“All right, Doom Charts here! Get your hands above your heads, get on the bar, and get off the wall!”
~ probably misheard quote by Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle
That’s right! The Doom Charts are
here. The brand new first edition of 2024! It’s the January Edition and
the amount and quality of releases is stunning from the get-go! 220
albums received votes this month and it feels like there was some big
scheme going on, some smuggling operation to get the word out on all
that good stuff that has some sort of French Connection… Go listen to
the forty below and see what we mean… And we’d better not catch you Picking your feet in Poughkeepsie…
It's up! It's out and about... Since yesterday! It's running rampant through the streets of Poughkeepsie!
Tangled Horns, Qilin, Horse God, Hazehound, That Ship Has Sailed, Les Moontunes, The Slow and Easy, Greengoat, Buffalo Bud Buster and ofcourse... SLIFT!
And on the Facebook Page; we are running the countdown from Heave Blood & Die on Number 40 all the way to Number 1 and jotting down a few words for 40 to 26...
But I should have voted for all of them! Better check out all forty! They're all there for a reason!
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…
We’re back from Austria and will soon be ready for action again… Only have to sift through about 300 emails on the Stoner HiVe account and a similar amount for the Doom Charts… Had a great snowboarding trip and listened to loads of Doom Charts Top 100 albums of 2023 over there, what a year it was, what quality! Let’s hope 2024 will bring a few as tasty as 2023 did! The list above is actually from the week before… And you know what time it is this Friday right? The first Friday of the new month, the Regular January Edition of the Doom Charts… All of you ready for it?
All the rent-paying work is done as well and 2024 beckons to be enjoyed! So, I’m off to ride a mountain or two in Austria. Back in a week… And I don’t know about you, but I’m taking that Doom Charts Top 100 Albums of 2023 with me and will continue enjoying the rundown while riding down them slopes!
The Doom Charts Top 100, expertly tallied by Remi VL and voted for throughout the year by all those crazy Contributors!
100 amazing albums from the Heavy Underground, (out of a total list of 2424 albums) and I can honestly say, once again, that I love'm all... Perhaps one or two a bit less and a heap a bit more...
But they're all freaking stunning pieces of art! 馃
That hot and steamy, Southern tinged, Bourbon soaked, stoner infused, metal and hardrock gem! Take a sip of that whiskey! And get drunk on the entire Top 100!
Caroozer - The Brewtal Truth Daredevil Records – 2024 Metal, Thrash, Stoner, Groove Rated: ***
Ready to hit the road with some fast paced mot枚r metal? Five-piece Caroozer from Leipzig, Germany has eight metal tracks for you in store on their new The Brewtal Truth. There are elements of thrash, some stoner trucking and a massive groove. Fourth track Drive By can easily be called pure Groove Metal, delicious guitar work opening up the track later on, but not before you get this majestic groove, a kick ass punch and a machine gun rattle of riffs! There are definitely moments when you feel that Bay Area vibe shining through, but then they push the groove in overdrive and they turn a different corner. The Hobo’s Waltz with its sludge tones; often punching home like a shotgun blast to the stomach. And than that wild guitar towards the end! Cause well, you can't solve all the world's problems with a shotgun guitar. Although I reckon Caroozer could, with a shotgun guitar, groove metal and a bottle of beer!
The Black Flamingo - An-N没r Subsound Records – 2024 Rock, Psych, Stoner, Instrumental Rated: ***
They hail from Rome, Italy and have named their first full-sized album after ‘the light of the heavens and earth, and His light clarifies and reveals, both physically and spiritually!’. An-N没r, the Light that is Allah. Now, I’m not a religious man in any form of religion and have a believe that everything is way bigger than any of the religions can possibly understand. And the fact that there are so many ‘different’ belief systems could of course be seen as a finger point in that direction. But none of that truly matters in that connect the dots great scheme of things, for whatever you choose to believe, it’s yours. And you should keep it that way. Hold on to it if it gives you comfort, or meaning and most importantly, love. Now, I am uncertain if the three from The Black Flamingo are religious or have attained deeper mystical knowledge thanks to a few Ayahuasca ceremonies, but after a first three track EP called Mictlan that deep dived into the South American belief system, I choose to believe that these three cats are in search of that bigger thing. That thing that connects everything. The one thing they will never attain, but to strife for it, is the entire reason for doing so. Can we hear that journey in their new six track album An-N没r? I believe there is definitely a journey here, one that everyone can partake in. Six instrumental psychedelic offerings, that always spill some stoner rocking blood after going through atmospheric and almost post-rock soundscape tapestries. The new almost fourteen minute long version of their Ayahuasca closing the album and being the perfect example of what The Black Flamingo does best. The lighter than air beginning, the slow building scene setting, the minute growth towards something denser, the noise inspired break, letting that linger until a new build up towards what you would expect is an explosive ending begins. But they do that twice, and only second time around the bend to they extend it all towards the pay-off, which feels like blessing. And after that you can easily return, like Ouroboros, to that opening Selk’nam track, which pays homage to the original inhabitants of Tierra Del Fuego. An-N没r, in that way becomes this unending search, and that might have been what the three were aiming for. Or it might just be my take on it. And if so, I will hold on to it, cause it gives me comfort, meaning and an eternal love for everyone and everything on this planet…
Witchsnake - Deathcult Of The Snake Regain Records – 2023 Metal, Doom, Psych, Occult, Acid, Sludge Rated:
Released at the very end of '23 but not listened by me until this year, 2024 kicks of with a huge slab of filthy proto-doom. Riffs chiseled out of ancient sacred stones and brought to life with fuzz boxes and distortion turned up to maximum overdrive set the bedrock for the gravel voiced vocalist to recite the tales of woe contained within - nod of the head to Lemmy. Solid production give the heaviness a pleasing solidity that should get everyone's head nodding. This is the good shit.
