All those year-end lists…

 

 

All those year-end lists…

I love'm! 

We’re about to enter the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2025! A period where we usually do little else but post that daily best album according to all of you that voted. Ending with Number 1 on January 1… We might be doing the occasional weekend break, with a review, a freebie or something. But for the most part, it’s nothing but the Countdown! 

But before we get swept away by that surging Countdown energy… I want to mention that so many of the Heavy Underground crazies will be giving you their lists of favorite albums. Fans, bloggers, bands, artists, labels, pr companies and well, everybody that holds this scene and this music dear! 

Some of them have been doing that for as long as I can remember… Like the amazing Tony van Dorston over on his Fast N Bulbous. I invite you all to go over to his site and read through the amazing article detailing so much of what he listened to last year. And he’s been doing that for as long as I can remember and in such a detailed manner. I love it! And always look forward to him posting his Fester’s Lucky 13: 2025 Year-End Summary post! Thank you for doing that thing you do man! 

And if you think, that’s a lot of freaking music! There’s always more. And there’s always the art as well. And one of my favorite blogs to follow is the one Bobby Rayfield has been doing for ages. Monuments in Ruin! Always looking at things from a different perspective, which is probably why his own art is different as well. And he just put up a post about his favorite Album Artwork of 2025. A stunning selection that focuses on the visual art that enticed him the most this year. Thank you for giving us an insight into your eyes! 

Sure, you all already heard that Frazer Jones has stopped the wheel from spinning over on his Desert Psychlist. A blog we always kept an eye and ear on. Luckily Steve Howe from the majestic Outlaws Of The Sun managed to coerce him into putting his favorite albums from 2025 in order and they’re published there. A sweet farewell to a wonderful dude! 

And as the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown rolls out, we’re sure Year End Lists will pop up! And you can bet your ass we will scour them all. See if we missed something and feel that twinge of euphoria whenever your own favorite albums are featured as well… We love this time of year! 

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Vitskär Süden - R'lyeh

 

 

Vitskär Süden - R'lyeh

It premiered over on Outlaws Of The Sun a few days ago, the new Vitskär Süden single and video R'lyeh. It’s taken from the new album Vessel which demands to be heard by all and demands to be written about by all… And well, by me. Which will happen at one point in time. I am pretty sure. Cause we dug their first self-titled album and love The Faceless King. And when they go more eighties, even more cinematic and namedrop John Carpenter as influence, you bet your ass we’re digging Vessel! And R'lyeh! It’s out on Ripple Music another big reason to go check it out…

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Worldwide Singles Premiere – Maragda

 

 

Worldwide Singles Premiere – Maragda

We’re honored to present to you the Worldwide Premiere for two singles by Spanish progrockers Maragda! We loved their The Reckless / Evil Seed single and we adored their self-titled album from 2021, so we could not be happier to present to you the two brand new singles! And not just those two singles; we also get to premiere a live session! That’s right, Maragda is on fire and is releasing two tracks called Skirmish and My Only Link. AND, a twenty minutes long live session, featuring those singles and the earlier released title track Tyrants. Besides those three tracks there will also be a five minute long interview at the end of the video. Out on May 8th through Spinda Records the Barcelona three have woven another brilliant tapestry of prog, psych, garage and kraut elements. It will once again enchant the listener and take them on a journey through the fantasy universe created by Maragda!

So, in conjunction with MoreFuzz, Outlaws Of The Sun, RockZoneMag and Doomed Nation we give you Skirmish and My Only Link and the Siete Barbas Studio LIVE session!

Skirmish and My Only Link:




Siete Barbas Studio LIVE session:




From the PR Wire:

"SKIRMISH" + "MY ONLY LINK" IS THE NEW DOUBLE SINGLE BY PSYCH ROCKERS MARAGDA

The second album by the Barcelona-based band Maragda will be titled 'Tyrants' and will be released on May 8, 2024, via Spinda Records - pre-orders are now available. After teasing the title track last month, today they unveil a double single comprising the songs "Skirmish" and "My only link", presenting them in both studio and live versions, with the latter extracted from the live session they recently recorded at Siete Barbas Estudios. Melodies, atmospheres, compositions of great complexity, and a garage attitude are the main components of 'Tyrants'.

