Stoned Jesus – Songs To Sun

 

 

Stoned Jesus – Songs To Sun
Season of Mist – 2025
Rock, Prog, Stoner, Metal 
Rated: *****

I don’t do this often, but this time around I was reading through the promo email as I heard the first tones of the New Dawn track caress my inner ears. My eyes stumbled and I almost spit my coffee out when I read the lines: “The album is the first in a trilogy that will span the different phases of Stoned Jesus.” Holy hell! Holy Jesus! We’re getting three Stoned Jesus albums in quick succession! My mind then drifted back to the one that came before, called Father Light. 

And I remembered that this also was supposed to be a diptych with Mother Dark being the other panel to that album. But relocation from war torn Ukraine and founding man Igor Sydorenko forging ahead with two new members in the Stoned Jesus team turned that other album into a relic of different times and something painful. And with Father Light shining with hope, that feeling, felt more important to grasp on to and bring out into the open. At least that is my interpretation. 

For Songs To Sun is definitely that. An open album, full of open compositions that seems to glow with sweet sorrow and hope against better judgment. The drizzling tones that permeate third track Lost In The Rain slowly turning to a sanctified staircase to take the rain back up again perhaps being the best example for this. But there is heaviness and thunder and a booming groove. Following Low for instance is all that. Perfect contrast to that glow, Low offers a descent and a perfect contrast to the light that came with Lost In The Rain. Contrast, something Stoned Jesus always have been masters of, but with Songs To Sun and their ever more progressive future, it has become their calling card. Low turning a momentary black metal corner within its progressive structure is a scintillating underlining of that statement. 

And you’ve heard the Shadowland single. Which delivers on contrast, light and dark. It hands out its progressive stoner, the heavy groove and catchy vocal work with such careless ease that it makes the entire track sound simple. But its composition, the builds, the bridge, the doom toned touches is anything but simple. Turning the intense into something so enchanting takes skill. The same can be said for the closing track Quicksand. Built around a simple riff, rhythm and bass pace, to which it all keeps returning, it’s the lyrics that inevitably pull you in and along. And in all its emotion and atmosphere it becomes the darkest song on the album, hinting at the depression that might have been the foundation for the track and the album that is slanted to be next in the trilogy. It’s a track that offers no escape and drags you down with it. And you will let it, and by screaming along with the words, it will turn into a cathartic experience, offering you respite from becoming what you hate the most… 

(Written by JK)

You can listen to the first two singles now and be ready for the full album on September 19th!



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Season of Mist

Stoner Hive’s Quick Fire Friday

 

 

Stoner Hive’s Quick Fire Friday 

Here we go! A Friday like any other, but then again, a special one for we managed to get one of those Quick Fire Friday’s out again! Yes, we think we’re special! But so are you! And so are all the bands featured on this little shish kebab! All sizzling hot! And we know, we should do more… For there is so much great music out there, and we cannot ever do it all justice. So we came up with a way to shoot out a quick blurb and hope it will entice you to listen to the single or the entire discography! So here it is… Another Stoner Hive’s Quick Fire Friday ! And it burns hot like molten lava!

 

 

 

Depiedra – Nuestra Tierra

Your stonerrock muscle memory will immediately shoot in the direction of Queens Of The Stone Age by hearing that opening salvo of the new Depiedra track Nuestra Tierra. The steamy Chilean quartet is back with a scorcher. And very soon there will be more of this holy, wholesome and atavistic stonerrock fire coming our way! For the release of their Las Eras album is just around the corner... 

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 Jamie Zarfas – Vacant Stare

Multi-instrumentalist Jamie Zarfas has a project called Dreaming Apparition featuring poet Shane Beck and Kevin Erhardt-Hansen delivering all the music, except for the guitar and bass. And on Vacant Stare the three produce a psychedelic and mostly ambient trip. World music influences, jazzed up progression and freak out guitar work set you up for the astral poetry Shane Beck is known for. Mind music for the open minded! 

