Number 20

 

 

Number 20

Last year we made this weird remark about the beginning of the end of humanity when we put up the Number 20 of 2019. This year the end of humanity seemed upon us for a moment or two, right? Cause c'mon, for a moment there we all assumed the pandemic would turn at least some of us into zombies? Cause c'mon the amount of zombies in popular culture can't be for nothing? It might have been sign?It might all have been a sign? In fact the amount of albums released this year with omens or signs in the title, is also a bit disturbing. One of them features proudly on the Number 20 position of 2020. Their doom rock, their occult touches and their sludgy moments have gotten better with every release these four from Poland have put out. And now they’ve infused it with deliriously tasty space rock moments and dope ass psych. Never quite reaching that first spot on the Doom Charts the album stayed on it for quite some months. Which is logical when the peaks are so high and the energy so wild. With every track delivering gloriously evil momentum and the perfect beat to do that twisted little dance with the devil. Number 20 for your pleasure and that of Satan!

Dopelord – Sign Of The Devil

 

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The Stoner HiVe top 20 countdown of 2020

  

The Stoner HiVe top 20 countdown of 2020

And so it begins…

We have long since passed the 12:00 CET deadline on December the 13nd of this freaking idiotic year of 2020; but once again so amazing in musical sense. Stupendous once again when it comes to heavy music releases. And each year, since the beginning of Stoner HiVe back in 2009 has been filled with so many great albums. It is simply stupefying to think of all that heavy magic and musical mojo! Really, it blows my mind… So, my thanks goes out to all those amazing bands and artists who provided us with so much incredible music, so much musical mojo, that we all love so dearly. But hey, the deadline for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020 has passed! And we have dwarfed our record of last year! 147 lists! Wow! A new smashing record! Thanks everyone for sending your list. The ones that sent their Top 5’s, their Top 10’s, Top 20’s or detailing 40 or even a 100 great and favorite albums. Thanks! Thanks and thanks a million! We love it! And now, we go on to reveal the Number 20 of 2020! The Number 20 according to all you cats out there who decided to vote for the Countdown this year!

So, one final thank you, to all of you, the ones who made all those heavy albums we all love and to those who listened to it, fell in love with it and decided to vote for it for the HiVe! Cause without you gals and guys this would not be possible! The votes have been cast, the lists are in… Let’s start the countdown!

So… without further ado…

We give you, according to all of your votes,

NUMBER TWENTY!

The Absolute Final Hours

  

 The Absolute Final Hours

Still entering lists that were sent our way! Amazing degree of participation on your part! And we are counting those final seconds of the final hours before the deadline passes and the Top 20 Countdown of 2020 starts… There are still a few hours left before the deadline closes. So if you still have time, energy and the will to contribute: send your list of favorite albums to our EMAIL. The Final Deadline is a few hours away: December 13th 12:00 CET. After which we will tally the last votes that came in and we shall publish Number 20 as soon as that is done! And, well, it’s already shaping up to be a records breaking good one! So join in on all that heavy fun!

Send your list of favorite albums of 2020 HERE!

The Final Hours

 

 

The Final Hours

We’ve seen a couple of posts to try and propel a certain album unto the Top 20 Countdown of 2020 and we’ve warned about the approaching deadline. And it’s approaching very fast now! It is the reason the Stoner HiVe was started. So there was a vehicle to countdown the best albums of a year. Voted for by all you freaks in the HiVe… And so, after revisiting all those amazing albums of 2020 as we try and make a choice which we love more we look forward and back again. Forward to the Top 20 Countdown that will commence tomorrow and back into the hazy past of 2020! There are still a few hours left to send your list of favorite albums of 2020 to us!  The final deadline will be tomorrow, December 13th, 12:00 CET. And we will see the first post, the Number 20 of the Top 20 Countdown of 2020 appear a few hours after that…

Send your list of favorite albums of 2020 HERE!

I Saw The Deep – Vimana - Top 20 Push

 

Top 20 of 2020 album push post!

As we approach that jump off date for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020; we notice that certain highly loved albums aren’t getting the number of votes we hoped they would. So we enlisted the help of the Stoner HiVe Team to try and do one last push to get them higher on the end list…

Up next is the pusher promotion post by Joop Konraad!

I Saw The Deep – Vimana

 

Being the guy entering all the lists doing all the tallying, I notice some of my Top 10 albums of 2020 not getting enough votes. I could actually make a promo post about a lot of them! Grrr! And yes, it’s actually quite distressing to see only a handful of votes for Kayleth’s 2020 Back To Earth and Elden’s Nostromo pass before my eyes. But I’ve chose to commit to doing my PR work for I Saw The Deep and their Vimana release! Vimana is a gigantic slab of doom, progressive and psychedelic and with a massive amount of heaviness. Heavy and deep sci-fi rock, which features power rock drumming with metal riffing and grungy vocals, all combined through experimental escapades. A cathedral of sound! Full of prog, space, stoner and doom. Executed to such an amazing degree with such a freakin awesome amount of heaviness. Seriously! This is stunning! Stunning when it was released in February, stunning now and stunning me for the rest of eternity!

