Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

 

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

Lacing
Sinéad O’ Connor
PJ Harvey
Royal Thunder
Mojo Blizzard
Ajeeb
Sergeant Thunderhoof
Alain Johannes
Cavern Deep
Hail The Void

Lacing - Never

 

 

Lacing - Never
Elder Magick Records / Bummer Recordings / Handstand Records - 2022 / 2023
Shoegaze, Metalgaze, Dreampop, Postrock, Indie
Rated: ****

Out since July 2022, the album has just become available on beautiful pink swirled clear vinyl through Handstand Records. We’re talking about the five-track release by Chattanooga, Tennessee foursome Lacing. The release is called Never and offers you a pretty intense shoegaze ride, that borrows from grunge and noise, to produce something that borders on metalgaze one moment, postrock the next and even indie inspired dreampop a second later. I know, all these labels right? Useful shorthand in trying to explain what a certain album might be about, but sometimes also a hindrance and a bit debilitating. For the distorted drone, the psychedelic swirls present in opening track Day alone warrants labeling Lacing as a million other things as well. So, let’s just use them labels in whatever fashion we want and try and state what the five tracks on Never did for me. Autumn. Pictures of the fall will be blowing through your head, as their version of dreampop, sounds grayer and dustier then most other shoegaze releases. The slumbering tempo, strolling towards a rainswept corner of a street, where heated moments might be laying in wait, cause there’s something here that goes against the grain. But it’s like that foxtail grain, when it sinks its hooks in, you must keep following along. The amorphous, slowly rippling fields of melancholy mash only turn into a golden field of grass where one can lie down and dream off into neverland when we hit that middle track Windswept. Still immensely dense, this composition has the ability to clear your mind and serve you images of an Indian summer, that is, until those final echoing screams, and fade out distortion, bring you back from that little drowsy paradise. And then to slowly submerge that final track Dilate into a pool of doom, with an arc that becomes statelier with every second that passes, and a moody tenuity that simply seems to explode into the cosmos as the decibels go up and the distortion screeches everything to a halt. Stunning. We were going to conclude that Lacing's ability to make this kind of dreampop so interesting and engaging sets them miles apart from their contemporaries. But we must add that the final almost ten-minute-long track alone, boldly goes where very few dreampop and shoegazers have gone before. And we love it!

(Written by JK)

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Rest In Peace – Sinéad O’ Connor

Rest In Peace – Sinéad O’ Connor

Back at the end of 2011 I had the honor of interviewing her in a hotel overlooking The Tower Bridge in London. She was about to release her new album How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? and the day before she did a showcase for a lot of journalists and hardcore fans in an old church somewhere in London. A bit awkward and nervous, but then again, she almost always was on stage, there were songs that blew the crowd away. The Queen of Denmark cover by John Grant being one of them… The next day I had my interview time with her, and she was frank and open about her bad period, but also about how music had saved her many times in her life. And to think music came to her aid so early on in her life, for when she was five years old, wandering the streets alone, she was praying for help. That’s when she suddenly heard music in her own footsteps, and knew what she had to do, she muttered a ‘thank you’ towards the heavens. Today we’ve learned music did not come to her aid another time…

Thank you for your music dear Sinéad, may you finally find peace…

 

Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

Spoon Benders
Cavern Deep
Dead Canyon
Mudlarker
Black Air
King Howl
The Gray Goo
I, Captain
Moonshine Mojo
Dread Spire

King Fossil – King Fossil

 

 

King Fossil – King Fossil
Self released – 2022
Metal, Prog, Stoner, Alternative
Rated: ***

And older one, but a good one and one we can offer a few Bandcamp codes for. It’s King Fossil from lovely Canberra, Australia! And King Fossil delivers passionate, alternative metal. We get five tracks on their debut release, and they all deliver some off-center metal by way of progressive rock. And yes, there’s definitely some stoner influence and grunge to perceive as well. The thundering sound, often nineties reminiscent and then suddenly bouncing off a funkier approach or a more skater punk style, is able to boom tricky rhythms and opts for epic gestures. And even though the production and mix could use a little more precision and heaviness, the five tracks soon find a way into your heart. In a similar way River Runs Red did back in 1993. Not that I’m comparing the King Fossil album to that of Life Of Agony; but for some weird and possibly insane reason, I often drifted back to that era while listening to King Fossil. Far from lighthearted it does often feel playful, and that might be the best aspect of it all…