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Mud Valley – Mud Valley

The sleepy village of Dourdan, France is home to five-piece Mud Valley. After having played in various other bands, they’ve been jamming together for some three years and they recently released their first three track self-titled EP. Stoner, doom and sludge all mixed like a dirty bucket of slush, it oozes and it slithers and it slides its way into your head. Still somewhat of an enigma online, when the EP was released they are slowly creeping out of that void, and will drag you with them back into the swamp… Where they lick and dance with the hypnotoad! 

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 Alien Sun – Seconds To Midnight

Alien Sun is the project by Italy born Fabio Epifani. Now living in London, the multi-instrumentalist delivers this new Seconds To Midnight album as a sonic translation or everything surrounding the seemingly inevitable end of everything. The Doomsday Clock moves ever closer to midnight, and the decline of everything human is ever felt. Progressive and post-rock clash with touches of doom, stoner and freak metal. Fusion of the heavy and harrowing kind! 

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Maliciouz – Tortoise

Maliciouz is another one man operation for ya! And Tortoise is his newest release. Michael "Maliciouz" Muckow is responsible for all Guitars, Bass and Drums and stomps it all down like glacial moving doom. A bit of funeral marching and some sludge molasses and you quickly get the idea the album title wasn’t chosen at random! It’s instrumental and that leaves room for your own wailing. And after almost an hour of plodding movement the light of the guitar in The End feels like the perfect finale to the crossing you've made… 

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Scorched Earth – Bloodspill EP

If you’re in the market for some grainy yet melodic, progressive death metal, look no further than Scorched Earth! The Greek five piece turn their modern sounding metal into something groovy and implore touches from early nineties and late eighties whenever the track calls for it. A thirty second intro kicks off the EP and the five tracks that follow make the Bloodspill EP blast by… 

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Buzzards of Babylon – Ancient Machine

Back in May they released the first single Molten Bigfoot for their upcoming EP or album. And back in July they dropped Ancient Machine. It’s the Buzzards of Babylon, and the five from Fife, Scotland are finally working on a follow-up to that full-sized Micrometeoroid Modulation album from 2018. At least, we hope something more is in the works, for their stoner metal incorporates the perfect amount of nineties and southern styled metal, which means it’s got groove, style and a lot that will have you thirsting for more… 

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Gnarwhal – Circuits

And we end this enticing Quick Fire Friday with a big teaser… But hey, September 10th is just around the corner. And that as it turns out, is the release date for the new Gnarwhal single Circuits! You know the band! They delivered that awesome Altered States EP last year. And this one single is already carrying over so much of that heavy goodness, one cannot help but feel giddy with anticipation for what might be in store next. The almost five minutes long Circuits has an enigmatic and atmospheric soaring lead, while underneath you get this gnarly and crunchy power riffing. And with that ambient ending, it sounds like something highly enveloping might be in the works… A teasing end of this Quick Fire Friday and a cliffhanger for the full-length album coming March 2026. Go check out Altered States now and check back for Circuits in a few weeks.. .

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Toilet Snake - Back From The Sewers

 

Toilet Snake - Back From The Sewers

The Toilet Snake EP Back From The Sewers is out and spreadings its reek! The stank wafts up from down below, as the riffs bite and the vocals gnaw at you. This is the thrashy sludge, punked out doom and brutal metal that is as relentless as it is noisy. This is no easy flush, it sticks everywhere and demands your attention. And that makes the thirteen minutes of heaviness all the more rewarding! Toilet Snake is Back From The Sewers and ready to strike! 

PR Wire: 

Toilet Snake is a three-piece sludge-doom powerhouse delivering raw, unrelenting heaviness straight from the depths of Milan. With Marco ripping through guitar and vocals, Davide crushing the bass, and Giacomo beating the drums like they owe him money, their sound is unapologetic and filthy. No gimmicks—just crushing riffs and unstoppable grooves.

