocker. It’s Gears and their new single So What? The Florida trio knows their stuff and knows how to get you a rocking. So what if it sounds a little too much for the masses? So What? 

Homepage

Instagram

Facebook

Youtube

And just a picture of a lava fountain! Awesome!

Mothman and The Thunderbirds – Into The Hollow

 

 

Mothman and The Thunderbirds – Into The Hollow
Self-released – 2021 (May 21st )
Rock, Metal, Doom, Prog, Sludge, Stoner
Rated: ****

It won’t be released till May; but the debut full-sized album Into The Hollow by one man sludge metal project Mothman and The Thunderbirds is sure to kick some serious alien ass and chew bubblegum. And he’s all out of gum… Mothman and The Thunderbirds puts into music all those conspiracies, cryptozoology legends, fables and Ancient Alien theories we all love to hear about. Infused by all sorts of angst, anxiety and fear about what the future holds for this earth and humanity. The man behind the curtains in this instance is Alex Parkinson but he has implored the help of a bunch of guest vocalists and musicians. Extremely dynamic, the push and pull of both riffs and hooks takes his sludgy stoner metal to dazzling and prog influenced heights. Just over thirty minutes of prog and metal that uses a lot of his own growls; as well as other kinds of vocal treatments. And that might be the best aspect of the album; that with the help of all those other voices the album feels like one giant metal opera that masters like Devin Townsend and Mastodon are capable of. Just like the kind of abrupt Hollow Sun ending track; leaving you, feeling lost, trapped and almost at the end of your tether… Until you start the running Into The Hollow once again…

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

ShiMa – Vol.2

 

 

ShiMa – Vol.2
Raging Planet – 2021
Rock, Prog, Stoner, Instrumental, Metal
Rated: *****

Vol.2 was released at the end of January and is the second album by Portuguese trio ShiMa. They hail from the capital Lisbon and have produced a superb instrumental progressive rock record. They shimmy up to metal just as much as borrowing influences from the stoner and psychedelic rock environment. Opening track Shamash starts out slowly, with jazzy guitar work and a cosmic feel before slowly turning up the heaviness and letting it all rip. They return to the spacious composition throughout the track and effortlessly combine it with the more explosive parts. As they will continue to do on the rest of the album. But after the second track Iguana rolls out its tongue and melody, you know you are in deep and up the good creek. Starting with a great motif and excellent guitar colors; it turns heavy and fuzzy quick, and you can feel it all burn, melt and come together. It burns like that great golden orb in the sky! Even though you will wonder for a moment if you have heard it before you cannot escape the pull ShiMa exhumes and it will completely absorb you. And after this amazing track there are three more that will submerge and fulfill you to the very brim and then runneth over. Perfect headphone music for these dark times! Or blasting through a stereo while yer outside watching the stars wander by…

(Written by JK)

Homepage

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s 

Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week

Marty Friedman
Dali’s Llama
Mojave Lords
Kadavar
Amorf
Holy Monitor
Astraal
Shepherd
Blackened Blues
Acid Mammoth

Shepherd – First Hand

 

 

Shepherd – First Hand
Destruent Records – 2020
Metal, Alternative, Sludge, Stoner, Doom
Rated: ****

It came out digitally around the end of November last year and got lost in the huge amount of releases sent our way every day. Being the end of November and of course December does this even more to us because of our focus on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown at the end of every year. But we do revisit that huge pile whenever we have a chance and this time around we found something damn freaking good. It’s Shepherd and their debut release First Hand! Mentioning bands like Deftones, Mastodon, Alice in Chains, and Torche in the press release will definitely get ones attention once you start looking back through all those releases and they aren’t wrong in mentioning them although some of those bands are perhaps only heard in a detail or two. The trio from Denver, Colorado has the ability to really craft out headbanging atmoshpheres and atmospheres, their sludge metal incorporates just enough doom and stoner influences to set it apart from other bands. Making it all come together in mythos and with mythical inspiration. With a flawless separation between clean and distorted tones, gritty and delicate guitar colors the composition excel in those mid-tempo trudges, using the drums to stomp on the terra like a gigantic beast. Shepherd knows how to guide us through the wasteland. Cause they’ve experienced it First Hand… Damn good!