This way, Maragda continues to unveil this highly anticipated album, which serves as a follow-up to their successful self-titled debut album (2021, Spinda Records) and the live EP "The Reckless / Evil Seed" (2022, Spinda Records). In this new musical journey, the band immerses listeners in introspective themes ranging from self-imposed limitations to the fight for values, love, hope, and farewells. All of this unfolds in a hypothetical fantasy universe, where psychedelia and progressive rock continuously merge, adding nuances of other styles like garage.

For the creation of the album "Tyrants", Maragda embarked on a creative journey that took them to the Big Snuff Studios in Berlin, where they collaborated with studio engineer Richard Behrens, renowned for his work with bands like Kadavar and Elder. Subsequently, the mastering was handled by acclaimed engineer Peter Deimel (known for his work with bands like Motorpsycho) at the Black Box Studios in France, solidifying a successful collaboration that began with their debut album.

In the visual department, the band has once again partnered with Error! Design studio (known for works with Explosions In The Sky, Russian Circles, Mastodon) for the album's graphic design, ensuring a cohesive and captivating aesthetic experience for their followers.

TRACK-LIST
1. Tyrants
2. Skirmish
3. Endless
4. My only link
5. Sunset room
6. The singing mountain
7. Godspeed
8. Loose

PRE-ORDER:
22 march 2024

RELEASE DATE
8 May 2024

'Tyrants' will be available on May 8 through Spinda Records, although it can be pre-ordered in CD and vinyl formats. The vinyl edition will be part of the 'Trippy Series' from the Andalusian label, alongside acts such as Viaje a 800, Moura, The Silver Linings, Empty Full Space, or Moundrag. It will be limited to 400 copies on white vinyl with orange splatters and 100 copies on standard black vinyl.

LIVE SHOWS
May 04 | Tenerife (ES) @ Volcano Fest
May 17 | Madrid (ES) @ Madrid Psych Sessions
June 8 | Barcelona (ES) @ Sala Upload (release party)
more to be announced

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Phe - Album Release Party

 

 

Phe - Album Release Party

Phe - Nothing Else Is Real

Tonight at Nirwana, Lierop, Netherlands… The album release party for the new Phe album! You probably been spinning it all week since Nothing Else Is Real came out on bandcamp, or perhaps even since Outlaws Of The Sun premiered it a few days earlier? Well, tonight you can see these cats live! ‘Get that urge again, and feel your good eye get shot…’  

Doors open at 20.00, two pre-shows by Sons of Dew and Humans Screaming Like Goats.

Get your tickets HERE

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Phe – Nothing Else Is Real

 

 

Phe – Nothing Else Is Real

We were honored to host the premiere for the new EP’s first single Saviour! And we were extremely excited to read that first review, coming in hot of the press on Outlaws Of The Sun just yesterday. But now, today, Outlaws Of The Sun is hosting the world wide premiere for Nothing Else Is Real by Phe! Go check out those five tracks and almost forty minutes of groove and heavy riffs!

Phe – Nothing Else Is Real

Out on October 7th...

Now premiering over on your friendly neighborhood blog:

Outlaws Of The Sun !

International Premiere - The Silver Linings - Cosmic Excursions

 

 

International Premiere

The Silver Linings - Cosmic Excursions

We’re honored to bring you another Premiere today! Together with Mondo Sonoro in Spain, Irreversivel in Portugal and Outlaws Of The Sun in the UK we give you the new lyric video for the new single Cosmic Excursions by Malaga, Spain quintet The Silver Linings! The new single is the perfect introduction to their wild new album Pink Fish, out on  Spinda Records in October 2023! For this track is chuck full of all that good stuff that’s sprawling all over the new album, their psychedelic, seventies infused, acid rocking, space and kraut rock! It’s wild, it’s wonderful and it’s cosmic! Buy the ticket! Take the ride!

Formed in Malaga (Spain) in 2021, The Silver Linings’ music can be understood as a return to the origins, to those years of early psychedelia, when UFOs were still travelling through deep space and tales of tin-can robots, with their typical mechanical movements, filled our imaginations.

Jose (bass), Cati (guitar) y Javi (vocal, guitar) began their psychedelic acid trip together with Chechu (drums), but only a few months later Lolo replaced him and the band started working on their first songs. Their influences range comes from 20th century Sci-fi, the literary work of Moorcock, the illustrations of Moebius, the cinema of Tarkovski, the works of Jodorowski and beat poetry, as well as Andalusian natural landscapes such as the Torcal rocks, Gorafe desert, Bolonia dunes and the Strait of Gibraltar.

