Dunwich – Dunwich

 

 

Dunwich – Dunwich
Self released – 2021
Metal, Stoner, Sludge, Doom, Punk
Rated: ****

Today we mention the French five-piece formation Dunwich. Not to be confused with the Italian gothic metal formation with the same name or the Russian doom metal, post punk trio. No, this long lived project was born around the Calais region in France all the way back in 2013 and featured, features and might feature in the future a truckload of artists that are all active in other bands but wanted to explore more sludge doom-oriented music that pays homage to the HP Lovecraft landscape. Indeed, it’s heavy metal, with overtones of doom, sludge and horror. But before we list the merits of this release, let’s list the bands that were involved at one point or are still among the Dunwich crew. Bandlist: Bézukry, Guest, Putridity Pleasure Party, Crime Scene, Destroy Your Enemy, In Hell, Hanky-Panky, Dee N Dee, Zoë, Death Control, 12,7 and Deicyfer. See, a veritable who’s who of the French heavy underground. Good people that make good music. And even though the mix might feel a bit thin here and there; the punk attitude and the grunge tones to all this sludge and doom is refreshing and energizing. There’s enough propelling power and lots of gnarly vocals; and just when you think you’ve got this Dunwich pinned, they offer some finesse and a melodic spotlight… But don’t fear, soon the light goes out and the darkness becomes heavy lead and as moving as black treacle. Dunwich, has seen the dark universe yawning, where the black planets roll without aim. And they roll in their horror unheeded…

(Written by JK)

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King Buffalo – Acheron

 

 

King Buffalo – Acheron
Stickman Records – 2021
Rock, Prog, Stoner, Psych
Rated: *****

We were fast, on time and prompt, if you will, for the Burden of Restlessness album release and wrote a little mention about it in May of 2021. But when their second installment of the trilogy arrived it turned into a totally different affair. Cause the promo, back in October 2021, for that second album had the master volume all mixed up; which made the entire record a muddled and barely audible experience. It took me a while to get over that experience and it in fact took me till December, when the official release had come and gone, all the year-end lists floated in and the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2021 absorbed all of my time. Indeed, it was then that I had to get back into my beloved King Buffalo. A band that has been growing in my heart ever since they started; but which came to fill it completely with Dead Star and then make it burst wide open with the, in my opinion, best album of 2021, Burden of Restlessness. And now, there’s Acheron. An album that is even more atmospheric, meandering and of looser composition than the one that came before. That looseness does not make it sloppy, but just adds to the vistas it creates and the room it inhabits. It all floats, it flows, it feels entirely free and it fills your being completely. The compositions like a free-flowing river; opening up into a wider and a lighter sound, offering you as much solace as possible while escape still feels impossible. Not from yourself, the universal state of everything or the fact that you are listening to pure instrumental virtuosity. The way they make the guitars bounce, the sound reverb around you like a never-ending whirlpool and their approach to contemplative rock, psychedelic prog and disorientating stoner. Masters of their craft, the King Buffalo three have delivered yet another brilliant or even ‘best of’ album in 2021. And the completion of the trilogy in 2022 will surely be the highlight of the year… And surely another best of album for that year… 

(Written by JK)

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

 

 

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

Mamvth
Oculto
Celladoor
Seven Nines and Tens
Estrojet
Crop
Yo No Se
A Borrowing Kid Generation
Mutha Trucka
Wilderun

Spidergawd – VI

 

 

Spidergawd – VI
Crispin Glover Records – 2021
Rock
Rated: ****

Spidergawd crashed into the Doom Charts with their new album VI. With a new guitar player in their midst the Spidergawd sound on the new album VI has propelled toward more guitar orientated compositions and textural coloring. That ever present soulful sax from earlier albums has been pushed back and is used more like a framework in between which the band uses every other aspect of their new sound to paint colorful, seventies inspired pictures. Also new; and definitely an improvement is the adding of more vocal lines and polyphonic parts. The way the vocals now bounce across the Spidergawd groove makes it all definitely more attractive and compelling. It’s their sixth album; a different one, yet when listening, it quickly becomes trusted, familiar and loved. It’s still Spidergawd, in all its glory!

(Written by JK)

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

 

 

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

Tyler Kamen
Yo No Se
Volcanova
Volbeat
Chevelle
Stone Cadaver
Valid Blu
Deaf Club
New Candys
The Awesome Machine

Speck – Unkraut

 

 

Speck – Unkraut
Self released / The Swamp Records – 2021
Rock, Stoner
Rated: *****

Speck hails from Vienna, Austria and delivers Unkraut in a tasty portion of almost forty minutes. If consumed accidentally it might make your head nod, your hip swing and your feet tap for at least those 37 minutes. Handle with care! This Austrian kraut is highly addictive! During the summer the power trio released The Metz Sessions and earned some well-deserved attention. Now their debut album came out right in time to enter your best-of-2021-lists – in mine it’s top3. Speck Speck Speck ! Kraut- Spacerock on its best.

