Momovudu - Momovudu

 

Momovudu - Momovudu
Self-released - 2024
Rock, Metal, Stoner, Doom, Psych
Rated: ****

Momovudu, we will need to get to the bottom of this. Not just where the band name originated from or what it might mean, but also how these eight tracks were recorded. For all of them sound so alive. They creep and crawl into every fiber of your being and will become the air that you breathe. You inhale and exhale along with the drums, the bass and feel so much relief as you float away with those guitar sounds. A sound so huge, dense, thick and pulsating, that the walls that surround you will seem to be alive, grow all sorts of greenery and extend ever more outwards. The new trio called Momovudu have delivered one hell of a calling card with their debut album. Haling from Kansas City and consisting of Wo Fat contributor Matt Watkins on guitar and vocals, Nate Kiersey on bass and Brent Richards on drums, the three had the Wo Fat guru Kent Stump enlisted for the engineering and production side of things. The overal bulbous and throbbing tones, get sliced and diced by the edgy vocals and the freewheelin’ bluesy guitar work. Not just a calling card, it’s a free rocking ace!

(Written by JK)

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Drive By Wire – Time Horizon

 

 

Drive By Wire – Time Horizon
Argonauta Records – 2024
Rock, Stoner, Desert, Psych, Fuzz
Rated: ****

As we inch closer to the deadline for YOUR lists for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024. Namely, before Saturday December 14th, 8.00 CET. We decided to deep dive into that folder full of albums we desperately had wanted to mention this year. We wrote about something like 250 albums and EP’s this year. But in that folder, there are still some 400 more that we had wanted to bring into your peripheral vision. And we are saddened that we will never get to that… But well, besides trying to keep up with all the new ones coming out, we’re now trying to bring into the spotlight one from every month passed that we unfortunately did not mention during the month they were released.

We already did four posts that glanced back at the first four months of 2024. So, this is the fifth, logically for May. Drive By Wire. Dutch heroes that have been around for ages and I believe their self-titled album from 2006 was one of the first albums I reviewed for Revolver Magazine. They’ve been on my car stereo ever since. The Whole Shebang from 2016, Spellbound from 2018 and that first album, all damn fine songs for driving at whatever hour of whatever day at whatever speed. Even when you run out of gas, this is the kind of music that will give you another extra hundred miles. And we can add Time Horizon to that list. Eight tracks, driven by fuzz, ridden by a majestic groove and whipped up by the misty and wistful vocals of Simone Holsbeek. Second track Slowrider, the prime example of that leisurely movement through the arid wilderness. And Dustfader, almost speedrocking its way to the end of the desert highway. And then there’s the wonderful Black Sails track, with its Americana and Noir touch. A moments that lets Simone's vocals shine as much as the riffs and melodies did beforehand and those hums in the background add so much extra atmosphere to that track it immediately turns it into much more than a break from all that great fuzzy stonerrock they delivered until then. And yes, once again, a perfect soundtrack for a world passing by your car window. Add to this the almost ten minute long title track that follows, that meanders and flows and feels like one huge current of blissful energy and you have the best Drive By Wire album one can imagine. And it’s real. And for you to listen to as you drive off into the sunset…

(Written by JK)

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The Doom Charts for November 2024

 

DOOM CHARTS

NOVEMBER 2024

 

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the heavy music that the Doom Charts can instill in us…“

~ Hal Borland (probably misread quote)

 

There is a lot of great music out there. And the list just keeps on growing. We have all the amazing music from the past to listen to and every day a new brilliant album is released. We do our best to find a few of those and we hope you will continue to do your own search as well. We also hope you will tell everyone around you about those amazing finds and that you will continue to spread the good word about all those records. We long to hear your favorites! Below you find 40 of our favorites from November. And as we’re hitting December, the month full of festivities, we will try to make it the entire month full of great music. Lists, Freebies and perhaps even more. But first and foremost, can we please have your attention for the amazing albums listed below… They are all worth every second of your time… 

As we enter that cozy and festive month of December, the Doom Charts looks back at all the heavy gifts November brought us! A riff-packed month once again! Amazing! Will be listening to all forty in order starting with the blackened sludge and doom metal present of Slať 's Elegie Propastná ... Should have been on my list! But then again, all of them could have... 