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Codes:

4cc6-yjds
4ss2-b6wd
c44d-xklc
ccsc-jyvw
sh44-gr6s
s4s4-3l9l
ss4h-cmgj
6u8h-wcsw
uwks-ccws
xpyp-wwdd
43wz-csdw
cxjz-xdss
c4gu-jdcd
ss43-bkwd
khs4-cstb

Black Air – Impending Bloom

 

 

Black Air – Impending Bloom
Self released – 2023
Rock, Post, Doom, Atmospheric, Jazz, Instrumental
Rated: ****

We have this huge Word file, counting over 60.000 words, about 2023, with reviews, mentions and little screeds, quite a large bit of which isn’t even finished. One that has been lying in wait for completion, since around February is Black Air’s Impending Bloom. And only now, as I re-write these first lines, do I see the poetic justice in that fact. Impending Bloom, has been spinning ever since that time though, always whenever the need arose to hear something that was able to paint this forlorn and nightly or blue hour before the dawn atmosphere and still able to conjure up feelings of something worthwhile, devious but meaningful lurking just around the corner. The Austrian quartet are highly skilled at providing you with a solemn soundtrack for a night of introspection, directing you, with gestures belonging to a slow waltz, towards a horizon filled with insights. The combination of post rock, doom, jazz, and all sorts of atmospheric influences, borrowing from folk and Americana as much as needed turns it all into a new kind of genre, you could be tempted to call it Alpine Noir. For much of it sound tall, huge, and yet so subtle and calm, like the mountains. Glowing yet chilling and when almost tortured chords howl across languid progressing and serene buzzing melodies, you feel much more and can see that even that blue hour before the dawn eventually gets brushed away by strokes of light…

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

Been a while since we did one of these. The last one was somewhere in April I guess. But it’s Friday now, so let’s get the fire burning with some Quick Fire Friday action! You know the deal, a small amount of words to help spread the good and heavy music that’s out there. Cause we realize there’s just so much out there! There is no way we can mention it all or even a small percentage of all that heavy stuff we all love. Well, this way, we hope to spread just a tiny bit more…  And we know… There is so much out there, so much good and heavy stuff, and we just simply cannot ever do it all justice. But here it is… Another Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday! And it burns hot like molten lava!

Orbital Escape System - 10.000 Tons in Zero Gravity

Been grooving hard to Orbital Escape System’s 10.000 Tons in Zero Gravity, single. The three from Brussels, Belgium take you with them on a wild adventure through the endless void. Spacious, psychedelic stonerrock, completely instrumental and highly evocative. Your feet will not be touching the ground for very long, indeed, soon you will take off and you will fly! Cause Orbital Escape System is damn fly! And they’re currently re-recording all their singles, and making them even flyer… For a full-sized album to come soon!

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Cult of Sobek – Cult of Sobek EP

What we have here… Is the debut EP by Edinburgh blackened death doom outfit Cult of Sobek. “Edinburgh-based crocodilian triumvirate, Cult of Sobek, emerged from subterranean swamps in the cursed year of 2022. Conjuring a hypnotic swirl of deep ritual rhythms, catatonic bass fuzz, and deliriously delayed six-stringed sorcery, the band channel the likes of doomed-out grandmasters; Electric Wizard, detuned fantasy colossi; Conan, and Sabbo-sludge Toad – Worshippers; Goblinsmoker.” And that my dear friends, says it all! Prepare yourself from some intense, dark, damp and extremely dank riffs, prepare to be submerged and swallowed whole by these three Cultists and their three songs!