Taking their musical style and the fact that they’re based in the south of Spain into account, they can be included in the New Wave Of Andalusian Psychedelia, together with bands such as Atavismo, Híbrido, Lunavieja, Medicina, Santo Rostro, Mía Turbia, Gu Vo or DMBK, although their sound -closer to acid-psych-space-kraut rock- makes us think of Causa Sui, Hawkwind or even Can.

In May 2023, two weeks before recording their debut EP ‘TSL’ at Hollers Analog Studio (Málaga), Marta joined the band on saxophone. Just a few days after the digital release, the band was signed up by the indie record label Spinda Records (Moura, Fin del Mundo, Moundrag…), going into the studio once again to record additional music to re-launch everything as their first full-length album ‘Pink Fish’ in October 2023.

 

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Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday !

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday Friday

It’s still Friday somewhere right? 

Or perhaps not… But all days seem to blend into one another anyway right? And the entire world is still in lockdown in fear of the disease slowly mutating into a zombie producing plague. The entire world. Or perhaps just most of the western world. What do we miss most? The festivals cancelled and already missed, the upcoming festivals which are cancelled and will have to be missed and all those live gigs we had planned to go to. It could leave us with more time to check out all of that amazing music being released on a daily basis. But we’ve taken on different work which has only made it more difficult for us. But we forge ahead, hoping that one day we will see those albums, songs and bands we hear, will perform live somewhere and we will be there, in attendance with a beer in our hand and smiles all around! That is the dream! And one to hold on to! And we know, we know, the albums and bands deserve more than the few words we will jot down here. More attention and more of our time! But there is so much out there and we just simply cannot ever do it all justice. So here it is. The Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday. And its burns hot like molten lava! 

The Uneven – Punching Bag

It came out last week and was premiered on Steve’s Outlaws Of The Sun. We’re talking about Punching Bag by The Uneven. Nineties alternative rock mixed with metal and overtones of grunge and stoner. Straight out of Nashville, the trio knows how to kick ass and rock hard! We look forward to their debut album… And until then we shall keep hitting the Punching Bag out of frustration that we don’t have more of The Uneven!

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Kalabrian Syndrome – Kalabrian Syndrome

The Greek three known as Kalabrian Syndrome have only been jamming together since October 2019 and decided to record and release their very first self-titled four track EP back in February 2020. Right before this damn crisis began. Instrumental stoner with a metal twist and a progressive take on heaviness. But I guess that’s pretty logical when you come out swinging like an instrumental stoner jam band with a love for great tension arcs. Damn good!

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Domination – Silent Scream

Heavy metal! Straight from the war torn country of Brasil comes a power metal trio named Domination. And they released their Evil Seed album back in 2019. The new single Silent Scream just received a lyric video treatment. For all the metal heads that want to scream along! Loudly!

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Ruff Majik – All You Need Is Speed

A new single from Ruff Majik through Mongrel Records called All You Need Is Speed will give you all the action and energy you need! It will rev up yer engine till breaking point! It will make you go full speed, through the eye of a beer can and up a hot girl’s leg with no quarter asked and non given! Yes sir, Ruff Majik is here to give us all a whiff of those kicks we’ll never know!

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Orbital Junction – Creep

Creep is the first single from Orbital Junction’s debut album, soon to be announced and hopefully soon to be released. It has this lumbering giant attitude and a crooked take on stoner metal. It will break your neck within seconds! Indeed, heavy is as heavy does and Orbital Junction has a penchant for it all!

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Vessel - The Void Tempest

Vessel - The Void Tempest

G’day y’all! We are honored to introduce the new Vessel single of their upcoming album Vagabond Blues. It’s called The Void Tempest and it’s one of the seven tracks that are featured on the album that will drop on February 7th through Majestic Mountain Records. The first single Twenty Twenty, premiered on Outlaws Of The Sun and was a fast paced grimy and fuzzy kick ass stoner trucker. Their second single, The Void Tempest goes off into another dimension, showcasing that these crazy Aussies can do it all! Slow and heavy it will make you crazy with lust for the rest of the album! Which we shall review before it drops on February 7! Check out The Void Tempest! And get ready for the awesome ride!