(Written by Doktor420)

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The Doom Charts For December 2021

 

 

Doom Charts

 "It’s a new dawn… It’s a new day… It’s a new life, for me… And I’m feeling good…"
        ~ Cy Grant / Nina Simone

This is not a year-end post. This is not a glance back at what the year brought. This is the regular December 2021 edition of the Doom Charts. Posted; as usual, on the first of the month. In the near future a lot of our contributors will be sending their Personal Top XX lists and they will all go up on the site. Followed by a Top 100 of all the albums that got voted on. And then we close the book on 2021. We won’t stop listening to those albums though, cause they will forever be with us. There have been so many great releases once again; that we cannot do much more but keep promoting all that heavy stuff we love, tip our hats, applaud and give them all the universal nod. But for now; here’s December. 254 albums got voted for this month and that resulted in 22 spanking new albums that got blurbed! Let it blurb, let it blurb… Let it doom, let it doom!

On January 1, 2022, the December Doom Charts of that month went live. That’s only 8 days ago. But since then we’ve been posting all the personal lists of favorite albums, and now it feels like a lifetime. We wanted to do a straight run of Top 20 Countdown and then all the Personal Favorites, hence we never promoted the December Doom Charts of 2021. So, we do that now! Did you visit the site? Did you get wild with all them bands? We hope you did! And hey, the good Doktor420 wrote a blurb again. That Speck one. Nice huh!? Anyway, personal votes went out to: Kanaan, Nekromant, Low Orbit, Spidergawd, Stargo & King Buffalo… And next month, we surely will vote for Speck! What an album! Check it out! Check’m all out!

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 December 2021

Top 30 Most Scrobbled Albums of 2021

 

 

Top 30 Most Scrobbled Albums of 2021

And finally, the list of Most Scrobbled albums of 2021... Cause yes, we still scrobble, we scrobble the shit out of a lot of stuff. And this list of scrobbles, is a list of scrobbles that does not include Youtube, Spotify or Bandcamp. All of which we also use. Spotify very very little.  Youtube a bit… And Bandcamp quite a lot. But this is a list of most scrobbled albums as scrobbled by a media player. This isn’t the amount of vinyl listened or cd’s played. Nor is it the amount of listening sessions while on the road to nowhere in particular or something very particular. Nope; this is a list of albums scrobbled while sitting fully clothed or stark naked behind a computer screen typing away and reaching auditory climax by all that heavy goodness scrobbled… So, here’s once again, the 30 Most Scrobbled Albums of the total number of 1,705 albums scrobbled this way in that foul year we call 2021…

1.    Komatsu – Rose Of Jericho

2.    Greenleaf – Echoes From A Mass

3.    Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows – The Magnetic Ridge

4.    Mojave Lords – Expensive Feelings

5.    Stone Cadaver – Memento Mori, Motherfucker

6.    Delco Detention – It Came From The Basement

7.    Green Lung – Black Harvest

8.    Motorpsycho – Kingdom of Oblivion

9.    Soothsayer Orchestra – Soothsayer Orchestra

10.    Spelljammer – Abyssal Trip

11.    Redscale – The Old Colossus

12.    King Buffalo – The Burden of Restlessness

13.    Miss Lava – Doom Machine

14.    Stone Deaf – Killers

15.    Red Fang – Arrows

16.    Terminus – The Silent Bell Toll

17.    A Pale Horse Named Death – Infernum In Terra

18.    Kal-El – Dark Majesty

19.    Acid Mammoth – Caravan

20.    LáGoon – Skullactic Visions

21.    The Ragged Kin – Before Spring

22.    Robots of The Ancient World – Mystic Goddess

23.    Here Lies Man – Ritual Divination

24.    Vokonis – Odyssey

25.    Starified – Fat Hits

26.    Hvalross – Cold Dark Rain

27.    Heavy Feather – Mountain of Sugar

28.    Holy Monitor – Southern Lights

29.    Maragda – Maragda

30.    Vintage Caravan – Monuments

 

 

JK’s – Personal Top 20

 

 

JK’s – Personal Top 20

The Stoner HiVe Team Members are all involved with the Doom Charts as well. So most of the personal lists already appeared there or probably will in the near future. But we’re (re)posting them here once again. Just because we like to keep things nice and tidy; and up with the tradition…

