maandag 15 augustus 2022

Volt Ritual – Volt Ritual

 

 

Volt Ritual – Volt Ritual
Self released – 2022
Rock, Stoner, Doom, Metal
Rated: ***

Formed in 2020, the Polish trio Volt Ritual sound as much as Fu Manchu as Black Sabbath. And on their self-titled debut album we’re getting seven tracks of their heavy sound as they embark on their quest for the ultimate riff. Indeed, their stoner scurries and slitters through the metal alleys like proto rats. But ever so often they’re caught out by the sun and then the sound changes more into the punk, surf and desert approach of those Fu motherfuzzers. But overall, the DIY production leads to a muddy and swampy sound, giving the riffs an extra layer of heavy and the bass an extra deep layer of low. Sure, the vocals could use some work here and there, but sometimes the understated, less than confident approach does work. Take for example the fourth track War In The Sun, the for the most part choppy diction, feels like an important science fiction story is being told and it works. Or as if a rumor about war on a distant world needs to be told in secret. The same can be said for the Droga track; which also gives us the most sundried tones to ever come out of Poland. What a wonderful track! In it's entirety, the album is an almost thirty-three-minute debut; and it lets everyone know that there’s electricity in the air over in Poland… And Volt Ritual is ready to capture it and turn it into delicious fuzz…


(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…


King Buffalo
Boris
Druids
Brant Bjork
Samán
Obiat
Psychlona
Somnus Throne
Volt Ritual
Leonard

 

As mentioned before, we've got two to three more weeks ahead of us that are totally hectic and completely full. So, even though we've got a few more mentions ready to go... We're not sure how much and when we can put it all online... But all those albums we mentioned so far deserve to be spun over and over and over anyway! So, get crackin! Enjoy your week!

zondag 14 augustus 2022

Obiat – Indian Ocean

 

 

Obiat – Indian Ocean
Self released – 2022
Rock, Metal, Sludge, Prog, Post, Psych, Doom
Rated: *****

In my mind there are all tides. All the ebbs and all the flows. Huge shadows from massive swells and booming sounds from crashing waves. In my mind there’s an ocean. Resounding and reverberating, remaking all that ever was. And in my mind I hear Obiat. Playing their surging sludge and pulsating prog, their highly dynamic and rippling approach to metal, post-rock, and psych. Once again we dive into the fourth track Nothing Above to hear a perfect example of that rippling; that slow wash like a great expanse of calm water. The extra vocals on Nothing Above provided by Sofia DeVille, the saxophone by Tomasz Bachorz and a trombone by Marta Rakowska, immediately give away that the four from Obiat are not afraid to go all out, to experiment and to let the music flow and follow its natural course. Gracious and warm, that one track shows off everything Obiat has in store when it comes to painting pictures and setting scenes. And it’s what this entire album is about; one gigantic and colorful mural filled with intricate details and dark crevices to escape into, to explore, and to discover. And where that fourth tracks shows off the inner workings of Obiat, following fifth track Sea Burial shows off their heavier side, the steady riffing, the sturdy drums, and the sailing vocals by Sean Cooper. Still showing restraint and control, the end build up does not go for explosive, but for massive and grandiose. Which makes for a majestic transition into the wonderful keywork on that sixth track Ad Meliora, a track that does become more volatile as the composition progresses. All that extra FX adding so much depth and dimension to the song. Which is probably the biggest growth displayed in regard to the earlier releases, there’s just so much more to every song, minute details, thick and luscious sounds, wonderful production and the new vocalist, making this new Indian Ocean record rise to towering heights. For Obiat, an ever-revolving project, that still has founding member Raf Reutt in its midst, to return with a new album after thirteen years, and to do that with such conviction, power, and a lust to give so much, is dazzling, daring, and audacious. Just like ending such a record as Indian Ocean with Lightness Of Existence, which sounds like flickering sun sparks on the water…


(Written by JK)


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vrijdag 12 augustus 2022

Eternal Sun Temple – Vol I.