Of the ones that made it, I did have Sergeant Thunderhoof on my list... As well as Mount Hush, Wormsand, WARPSTORMER, Familiars, Vessel, Longheads, Surfsquatch, Starmonger, Caracara, Altareth, Veuve, Cosmic Fall, Void & The Nothingness, Scarecrow, VOLUME, Silverships, Burning Leaf & Apodemus... 

Too bad I see no showing of the amazing new Ramkot or PARIAHLORD releases... And there are more heavy presents to be unwrapped I'm sure! Go get some! 

Stoner HiVe about Sergeant Thunderhoof

Stoner HiVe about Burning Leaf

Stoner HiVe about Warpstormer

Stoner HiVe about Mount Hush

Stoner HiVe about Starmonger

Stoner HiVe about Cosmic Fall

Stoner HiVe about Ramkot

 

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 November 2024

Ezel - La Steppe aux deux Soleils

 

 

Ezel - La Steppe aux deux Soleils
Self-released - 2024
Drone, Doom
Rated: ****1/2

Have you ever craved for discomfort? Sitting on a chair in the middle of an empty room, the walls shivering like mad and producing a low-end rumble that can only originate from the deepest and darkest pits of the human brain? The illusion of not having any illusions at all - just an empty, desolate feeling - here, in the now, in a place where you don't want to be, but which you don't want to leave either because it's so fucking intriguing? That's more or less the atmosphere being created by Brussels three-piece Ezel on their first album of experimental drone and doom, available on cassette and as a digital download. Two tracks in little under forty minutes where slow, pounding drums and baritone saxophone lay a steady, trembling foundation for a heavily distorted violin to weave exquisite patterns of pain and repulsion, attraction and joy with a middle eastern undertone - not one where the room is filled with graceful belly dancers with smooth hips and bell chains around their wastes, but one where stench rises from a long-forgotten opium den - people resting on the fumes of self-destruction with an inability to love or feel, drifting off into the imagination of emptiness and abandonment, slowly coming to terms with the world around them.

More so than their use of non-conformist instrumentation, it's that contradiction, that undercurrent, that dark, brooding ultra-heaviness that makes Ezel so special. That world where two suns exist. One shining bright, the other black as the night. Together they illuminate the ground beneath them - that desolate place where everything is beautiful, yet nothing dares to grow.

(Written by Ronny Dijksterhuis)

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Flamebearer – Brazen

 

 

Flamebearer – Brazen
Self-released – 2024
Rock, Metal, Doom, Stoner, Hard, NWOBHM
Rated: ****

As we inch closer to the deadline for YOUR lists for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024. Namely, before Saturday December 14th, 8.00 CET. We decided to deep dive into that folder full of albums we desperately had wanted to mention this year. We wrote about something like 250 albums and EP’s this year. But in that folder, there are still some 400 more that we had wanted to bring into your peripheral vision. And we are saddened that we will never get to that… But well, besides trying to keep up with all the new ones coming out, we’re now trying to bring into the spotlight one from every month passed that we unfortunately did not mention during the month they were released.

After January, February and March the past three days, we’ve been listening to all those April releases we never got around to mentioning. And we know we should have! Flamebearer’s Brazen album for instance. Back in 2023 they graced us with their awesome Taste Hell single and we knew we would be in for a good heavy metal time once their album would be released. Classic and traditional in many sense, the nine tracks operate distinctly in the metal universe. But then every so often you get a flash of more hardrock oriented or stonerrock love. Often direct in approach the songs aim for the jugular, they grip you and do not beat around the bush. Opener Seed Is Sown immediately being the perfect example, for it hits the ground running and keeps going for only three minutes. Classic metal vocal melodies are sung with balled fists or spit with venom. A minor guitar flourish before the breakdown and then back to the sprinting part as the vocals turn into intense screams. And many of the vocals that follow across the album are filled with drama or refrains that beg to be sung along by many throats in the audience. And everything is done and completed with so little time and so much efficiency, it's insane. Longest track six minute long Holy Rose is an actual ballad, strolling power rock that implores metal influences from all eras passed. This entire album oozes knowledge, talent and confidence. Perhaps logical when you consider the members earned their spurs in bands like 1968, Decomposed, Oak, Mourn, Blood Island Raiders, Brule and Mocho Diablo. Indeed, Flamebearer are allowed to be this bold!