What an amazing musical year once again! Sure, the rest of the world, society, politics, environment, economics are all shot to hell. But the music man! Wow, triple wow! It’s amazing. And has been ever since Stoner HiVe started back in 2009. The Scrobbled Albums count alone already reaches 1,705 different albums. That’s not counting streams, cd’s, vinyl and offline listening. Man o Man! And most of all that, is just our little niche of heavy rock that is. Can you imagine the amount of amazing stuff being released in other genres as well? Staggering! Anyway, below follows a list of my Personal Top 20. Followed by another 30 that are just as amazing. Those Top 20  albums did so much for me on so many levels. And the 30 that follow as well, but just a bit less perhaps. But still a truckload! And below that are about a hundred more that could be named as well. But we shall refrain from doing so… (With clammy hands and cold sweat at the lower back.) Cause we adore those as well! And all of those could be your next favorite album of 2021! Anyway, enough with all the sappy stuff. We thank all the bands and artists again for their amazing music and hope they shall continue till the end of the world. Cause we love the shit out of it! And it is what keeps us going... And sane... Somewhat...

JK’s – Personal Top 20 (errr, Top 50?)

1.    King Buffalo – The Burden Of Restlessness

2.    Green Lung – Black Harvest

3.    Temple Fang – Fang Temple

4.    Per Wiberg – All Is Well In The Land Of The Living But For The Rest Of Us… Lights Out

5.    Greenleaf – Echoes From A Mass

6.    Stone Cadaver – Memento Mori, Motherfucker

7.    Maragda – Maragda

8.    Stonekind – Spirit Of The Void

9.    Terminus – The Silent Bell Toll

10.    Snake Mountain Revival – Everything In Sight

11.    High Desert Queen – Secrets Of The Black Moon

12.    Stargo – Dammbruch

13.    Messerschmitt – Oh Death

14.    Sonolith – Voidscapes

15.    Kal-El – Dark Majesty

16.    Redscale – The Old Colossus

17.    Atomic Vulture – Moving Through Silence

18.    Agusa – En Anna Värld

19.    Motorpsycho – Kingdom of Oblivion

20.    Mastodon – Hushed & Grim

21.    The Vintage Caravan – Monuments

22.    Monolord – Your Time To Shine

23.    The Waterfall King – Vol.I

24.    Kadabra – Ultra

25.    Duel – In Carne Persona

26.    Wolves In Haze – Chaos Reigns

27.    Gods & Punks – The Sounds of The Universe

28.    Hippie Death Cult – Circle Of Days

29.    Dunerider – Ruins

30.    Robots Of The Ancient World – Mystic Goddess

31.    Birmani – Birmani

32.    LáGoon – Skullactic Visions

33.    Stonus – Séance

34.    Vokonis – Odyssey

35.    Yawning Sons – Sky Island

36.    Holy Monitor – Southern Lights

37.    Miss Lava – Doom Machine

38.    Nekromant – Temple of Haal

39.    Spidergawd – VI

40.    A Better Tomorrow – Spiritual Crossing

41.    Billy F Gibbons – Hardware

42.    Blod – Serpent

43.    Carcano – By Order Of The Green Goddess

44.    Plaindrifter – Echo Therapy

45.    Djiin – Meandering Soul

46.    Daily Thompson – God of Spinoza

47.    King Buffalo – Acheron

48.    Komatsu – Rose Of Jericho

49.    Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows – The Magnetic Ridge

50.    Mojave Lords – Expensive Feelings

Doktor420’s Personal Top 20

 

 

Doktor420’s Personal Top 20

Today we read up on Doktor420’s Personal Top 20. The Guru himself blesses us with his Top 25 and then some. Indeed, he has ranked 25 of his very favorite albums and listed the rest of his favorites in alphabetical order. And we can trust the good Doktor; it’s all there! Soon it might also appear on the Doom Charts; cause as you know we all are involved with that gang. (Did you see his awesome Speck blurb last month for instance?) But we treasure the fact that we got it here first!

Doktor420’s – Personal Top 25 (Err, Top 55!)