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Massasauga - The Only Good Wizard is a Dead Wizard

We were too late coming to grips with the new Massasauga duo EP, otherwise we would have surely voted for it as well for the June Doom Charts. But luckily, enough Contributors did, reached the 24th spot and the honorable Frazer Jones wrote a few words about it. So, go on and read them if you haven’t already, cause we’re only going to add that we also hear this occult touch, of course thanks to the subject, but also because of the sound coloring. Proto metal, by way of blues, garage and something highly infectious! Damn good, damn fuzzy stuff!

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Punt – I’m Bad

A buddy of mine operate Trash Country Records, but this one comes out on Trash Casual Records. Brooklyn-based fuzz rock duo Punt, are excited to announce the Friday September 22nd release of their long-awaited sophomore album titled The Heat. But today they share the first taste of The Heat in the double-headed form of “I’m Bad” b/w ”Take Me Home”. And we’re sharing the I’m Bad video right here, right now! Completely fuzzed out garage, and gritty lo-fi punk! You feel that concrete heat, that summer in the city vibe…

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Damage Therapy – The Railyard

We love Kentucky! Lexington, Kentucky and the surrounding area has been sprouting great bands for the Heavy Underground for what seems forever. And new arrival, for me personally, is Damage Therapy, they’re about to release their third full-sized album called Panacea. It arrives in September, but the first single The Railyard is available right now! Fuzzy psychedelic garage noir and freak out stonerrock. Indeed, on The Railyard, Damage Therapy take on legendary proportions! But that’s only logical, cause they call their style of music: Myth Rock!

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The Heavy Minds – Predator

We mentioned their Names single just last week and mentioned they would release a new single called Predator soon… Well, the time has come! It’s here and we hear that crazy Austrian quartet called The Heavy Minds kick some serious psychedelic garage ass once again! The full record will be out on StoneFree Records, October 6th and will be called Beyond Gloom! But single brings id down to a different level, a bit proggier and bit laggier, this one spreads their sound all across the board. Dig it!

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Dark Dogs – Down By The River

Diesel blues out of France! Hardrock, grunge, stoner, they have their fingers in whatever heavy cake they could find! We’re talking about Dark Dogs, from Bordeaux. The four got something filthy and swampy going on, taking it back to the roots of the entire thing and deliver this Down By The River single with swagger and enthusiastic energy! Who let the Dark Dogs out?  

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Poste 942 – Fada Fighters

We saw a memory pop up about a little write up we did for their Long Play release back in 2017. So, yes, we’ve been following and digging those French crazies from Poste 942 for a long time. Recently their ranks we complemented by Virginie D and they released the very cool La Ligne. And now, they’re back with Fada Fighters! Opening with a My Sharona smash ‘n grab, the track speeding up later, kicking it in overdrive, punking your ears and skateboarding all over your soul! Before slowing down and taking it to the eighties and wave era… Fada Fighters is another Poste 942, 100 percent bio!

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Cavern Deep – Breach

 

 

Cavern Deep – Breach
Bonebag Records – 2023
Metal, Doom, Stoner, Psych
Rated: ****

They have the art of concept art down to an art and tattooed across their heart! Their debut album took you down with them towards the heart of darkness in a deep and perilous mountain, to search out the remnants of a lost civilization. They provided an album long psychedelic video for it a little while after, yes sir, a video 42 minutes long, covering the entire album, journey, and adventure. And now, Cavern Deep is back with the follow-up to that dangerous spelunker adventure. And not just a follow-up, a continuation, the sequel, part two, and it’s called Breach! So, once more… The cavernous doom provided by the three Swedes comes in six tracks and a seventh bonus track. The Attuning single featuring Thomas V Jäger from Monolord was released in December 2022 and actually serves as a bridge between the first album and the new one, acts as the bonus track and serves as a hairpin to start the journey all over again. Which you will undoubtedly do, for the damp and dripping doom, not only paints you a story, and provides the hollowed atmosphere, it also sets the mood and sends the right kind of shivers up your spine. The theatrics involved serve to lift the music up beyond all that’s doom and brings it into the light of something almost symphonic or operatic. Seeing something like this performed in places like Minack Theatre, in Penzance, England would be the dream. A dream with little hope of coming to fruition, I fear. So, for now, you will have to be contend with dreaming the story, which will remain mournful and without much hope as well. And even though through the ending track of The Pulse, with guitar work and keys that seem to let in some light, you will feel some peace come over you. There seems to be nothing left. Music that seems to perfectly translate dissolution. And Breach does that over and over again. The other track featuring Susie McMullan from Brume, Primordial Basin for instance, starts with a definite view over the underground basin, before the terror breaks loose, and rage commences. Both aspects of the story, effortlessly interpreted. Brilliant story, strong compositions, beautiful production, stunning vocals and instrumentation, the band delivered an amazing debut, but grows immeasurably on their second album. Hats off!