(Written by JK)

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24/7 Diva Heaven – Gift

 

 

24/7 Diva Heaven – Gift
Noisolution – 2024
Rock, Grunge, Riotgrrrl, Punk, Garage, Alternative
Rated: ***

Is there a resurgence of riot grrrl going on? If so, let’s applaud it! For we can all use some loud and proud feminists shaking things up! 24/7 Diva Heaven may be another one of those groups ready to take to streets, with their alternative rock, grunge and punk sound they have all the hallmarks of riot grrrl. And yet, most of the bands from this era that shirk up to that genre seem to bring more fun to the game. Less revolution by preaching and more by going berserk! And where the biggest eye catcher in most of those groups usually is the front woman, this time around we get the Gift of three! Yes, the Berlin trio of 24/7 Diva Heaven is made up of three riot girls! And those three treat us to energetic noise, often hysterical guitars and jumping around like crazy punk anthems. Charismatic by default, the songs that follow the grunge and punk signature are without a doubt the tracks that will lure you in and will be the cause of a lot of bruises during their live shows. Which we desperately hope to attend one day. But during the slower more indie and slacker inspired tracks you get to know the band more, like on Crown of Creation or Nothing Lasts. Opener Rat Race though immediately gives you an idea what most of the songs are about. Hardened power chords, driving bass lines, punching drums, screamy vocals and that always infectious energy! Something you can’t get enough of! We give you 24/7 Diva Heaven, and their Gift that keeps on giving…

(Written by JK)

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Laura Palmer – Exploding Head Syndrome

 

Laura Palmer – Exploding Head Syndrome
Self-released / Aces High Promotion – 2024
Rock, Shoegaze, Alternative, Noise, Drone
Rated: ****

As we inch closer to the deadline for YOUR lists for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024. Namely, before Saturday December 14th, 8.00 CET. We decided to deep dive into that folder full of albums we desperately had wanted to mention this year. We wrote about something like 250 albums and EP’s this year. But in that folder, there are still some 400 more that we had wanted to bring into your peripheral vision. And we are saddened that we will never get to that… But well, besides trying to keep up with all the new ones coming out, we’re now trying to bring into the spotlight one from every month passed that we unfortunately did not mention during the month they were released.

A January release graced the little old blog two days ago, A February release just yesterday and now logically follows a March release! Twelve years after their foundation they have finally released a debut album! This is Dutch trio Laura Palmer and the album is called Exploding Head Syndrome. Sure, there have been a few singles and EP’s since they started back in 2012, but this is their first full-sized release. It seemed to have made all the difference, for the sound matured and became this gritty shoegaze noir, alternative drone and all laced with a mysterious atmosphere. Fitting the bandname perfectly, bounded by early new wave, scarring post punk and nineties noise, the seven tracks excel whenever their riotous quality is allowed to unsettle. They challenge your mind with a risky adventure, a dream like stroll along an empty beach can turn into a wild feverish party without warning. It’s so good it might make your head explode!

(Written by JK)

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Aces High Promotion

CCQueen – Helen

 

