The Countdown so far...

 

 

The Countdown so far...

So, here we are. Almost midnight. Almost time to announce the Number 1 album of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2023 according to 237 of you lovely heavy music fiends out there. All you crazies who had the time and energy to send their list to us. We thank you once again, cause without you all this could not be possible. And it is the reason Stoner HiVe started; all the way back in 2009…

Each year, we tip our hats and give a standing ovation to all those bands and artists that continue to amaze us all with the music they produce… Thank you all! From every inch of our being… And please, keep it coming! Cause we love it so hard!

But before we enter 2024; before we know the Number 1 album according to you all, let’s state a few things about 2023 and list all the albums that have been featured on the Top 20 Countdown of 2023. 23 of all those absolutely amazing albums that were produced this year, made it to the Top 20 Countdown of 2023. But the total list contains so much more! Almost 800 in fact! We shall publish the Numbers 21 to 100 soon enough. Personal lists of the Stoner HiVe Team will also go up next week. And this year, 6 albums received the The Red Lantarn. 6 albums, received one vote and on the 20^th position of someone’s list. So, The Red Lantarn post will follow shortly as well, cause you know, it might just be your new favorite album!

And now, before we start to tear up, profess out love for all that amazing music, from this year, yesteryear and the future once again, let’s run through the Countdown one last time and prepare for fireworks! Soon, we will know, what the Number 1 album is according to all you voters out there! Thanks you all again, and let's try and make sure 2024 will become the best year ever! Or at least the best year 2024 can be! Heavy, loud and amazing! The best of wishes for each and everyone!

1. ...

2. Green Lung - This Heathen Land

3. Domkraft - Sonic Moons

4. Hippie Death Cult - Helichrysum

5. Howling Giant - Glass Future

6. Acid King - Beyond Vision

7. Margarita Witch Cult - Margarita Witch Cult

8. Black Rainbows - Superskull

9. Saint Karloff - Paleolithic War Crimes

10. Dopelord - Songs For Satan

11. Fire Down Below - Low Desert Surf Club

12. Hail The Void - Memento Mori

13. Witchthroat Serpent - Trove Of Oddities At The Devil's Driveway

14. Rezn – Solace
&
Church Of Misery - Born Under A Mad Sign

15. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation

16. Ritual King - The Infinite Mirror

17. Mutoid Man - Mutants

18. Danava - Nothing But Nothing

19. Khan - Creatures
&
Rezn & Vinnum Sabbathi - Silent Future
&
Graveyard - 6

20. Tidal Wave - The Lord Knows

Number 2

 

 

Number 2

It’s the Silver Medal! The second spot on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2023 according to all your votes. It sits only eight points above the Number 3 album Domkraft and Sonic Moons. All those votes went out to a band that already made the Number 1 spot of the Countdown back in 2019, Number 5 in 2021 and now Number 2. It’s an album that everybody could only come to grips with for a month and which therefor only rose through the ranks as the votes came in. And on those final days, the album shot passed the amazing albums we already visited in the past few days. An album we must confess, once again, we did not click with as hard as we did with their earlier ones. I remember feeling a bit too much of a Ghost touch as we started getting acquainted with the lay of this new land. That feeling has somewhat passed after having the album on repeat for the past few weeks. And their crossing over a tad more to the metal side of classic hard rock has shown to open up their larger than life sound to even more euphoric choruses and even more dynamic interplay. You can hear they’ve been on the road for a while and saw what worked best live, incorporating so much of that experience and that energy into this new album might have tilted the album askew, perhaps my initial weirdness about some of it was stemming from this, but not for these five infidels, they land it beautifully. And we all now know that the next time they brings their ritual to avenue near you, you will need to participate. Missing them next year will be a holy sin…

On Number 2 we find…

Green Lung - This Heathen Land

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Nuclear Blast

Number 3

 

 