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Kaskadeur - Uncanny Valley - Top 20 Push

 

  

Top 20 of 2020 album push post!

As we approach that jump off date for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020; we notice that certain highly loved albums aren’t getting the number of votes we hoped they would. So we enlisted the help of the Stoner HiVe Team to try and do one last push to get them higher on the end list…

Up next is the pusher promotion post by Shasta Beast!

 

Kaskadeur - Uncanny Valley

As list upon list is tallied this month, it's become clear that the number of fantastic albums in 2020, of all years, is overwhelming. To get my two cents in and add another album to your pile, submitted for your consideration is "Uncanny Valley" by Kaskadeur! At the top of my personal 2020 list, I've raved about these psych/jazz/prog wizards before, and gladly do so again. Not content to fit neatly in just one or two genres of heavy, the German rockers formerly known as Stonehenge display dazzling skill they wind through hit after diverse hit of groovy twists and turns. One minute they' throw u down whiplash-inducing riffs, and in the next breath deliver spaced out organ, and it all works seamlessly. Kaskadeur's experimentation and evolution from their stoner roots paid off in spades, resulting in one of the most dynamic and unique albums of the year.

(Written by Shasta Beast)

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Uffe Lorenzen - Magisk Realisme - Top 20 Push

 Top 20 of 2020 album push post!

 

As we approach that jump off date of December 13 for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020; and as we see all the lists rolling in and all those wonderfully chosen albums, we count ourselves lucky for all that participation and we count ourselves extremely lucky to see all those different and weird choices being made. It also me wonder about some albums that seem to fall off those lists at the end of the year, the ones that I assumed would end higher or are so favored by myself or the Stoner HiVe Team that I asked them if they would want to say a few words about the album they would love to see end up high or even on the number 1 position of this year’s Stoner HiVe To 20 Countdown…

To kick things off, here’s that album pusher promotion post of the honorable Doktor420!  

Uffe Lorenzen - Magisk Realisme

Uffe? WhoTheFuck is Uffe? No, I guess we all know Uffe! You might know him under the moniker Lorenzo, the mastermind of Baby Woodrose, many of his other bands or any of his solo records. He released his 3rd solo album "Magisk Realisme" in September. I like his calm voice and can also dig his acoustic Danish psych folk but what i missed, was the energy laden garage rock of Baby Woodrose. In Magisk Realisme he infused more Lorenzo vibe, so we get back my beloved Heavy Psych Folk Rock - imagine Arbouretum ate Baby Woodrose seeds. It's pure Uffe! Beside few additional instruments (cello, trumpet, pedal steel guitar), in some songs, the drummer of On Trial and frontman of Spids Nøgenhat and Dragontears played all by himself. Check this dude's bands out, if you like Monster Magnet, obviously a major influence. And check out Magisk Realisme, one of the best albums of 2020!

(Written by Doktor420)

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Distortion Ride – Burning Waves of Silence

 

Distortion Ride – Burning Waves of Silence
Electric Blood Records / Self released – 2020
Rock, Hard, Prog, Metal, Psych
Rated: ***

A hard rock, psychedelic and prog trio from France that sends out their press-kit, have an incredibly high DIY attitude and then very sneakily name-drop that the mastering was done by Andy Jackson. Yes, the Andy Jackson that has worked on so many Pink Floyd and David Gilmour albums. For me personally my discovery ride of Andy’s worked started back when I found out that the man worked on the I Don’t Link Mondays single by the Boomtown Rats, my very first musical memory. And now, he has mastered the Burning Waves of Silence album by French trio Distortion Ride. Officially released on November 13th the eight tracks meander from hardrock with metal touches to even some punk influences and all sorts of weird little dissipations. Which turns the overall feeling definitely into a bit of a proggy experience, but never in the traditional sense of that word. Cause for the most part we continue to that blues based heavy rock, with vocals that sometimes hit the spot, sometimes seems to float away, are sometimes weird and sometimes aims for the grin and the chuckle. Highly eclectic, the band shines most when they open up their sound and aim for something more soft, classic and yes more prog in the traditional sense of the word. Those are also the moments that were probably easiest mastered by Andy Jackson, cause we cannot exactly state that we can easily hear where he touched the records and where he decided to lay off. On the whole, Distortion Ride delivers one highly diverse and thoroughly enjoyable record with Burning Waves of Silence. It’s a ride alright!

(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…

Causa Sui
Starmonger
Witchwood
Wytch Hazel
Electric Hydra
Thammuz
Big Oaf
Creston Spiers
Gone Is Gone
Sun Crow

As we approach the start of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020, we will be gone for a few days. Just a day or two... No trek to the mountain or anything far; just a few days at the North Sea to try and blow away most of that annoying 2020 stuff. You know what we mean! But only that, and not one note of all those amazing albums released throughout the year. Those will stay with us forever! The November Doom Charts went live last week which colors our Most Listened Albums Last Week list. And Steve Howe and his Outlaws Of The Sun pointed us in the direction of Creston Spiers new release Brown Dwarf and he also reminded us to listen to the new Gone Is Gone album If Everything Happens for a Reason... Then Nothing Really Matters at All... A twisted release befitting the title… And all of them are equally stunning! Go check’m out, check’m all out!