CCQueen – Helen
Self-released – 2024
Rock, Prog, Stoner
Rated: ****

We’ve been lucky enough to have been aware of CCQueen’s existence for quite some time and have been listening to their Nancy EP and Scavenger album ever since they came out. But then the Bordeaux, France troupe served us with their damn fine Electric Kisses single and the cover for Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall. Two tracks that became household repeats. Especially since they promised to deliver more in the form of an EP called Helen. We needed to be ready for that one. Well, here it is, featuring those two tracks and two more called Helen and Preach. Released on December 1st, third track Preach has a pressurized and proggy build-up, turning it slowly into a steamy and spirited sermon. Delivering the holy riffs in fine whirling fashion, harrying becomes hypnotizing, and we can only hope it will continue even longer and become even wilder when performed live. Helen opens with a female voice telling us it was merely a dream and we should wake u. Folky for starters, a quirky transition, and then comes the rumble. All sections translating perfectly the craziness that resides within the man obsessed with a woman, driving him slowly insane. CCQueen never focuses on rifferama, instead opting to change compositions and expectations whenever the feel like it, giving you loads of exciting avenues to discover. And these two new tracks, and heck, the entire EP are proof of that once again…

(Written by JK)

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Volt Ritual – Return To Jupiter

 

 

Volt Ritual – Return To Jupiter
Self released – 2024
Rock, Stoner, Space, Doom
Rated: ****

As we inch closer to the deadline for YOUR lists for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024. Namely, before Saturday December 14th, 8.00 CET. We decided to deep dive into that folder full of albums we desperately had wanted to mention this year. We wrote about something like 250 albums and EP’s this year. But in that folder, there are still some 400 more that we had wanted to bring into your peripheral vision. And we are saddened that we will never get to that… But well, besides trying to keep up with all the new ones coming out, we’re now trying to bring into the spotlight one from every month passed that we unfortunately did not mention during the month they were released. 

We mentioned Black Toaster and their Flying Rage Machine from January just yesterday. And this, Volt Ritual’s second EP called Return To Jupiter was released in February. They hail from Poland and where the trio sounded more like Sabbath and Fu Manchu on their first EP, this one takes more cues from the space rock side of heavy rock. There’s a bit of sloppiness on this recording, but it gives even more character to the four tracks that continue the tale of exploration that Volt Ritual started with their first release. Remember that one? With opening track Approaching Jupiter? This one features a line-up change and opens with instrumental, though ridden with samples, Heavy Metal Is Good For You. And that one track alone would bring enough sustenance to your heavy rocking core. Setting the scene perfectly for Ghostpolis to serve as a laidback groove, surveying the landscape from a far, from somewhere in orbit or flying high over the deserted planet. Gwiazdolot (starship in Polish) on the other hand sets in descent, skirting through the debris and uses the up-tempo delivery to paint a gritty picture of the surroundings. It also skirts a bit more back towards their first release. Final and title track Return To Jupiter delivers the space beauty once more, with darkened colors and a lot of flashes from Volt Ritual's expertise. Let’s see where the journey takes us next time…

(Written by JK)

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Review for the debut by Volt Ritual

Iron Slug – Unrepentant Grin

 

 

Iron Slug – Unrepentant Grin
Self-released – 2024
Metal, Doom, Sludge
Rated: ****

They may already have captured and corrupted you ears back in May when they released their debut EP Debauched And Bored. And then a week and a bit ago, in November they released their Final Proposal single, the final track of the new EP Unrepentant Grin, which will come out December 6th. The good ol’ boys responsible for all this noise are called Iron Slug! A trio from Kent, UK that is slowly perfecting their take on sludge and doom metal. A touch of something Southern often transports you to the good ol’ days of Crowbar, Down and Corrosion of Conformity. But due to the limited induction of punk energies and a different approach to the vocal stylings, you hear Iron Slug and nothing but Iron Slug from shotgun blast to the pouch opening Depraved to the giant’s slam dance of Final Proposal. And as you lie there, bleeding from that initial shotgun in the gut, you hear the break down, the vocals sliding and slithering across the composition, bringing it all to life, while death grunts underneath it all show you the shadows and the blackened void. They do this whenever the track allows, and the usage of all these different layers of vocals make Unrepentant Grin an amazing EP from start to finish. Cause you can count on the riffs being there. And yes, the bass rumbles, roars and chugs as it should and the drum work is perfect in its choppiness. Nothing wrong here and everything right. Four tracks that will make you grin…

(Written by JK)

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Black Toaster – Flying Rage Machine

 

 

Black Toaster – Flying Rage Machine
Self-released – 2024
Rock, Hard, Stoner, Punk
Rated: ****