 

 

Eternal Sun Temple – Vol I.
Self released – 2022
Rock, Stoner, Doom, Metal, Psych, Occult, Sludge
Rated: ****

We had a couple Vol I. or Volume 1. records on repeat the last few weeks. Two of those already made the July Doom Charts and we are now of course referring to the one Mel Lie has been loving so very much. Indeed, she worships the Eternal Sun Temple and soon everyone will be doing the same thing. For the seven psychedelic doom metal tracks on Eternal Sun Temple’s debut album Vol I. have this occult edge and mystic vibe; and will undoubtedly lure you into their midst. Before splitting you in two with a track such as Decimation, which starts out slow, pounding you relentlessly into submission and then giving it some extra juice before exploding into a fast-paced motoring riff-extravaganza in the middle; and then grinding slowly down to a halt. It shows that Luca Frizza and his two companions know how to riff away as well as get you into a hallucination state by way of drone and doom. They hail from San Fransisco, Argentina but aim to move their Eternal Sun Temple to Europe, where droves of doom worshipping lunatics await them to bring offerings and give them the joy of seeing the eternal nod in unison and in hordes…


(Written by JK)


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O’ and one or two of these codes might still be alive!

36gg-hrdn  
5yu3-5sxe  
bt5m-7da3  



Doomed for Ukraine

 

Doomed for Ukraine


As the war rages on in Eastern Europe, as Ukraine gets decimated and destroyed, the world keeps turning. A bit slower and with a mad eye on the ones that started the war, but still. It’s not like the war has awoken the rest of the world or has spurred any of them into action. Action once again comes from the ones suffering and from the ones that can not stand silent while those suffer needlessly. War never changes and I fear, mankind will never change…

But still, for those heavy rock loving fiends, the ones that doom in safety across the globe; a small token of aid can be provided by buying the STOP WAR IN UKRAINE compilation on Bandcamp if you are an avid heavy music listener or you can provide an extra track for that compilation if you are an artist. So far, 169 bands and artists have already provided a track for the STOP WAR IN UKRAINE compilation. A compilation started by Eugene Voron from Path Of Doom Radio


Eugene says: “In my country, there is a strong and well-known doom metal scene. Bands like Stoned Jesus, 1914, and more recently Noyde and Mental Torment have made great contributions to the genre. I’ve always been a huge fan of music. My journey began with Black Sabbath and Dio. More recently, I began listening to online radio, but I wasn’t satisfied with the selection and felt I could do something to highlight the music and bands I loved.” In 2017, Eugene founded Path of Doom Radio, which broadcast daily from evening till midnight.  The station and accompanying website shines a spotlight on eclectic, international doom and stoner metal. It also promotes the Ukrainian scene as well as female fronted doom bands - the latter with an annual vote, which attracted hundreds of contributor groups and thousands of voters. However, in early 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, and Path of Doom fell temporarily silent. Unable to broadcast to the world, Eugene instead called upon the scene to help young children suffering from war with humanitarian aid via bandcamp sales. Over 100 international bands heard the call - including Panheist, Iron Void, and Paralyzed, and more add their names each week.

“Bright, interesting representatives of the scene from all over the world have joined this compilation and I’m grateful to all of them,” says Eugene. “I urge any fans of Doom and stoner to come listen, pay what you can, and help my people and its families get through this terrible conflict.”


Bands from all over the world have provided a track and from all the heavy genres you can think off. I will not list all 169, but when you see certain names you already know that for every penny you might pay you will not just aid the suffering, you will get incredible music in return: Just look at these: Everest Queen, Professor Electric, Vandhali, Praÿ, Subsun, Black Capricorn, Obiat, Les Nadie, The Swell Fellas, Yo No Se, King Potenaz, Iron & Stone, Carson, Indica Blues, Swörn, Samavayo, Brut Oss, Paralyzed, Hippie Death Cult and The Dry Mouths.