Hailing from Italy and drawing inspiration from the NOLA scene, Toilet Snake has been crafting their abrasive sound since 2019. Their self-titled debut album, independently released in 2022, gained underground acclaim and was reissued in 2023 by DHU Records (Netherlands) as a sick limited-edition vinyl. The re-release, featuring artwork by renowned artist ZZCorpse, became an instant collector's item.

Critics and fans alike praised their debut: JJ Koczan of The Obelisk described it as “a beast of classic heavy riffing and sludgier intention.” Weedian, a cornerstone of the stoner/doom community, featured Toilet Snake in its Best Releases Spotify playlist and Trip To Italy compilation, a showcase of Italy’s finest stoner and doom acts.

BACK FROM THE SEWERS

Toilet Snake’s latest release, a four-track EP titled "Back From The Sewers", pushes their signature sound into even darker, grittier territory. Incorporating hardcore and punk elements alongside their sludge roots, the EP pays homage to the pioneers who shaped their musical path. Unpredictably faster and heavier, this new work pushes their raw energy further while staying true to their uncompromising attitude.

Back From The Sewers features striking cover art by visionary artist sandyrezalmi. The new release will be out digitally across all major platforms on 29 August 2025, followed by a limited 10” vinyl edition soon. 

Tracklist:
1. C-section (3:29)
2. Back from the Sewers (3:32)
3. A Mountain Cold and Grim (3:14)
4. Sentinel (3:10)

Toilet Snake is:
Marco Ziggiotti - guitars/vocals
Davide Ratti - bass
Giacomo Caiazzo - drums

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Baba Sad – Öfke Hediye

 

 

Baba Sad – Öfke Hediye
Self released – 2025
Rock, Punk, Garage
Rated: ***

Fury, and intense anger, screamed at full force in your face! It’s not until the third song Kendin Ol that Baba Sad vocalist Dehan Kılınçarslan tones back on the force for a moment, a sentence or two. Three Turkish punks that scream about dented souls and the cruel society that produces them. And where many of these powerful punk albums usually become blunt because the walls of guitar noise keep up a same dulling effect, Baba Sad knows when to pull back on the force and opt for a bit of subtlety. And that’s when the groove picks up, takes over and has you dancing and jumping like a madman awaiting that moment when the walls come back in and tower over you. Case in point, the thrashy fifth track Ruşen, so wild, so fast and so furious. These young Turks throw caution in the wind, meaty bass work all over the place and high energy drum work that is always revving up your anticipation. Six tracks and almost twenty two minutes of sweat dripping punk, raw and intense. And this kind of music needs it raw, bloody raw…  

(Written by JK)

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Wucan – Axioms

 

 

Wucan – Axioms
Long Branch Records – 2025
Rock, Hard, Prog, Seventies
Rated: ***

The eighties and seventies surge, sliced through by an opening flute and then immediately the thunder of bass and drums. The guitars join in and then something strange happens. For a moment you wonder if the mix has gone array and the vocals got lost somewhere in there. But no, this is the way Wucan vocalist Francis Tobolsky sings. It’s all over the place and sometimes seems to skirt the corners of control or even the pitch of hearing. Both low and high. It’s wondrous but it might take a moment to get used to it. Although after hearing the full album Axioms, you will come to realize that the main wobble lies in opening Spectres of Fear and that perhaps the terror and anxiety are translated in that way as well. But yes, the vocals, they are different and even get a German treatment on Holz Auf Holz. And as you are enjoying Axioms and you think Wucan is navigating safely through the waters of the seventies hardrock and prog, they produce some electronic elements, which give the composition a touch of space and krautrock. For even though the use of flute will remind of Focus and Jethro Tull, the Wucan four throw entirely different curveballs. Bombastic or danceable, they can move through all avenues with a stage conquering attitude. And then there’s the, despite the subject, very soulful disco tune Wicked, Sick and Twisted. Which, like the KTNSAX track, is as funky as they come in the heavy landscape… Well, if this fourth Wucan album is offered up as a starting point for further diving into earlier Wucan albums and all that might come in the future, it defies rebuttal. And the proof lies within all eight songs… 