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Destruent Records

Bandcamp Destruent Records

Phantom Druid - Stages of Twilight

 

 

Phantom Druid - Stages of Twilight
Off The Record Label - February 2021
Doom, sludge
Rated: ****

Tjeerd de Jong is a one-man Dutch doom machine, spitting out classic, grimy doom as Phantom Druid. "Stages of Twilight" is his second full-length to date, and the doom is as potent as ever. The distinctive buzzsaw guitar tone immediately cuts through in opener "Far Beyond Oblivion", chugging along relentlessly with evil intent. De Jong's Ozzy-inspired vocals seal the deal, and the atmosphere is pure danger and gloom. Buried in the gravelly guitar and low end is also an unnameable weird factor in the vein of Cathedral, elevating the album to even creepier heights. Sounding fuller and somehow even heavier than previous releases, "Stages of Twilight" is a hulking step forward in weight and range. Case in point, the stomp of "Far Beyond Oblivion" is followed by the murky, slow as molasses "The Ultimate Grim". Complete with gothic strings and keening riffs, the track is simply epic. This diversity in de Jong's take on traditional doom is a running theme throughout the album, from the smooth and bluesy interlude "Shadow Tree Cross Roads" to the furious, whiplash-inducing second half of "Third Eye Sacrifice". Finale "Black Clouds, Silver Wings" brings it to a close with a bang, delivering a decidedly up-tempo, rocking number paying tribute to the Prince of Darkness's flashier days. De Jong has yet again raised the bar for what one man can do with doom, forging a woefully heavy sound rooted in the classics while carving it's own dark path.

(Written by Shastabeast)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Dali’s Llama – Dune Lung EP

 

 

Dali’s Llama – Dune Lung EP
Dali’s Llama Records – 2021
Rock, Stoner, Desert
Rated: ****

Part of the SoCal, Palm Desert scene, the Rancho de la Luna family and the entire magic boom that came from the desert: it’s Zach Huskey, his wife Erica and their outfit Dali’s Llama. DIY from the get-go, they’ve been around in one form or another for almost thirty years and their new EP Dune Lung is their fifteenth release. And whatever direction they’re heading on with each of their releases there is always a connection with the desert. This one however seems to be four tracks of unadulterated desert rock and stoner punk; giving us fuzzy grooves, sundried guitar tones and everything warm, windswept and dusty. Indeed, if you are in need of something truly desert then look no further than Dali’s Llama’s new EP. It’s only four tracks; but those four tracks will give you the perfect amount of that heavy goodness you all went out into the desert for in the first place. No exaggeration. None at all. Dune Lung EP is everything you love about the desert. It is the desert. And you know the desert. And there are spiders out there and they know us.

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Dali’s Llama Records

Soothsayer Orchestra – Soothsayer Orchestra

 

 

Soothsayer Orchestra – Soothsayer Orchestra
Lay Bare Recordings – 2021
Rock, Noir, Americana, Blues, Gothic
Rated: ****

Bandleader, augur, director, diviner, conductor, prophet, ringmaster and the man behind everything surrounding Soothsayer Orchestra is Pieter Hendriks. The name might ring a bell and you might know him from bands like Reaching Forward, Close Second, Born From Pain, The Orange Blossom Special and Black Bottle Riot. He left the comforts of hometown Eindhoven, his home and his musical buddies behind and travelled to a little caravan in the dark forests of the Eiffel, Germany to write this magnus opus. The dark, the loneliness and the ominous atmosphere is easily found on the nine tracks that make up this recordings. Dark stuff indeed. Rock noir, southern gothic and Americana filled with echoes of Nick Cave, David Eugene Edwards and Mark Lanegan. Clammy and oppressive atmospherics compliment the highly cinematic composition, making you envisions all sorts of dark movies and twisted scenes without ever knowing what film it might turn out to be. The songs would do just as well performed with a full orchestra in a worn down theatre, a dubious burlesque venue, a ruined colosseum or by the man himself in a ramshackle and smokey watering hole. Cause it sounds paradoxically enough complete, full, detailed and yet very barren and intimate. Hats off to maestro Pieter and his Soothsayer Orchestra…

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Instagram

Demon Head – Viscera

 

 

Demon Head – Viscera
Metal Blade Records – 2021
Rock, Doom, Occult, Proto, Gothic, Noir
Rated: ****