STOP WAR IN UKRAINE

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donderdag 11 augustus 2022

Druids – Shadow Work

 

 

Druids – Shadow Work
Pelagic Records – 2022
Metal, Doom, Prog, Sludge
Rated: *****

We’ve been listening to it for months, but we still feel like we are very late to the party. Cause Shadow Work has suddenly and totally been really clicking over here. So, we donned out our hooded cloaks, started marching in circles around a giant stone, and humming some doom magic to invoke the maelstrom sounds of Druids! For it was at the Krach Am Bach festival that a certain melody suddenly reminded us of something. And before we knew what was happening, we were transported deep into the Druids universe and chanting out loud: “I tried to heal myself, From what I use to be, I tried to free myself, From who I've always been.” Sure, the other festival goers, took a second glance, some might even have known what song I was shouting, others probably wondered why I was singing a totally different song than the one performed on stage. Either way, suddenly that fourth album track Hide had me snared and trapped and I felt wonderful. But don’t get me wrong, the lead-up, the build up towards that fourth track is already brilliantly done. Opening it all with the elemental, fleeting, yet totally inhabiting Aether, awaking all the inner shadows within you. And then immediately, with those awesome vocals on second track Path To R. A track that slowly builds, progresses, and uses all sorts of atmospheric elements to eventually come to that whirling frenzy of noise, shouts, and howls. Slow grooving Ide’s Koan, has a guitar cruising on top of that massive bassline, before we come to a finale worth of apocalyptic pyrotechnics. Crushing you slowly but decidedly with a roof of noise, bringing it all in, bringing it all down. Would I have gone for the fade out? Or perhaps explode it all in one final break? Not sure, either way, the air provided with those drums on the following masterpiece Hide, the meandering bass underneath, a guitar slowly revving up in the back and the vocals leading up to that perfect chorus. So much tension blown straight out the window, so much release, yet still retaining some mystic elements and a way forward. It seems that Druids have found that magical element needed to make the following four tracks of Shadow Work as golden as the four starting points. Progressive doom metal alchemy: it’s what the Druids do…  


(Written by JK)


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dinsdag 9 augustus 2022

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

 

 

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

King Buffalo
Torpedo Torpedo
Volt Ritual
Iron & Stone
Astronoid
Brant Bjork
Man In The Woods
Abraham
Blues Weiser
Cormano

Yes, we know, this little list always goes up on Monday… But due to the Krach Am Bach Festival and other assignments we could not get it up before now… And the next three weeks will be extremely hectic, so, updates might be a little sparse…

vrijdag 5 augustus 2022

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

 

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

Before we head off to Krach Am Bach Festival in Beelen, Germany, we wanted to do a very quick Quick Fire Friday round! And we know… All those releases, singles, ep’s, albums, they are worth way more of our time! But you know how it is… There is so much out there, so much good and heavy stuff, and we just simply cannot ever do it all justice. So here it is. Another Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday! And it burns hot like molten lava!

 

Lammping – Desert On The Keel


The Toronto Lammping four are back! A new album is on the horizon! But for now, and since June actually, we have Desert On The Keel, the first of a series of stand-alone singles they're putting out this summer! Giving us once again that The Beta Band feel, turned stoner, turned psych and the most majestic sideways head nod you will experience!  


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Iron & Stone – Mountain & Waters

Five piece Iron & Stone from Hildesheim, Germany released their new four track EP Mountain & Waters back in June and everyone should check it out, if you haven’t already. It is the first EP in a series of three and since you can’t stop what’s coming, you need to dive into the mountain and climb the waters. Good, honest, heavy stonerrock and fuzz with a punk spirit! Indeed, low desert punks from the heart of Germany!


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 Auerbode – Auerbode

Auerbode is a doomgaze project by Tannhauser Orchestra frontman Erick de Deyn. Doomgaze, staring into the abyss until the abyss winks at you. But before you think this is going to be some dark and twisted music, let me set you straight. The self-titled fivetrack debut is actually pretty, light, uplifting, post-rock, post-metal, music with a serious undercurrent and equally significant themes. It’s good and it’s out on the Murphy Albums label… Cause you know… Whatever can go wrong…


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Murphy Albums


Harry Cloud – You’ll Never Fix This

A new EP by the master of weird, insane and bonkers music and art is back! Harry Cloud never went anywhere, but with four track You’ll Never Fix This, he’s tried and fix some of his old compositions. Indeed, the four tracks were all recorded in earlier years and were never in need of any fixing, but hey, the bizarre rock is now everybody’s kit and kitten caboodle to grab through Kitten Robot Records. And you can also just watch the video’s and be sure to have a nightmare or two…