Number 3

Today we enter the Top 3 according to all of the votes that came in! We can’t thank you all enough for voting for and following the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2023! We love doing it and with the feedback we receive, we love doing it even more! So, thank you! And today, we jump almost thirty points from Number 4 to Number 3. Hippie Death Cult’s Helichrysum album missed the Bronze by almost thirty points. Their earlier album took the Number 1 spot on the Countdown back in 2019 and this one feels, in many ways, like a righteous continuation of that album. Seeds were planted and the new one feels like a blossoming of that sound into sonic and cosmic proportions. We wrote a few words about the album back in September, when it also took the Top spot on the Doom Charts. Where we wrote: “Their psychedelic doom, their highly fuzzed out take on it, with sludge tones and kraut hypnotism has always been a band that knew how to catch a groove and follow the flow. And where their earlier album perhaps started off a bit slower, a bit more open spaced, the new one makes its intentions clear from the start. The opening track, with its ominous riff, soon even denser and darker, before it’s allowed to open up, turns more galactic as we continue on and the vocals wind itself along the echoing guitar. And that cosmic edge, turns it all into something even more hypnotic than we are used to. Hypnotic, addictive and obliterating, this is the new galactic drug of choice for every heavy rock junkie…”

On Number 3 we find…

Domkraft – Sonic Moons

 

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Magnetic Eye Records

Review on Stoner HiVe

Number 4

 

 

Number 4

Almost fifty points. Before we enter the Top 3, we have a Number 4 to contend with! And it sits there, all seasoned and spicy after that almost fifty-point jump from Howling Giant on Number 5. We must confess, even though we immediately loved a track or two, three on this album, it has not been clicking with us as hard as their earlier releases. But that doesn’t mean it’s not good, cause those earlier albums clicked hard and apparently it clicked just as hard with all you lovely voters out there, cause it ended up on Number 4! They made the Top 20 Countdown before, all the way to Number 2 back in 2019 and their newest album ranked high on the October Doom Charts. A new drummer, a change in vocalists and almost no keywork changes the sounds; but not for the worse. It becomes more fluid and eclectic, grandiose without overstating it, subdued but never easy-going or laidback. The new drummer has a bit of a Ginger Baker kind of style going on and that guitar work seems to have blossomed by all the changes, more slow-burning riffs and smoldering guitar lines. And with the female vocals it sounds as if they’ve arisen like a phoenix, cast off shadows and that better days are ahead… Yes, and we all shall join their cult, cause just listening to the album while typing these words, its starting to click more and more, so I will be rocking this one until tomorrow’s sky…

 

On Number 4 we find…

Hippie Death Cult – Helichrysum


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Heavy Psych Sounds

Number 5

 

 

Number 5

Entering the Top 5 takes almost a hundred points jump from Acid King on Number 6. And here, at Number 5, we find a band that also made the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2019 with their album from that year. A cool Number 13 back then, but this new album steps up their game in a massive way and takes them to Number 5. Topping the Doom Charts back in October we wrote back then: “Getting bigger, better and bolder, the new album aims for a huge progressive future. There shall be no shattering of dreams here, we concur with everyone claiming this album to be a new step in the band’s progression. One that sets them on the same kind of pedestal as King Buffalo and Elder. And where those two bands take a more progressive or psychedelic approach respectively, these guys touch it all up with metal and something that sounds like pure punk determination.” Indeed, there’s energy here, a sonic kinetics that crackles and writes its own saga underneath the poetic fantasies recited, the tales told and the fables issued as a warning… For whatever the future might bring, this band will be there, with riffs a plenty and songs the more… 

 

On Number 5 we find... 

Howling Giant - Glass Future

 

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Magnetic Eye Records

Number 6

 

 

Number 6

It takes almost 60 points to jump from Margarita Witch Cult on Number 7 to reach Number 6! Where we find an album about which we wrote a lengthy piece about when it was released. And a band that made the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown before, back in 2015. And who certainly would have made it more times had we started sooner, since they only released one album since the HiVe started back in 2009. A band that has been putting out music since 1994 and was founded a year before that. And is still fronted by the same Queen. A band that delivered amazing stoner, metal and doom albums, that all meandered through the psychedelic landscape. High dependable and always delivering the good stuff. But with this new album, they go beyond all that. All those boundary markers from before are ripped out of the soil and not just moved but thrown into the endless void.
It’s a sonic trip that tries to make you envision interplanetary existence as well as the fact that linear life does not exist. Your path will swerve every which way but straight. And that is exactly how the music comes across, as an extremely dense, yet meandering path through the wasteland of existence. The moments of release, when inhibitions are elegantly stripped away and euphoria is on the brink of exploding, feels as much as those tab induced experiences, where you were an intrepid inner space wanderer, as music can possibly attain. But as we mentioned, there is light and vision, but also darker recesses that are more dangerous, thanks to that dense and doom approach. And then when it all ends, that final track, if there’s ever been a song in the stoner doom genre that represents that green light, that sense of hope and belief, that there can be a better future, that the journey to the unknown destination, might be fruitful, this is it. Heavily inspired by many space exploration movies and ideas, and the fact that the band makes it sound as big as the universe and thought provoking about human inner workings, is beyond… Many albums have felt like a small and logical step for the King, but this is a giant leap for the Queen…

On Number 6 we find...