Demon Head has been making the Doom Charts with many of their releases and we’ve loved them all. So we quickly jumped at the honor to write the little blurb for their newest release Viscera. Those first Demon Head releases were much more lo-fi, occult and proto sounding. But don’t worry, the new album Viscera still retains some of that old Demon Head sound. But slower, much more intense and with a much grander arc and grandiose gestures. The atmospheric qualities have risen to cathedral proportions and the result is an unhurried, gothic, rock noir album with an everlasting mystical ambiance. There are some that might be taken aback with the new sound the Demon Head quintet seems to implore; but given time this new direction will surely captivate even the most reluctant diabolical soul. This is a showcase of atmospheric rock and moody doom; one that will slowly seep into your entrails and infect your blood and guts…

(Written by JK)

Homepage

Bandcamp

Facebook

Number 21 on the February Doom Charts

Amorf – Sirens of Salvation

 

 

Amorf – Sirens of Salvation
Self-released – 2021
Rock, Metal, Alternative, Stoner, Prog
Rated: ***

There’s six of them! Amorf features no less than three guitarists and of course the three other usual suspects. On their debut effort, Sirens Of Salvation the six German crazies move through the alternative metal landscape with incredibly diversity of speed and vocal style before slowly turning into something a bit more stoner and a lot more prog. Heavy pronounced segments emphasize those parts they love playing and will probably get every venue rocking; but during the slower and restrained parts we hear more of what Amorf can accomplish with the right amount of breathing room. It turns certain parts almost orchestral and symphonic, just listen to the seven and a half minute long track Mistreats and feel the band grow and balloon to gigantic proportions. And even with that touch of bombastic and grandiose it still sounds unpretentious. Shit, it’s simply put a very entertaining and admirable metal record.

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Pale Keeper – Pale Keeper

 

 

Pale Keeper – Pale Keeper
Self-released – 2021
Doom, Stoner
Rated: ****

Russia's Doom scene is a sprawling, myriad array of diverse bands, styles, regional flavours and accents (as recently showcased by the Doomed & Stoned in Russia compilation) and Moscow Doom trio Pale Keeper turn back the clock and wrench us back to the Old School proto-Doom of yore. Hefty doses of Sabbathian riffage tinder-spark the opener, "Tower Lord": A straight-up, no-messing up-tempo Blues bruiser with a real vintage guitar tone chugging relentlessly. "Sylvian", however, changes the mood entirely: Low-key, atmospherics and a funereal beat usher in a simple, repetitive refrain that serves as an intro to "Getting High" - a slow, menacing Iommian riff and slow bluesy solo turns into another mid-tempo Doomer - sharp, clear vocals cutting swathes through the grime and directing its power, finishing up with a fierce solo from Davydov on the kill-strings. "Emerald Grave" continues the slow, agonized Doom tempo, again with huge walls of Riff and THAT guitar tone commanding attention, weaving a melodic, melancholic journey into your mind. The aptly-titled "Placid" brings a blessed, calming finale to a work of great power and attention to sound. Pale Keeper have announced themselves on the Underground scene in great style!

(Written by Reek of STOOM)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s 

Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week...

Black Hatch
Lords Of The Opium Church
Demon Head
Grande Fox
Melvins
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets
Alice Cooper
Holy Monitor
Jumping Jack
Soothsayer Orchestra

Holy Monitor – Southern Lights

 

 

Holy Monitor – Southern Lights
Blackspin / Primitive Music – 2021
Rock, Psych, Kraut, Prog, Space, Ambient
Rated: *****

Greek five-piece Holy Monitor have been around since 2015 and delivers yet another brightly colored psychedelic nugget! It’s called Southern Lights and it shines like every crazy diamond you ever loved before. They make it sound like it’s all happening once again; that perfect era in music history; that lovely sixties and seventies vibe. The restrained virtuosity gleams with every casual ripple of sound. And only when listened more and often does the subtle brilliance open itself complete to your ears and to your heart. The worldwide influences breeze through every song like a warm draught. Turning a shiver in your bones into a reassuring warmth. Stunningly crafted compositions all turn into this mystical and magical journey that every time again seems to become this pure miracle of sunrise. Cause without the right amount of attention you might not notice how special this all is. Indeed, this makes me entirely and completely happy.

(Written by JK)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

Number 7 on the February Doom Charts!