This list should have gone up on Monday of course… But we were incredibly busy with all those Favorites of 2023 lists from all of them cool Doom Charts Contributors. But since we’re nearing the end of that run… Time is opening up. So, here’s that list. Topped by that new On An Island album by Sivert Hoyem. Stunning new work! And Pumping Flamingo underneath, featuring members of that amazing The Brigade band from Norway. Les Moontunes came at us from Remi VL, and yes, we dig that weird and psychedelic jazz! And now, we’ll try to get a few things done in the next two days before we head off to Austria for a bit of off time and snowboarding…
We professed our love for everything Mr. Wiberg comes up with on
multiple occasions and we shall continue to do so! And we still spin that
amazing All Is Well In The Land Of The Living But For The Rest Of Us . . .
Lights Out album from 2021 on many nights! And the maestro is about to release
a new album through Despotz Records on March 15th called: The
Serpent’s Here. And there’s a new second single for you to hear called Dead Sky
Lullaby! Stunning once again!
From the PR Wire:
Swedish rock
multi-instrumentalist PER WIBERG (former Opeth,
Spiritual Beggars, Candlemass) presents the second single taken from his
new solo album "The Serpent's Here", to be issued on March 15th via
Despotz Records. Listen to "Dead Sky Lullaby" exclusively on Metal
Injection!
About the song, PER WIBERG
says: "I’d like to think Dead Sky Lullaby’s good
traveling music, a kraut/space rock rager that boasts a Hawkwind-meets-Sonic
Youth vibe with a big chorus in the vein of Killing Joke. It was recorded live
in the studio, it shows and it sets the tone for the rest of the album. It’s
kinda divided in two parts with different types of choruses, the first part’s a
bit wilder and the second has more of an epic melodic feel to it. It’s all tied
together by the apocalyptic lyrics and a beat that could go on forever and ever
and ever…. Enjoy!"
As an unrivaled musical alchemist, his work has
illuminated an array of now-classic albums over thirty years by performing with
the likes of Opeth, Spiritual Beggars,and Candlemass as well
as Clutch/The Bakerton Group, Switchblade and Kamchatka. However, it’s
his solo conjurings that serve as the zenith of his musical voyages.
This year’s "The Serpent’s Here" continues PER WIBERG’s innovative
trajectory boasting six consuming tracks — plus a fantastically gloomy
rendition of Warrior Soul’s “The Losers” — that are at once grim and
surreal; airy yet ominous. Wiberg paints vivid sound tapestries with his clever
sense of dynamics and thoughtful lyricism. Each song moves with alluring
subtlety and suspense, not unlike the conventions of classic film noir. And
while he strays far from the traditional musical constructs, there’s an inescapable
melodicism and intrinsic catchiness to his output that makes even his most
experimental conjurings seamlessly accessible.
About the album, he says: “The music has a strong
familiar identity I’d say.It’s heavy in its tone but
this time a little braver, uptempo, loose, and ‘rock’n’roll’ compared to the
previous two albums. Overall, this is the most epic sounding of my stuff so
far. Things are more defined. I worked hard with lyrics and vocal arrangements
this time.” Listen to the album's title
track "The Serpent's Here".