(Written by JK)

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Bandcamp Codes - Lamassu – Made of Dust

 

 

Bandcamp Codes - Lamassu – Made of Dust

We wrote a few words about Made Of Dust by Lamassu at the end of June and we are still spinning the shit out of it. We wrote something along the lines of this: "In all you get 1 hour and 8 minutes full of intense grunge, stonerrock, alternative rock and all with this doom inspired toning. Heavy on all fronts. Listening to the album, you can’t forgo the definite influences of both Soundgarden and Jerry Cantrell, in phrasing, color and rhythm choices."

And we ended that little screed with these few lines: “…cause even though the overall sound, is dark, compact, sorrowful, and introspective. The most surprising part of the album is perhaps the fact that this more than an hour long heavy and intense record, has me returning to it over and over again, longing to submerge myself in this world of dust…”

You can read the rest HERE…

And you can start listening over and over again yourself, cause thanks to Lamassu, we have a handful of Bandcamp Codes to give away…

REDEEM HERE

Codes:

tgde-6v8d
6u4y-v3h6
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g3yw-xy6d
2xkq-vr9h

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Dread Spire - Endless Empire EP

 

 

Dread Spire - Endless Empire EP
Self-released - July 2023
Sludge, Doom, Instrumental
Rated: ****

One of the heaviest EPs yet this year comes from an instrumental two-man unit with a heft that belies their numbers. Davis, California's Dread Spire lay down thick, grimy sludge that dense by even genre standards, quaking and rumbling with a physical weight that's conjured from an imposing effects setup for vocalist Richie's bass guitar, accompanied by an onslaught of drumming from Erol behind the kit. "Endless Empire" is their debut EP, but the musicianship and sonic largesse that's contained within certainly doesn't sound like a first effort. Across four tracks of doomed sludge, the duo unleash an avalanche of riffs and drums, with a burly but technical delivery that crushes and grooves without letup. The opening title track is case in point, a swirling vortex of drum work alongside the bass's heaving rhythm, spiced with an especially sharp, razor wire lick that cuts through the slabs of noise. A particular highlight of the EP comes in the clattering, almost ritualistic percussion in the latter half of "Inferno", across which squeals of feedback provide a sadistic respite from the track's careening swing. Dread Spire take their foot a bit off the aggro pedal in the second half of the album, delivering a slightly slower and doomier crush in "Green Mist" and the gothic-tinged keys of "Serpent King", though the frenetic riffage always lurks close by. "Endless Empire" is a massive debut in both sound and accomplishment, a statement of punishing purpose by Dread Spire as they bulldoze their way into the sludge scene with ease.

(Written by Kyle SB / Shastabeast)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

My Midnight Creeps
REZN & Vinnum Sabbathi
Benthic Realm
Motorpsycho
Megatheria
Aawks / Aiwass
Slomatics
Witchskull
Aathma
Maragda

Megatheria – Gateway

 

 

Megatheria – Gateway
Self released – 2023
Instrumental, Post, Rock, Metal, Prog
Rated: ****