(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…

Black Charger
Slomatics
Paradise Lost
Glenn Hughes
Sunniva
Waste Cult
Muffasonic
Bask
Wąż
Blood Vulture

Good afternoon! Hope y’all had a great weekend and a lovely week ahead of you… Had me some great fun at the Down The Hill Festival. Superb vibes, great gigs and amazing people! Finally got to shake hands and share stories with the one and only Roberto Lucas from DenpaFuzz and was incredibly happy to meet Roman Tamayo from Vinnum Sabbathi once again. The man stayed behind as the rest of his band returned to Mexico, just so he could visit Down The Hill Festival and see Neptunian Maximalism. I’m sure he wasn’t disappointed! What a show! But then again, most bands delivered stunning sets at Down The Hill Festival. It’s deadline week for me, the rent-paying stuff that is. So, little time to HiVe we reckon… But if you haven’t already, you can scroll back and read about Black Charger, Muffasonic or Castle Rat. Great albums! All of them and most of them are on the verge of being released. So, check’m out! Check’m all out! 

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Week 34

Black Charger – Small Town

 

Black Charger – Small Town
Clostridium Records / Broken Music – 2025
Stonerrock
Rated: ****

This is stonerrock. The primordial kind. The one that was born when the Kyuss punks decided to start doing their own thing. And there isn’t any doubt in my mind that you, reading these words, love Kyuss and that the boys from Black Charger love Kyuss and that you can hear everything you love and they love about Kyuss in the sound of these new punks that started jamming under the name Black Charger. Yes! This is the sandblasted, scorched, stonerrock straight out of the desert variety. But Black Charger hails from Osnabruck, Germany and the three are about to release their first album Small Town through Clostridium Records. After having jammed together since 2018 and releasing a succession of some five singles since 2024, they will issue that first full-sized ten track, forty one minute long trek through the sundried landscape on October 31st. Followed by a vinyl version a day later….

Well.. Low slung guitars produce even lower tones, and the Black Charger axe-slingers must have them down on their ankles. Just like the Kyuss godfathers used to do. And not sure how vocalist Christian Bögelmann does this, but the vocals have both Bjork and Garcia moments in them and that adds an extra twist in making this one hell of an album for the lovers of pure stonerrock. Lyrics wise, there might be something to gain here and there; but the low end is so beautiful! And as Gimme A Run rumbles over you, the starting vocals ascending, the repeated refrain building, the universal nod becoming truly universe spanning, you cannot help but fall in love with Black Charger. It’s one of the singles already released back in 2024. And it’s not until the sixth track Walk With Me we are treated to a new ditty, more expansive, explosive and implosive at the same time, firing on all cylinders and as furious as a mile wide exhaust pipe. And a drummer that stays cool, keeps time, pace and goes on relentlessly, with a leering grin, but steady as she goes, while both bass and guitar go absolutely berserk in reverb layering on top of reverb. What a wonderful song. Super Ego, shoots out of the gate, got a minor skater and punk vibe going on, and that’s perfect, cause we’re all desert punks here. Bass, how low can you go? Well, judging from the opening in Welcome, lower than a freaking earthquake! Snakedance sounds loose and yet incredibly tight, weaving in an out of control, like a Cobra waiting to strike. Another extraordinarily infectious song. You wanna dance to this! And they end their first romp through the desert landscape with the slower Red Picture With Horses. Cause well, you have to have a song about Horses nowadays. A touch of sliding psychedelics enters the scene, impenetrable grainy, lifted by a wistful guitar melody, majestic bass work and beautiful drums. This is stonerrock. The primordial kind. Atavistic by default, but not born out of nostalgia, but born out of the pure love for the stonerrock genre… 

(Written by JK)

You can listen to the first five singles over on bandcamp right now and get all fired up for the album dropping on October 31st! 