As we inch closer to the deadline for YOUR lists for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024. Namely, before Saturday December 14th, 8.00 CET. We decided to dive deep into that folder full of albums we desperately had wanted to mention this year. We wrote about something like 250 albums and EP’s this year. But in that folder, there are still some 400 more that we wanted to bring attention to. And we are saddened that we will never get to that… But well, besides trying to keep on top of all the new ones coming out, we’re now trying to bring into the spotlight one from every month passed that we unfortunately did not mention during that month. This brilliant one for instance, from January. They’re called Black Toaster and hail from Bern, Switzerland. And on this three track Flying Rage Machine EP they deliver some gritty and groovy rock ‘n roll. A bit of punk energy and a lot of stonerrock influence take their hardrock into the land of gigantic swagger and monstrous grooves. There are moments that remind more of Sweden’s finest and a few instances that bring to mind that lost brilliant band of Lausanne, Switzerland called Feuerzeug. Flying Rage Machine gives you ten minutes of wildness, a bit of rage and a lot of riff flying! And that bass work in final track Evil Eye! Wowzah!  

(Written by JK)

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

 

 

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

Warpstormer
Cosmic Fall
Odd Crew
Familiars
Mary Ann Hawkins
Oberón
Altareth
No Man’s Valley
Slift
Dozer

Mornin! Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was still filled with a fever that came and went and coughing fits that had sea lions across the globe looking in my general direction and asking me to keep it down. But we did manage to do a bit of work last week. No less than three albums by No Man’s Valley got mentioned, including a few bandcamp codes. We wrote about the awesome new Warpstormer, the brilliant Cosmic Fall and went back to the final days of December 2023 to mention Engraver’s debut release called Rituals. And then there was the FULL ALBUM PREMIERE for Deep Valley Blues new album Sangue E Veleno. And our resident poet Ronny Dijksterhuis graced us with a few words about Bog Filth and an actual, wonderful poem about that album. And yesterday, before we crawled back in bed, we put up the first official announcement that this year’s Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024 will commence on Saturday 14th of December. And that you crazies can send your list to stonerhive@hotmail.com before 8.00 CET on that day… Well, we did do some work after all last week. Let’s hope for a few moments of clarity and a speedy recovery this week… And as usual, the Spotify playlist for the Top 10 Most Listened Last week can be heard below… Have a great week everyone! Stay healthy!

The Spotify Playlist for...

Stoner HiVe's Weekly Top 10 Most Listened

Week 49

The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024

 

 

The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024

This is it! The very first official announcement that the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024 is just around the corner again. We’ve been doing it since 2009 and above is the image featuring all the Number One albums according to all the votes that came in so far. Your votes! It’s your call! And this is the call to arms, voting arms… Get ready to make that list and send it to us.

We will commence with the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024 on Saturday December 14th. You will have time to send your list of favorite albums from this year right up until that morning 8.00 CET. We still don’t have a fancy poll system in place, so we continue to do it the old fashioned, manual labor and lots of sweat way. Please send your list via email to stonerhive@hotmail.com.

The rules, just like every year, are very simple. Send a list of your albums from 2024, or late December 2023, to our email: stonerhive@hotmail.com . It can contain as many as you want. But be advised, it’s a weighed count and all entries below your Number 20, will get the same amount of points as your Number 20.

Almost every year the amount of lists we receive keeps growing and we are thankful for each and every one of them. Whether you are able to list five favorite albums or fifty it is all good! You can send your list to our email and we will do all the computing and tallying… And then when the day is there, Saturday December 14th, we shall start the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2024! Ending, as always, with this year’s Number One on January 1st…

Gonna listen to last year’s Number One album right now! Which was Dozer and their Drifting In The Endless Void album. I’m curious to see what you all vote for this year and what album will reach the Number One spot this year… Please help me out by sending your votes!

Send your list of favorite albums of 2024 HERE!

Deadline Saturday December 14th, 8.00 CET. 

 

Want to read up on past editions?
Visit the blog and see posts like: The Countdown So Far...
Or the Number One Posts...