Out since the end of May, Gateway, the five-track album by Denver, Colorado, USA trio Megatheria. The trio are experts at combining instrumental post rock with doom metal, and by way of stoner, progressive influences, and a bit of sludge to create this highly emotive atmosphere. It’s perhaps the most accurate word to use for the five tracks on Gateway, atmospheric. For they manage to create an ambiance, that can be so hypnotic and has you transferring the astral plane without you noticing that the next song is already done. The album flows so naturally and progresses through all the segments like a majestic storm of clouds, where the rumbles afar are shouted down by the rolling drums and crashes, as for instance in the beginning of third track Bathysphere. Which also sees them using this seventies copper colored guitar sound to bait the lightning bolts to strike that one bottle set up in the middle of the stage. And you can be sure that they managed to catch it, and watch it whizz around the bottle, it’s the sound you hear in the beginning of fourth track Hibernation. A gradual released ten-minute-long masterpiece, that will never put you to sleep, but instead will electrify your inner being. Gateway, is the debut record by the Megatheria trio, but it sounds like classic jewel, a crowning work…

(Written by JK)

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The Heavy Minds – Names

 

The Heavy Minds – Names

They’re about to release a new single called Predator… But we have not gotten enough from their earlier one and video called Names! It’s the quartet from Austria called The Heavy Minds, kicking some serious psychedelic garage ass and taking Names. Heavy acid blues, stonerized and filthy, but o’ so delicious! And just like you, after hearing it, and pressing repeat, one cannot wait for the entire album to be unleashed!! Out on StoneFree Records, October 6th and it’s called Beyond Gloom!  

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REZN & Vinnum Sabbathi – Silent Future

 

 

REZN & Vinnum Sabbathi – Silent Future
Blues Funeral Recordings – 2023
Rock, Metal, Doom, Stoner, Psych
Rated: *****

I was so lucky to see Vinnum Sabbathi live on Sonic Whip Festival this year, where they majestically showed, with intense concentration, that when these Mexicans play live, they exhume sheer power and control. And the moments when they let loose, the chaos that results is always exactly the way Vinnum Sabbathi wants it to flow and sound. Controlled, powerful chaos, like a perfect swirling Taoistic ritual. To hear them now team up with REZN, feels like a match made in heaven. Especially since this is not a split album as you might expect. No, this is a collaboration that preys on the best aspects of both bands. We get seven intense tracks that feel as expansive, cinematic, and forceful as anything Vinnum Sabbathi might produce and as atmospheric, post rocking, psychedelic and wild as REZN’s, only a few months old, own album Solace. There’s such beauty and honesty at work here, that there’s no other word for this than: art. The two bands manage to weave an intricate and extremely detailed psychedelic tapestry that feels like you are on a majestic adventure into the outer reaches of everything. For this isn’t just a cosmic trip, there’s something that seems to focus on hyper reality. Complex, yet highly transparent, the merging of both worlds begins with Unknown Ancestor right after opening intro Born Into Catatonia. Which, in itself, sets things up with a fluid, earthy and rising tone, that becomes more cosmic as it rises and in the end is complimented by a voice, sound effect, snippet of an astronaut ready for exploration. Perfectly executed, and in such a way I was searching for which obscure science fiction movie it originated from. But finding out it is all original work, provided by Manuel Wohlrab from German outfit Yanos and Zone Six. Incredible! And then it continues in that following Unknown Ancestor track, on top of a flowing guitar line and elegant keywork, before drums and vocals take over. The buildup of those two tracks is so exquisitely done, you become so anxious to hear it all, the giddy anticipation growing by the second. Describing what follows will always fall short of the level of detail that went into Silent Future, just continue on to that third The Cultigen track, so peaceful and luscious, with so many brilliant layers; that it feels like you can actually see the glittering diamond in front of you and you are dazzled continuously. And the fact its offset to an in part bleak outlook on the future, enhances that sparkling and twinkling even more. Hypersurreal might be the doomiest track on the album, but even in those darkest moments there is so much light and air to make it all breathe and shine. Clusters serves as the perfect atmospheric and psychedelic intermission, to let the heaviness of Hypersurreal fade away and prepare yourself for the rising following track Morphing. That early guitar work, in a precise and pointillism-esque way, accents the roving melody. Vocals ascend on top of it all, and those drums propelling it all towards a distant sphere, but where you expect it to really explode near the end like a cosmic cataclysm, it does not so much as explode, but more breakup, into a million pieces, fracturing and fraying and drifting away into the endless void. The final track Obliterating Mists oversees the fragments, captures the whole and watches as history turns into the future, moves through all sorts of euphoric aural states. And why these two bands together merge so well, or why this album seems to perform miracles at every miniscule moment in time, is a mystery. This is the mystery that keeps me needing. And this is an album where words like masterpiece fall short as qualification.