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Down The Hill Festival

 

Down The Hill

Well… The amazing Apex Ten will be kicking off Down The Hill 2025 tomorrow at 14.45… But we're leaving in a few minutes...

Cause sometimes you just need to arrive early. We all know the deal. It’s already party time over at the campsite. And there’s even a pre-show tonight at Jeugdhuis Tijl with Papangu and Witch Piss. Not sure if we can make that… But who knows?! We will surely be on site tonight and ready to experience our first Down The Hill tomorrow… Still a few tickets available through TicketSwap I noticed… Go grab’m! Cause, wowzah… Look at that line-up! 

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Castle Rat – The Bestiary

Castle Rat – The Bestiary
Blues Funeral Recordings / King Volume Records – 2025
Rock, Metal, Doom, 
Rated: ****

Grabbing hold of their destiny and their momentum with all hands, Castle Rat follow up their debut album Into The Realm from April 2024 with a new fantastical metal compendium named The Bestiary. The Earth has barely made a full circle around the sun, but the four piece led by the Rat Queen are back with another monster of an album. Always on tour it seems, it’s crazy to think where they find the time to write all that new Medieval Fantasy metal material. But they do, and together with The Count, The Plague Doctor, and The Druid, they keep expanding their mythical universe. The Bestiary is filled with almost fifty minutes of metal, doom-rock, proto touches and with overtones of the theatrical. Which is of course also part of the stage personas and the overall image of all they do. But underneath all that cosplay, in its heart, they’ve got the tones, the riffs and the songs. Right? Well, The Bestiary bests Into The Realm on every aspect and with all the touring they do, this momentum will surely snowball into a beast all of its own. Quickly turning Castle Rat into a legendary monster, which you can boast about seeing in a run down bar in your home town before they blew up entirely. There is definitely that chance…  

As fifth track Unicorn commences the atmosphere already properly set by the Phoenix I intro track, beautiful single Wolf I, logical single Wizard and seductive Siren, you realize Castle Rat doesn’t need all the dress up theatrics, cause the songs have grown in to beasts themselves. On the other hand, perhaps, it is because of the universe they’ve created that it all works even better and everything comes together like clockwork. The ramble and steady tower building in Wizard, the wilding with thrash influences during Siren. It takes on a brighter hue if you’ve stepped through the closet door and into their fictional realm. But it’s mythical Unicorn that displays Castle Rat at their best. There is a slow weaving opening, where the guitar walks across the fabulous landscape and the Rat Queen displays all of her angelic vocal qualities, and as it builds, towards the break, you feel every hair start to stand on end, and you know this will turn into a truly enchanting track of epic proportions. The rondo turning into a tilt a whirl, nodding towards medieval times, while the overture ending becomes one of those of gigantic gestures. It’s dramatics put to music, the over the top take of what they do sharpened and perfected. And it sounds so delicious. And with the later Crystal Cave going full opera, it takes even that earlier feeling to a whole other level. Castle Rat is almost turning a symphonic corner there. And then when you realize the compendium works with magical chapters, there are bookmarks that help you revisit those most enchanting parts, and seeing them interact with different fragments, slowly turns the entire record into a prophesizing multi-quatrain. An oracle that seems to speak in cryptic verses as it talks about monsters and creatures and legends but hints it has seen more. That Castle Rat has stared into the sun for so long that the brightness burned universal truths and recurring themes into their soul…  And perhaps, this little screed seems over the top or appears to make only a little bit of sense. But just maybe, if you step into the realm Castle Rat has created in only three years’ time, well, just maybe… Everything will start to make sense… 

(Written by JK)

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Muffasonic – Brotheranza

 

 

Muffasonic – Brotheranza
Self-released – 2025
Rock, Stoner, Psych, Instrumental
Rated: *****