PER WIBERG "The Serpent's Here" Out March 15th on Despotz Records
(vinyl/digital) - Preorder
TRACKLIST:
1. Dead Sky Lullaby
2. The Serpent's Here
3. Blackguards Stand Silent
4. This House Is Someone Else's Now
5. He Just Disappeared
6. Follow the Unknown
7. The Losers (Warrior Soul cover)
In 2019, PER WIBERG released his
debut solo offering "Head Without Eyes". A record of Nordic prog
submerged in a gnawing stew of jolting guitar notes and emotive melodies,
Wiberg’s debut laid bare an unexplored sonic landscape that surpassed the
successes of his past and solidified his strong presence as a unique solo
artist in his own right. Wiberg followed Head Without Eyes with his equally
stunning 2021-released "All Is Well In The Land Of The Living, But For The
Rest Of Us… Lights Out" EP, a
compelling celebration of innovative rock at its finest. Expanding and further
evolving his vision, Wiberg expertly composed the definitive and established
paradigms of traditional progressive rock with spirited and electrifying twists
of dark tone.The Metal
Observer hailed, “a great EP that serves
as a fitting soundtrack to these strange, dark times,” adding, “its thick,
otherworldly atmospheres represent a gloriously dark and hallucinated take on
Scandinavian prog that weaves together Wiberg’s many musical influences and
takes them to the next level of dark melodic exploration.
On his new album "The Serpent’s Here", he is joined by drummer Tor Sj枚d茅n (Viagra Boys) who
played drums on the previous EP, as well as bassist Mikael Tuominen (Kungens M盲n).
Basic live tracks (drums, basses, grand piano) were recorded atStudio Gr枚ndahl by David Castillo and, as
with previous releases, the record was mixed and mastered by Jonas Kjellgren at
Blacklounge Studios.
“All songs are built from rough song sketches
that I showed Tor and Mikael,” elaborates PERWIBERG on the writing
process. “The idea was that they could improvise. All
basic tracks were recorded live in an afternoon to give it that extra
spontaneous energy, and then I’d layer keys, guitars, and vocals on top of what
we recorded. Overall, there are more guitars this time as well as two basses on
the majority of the tracks.”
Ball – Midnight Heat Horny Records – 2023 Acid, Occult, Rock, Freak, Proto, Garage Rated: ***
It’s the fruit, that makes it fruity. It’s the juice, that makes it juicy. It’s the funk, that makes it funky. It’s the junk, that makes the junkie. It’s the Ball! That makes the Midnight Heat! You looking to get your freak on? You wanna dance your sleazy dance with the devil? Well, get on that new Ball album Midnight Heat! It indeed brings the heat, the acid-sweat, the funk and the garage to nine insanely good freak power proto rock tracks! Scuzzy, fuzzy and druggy! Grit your teeth and strut your stuff! There’s no denying the fleshy and sexy power coursing through these Dionysian, Bacchanal inducing Siren songs of depraved pleasure… That’s right, no escape, you shall be tumbling down the rabbit hole towards the bottom of the bottomless pit! And there shall be one hell of a party going on...
December is gone! But we’re not done with glancing back. Loads of Personal Favorite lists from the Contributors will be going live the next week(s) on The Doom Charts. Culminating, like last year, in the Top 100 according to all the votes that came in throughout the year. So, the next weeks might be a bit spotty on Stoner HiVe… But before January is through we will be resuming normal broadcasting services… Enjoy yer week!
“Don’t blame me, the Doom Charts made me crazy If it doesn’t, you ain’t doin’ it right Lord, save me, heavy music is my baby I’ll be usin’ for the rest of my life…”
~ (probably misheard) lyrics…
December is a weird month for new
music on many levels. Everyone is looking back at all the good stuff
that the year brought. Luckily, the Doom Charts are many! And many of
them are still keeping abreast of all that new music that keeps being
released as well. On a daily basis! That’s why no less than 218 albums
received votes for this month! Hope you all rested up during the Holiday
season, cause we got a lot of ground to cover. For the rest of our
lives… And we love it! It’s been a great December and a great year and
with a Contributor finally being able to name-drop Taylor Swift in one
of the blurbs (Thank you Taxi Caveman!) make this
possibly the best year even! And that’s why we keep cruisin’, why we
can’t stop, won’t stop movin’, cause we got all that heavy music in our
minds, sayin’, “It’s gonna be alright”! Happy New Year everyone! May
2024 bring you all you need!
The Doom Charts went live last Friday and without any hiccup! A great list of damn fine releases all from the Heavy Underground... Personal votes of the one that made the list, went out to:
Saturna, Warcoe, WIJ, Kobrakai, Altar Of The Fuzz, Voidship, The Broken Heroes, Witchsnake, Wounded Buffalo Theory, We Are Space Horses, The Polvos!, The Sleeping Sea King and AAWKS!
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…