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Kitten Robot Records

Kitten Robot Records Bandcamp


Grevens Tid – Upplands Väsby

Grevens Tid is a middle-aged hard rock band that sings eerie songs in Swedish. We were formed out of covid boredom in 2020 and try to sound a bit like a mix between the Sad Wings of Destiny album and an 18-wheeler in snow smoke between Kiruna and far away. Well, what more is there to say? Well, let’s state that we dig that seventies hard rock vibe on their first single Upplands Väsby. And well, the song, which is a tribute to "Sweden´s Birmingham" features Gunnar "Mic" Michaeli of Europe - born and raised in Upplands Väsby! And well, let’s see what else they will release… On their debut album Folkhemskt, which will be out… Hopefully soon…


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 Teen Mortgage – Valley

Valley, the final track of the Teen Mortgage EP Smoked, which we mentioned back in December 2021, has gotten a video treatment. And since we love Teen Mortgage and the King Pizza Records label on which it was released, we reckoned we should mention the video… Punk, surf, stoner, garage, noise and enough metal to start seeing things double!


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donderdag 4 augustus 2022

Torpedo Torpedo – The Kuiper Belt Mantras


 

Torpedo Torpedo – The Kuiper Belt Mantras
Electric Fire Records – 2022
Rock, Stoner, Space, Psych, Doom
Rated: ****

A handful of moments after speeding past Pluto we enter The Kuiper Belt Mantras. Invoking a poetic journey into the human psyche and seducing us with their excellent glory of divine riffs and colorful guitar work. The Vienna three from Torpedo Torpedo will lead us from the dark into the light and from death to immortality. Four tracks and twenty-six minutes is all we get from Torpedo Torpedo and that will surely leave you thirsting for more. Hail to the jewel that is third track Caspian Dust, with it’s fuzz, it’s space, it’s eastern motif and the way the serpent eats its own tail. Fourth track Cycling Lines shows Torpedo Torpedo is capable of removing all obstacles and give light, air and freedom to every note and every tone. Letting it all rain down and assail your senses when the ache you feel becomes the treasure you seek, turning it all into your own private little solar system. Indeed, you will be surfing the cosmic waves and sailing through the void on all four tracks even though Verge, is darker, more malicious and where the devil might eat your soul. If he can stomach it. Impressive from start to finish, Torpedo Torpedo, is a direct hit…  


(Written by JK)


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woensdag 3 augustus 2022

Fuzz Brigade – Rey De La Muerte

 

 

Fuzz Brigade – Rey De La Muerte
Self-released – 2022
Rock, Stoner, Doom, Metal
Rated: ****

Often a band will throw a curveball somewhere on the album. One stand-out weird track that sort of changes your entire look on a certain record. Usually, they do that towards the end of the album. Mexican trio Fuzz Brigade decided to start with it! Opening track Rey De La Muerte from their debut album with the same name is one hell of a scuzzy doom and fuzzy metal anthem, a track to test the waters and to see if you, the listeners, can handle all the heaviness they might throw at you. And if you do, if you can pass the Fuzz Brigade test, they will then throw a fuzz and stoner parade in your honor! For the rest of the album is heavy fucking stonerrock! Sure, we can hear some other influences, like grunge and sludge pop up from time to time. And ofcourse that motor breath, motor punk, speedrock masterpiece Speedball, perfect for a Sunday afternoon to do LSD with your local Hell’s Angels chapter. But for the most part the Fuzz Brigade brings pure and unadulterated love for sweltering hot stonerrock! It turns soggy and swampy from time to time, but most of the music feels like an ode to the scorching sand from which it all came. The guitars grunt with heat, shit, they sound like yowling guitars IN heat! And the vocals will make you smell gasoline and fumes; while they bounce along on the melody; the perfect soundtrack for a backyard party with your local motorcycle gang…


(Written by JK)


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Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships – Consensus Trance

 

 

Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships – Consensus Trance
Self-released – 2022
Metal, Doom, Sludge, Stoner
Rated: ****