(Written by JK)

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Maragda – The Reckless / Evil Seed

 

 

Maragda – The Reckless / Evil Seed
Spinda Records / Nafra Records – 2023
Rock, Prog, Psych, Garage, Stoner
Rated: ****

I thought something might be wrong with my socials. For when I went to look for the Facebook page for Maragda, to put as a link underneath these few words about their latest single The Reckless / Evil Seed, it looked like they only had 85 followers?!? That is simply not possible! And then we found out they lost control of their earlier page… So, everyone out there, visit their page and give them some love! Cause everyone I know fell in love with their self-titled progressive and psychedelic masterpiece from 2021. We wrote quite some words about it, which you can read here. Or you can just continue reading up about The Reckless / Evil Seed, cause we’re already pretty late writing this one up. For they released these two tracks early June. But as you know, there’s so much great stuff released on a daily basis, we can’t cover it all, or on time. We simply try to do our best. And so does the trio from the Barcelona area in Spain called Maragda. The Reckless starts the single, it’s a rush forward, a smash ‘n grab beginning that reminds of metal love, speeds like garage and glides like a psychedelic smoke swirl. Especially that guitar, furiously riffing when it all begins and after a while wailing out, wilding away and going all out freak. Sublime stuff! Evil Seed continues this two-track single’s enchanting beauty, the vocal melodies and the harmonies really stand out on this one. Grungier, this track bounces back from all the walls around you and give it that rounded atmosphere. Something they also excelled at on their self-titled album. Choppier drums, floating vocals, throbbing bass work and electrifying guitar, Evil Seed gives you all you need. And these two tracks do give you two sides of Maragda, both of them adding to the kaleidoscopic poetry of these three individuals. Delightful and it once again warrants everyone falling in love with Maragda…   

(Written by JK)

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Codes:

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Aawks / Aiwass – The Eastern Scrolls

Aawks / Aiwass – The Eastern Scrolls
Black Throne Productions – 2023
Rock, Metal, Stoner, Doom, Psych
Rated: ****

We thoroughly loved Wayward Gods, but never got around to writing something about that damn fine Aiwass release. We did profess our love for (Heavy On The Cosmic) by Aawks though. So, I hope we can be forgiven for missing out on jotting down some words about Wayward Gods, which brought all the heavy riffing you could want, that gloomy doom approach for rhythms and that occult touch to make it all blood curdling and unsettling. But as both bands teamed up for a split album, we sort of hope to make up for it by mentioning their split album called The Eastern Scrolls. A concept album that explores the life and legend of Russian mystic Madame Helena Blavatsky. A woman who enjoyed a diverse career as a circus horse rider, a professional pianist, a business woman, and a spiritualist, Madame Helena Blavatsky is best known as one of the founders of Theosophy, a spiritual movement based in the ancient tradition of occultism, and the esoteric doctrines of Hermeticism and Neoplatonism. So, the perfect subject for both bands. Starting off the split is Aawks with the fourteen-and-a-half-minute long track 1831. The year in which Madame Helena Blavatsky was born. A track much denser and doomier than what was served on (Heavy On The Cosmic), but still retains that cosmic touch, much indebted to the soaring vocal lines. And then as that doom gets louder and slowly distorts towards an explosion, it unexpectedly turns into this psychedelic folk inspired esoteric and highly atmospheric slow moving narrative. A bit like you are suddenly stuck inside a painting by Konstantin Korovin or Konstantin Gorbatov, shimmering impressionistic mirroring, that seems to obscure the hymn in her honor, although the ending segment is not only ghostly, but harrowing, eerie and the stuff of nightmares. Aiwass follows this with their track The Unholy Books, seeming to answer the question you had about what you were hearing at the end of 1831, those summoned spirits, that evil energy. A guitar that sounds like a ripple in an underground pool, slowly casting shadows through orphic vocals and those lumbering drums, as if the boat you are in passes along rows and rows of columns in a deep and hidden cistern. That gets loud and opens up, after the two-and-a-half-minute mark, turning it all into a gigantic and doom clad basilica. But that flow, that watery and quicksilver atmosphere endures and permeates the entire track. Even after the eight-minute mark, when the flowing guitar gets submerged by riffs and a more distorted drift. And then it drifts, ever more grandiose, until that final note that dies away. Leaving you alone with your thoughts, The Unholy Books opened in front of you and all the candles that have all turned to wax… As have I, for these two bands and their split album: The Eastern Scrolls…  