Muffasonic is the real deal. Three desert punks straight out of Cesena, Italy. Delivering five deliciously sun-dried and sand blasted instrumental stoner rocking beauties, which have the right kind of vibe and are all saturated with a beautiful soul. There is a definite Brant Bjork influence audible, which isn’t all that strange, since the drummer did a two-year stint with our favorite desert guru. On the Brotheranza album we get four tightly wrapped stoner chuggers that lead up to that final over ten minutes long track Bovindha. Showcasing in that one track all the different angles these three can inhabit and come at you from. As the track starts you might have instant goosebumps from the weird flashback towards the Fusion Van song by Feuerzeug, then there’s the delicious bass work taking you low first before you notice the perfect soulful drumming underneath, which turns into a wilder percussion session later on and then the gliding guitar. Riffs first, leads next and then switching it up to become this constant flow of string. Turning the bass back into the lead character again. Or the percussion. Or the soul that seems to grow wings and take flight, heading towards the setting sun, becoming one with the rays, turning every note in the perfect chill out ambience… These punks are true artisans; masters of their craft and they probably don’t even realize it… The real deal! 

(Written by JK)

The new 5-song E.P. “Brotheranza” will be released on September 12, 2025, but you can listen to their earlier Zeroh album right now... 



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

 

 

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

Slomatics
Glenn Hughes
Kuolemankello
Carne Con Papas
Muffasonic
Årabrot
Altar of The Fuzz
Stoned Jesus
Wild Romance
Black Charger

Hey ho! Another week done and dusted! Hope it’s been a good one for you and hope next one will be better! Got Down The Hill Festival in Belgium coming up, so the end of the week will be sweet as hell for me! And up till then, an interview with Glenn Hughes and a lot of new heavy music to listen to! Hey, and last week wasn’t too shabby, Stoner HiVe wise… Right? Mentioned the cool metal by Thorndale, the stoner groove by Carna Con Papas, the atmospheric Årabrot and shared my thoughts about the awesome Ozium Records. And then there was Ronny with his MyWitchMyBlood … is love words and Stevie Reek writing a blurb for Megadrone Spacedoom. And I hope to put up another little ditty soon! So, new stuff around the corner… Go listen to it all!

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Stoner HiVe's Weekly Top 10 Most Listened

Week 33

Thorndale – Spiritual Chains

 

 

Thorndale – Spiritual Chains
Self-released – 2025
Metal, Stoner, Doom
Rated: ***

It’s only been one and a half years since Stoner HiVe had the honor to premiere the full Thorndale album named Lightning Spawn. And now, they are back with more! More music, more metal and more members! For the three have turned to four and the music has turned into a six track, almost twenty-five minute long heavy metal adventure. Spiritual Chains is mercilessly heavy and masterful in its dosage, the razor sharp riffs cut through the overall sound together with the occasional guttural vocals. Snarling solo work has the ability to turn the sound into a moment of crystal, as that classic heavy metal sound thunders on beneath. Quantifying the different parts of their compositions seems to come completely natural to the four and you won’t hear them endlessly weaving guitar scores together, instead they offer up all their metal in bitesize proportions. Chunks of mouthwatering metal, stoner touched, doom sniffed, but chiefly steeped in heavy metal tradition. You know the kind, riffs a plenty and solo’s that beg for that air guitar that you hung up on the wall, besides your hat and boots… Grab then from the wall and play along! 

(Written by JK)

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Megadrone Spacedoom - "A.S.T.R.A.L"

 

Megadrone Spacedoom - "A.S.T.R.A.L"
Self-released – 2025
Cosmic Doom, Drone, Psychedelia
Rated:

German outfit MEGADRONE SPACEDOOM comes up trumps with an amazing, void-expanding slab of Cosmic Doom with elements of Drone, Psychedelia and Ambience in good measure. This is the soundtrack to Space Travel in slo-mo and fires the imagination like an Ion Drive at sub-light speed. Doom has a new, formidable ally sitting comfortably alongside PYLAR and TERROR COSMICO!