Acid King – Beyond Vision


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Blues Funeral Recordings

Number 7

 

 

Number 7

A smaller jump of only twenty points today. We leave those fuzzed out stoner boogie superheroes called Black Rainbows on Number 8 to reach Number 7. Where we find the perfect reason to drink the Kool-Aid and join a proto doom cult! That is of course your first take and your first dip into the acid-soaked warm tub brought to you by this UK trio. And that obvious feral catchiness of something slightly occult and dripping with blood served on that first track, gets stomped by the fierce and high energy propellent that follows. And that’s where these boys seem to live, seem to fester like dream, somewhere in the middle between classic sounding proto doom, psychedelic meandering, stoner riffage and fast paced fuzz! And this is their debut album, the start of a cult, that will be grow into gigantic proportions before you can mix your favorite cocktail or get to that great sing-along part of that one Karma To Burn song… You know! 20!

On Number 7 we find…



Margarita Witch Cult - Margarita Witch Cult


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Heavy Psych Sounds

Number 8

 

 

Number 8

Merry Christmas everyone! And of course, you will be spinning that new instrumental Clouds Taste Satanic All I Want For Christmas Is Your Soul EP and yes, We Hunt Buffalo’s version of Mr. Grinch and De Staat’s Let It Snow! We always do. And so do you! Right?! And of course, the album found on the Number 8 spot of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2023 thanks to all you crazies that voted for it! We jump almost a hundred points from Saint Karloff on Number 9 to reach this album on Number 8. An album that has been on heavy rotation over here throughout the year, but which we neglected to write a few words about. Our sincerest apologies for that. They’ve made the Countdown during many editions, 15th in 2020. 15th in 2016 and 5th in 2015. They’re known for a majestic drive, and masterful groove and a high energy ride through the heavy rock genre! The cosmic ride! They’re superheroes in their own right! Superheroes of fuzz! On many levels a super continuation of everything they did before; and on every level a perfection of that super sound you love them to bring…  

On Number 8 we find…

Black Rainbows – Superskull



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Heavy Psych Sounds

Number 9

 

 

Number 9

We entered the Top 10 yesterday, which we did with Dopelord, and their Songs for Satan record. But now we continue with a definite bigger jump in points. Cause we jump almost eighty points to reach Number 9. Where we find an album that sat at the very top for quite a while when the first lists of votes started rolling in at the end of November. Their 2019 album came in fourth on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2019. But for their new album we wrote a few words back in August, where we commemorated that earlier album, the loss of one of their bandmates and the fact that we felt a whole freaking lot listening to this new album. Yes, quite emotional. Recorded by the two remaining members, the seven tracks offer a lot of psych and prog out of the proto era. They kick things off with a track, which arrives slowly but surely, before a juggernaut break and following doom nod commences. Which quickly flows away and turns into this sailing galleon that splits through the waves and sets you up for what this album seems to be all about. Keeping you on your toes and never continuing long with one set of rules. But never for one moment does the fluent breaks and changes tire, the band seemingly effortlessly skirts along all possible pitfalls when you aim to make your album as diverse and grandiose as possible….

On Number 9 we find…




Saint Karloff – Paleolithic War Crimes


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Majestic Mountain Records

Doom Charts – June 2023 - Number 1

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Number 10

 

 

Number 10

We enter the Top 10 by jumping 12 points from Number 11, where we found Fire Down Below. For this one we get back on that evil and ominous sounding streak, we go and sing praise to Shaitan! But even if this is some wicked an unholy doom, there is always something compelling and enthralling about this band. Especially live. And on this album, they seem to have captured that aspect of them better than ever. Touching on something stranger, some eighties things and often imploring a melody, a rise in tone that reminds you of something, hidden, somewhere deep in your brain. Earworms a plenty! And then there’s that one track, that does that same thing once again, but that for me personally at least, harshly rips you away from that doom trance state you were in, due to them vocals. But since music is always in the ear of the beholder, just like these worms, it might work out totally differently for you. Yes, in short, I’m not a fan of worms. But I am a fan of owls and crows, and they eat worms, when they’re hungry enough. So, just start over and have those birds in the intro set the scene…