Narcosis – Leap Of Faith

 

Narcosis – Leap Of Faith
Made Of Stone Recordings – 2020
Rock, Stoner, Grunge
Rated: ****

It came out around April and we listened to it a lot ever since; it even got mentioned on one of those Most Listened Albums Last Week posts. But we never got around to mentioning the new Narcosis album Leap Of Faith with a few decent words. Well, here goes nothing, cause Leap Of Faith is definitely something! There are Nirvana elements and vocals that reminisce of Cobain on certain tracks, there is stoner rock in the vein of Queens of The Stone Age and there is some intense grooving going on that you would assume Fu Manchu inserted in their bloodstream. And all those influences come together under one flag without feeling like too much like any of those bands. The Greek power trio (or foursome now) steers away from that trap with ease and powers their rockin’ vehicle with tremendous enjoyment towards their very own horizon. Excellent guitar works, gripping hooks and twisted little bass ditties all add to a majestic sound that takes no effort to thoroughly fall in love with. Don’t forget about this one when you are sending your Top 20 of 2020 to our email or any other website… We sure as hell won’t! Narcosis is forever on our minds!

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020

  

Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020

As we had to send in our Top 10 of favorite albums to the Dutch magazine we write for we realized we had to start getting everyone involved again on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown! The 2020 edition, will be the 12th edition. For, on the 11th of December 2009 the Stoner HiVe blog started. In honor of all the heavy music loving freaks in the HiVe. All those heavy music fiends that love the good stuff in whatever shape or form. The blog started to have a vehicle to Countdown the best 20 albums of that year. For the first years the blog never promoted itself or even featured on other social media outlets. We are still not that visible or that around. Others are way better in that part of the thing. But we continue on nonetheless. Simply because we love all those heavy albums that are being released in such amazing numbers, and yes, we still stagger backwards or fall from our chair each time we realize the total number of albums listened to in one year. And we then realize there are even more… Which we hope to continue discovering on a daily basis…

So, this is once again a call to action. Cause the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020 can only exist with your help. That first year, back in 2009, the end result got deduced from only 17 lists. But it slowly grew every year. So, we implore all of you out there, the ones that already participated before to send in your lists once again. And then tap your neighbor’s shoulder and get him to send one in as well. Cause it would be cool, to reach a greater number of calculated lists once again…

The rules are simple… Send in a list of your favorite albums to our EMAIL. They should be released in 2020. (Or after December 12, 2019) Send it in before December 12! And on the 13th of December we start the countdown. You can send over a Top 5, a Top 10, a Top 20, a Top 100 or even more. You decide what the best albums are; according to you. All lists will then be tabulated into one final Top 20!

Indeed, we don’t have one of those sweet poll’s the majestic JJ Koczan has on his The Obelisk. (Be sure to enter your list there as well!) But we’ve been able to do it manually every year, even though the time and energy it takes keeps getting more and more. But hey, we love doing it!  In honor of all those heavy albums, those heavy bands and you heavy fans!

So, you’ve got your list ready for The Obelisk… You’ve got your list ready for something else?  Send it to our EMAIL as well! It is the main reason the HiVe got started to begin with… Let the countdown continue in every grander form… And it sure does have a ring to it! The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020!

Send your list of favorite albums from 2020! 

HERE!  

Todd Rundgren - Flappie

  Todd Rundgren - Flappie

A famous Dutch Christmas song by comedian Youp van 't Hek which spins every year around Christmas time and is usually featured in the yearly Top 2000 countdown. And now, finally, there's a damn good English version by Todd Rundgren ... Now, let's hope he can donate some of the proceeds to Youp, since he's not been able to perform, is starving and might need to eat his Flappie once again around Christmas time...

The Doom Chart for November 2020

 

Doom Charts

“You’ll never lose you’re mind as long as you’re heart always reminds you where you left it...” ~ Mike Cooley (Drive-By Truckers)

I don’t know about you, but 2020 has made it hard to remember where we left our minds. Luckily, as evidenced by our monthly chart, the heavy underground music scene has a huge heart and maintained its focus on releasing more killer music than ever before. November finds us with 20 Doom Charts debuts and 5 repeats from month’s prior. Dig in and let us know what you love and what we missed.

The November edition of the Doom Charts went live a couple of hours ago! A few of my personal votes went out to Thammuz, KARKARA, Ruff Majik, Starmonger, Murcielago, BIG OAF, 10 Code and The Absurd! But all the others are equally amazing, gonna start playing the Doom Charts at the Number One position for a change... Sun Crow's Quest For Oblivion starts now! Just read the blurb by Patrick: "Wielding a molten take on blackened blues, high upon wings of  existential doom and proto metal, this album oozes molasses-like  sweltering groove. These contents are heady, lysergically laced and  outright otherworldly at times but with morphing elements of aggressive  density giving way to gloomy, dismal virtuosity." How can you not immediately start listening?!

Welcome to Doom Charts, representing some of the finest bloggers, journalists, radio, podcasters and album 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 Chart for November 2020