(Written by Stevie Reek)

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Carne Con Papas – Carne Con Papas

 

 

Carne Con Papas – Carne Con Papas
Self-released/ Boogie Woogie Sludge Records – 2025
Rock, Stoner, Southern, Punk, Instrumental
Rated: ***

Carne Con Papas is a traditional Mexican stew made with beef and potatoes cooked in a tasty sauce made of tomatoes, garlic, onions, and peppers. But that might just be a recipe for most of those lovely Mexican dishes? It’s also a Southern touched, stoner rocking outfit from Columbia, South Carolina in the USA. A trio turned four piece that slings those gritty stoner riffs out into the ether with reckless abandon and just as easily funks the composition up with tasty breaks and bluesy licks. The nine tracks on their full-sized self-titled debut album give you a big half hour of unadulterated heavy rock. Often propelling you forward at relentless speed, chugging and grooving like the good ol Karma To Burn used to do.  And yes, they’re mostly instrumental too, and that seems, errr, instrumental to the fuel they seem to provide. High octane stuff, the kind of fuel that will make your car run for an extra hundred miles. But those two track with vocals definitely add a little bit of extra spice. Husky, pyretic and skirting the corners of control, the vocals sound like the habanero that seers the throat and puts a fire in your belly. And yes, the production, mixing and mastering could use an extra touch up here and there. But as the grooves get their hooks in you, you forget about all of that, simmer along with the stew and know this is something wild and wonderful! As tasty as all of your favorite Mexican dishes… And mine… Tequila! 

(Written by JK)

Hopefully the new album will be on Bandcamp soon. But it’s already audible on many of the other streaming services. And cool video’s are added on Youtube! 



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Årabrot - Rite of Dionysus

 

 

Årabrot - Rite of Dionysus
Dalapop Records / Pelagic Records – 2025
Rock, Alternative, Wave, Noise, Pop
Rated: ****

The noise from before has turned into an icy gale, a steel gaze that permeates their art. It stares deep into your very being, far into a distance and feels like a brooding mask. For the new album Rite of Dionysus will surely be viewed by many as high art, the touch of pop present since the album that came before, making sure that us common people will certainly feel it as well. It’s the new Årabrot record and it’s riddled with mystery and a wily esoteric touch. Not at all strange, considering it was recorded in their own church studio. The touch of master Alain Johannes can also be felt, turning some of that ice into a vaporous warmth. For he was there, during the initial recording sessions that lead to the 2023 album Of Darkness And Light and this new one, (that features the titletrack of that 2023 album)  and later on again to put the final touches on it. Perhaps lighter than earlier records, Rite of Dionysus seems to watch the human condition from above, sometimes Bowie-esque and always strangely hypnotic. Like that great red wine you sip slowly, it takes time to intoxicate you. But it surely will. It’s that meditative and minimalistic touch that just won’t let go and slowly chants and scours the transcendental landscape to deliver you an island of calm while your consciousness is bombarded by turbulence and mantra like vocals that often pierce and might even wound. Cold or was it a shiver of fear that ran through me, a cut from a knife and blood dripping from the tones that softly slip away… Årabrot deliver beautiful poetry that will race all kinds of different poems through your mind, it riddles their misty atmosphere and will make you want to find that light in the frost of midnight… 

(Written by JK)

Out on August 29th, but the first FOUR singles can be heard right now...



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Ozium Records

 

  

Ozium Records
 

Ozium Records is one of those labels that always had something special for me... And still has!
 

Not just because I know the man behind it all, Mats Florstam himself, but because he went out of his way to find those old stonerrock treasures or help starting bands to get that first release out... 

And impressive list of debut releases that has VOKONIS, Öken, Lugnoro, Mamont, Hästspark, Haddock to name a few on it and delving for those old gems like Remuda Dust, The Awesome Machine & RIDGE - The Band from Fuzz... 

But apparently he's now struggling to continue, in part because a vinyl factory has shutdown and refuses to repay the money already paid... Here's hoping he will find a way to continue! 