On Number 10 we find…

Dopelord – Songs For Satan


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Blues Funeral Recordings

Number 11

 

 

Number 11

Number 11 sits thirty points above Hail The Void on Number 12! And hell yeah, it is yet another Ripple Music release. The label is known for its quality releases but has managed to do this year after year. Perhaps even exceptionally so this year? And well, this must mean the man behind it all must have a good nose for the good stuff. And signing this Belgian outfit to be released on the American label had to be done. For this album takes you on a trip to and through California! Which is an immediate give away of course. But this entire album is a dead give away for the love these four crazies have for the stonerrock of yore. Well, we wrote about it when it was released and it has been on heavy rotation ever since. “Well, they make their destination obviously clear with the second track of their new album. But you’re already getting a nice tan, you already feel the warm wind and the sun burn, yes you already feel like you are in California, USA from the first opening seconds of opening track Cocaine Hippo. How does a Belgian band from the lovely, but usually grey and drizzling city of Ghent, sound so much like their American counterparts? As if they were born in the American desert, moved to the Californian seaside and became surf dudes as well as desert punks...”

On Number 11 we find…

Fire Down Below - Low Desert Surf Club

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Ripple Music

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Number 12

 

 

Number 12

 

We make another jump of forty points from evil sounding Witchthroat Serpent on Number 13 to reach the band and their album on Number 12. Where we find another sound that has that ominous and wicked atmosphere. Another Ripple Music release and another one we mentioned on the HiVe back when it was released. Blood, sweat and intention are vital in music. Many of the albums produced simply wouldn’t work without the band believing in their cause. You couldn’t exhume a riff, grind a groove, or even lay your hands on a microphone to belt out some words without a firm trust in what you were doing. And this band has that and more to spare. The growth displayed when looking back at their debut from 2020, which was already damn impressive, is bordering on the insane. Or as we ended the little write-up back in March: “...On their sophomore album the band already sounds like they have arrived at their destination; and with that knowledge, it’s almost fearsome to think about what they might accomplish next. They might be able to get away with murder by the time we hear that third album…”

On Number 12 we find…

Hail The Void    - Memento Mori




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Ripple Music

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Number 13

 

 

Number 13

Another twenty points jump to reach lucky Number 13. Out on Heavy Psych Sounds released back in March, this fourpiece delivered an album that is doom in truly every sense of the word. Formed back in 2011, the band are known for their droning fuzzed out doom, their drums of doom and their unholy vocal lines of, well, you get the drift. And drift it does! Vocals that drag you along that doom trod around the cauldron, guitars that drift like ghosts of lost souls through the ominous night sky. And this fourth full-sized album defines their sound even more, turning their cultist touch into something you want to be a part of. The weight of this release, the drag and the hangtime is incredible, and offers more than those six tracks that plod out the destiny. This is that heavy doom smoke that swirls, with blood red coloring and offering a lingering smell of evil rituals…

On Number 13 we find…

Witchthroat Serpent - Trove Of Oddities At The Devil's Driveway


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Heavy Psych Sounds

Number 14

 

 

Number 14

Sixteen points. We jump sixteen points from KG&LW’s thrash metal odyssey to arrive at Number 14, where we find two albums by two bands. One of which has already been featured on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2023. Which is not the first time it has happened; King Buffalo managed to do the same for instance. But it still feels very special and seems like a testament to the fact that whatever the band is doing, it is definitely doing it right! It will move you with its cinematic ability and will give you respite in a world full of turmoil. Their version of cosmic doom, their high ambience of heaviness and the knowledge to go grandiose whenever the song calls for it, has turned their fourth full-sized album, this six-track adventure into a space you will want to inhabit and the sounds will inevitably inhabit you. The other album, sits on the opposite side of the scale. When you’ve been a household name for all the heavies and return with a new album after seven years, you know its gonna cause a bang. In this case it rang out like gunfire across deserted foggy streets. A story driven expose on (their favorite) murderers, serial killers and cult leaders and with the original founding vocalist back to tell those stories. They churn their doom into something sludgy and yet incorporating enough Sabbath touches to make these songs go boom. Explosive upon release back around June, your ears might still be ringing… 

On Number 14 we find…   

REZN – Solace

&

Church Of Misery – Born Under A Mad Sign

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REZN & Vinnum Sabbathi on Number 19

Church Of Misery Homepage

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Rise Above Records