Tracklisting for Vagabond Blues:

Vagabond Blues

Twenty twenty

Atacama (Instrumental)

Red Witch

Dark in the light

The Void Tempest

The Devil’s Backyard (lead vocals by Sue D. Nym)

Recorded and mixed by Jesse Oberin

Mastered by Magnus Lindberg

Vagabond blues vinyl will go on sale at release date, February 7th at Majestic Mountain Records

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Number 17

Number 17

After being completely drenched in progressive fuzz by Stoned Jesus on Number 18 we climb a mere two points to reach Number 17. And here we find a band that might have gotten fucked over by a record label, it also got all the love and attention it deserved afterwards. The psychedelic blues roots shine through with a righteous glimmer and bounces off heavy rock and stoner layers. This is something for the Gods and the Godless... Master Steve Howe ended his review on Outlaws Of The Sun with the following bit: “… manage to create highly original music of their own. Especially when they play a more distinctive psychedelic rock/metal groove. This is an album that has something for everyone and one that has everlasting appeal across the whole Hard Rock/Heavy Metal spectrum. If you're a fan of Psych, Classic, Desert Rock, Grunge and Stoner Rock then this album is as good as it gets. An outstanding record.” Hell yeah and let’s listen to these fine ballads on Number 17…

1968 - Ballads of the Godless

Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Komatsu

Red Sun Rising

The Legendary Tigerman

Tranquilo

1968

We’ve got three weeks of incredibly heavy lifting coming at us. Three weeks of work that will definitely impair our HiVe actions. And that while a heatwave hits this little crazy country. It’s gonna get intense. But we’ll manage… Somehow… And we hope to listen to some good stuff here and there when we find the time. And I’m sure we will! The past week we got treated to so many kick ass records, it almost feels a crime to only mention the five we listened to the most. We’ve been listening to 1968 for a while, loving their new record Ballads Of The Godless. And when the news came the label is dicking them around we immediately grabbed it again and kept finding new stuff to dig. The psychedelic blues roots shine through with a righteous glimmer and bounces heavy rock and stoner layers. Absolute gold! Head on over to Outlaws Of The Sun and read what Steve Howe had to say about this one. Tidal Waves by Tranquilo washed over us with a strange sensation of heavy psychedelics with a punky and metal approach. Very grimy and very DIY! The Legendary Tigerman from Portugal, recorded his latest album in the legendary Rancho De La Luna studio. Dirty Water Records puts it out and the gritty blues roots and punk adagio that covers the record titled Misfit add to the magical story of a man that wants to lose himself in the desert. Groovy here, danceable there, heavy like a freight train or thirst quenching like the desert rain! Amazing from the first to the last track! Red Sun Rising’s new album Thread came out through New Razor & Tie and we mentioned it a week ago. There’s something about this record, it repels and attracts! Like a jukebox magnet! And the past few days we’ve listened to almost nothing else but the new Komatsu record! New Horizon, out on Argonauta Records, will be hitting the globe in a big month, and the four Komatsu super massive mothersludgers will take it by storm! So check’m out! Check’m all out!

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

It’s been a while. We’ve not done a Quick Fire Friday for quite some time. Even though every Friday beckons for some fast action! Some wild tunes! And some quick delivery! Well. Here we are to bring you some hot tasty tunes. To pay some attention to all those amazing releases out there. And yes, we know, we know, the albums and bands deserve more. More attention and more of our time! But there is so much out there and we just simply cannot ever do it all justice. So here it is. The Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday. And its burns hot like molten lava! 

Third Island – Procession

Taken from their full-sized debut album Omelas, Procession is the first video for Irish three-piece Third Island. Post metal, doom, gloom and sludge are all present to a high degree. A dense, ever pervasive dark and twisted atmosphere. Check it out!

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Pale Summit – Lakes of Titan

The German quartet Pale Summit opens a totally different barrel of heavy rock. On their five-track debut EP Lakes Of Titan they serve up a fine selection of stonerrock with some heavy post elements. We'd better keep an eye on these cats, cause this sounds like they're on to something!

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Hooka Hey – Coney Island

We’ve been mentioning the good boys from Hooka Hey ever since their Hush Me single back around 2011. Well, they’re about to release their War Cry album, featuring their earlier released single Herlock. And ofcourse now this new one: Coney Island. Alternative rock, rootsy and bluesy but with heavy tones and intense atmospheres. These guys know how to tell a story!

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Tirana – Tirana

"Portsmouth Heavy Rock/Punk/Stoners Tirana new EP is a serious blast of in-yer-face pissed off riffs and grizzled vocals to match. The EP wastes no time in creating a very cool sounding Punk/Stoner Metal atmosphere" That’s what Outlaws of The Sun said about the debut four-track release by trio Tirana, featuring an ex-Tricorn member. And we could not agree more, so it’s only logical that you go and check it out!