A thank you to Stoner.Blog.Hu for writing that piece and telling the world about Ozium Records! 

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Some Stoner HiVe Posts about Ozium Records releases: 

Remuda Dust – The Speedball Years 99-01 

 The Awesome Machine – El Bajo

 Hästspark – Ostiarius Inferni

Are We Ape? & Ridge Split: "Magick Tongue" / "The Hidden Entities:The Cayuga Session"

Zeup – Mammals 

Avon – Mad Marco

Vokonis – Olde One Ascending 

 Öken – Öken

Haddock – Haddock

Heroinne – Interstellar Grade Octainne

Mamont – Passing Through The Mastery Door

Mamont's Passing Through The Mastery Door came in at Number 6 on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2012

Lugnoro – Annorstädes 

MyWitchMyBlood - Dying Sky

 

 

MyWitchMyBlood - Dying Sky
Self-released - 2025
Doom Metal, Acoustic Doom, Drone
Rated: ****1/2

Last year MyWitchMyBlood released their first album 'Yetzer Hara', which was a heavy slab of sludge-infused doom with some drone sidesteps that was bound to guide you to the deepest depths of the underworld, where you were happy to stay while being engulfed by the sounds of this Oklahoma City band. Now they're back with a new three track ep titled 'Dying Sky' and I just know you're as eager as me to find out how it sounds and if the sky will indeed breathe its last breath.

Things kick off with the heavy, rumbling doom of 'The World Hates Us Both.', with the point at the end of the title bearing all the essential characteristics of an exclamation mark. It starts with some feedback before settling for a classic doom riff, drenched in distortion and fuzz, stretched out to to perfection for a maximum hypnotic effect, while the gritty vocals add an eerie touch that's rapidly becoming a trademark feature of MyWitchMyBlood sound. The world indeed hates us both.

Next up is the title track - a beautiful acoustic guitar ballad. But don't get fooled. This is not another 'More Than Words' or 'To Be With You'. It's the dark, haunting variety with lyrics to match - bound to send shivers up and down your spine and leave you to rot in the remnants of your own misery once it's finished. It's got that kind of huge effect on your psyche.

And what's more befitting than ending this surprising release than with almost ten minutes of atmospheric doom that comes across as a soundtrack to a world where the sky has indeed died, the atmosphere has vanished, gravity no longer exists and where you - the subject of this listening experience - is floating between planets and stars, orbiting around the sun of your own accord? Yes, this is the perfect ending to one of the most surprising releases so far this year where the mood doesn't really change that much despite the variety of styles on offer. It more or less shifts between the different corners of a circular room while serving you life questions and wavering answers on a bottomless plate, so you can open the gates to some undiscovered layers of your inner soul.

(Written by Ronny Dijksterhuis)

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

 

 

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

Bask
Adur
Quicksand
The Saints
Pilotos Del Tiempo
Z28
In The Company of Serpents
Lowrider
Ponddigger
Wild Romance

Another week has started! We were out of bounce for (only) a couple of days, returning to an email box filled with another 150 Promo emails! And we will surely try to start mentioning some of those and older ones soon. This week though will be a tough one again for Stoner HiVe work, heading off to Amsterdamn for an interview on Thursday and doing Dynamo Metal Fest as of Friday. But who knows, a might have a few hours in the evening the next few days left! If not there are always last weeks posts, if you haven’t read those yet? Right? I mean that new Howling Giant single is stunning! And Ronny Dijksterhuis’s blurb about Kombynat Robotron should definitely entice you to have that one on repeat. And it’s not out yet, but the new Bask album The Turning, will surely turn some heads! Or better yet, all heads! If you haven’t read about it on Stoner HiVe and listened to those first two singles, you’d better do is as quickly as possible! And you can always check out the Stoner HiVe Spotify Playlist… Groovy! Have a great week!

The Spotify Playlist for...

Stoner HiVe's Weekly Top 10 Most Listened

Week 32