Don’t panic! Sure, the name is awesome and impossible to utter twenty times in a row… Fast or otherwise. But Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships isn’t here for you to play tongue twister. No no no, they are here to deliver intense heavy rock and extreme ruthless metal. The three hail from Lincoln, Nebraska and on their sophomore release Consensus Trance they manage to sound like a Vogon Constructor Fleet. But don’t panic! They’re not here to destroy earth, only your house and your mind in particular! For you might start to enjoy opener Beg Your Pardon, with its sludgy stoner rock rumblings and doom nod a bit too much. And following track Mystical Consumer, charming your soul with it’s bluesy and wailing guitar. It’s all too luscious and lovely. Luckily there’s the third, title-track, to make everything extremely more nasty and foul, for as soon as those guttural, ghastly distorted vocals start, and make it all sound so low and so high at the same, you will start to doubt your own existence, and feel like you are staring into an eerie inky void… Indeed, it might make a brave man weep. And there is more. Three more tracks for you to lose yourself in, and all of which will sounds as high and as low as you need. Gritty stoner and grainy doom that gets more swampy, sludgy and savage as the albums goes on. Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships delivers a trillion-ton heavy album called Consensus Trance. Low, slow, dark and twisted metal from somewhere, out there, in the vast emptiness of space, where the Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships move in conjunction to destroy mind after mind and bury them all in the darkness, from whence they came..


(Written by JK)


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dinsdag 2 augustus 2022

The Doom Charts For July 2022

 

 

The Doom Charts For July 2022

“Hell, love costs: it takes effort and work.”
~ William Somerset


Hi everyone. Just wanted to state the obvious once again. I love my fellow Contributors from the Doom Charts. All of them do majestic work for the Doom Charts and more importantly, for the scene! They tirelessly slave on their respective blogs, podcasts and websites. And they do all of that for their undying love and fealty to heavy rock. Much respect! And of course, there’s another part of the heavy underground that we perhaps should pay more homage to. And we shall do that henceforth on the Doom Charts… The record companies! Cause even though many of the bands featured on the Doom Charts do it all themselves. There are a few nutcases out there, that just like the rest of us Doom Charts Contributors, did not know where to go with all that love for heavy rock. And so, they went on and founded a record label to spread their love for the good stuff! Well, thank you! Thank you all! Cause we do love putting the needle to the groove, gazing for hours on end at the artwork on the cover and sniffing that brandnew jewelcase! So, thank you all you heavy rock loving nutcases, thank you for founding your label, finding the albums you loved and wanted to put out on your label and doing all that work! As of now, we shall try and mention those labels… But we must confess, sometimes, it’s not clearly marked on the band’s websites…

Hi everyone, July has come and gone, and once again we have been blessed with a massive amount of great albums. No less than 215 albums received votes… And the forty with the most votes can be perused below… And at the very bottom, we’ve got a Doom Charts Mixtape again… Featuring the chosen tracks by the Contributors that blurbed about a certain album… Go listen and go doom! It’s why we do this!

Those crazy Contributors went all out again... So it's here... The all new July Doom Charts... Featuring once again all those heavy rock albums they all love so dearly...

Personal votes went out to: AAWKS, Voidward, SAMÁN, Wizzo, Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships, Paralyzed, Sons of Arrakis, Lucid Grave, Black Capricorn, MY SLEEPING KARMA - OFFICIAL, Mexicoma, SupaSonic Fuzz, Formation Ritual, BIRTH, Ian Blurton's Future Now, Josiah & OBIAT !

And we’ll listen to the entire list once more starting with Number 40, STÍU NU STÍU in the next couple of days… Before we leave for Krach Am Bach festival in Beelen, Germany…

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 JULY 2022

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

 

 

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

King Buffalo
Man In The Woods
The Schizophonics
Swörn
Indian Handcrafts
Trillion Ton Beryllium Ships
The Same River
Telekinetic Yeti

Formation Ritual
Psychlona

Yes, we know, this little list always goes up on Monday… But due to the work we did for the Doom Charts and the July edition going live on Monday; we did not even find the chance to put this up… Plus, we reckoned everyone had enough on their plate with reading that 2500 words long interview with Diamond PR from the awesome The Same River… Grin…