 

1.    King Buffalo - The Burden of Restlessness

2.    Blind Tendril – α

3.    Speck – Unkraut

4.    Snake Mountain Revival - Everything in Sight

5.    Glasgow Coma Scale – Sirens

6.    Valid blU - WFYB.TV

7.    Greenleaf - Echoes from a Mass

8.    delving – Hirschbrunnen

9.    Terminus - The Silent Bell Toll

10.    Bentrees - Two of Swords

11.    Kal-El - Dark Majesty

12.    MØTRIK – MØØN The Cosmic Electrics of MØTRIK

13.    Spacelords - Unknown Species

14.    Wolfnaut – III

15.    Monster Magnet - A Better Dystopia

16.    Sheev - Mind Conductor

17.    Ugly Kings - Strange, Strange Times

18.    Lords Of The Opium Church - Lords Of The Opium Church

19.    Redscale - The Old Colossus

20.    King Buffalo – Acheron

21.    Motorpsycho - Kingdom of Oblivion

22.    Vintage Caravan – Monuments

23.    White Hills - Tone Spores

24.    New Candys – Vyvyd

25.    IAH – Omines

From here - alphabetical order:

Appalooza - The Holy Of Holies
Band of Spice - By the Corner of Tomorrow
Black Keys - Delta Kream
Book of Wyrms - Occult New Age
Borracho - Pound of Flesh
Datsuns - Eye To Eye
Deiv Id Fuzz - Playa Atomica
Elara Sunstreak Band - Vostok 1
Indica Blues - We Are Doomed
JakeTheHawk - Hinterlands
King Weed - Let There Be Weed
Lady Luna and the Devil - Mother of All Sin
LáGoon - Skullactic Visions
Liquid Sound Company - Psychoactive Songs For The Psoul
Liquid Tension Experiment - LTE3
Long Distance Calling - Ghost
Miscellen - Blue Ruin
Mustasch - A Final Warning - Chapter 1
Plaindrifter - Echo Therapy
Planet Cruiser - Riders Of The Edge
Quill - Earthrise
Red Fang - Arrows
ShiMa - Vol.02
Sleepfighter - Sleepfighter
Slow Voyage - Soul's Whisper
Starified - Fat Hits
Stone Cadaver - Memento Mori, Motherfucker
Stone Deaf - Killers
Wall - Wall
Yawning Sons - Sky Island

Reek of STOOM’s Personal Top 20

 

 

Reek of STOOM’s Personal Top 20

Reek likes to do things differently! Mr STOOM will deliver his monthly choices for a best of list for the Doom Charts. Indeed, his very favorite album from each month. And you bet your ass it will not be the Doom Charts Number One of every month... But we’re honored to have received his favorite list of albums surmised for the entire year. And we're proud to share that with you all! It’s the best of the best and contains everything one might hear on his very own Howls From The Hollow. Which will be publishing it’s hundredth edition soon!

Reek of STOOM’s Personal Top 20 (Err, Top 25!)

SPELLJAMMER - ABYSSAL TRIP

STARIFIED - FAT HITS

BLIND TENDRIL - α

KAL-EL - DARK MAJESTY

KANAAN - EARTHBOUND

MYTHIC SUNSHIP - WILDFIRE

MOTORPSYCHO - KINGDOM OF OBLIVION

ALASTOR - ONWARDS AND DOWNWARDS

BOSS KELOID - FAMILY THE SMILING THRUSH

DUST MOUNTAIN - HYMNS FOR WILDERNESS

NOTHING IS REAL - TRANSMISSION OF THE UNEARTHLY

AFGHAN HAZE - NIHILISTIC STONER HYMNS

HOLY MONITOR - SOUTHERN LIGHTS

ACID OMENS - DREAMS

WEEDPECKER - IV: THE STREAM OF FORGOTTEN THOUGHTS

THE SPACELORDS - UNKNOWN SPECIES

PLASTIC WOODS - DRAGONFRUIT

A BETTER TOMORROW - SPIRITUAL CROSSING

PAPANGU - HOLOCENO

WIZERD VS MERLIN - TURNED TO STONE CHAPTER III

VEILE - THE GHOST SONATA

AGUSA - EN ANNAN VÄRLD

MISCELLEN - BLUE RUIN

GREEN LUNG - BLACK HARVEST

KADAVER & ELDER - ELDOVAR - A STORY OF DARKNESS & LIGHT

 

Shasta Beast’s - Personal Top 20

 

 

Shasta Beast’s - Personal Top 20

We of course wanted to post Shasta Beast’s - Personal Top 20 on January 6… Why you ask? Cause it’s his birthday! So we congratulate Shasta Beast! Best of wishes for the upcoming year and may it be a brilliant one. And we also congratulate him with his personal Top 20 today. Of course, the Stoner HiVe Team Members are all involved with the Doom Charts as well. So most of the personal lists already appeared there or will appear there soon. But we’re posting them here as well. Just because we like to keep things nice and tidy; and up with the tradition…

Shasta Beast’s - Personal Top 20 (Errr, Top 44!)