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Pleasant Valley – It Gets Lonely on Mars

A father and son duo from the backwoods of Alabama. Pleasant Valley is heavy and their woes as well, for It Gets Lonely On Mars. So, Check out their highly fuzzed out stoner single. Cause something wonderful is lurking there!

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

DeWolff

Khan

Depiedra

Kayamata

VRSA

So yeah, Sonic Whip happened! What a fine festival that is. Good beers, good people and great music! Let’s hope there will be more editions of this fine little festival. And with the hangover in great form we did not do much then listen to the records we had already been listening to for the better part of the week. That awesome new record by DeWolff! Thrust is a classic in every sense of the word. Khan and their Vale album; cause when Doktor420 says it’s his favorite album of the month, we’d better listen up and put it on repeat! Cause the Doktor is always right! Main man Steve Howe and Outlaws Of The Sun put us on to Depiedra and their Desertico album. Steamy Chilean stoner that will put you in the right mood for a wild night! The Dutch fourpiece Kayamata is back with a release called Below, stoner metal, space rock, nineties alternative and so much more. Damn fine album! And VRSA have released a new three-track EP called Cvlt of Machina. Phantom Of An Era from 2015 was already damn good; this new release ups the ante in fine form. Wilder, grittier and on a different plain of heaviness altogether! Check it out! Check’m all  out!

Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Dandy Brown

Birth of Joy

Black Rainbows

The Good Hand

Marijannah

Swamped with work and appointments. So, here’s  me trying to do a very vast and quick update on what we listened to last week. Which will surely get out of hand again, as all of the five records are amazing! Most of our time went out to Dandy Brown and his majestic new album Scattered Days. Out soon on Taxi Driver Records the maestro we know from Hermano and the awesome Orquesta Del Desierto, (the last, of which Dos was remastered and re-released last year via Spin On Black), gives us nine tracks that meander through many heavy scenes and all have a marvelous lingering aftertaste. It will put you in a righteous mood! Birth Of Joy, our Dutch psychedelic pride, give us Hyper Focus; a fast paced psychedelic rock album that is more, errr, focused than the albums that came before. Out on Glitterhouse the album moves definitely into a classic direction with some jazzy moments, stoner outbursts and even a little punk. Yes, all new Birth of Joy with Hyper Focus on the sixties and seventies era! Hawkdope, Stellar Prophecy and all that came before; incredible records by Italian psychedelic fuzz crazies Black Rainbows. The new album Pandaemonium, out on Heavy Psych Sounds, will rank among the best of them! What a ride once again! Out in a week or two it will surely rank high among all the HiVe freaks! We still spin Atman from The Good Hand regularly and their band shirt is one of the most worn black band shirts in my possession. Their superdeluxe limited diehard fan release via Minstrel Music is majestic and definitely one of my favorite vinyl treasures. Let’s hope they do something similar with the new record Blissful Yearning. Cause the album is once again impressive and bordering on perfection. A pure ballistically delivered record which immediately feels like a true blow against the empire, a hammer of the gods, that will live on in rock, forever. Yes. We know. We love The Good Hand… And perhaps a bit too much. And how about that Till Marijannah album by Marijannah? Their four-track debut is whirling around the world, entering the Doom Charts on Number 21 and enchanting listeners everywhere. The vinyl is out on Pink Tank Records and gives us incredibly tasty and fuzzy heavy psychedelic rock and stoner. Going into metal territories here and there and always, yes always, captivating you with musical vistas wild and wonderful! And on Outlaws of The Sun you can read more about it, go check it out. And check out those amazing albums! All of ‘em! (See... That got out of hand pretty quickly...)

Number 13

Number 13

We jump another ten points from The Obsessed on Number 14 to get to the dangerous Number 13. Which features a space rock adventure extraordinair! Madman Tony Maim already wrote about them earlier this year. “They launch their rocket from Poland and bravely explore the outer limits of known space and beyond with fuzz boxes on full power. Jamming riffs collide with psych rock and explode with stoner/doom songs that get the head nodding while taking you on trip into your mind.” And ofcourse, these crazies also found their way unto the Doom Charts. Back in February they made it to the Number One spot. And Steve Howe from the awesome Outlaws Of The Sun said it right there: “It is a magnificent album. What more can be said, apart from, you need this album.” And that's it, so travel back to the beginning of this year and buy this album when it comes out. You already know what will happen later on! (They release another damn fine five-track called Mountains & Reminiscence the same year!)

Spaceslug – Time Travel Dilemma