 

(Written by JK)

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Motorpsycho – Yay!

 

Motorpsycho – Yay!
Stickman Records – 2023
Rock, Psych, Prog, Folk
Rated: ***

Nay! Oh, no, did I just give away, our most enduring thought about the new Motorpsycho release Yay! We love so much of what Motorpsycho has put out over the years, we sort expect to fall in love with whatever the boys in Norwegian sweaters think off next. The first hiccup was with their last release Ancient Astronauts. Which was or was not already a pandemic album, well Yay! apparently needs to be interpreted as one as well. Locked out of touring and locked in their studio, they went to work on something much more intimate, often fragile, light and retro. And as the final album with drummer Tomas Järmyr it will sit there as the album that charted a different course, if that course remains true on following albums, remains to be seen. But for now we get a lot of acoustic guitars and drum work of a different kind. Often using whatever lay in reach for percussion so it seems. A lot of folk, the campfire kind and fading polaroids filled with their love for sixties pop and sixties rock. And then there’s the beautiful, one of a kind, theatrical, grandiose Hotel Daedalus, that marries what you heard in the songs prior to the progressive side of them we all know so well and love so dearly. Of course earlier on in the gigantic Motorpsycho discography they did deviate and vary more, and this album seems to harken more towards a few of those past albums, from some twenty or more years ago. Was it time to revisit those styles they loved and used in the past? Or was there simply time, for this once, because of the lockdown, to do that? Whatever the case, Hotel Daedalus, with its gigantic chandelier as center piece in the lobby, its sweeping orchestral elements seems to bring more to the table then the rest of Yay!

(Written by JK)

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Wizard Tattoo – Fables Of The Damned

 

 

Wizard Tattoo – Fables Of The Damned
Self-released – 2023
Rock, Metal, Stoner, Doom
Rated: ****

There's three things in this world that you need: Respect for all kinds of life, a nice bowel movement on a regular basis, a navy blazer, and a Wizard Tattoo. Errr, there are four things in this world you need. Out since the end of June, the new Wizard Tattoo album Fables Of The Damned. The one-man project by Bram The Bard, where the man issues his wisdom through riffs and parables. For the man is a storyteller, a master at making clashing patterns, weaving flourishes of country and Americana expertly into his metal, his doom and his ability to deliver a haunting melody. On paper it shouldn’t work, a four-and-a-half-minute slow, almost spoken-word piece, that trickles like a brook through the rocks. But there is something truly hypnotic and grandiose about that middle track Any Which Way But Tuned, which seems to borrow as much as it can from folkloristic songs from across the globe, and by way of repetition turning it into this highly evocative legend. It’s so different from what came before, all that eighties reminiscent metal, that some might not see the strength of that one piece alone. And then to follow that with the most doom track, The Ghost Of Doctor Beast, a slow-moving beast, pushed forward by intense riffs and decapitated by wonderful key work at the very end. Talking about ends, he finishes this tome filled with Fables Of The Damned with an instrumental called Abendrote. An acoustic, symphonic-esque, end titles accompanying song that sees the hero, villain or sole surviving Wizard disappear over the horizon… As the sun slowly sets…

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

Saint Karloff
REZN & Vinnum Sabbathi
Karavan
Lore
Moonshine Mojo
The Cult ov Crowley
The Slow Voyage
Outer Head
Eight Foot Manchild
Pire

The Doom Charts For June 2023

 

 

Doom Charts

“Heavy music will not be contained. Heavy music breaks free. Heavy music expands to new territories. It crashes through barriers. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But, err, there it is, heavy music finds a way…”