Snake Mountain Revival - Everything in Sight

Matt C White - Creepshow Peepshow: Act II

Matt C White - Creepshow Peepshow: Act I

Wolves in Haze - Chaos Reigns

Draken - Draken

Stone Cadaver - Memento Mori, Motherfucker

The Lance Vance Vengeance - Broglie

Seum - Winterized

Comet Control - Inside The Sun

Lucifer's Fall - III - From The Deep

King Woman - Celestial Blues

Peregrino - Peregrino

Black Totem - II: Shapeshifting

Rostro del Sol - Rostro del Sol

Acid Magus - Wyrd Syster

Surfsquatch - Revealed

Papangu - Holoceno

Timo Ellis - Death Is Everywhere

Offernat - EP

Farfisa – Gänger

Atom Driver - Is Anything Alright

Holy Death Trio - Introducing...

Messerschmitt - Oh Death

Cruzeiro - Cruzeiro

Fever Dog - Alpha Waves

Glowing Brain - Brain Dust

Grand Cadaver - Into The Maw Of Death

Caution Boy - Alligator

Elcam- Axe

Jointhugger - Surrounded by Vultures

Bog Monkey - Bog Monkey E.P.

Wall - Vol. 2

Wall - Vol. 1

Hippie Death Cult - Circle Of Days

Wasted Death - Ugly As Hell II - Uglier Than Hell

Wasted Death - Ugly As Hell

Woodcreeper - Mephisto's Kite

Battle Jacket - Cowboy Killers

GLöD - GLöD

10% Reptile - The Big Boycott

Blunt Horse - Split

EarthOmen - Beyond the Pale

TarLung - Architect

Santa Planta – EP

Tony Maim’s – Personal Top 20

 

 

Tony Maim’s – Personal Top 20

As we mentioned before, the Stoner HiVe Team Members are all involved with the Doom Charts as well. So most of the personal lists already appeared there or will probably appear there in the near future. But we’re honored to be the first to post Madman Tony Maim’s Personal Top 20 first… Even though he might have posted the same one on his own Black Insect Laughter site… Hell, last year he even delivered a different one for the HiVe then the one for the Doom Charts, cause the HiVe, in his words back then: "has more latitude with the genres..." And we thank all the freaks in the HiVe for that! And we’re proud to have a list by the Madman, cause he has been active on his own Black Insect Laughter blog, been even more active with all his musical outlets like Guitars On Drugs of which Forbidden Place Records released a first CD called ‘Spies and Dub’ back in August of 2021. It’s the Madman Tony Maim; and he’s right, we’re wrong and the other way around. But when the Madman speaks, we listen! 

Guitars on Drugs

Tony Maim’s – Personal Top 20 (Errr, Top 47)

1. Idles - Crawler

2. Converge & Chelsea Wolfe – Bloodmoon: I

3. Sonic Demon - Vendetta

4. Squid – Bright Green Field

5. Love Your Witch – Fucking Relentless

6. Fucked Up – Year Of The Horse

7. God Is An Astronaut – Ghost Tapes #10

8. Melvins – Working With God

9. Part Chimp - Drool

10. Haaz - Andra

11. Rostro Del Sol - Cynical Mind

12. Turnstile – Glow On

13. Blasting Rod - III

14. Jointhugger – Surrounded By Vultures

15. Tropical Fuck Storm – Deep States

16. Kowloon Walled City - Piecework

17. Death From Above 1979 – Is For Lovers

18. Mother Iron Horse – Under The Blood Moon

19. Mdou Moctar – Afrigue Victime

20. Junkbreed – Music For Cool Kinds

21. Leon III – Antlers In Velvet

22. 2 Headed Dogs – The Engine Is On

23. Domkraft - Seeds

24. Cha Wa – My People

25. Cerce – Cowboy Music

26. Ill Considered – Liminal Space

27. Mythic Sunship - Wildfire

28. 10000 Years - II

29. Kills Birds - Married

30. Dinosaur Jr – Sweep It Into Space

31. Stomatopod – Completing With Hindsight

32. A Better Tomorrow – Spiritual Crossing

33. The Lords Of Altamont – Tune In, Turn On, Electrify

34. Watchman – Doom Of Babylon

35. Heavy Temple – Lupi Amoris

36. Chihuahua – Violent Architecture

37. Spotlights – We Are All Atomic

38. Uranus Space Club – Another Planet, Another Love

39. God Damn – Raw Coward

40. Duel – In Carne Persona

41. X'ed Out – We All Do Wrong

42. Fere - Visceral

43. Mono – Pilgrimage Of The Soul

44. Monolord – Your Time To Shine

45. The Pop Group – Y In Dub

46. Tv Priest - Uppers

47. Irreversible Entanglements – Open The Gates