~ Ian Malcolm

Here we are with the brand-new June 2023 edition of the Doom Charts. Featuring no less than 40 fresh and minty albums. Quite a few self-released albums charted the Top 25 this edition, which always warms our heart. But to our regret and sorrow we must lament, quite a few albums that aren’t featured on Bandcamp are also high on the list. We don’t want to keep singing the praise of Bandcamp continuously, but it works like a charm and has become a definite cornerstone of the Heavy Underground. Right? So, we do wonder why those bands do not take advantage of said platform. It’s another and much-loved way to get the word out on your glorious new album. But hey, those albums which can be heard online, can be heard online here, just scroll down and press play on all those thirty-six amazing new albums. Cause they rose to the top of 272 albums that received votes this month. And those other four? Well, the cool Rob Hammer features one on his Youtube channel… Another one can be found on Headbanger Channel and for the others, well, the Heavy Underground will find a way… Cause heavy, errr, all good music always finds a way…

It's got a bite and it's got a bark! And no, it's not a dinosaur... It's the June 2023 Doom Charts!!

And featuring at least 13 albums I voted for... To wit: Saint Karloff, BLACK RAINBOWS, Snakemother, Lamassu, Queens of the Stone Age, Mammatus, ROYAL THUNDER, Yawning Man, mouth, The Dirty Seeds, RIVAL SONS, From The Ages & New Dawn Fades...

Gonna be listening to The Slow Voyage now and working my way all the way to Number One in the next few days...   

Welcome to Doom Charts, representing some of the finest bloggers, journalists, radio, podcasters and 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 Charts For June 2023

Eight Foot Manchild - Shrine Of The Orange Sunn

 

 

Eight Foot Manchild - Shrine Of The Orange Sunn
Self released – 2023
Rock, Metal, Doom, Stoner, Funk, Brass
Rated: ***

The energy is palpable, insane copper colored heavy jazz music spills out through the opened windows of a run-down bar on the dubious side of town. The crowd in front of the window bounces wildly, spills beers, smokes cigarettes, and watches how a brass band inside blows perfect poetry, accompanied by filthy guitar and even grimier drums. About to be released upon all your unsuspecting, lucky souls, the new Eight Foot Manchild EP, Shrine Of The Orange Sunn! The title track can already be heard on their bandcamp site, but the other three tracks of this EP will be out July 14th! And will send a shiver down everyone in the Heavy Underground once again! Cause it’s your one and only doombrass band back and ready to whip you into a frenzy! Si senor, their Captain Beefheart styled combination of doom and funk, with this highly invigorating brass sections, will rise the temperature wherever you might be listening to this little ditty. The four tracks of Shrine Of The Orange Sunn will be as enigmatic and artsy as they come, and those little influences of jazz, blues, and even triphop turns this experiment into one hell of an eclectic adventure. And even though most of you already got acquainted with the doombrass that Eight Foot Manchild delivers, this little gem might once again take a few moments to get accustomed to. But once it lands, you will join with all the other spectators as the band makes its way outside, and starts the wildest second line parade ever witnessed in this part of town…

(Written by JK)

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Onda - Ancients

 

 

Onda - Ancients

Straight from the province of Cesena, Italy comes fourpiece Onda. Featuring Maurizio Morea on guitar from Olneya, the wonderful vocals are provided by Erika Maffi, bass work by Niccolò Piani and on drums Loris Rinaldi. Together they produce this sound you could characterize as alternative nineties and the emotive metal from that era. They released their first single and video Ancients a few months ago and if this is a promise for future songs, it promises a lot. A touch of gothic, prog and post rock give it this intense and epic atmosphere. Can’t wait to hear more!

Their own words:

ONDA was born in 2021 in the province of Cesena, the coming together of 4 musicians, each with different musical backgrounds, from metal, hardcore grunge to hard rock and stoner. The groups' sound is a mix of distorted Guitar and psychedelic delays, deep metallic bass, feminine vocals and rhythmic hard rock. The songs, cover current themes and describe the individual journeys.

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