Well, the past week shot by! With very little time to do some Stoner HiVe work. But we still managed to get a few posts up. We jotted down a few words about the wonderful new version of Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii, Fusskalt’s new Faceless Man release, the new Red Mess called Hi-Tech Starvation and the amazing new The Big Rip EP Olympus Mons. Which has been on repeat for the past week. We will try to do a bit more this week. But as usual, we can’t promise anything…
The Big Rip – Olympus Mons Self-released – 2025 Rock, Stoner Rated: ****
Yes! Here’s another amazing four track EP that’s about to be released. Half of those tracks are already audible on their bandcamp site. We’re talking about the new four track EP Olympus Mons by Norwegian five piece The Big Rip! Opener Behold, This Mountain opens that EP with a quaking vibration, an absolute thunderclap and a luscious tone that reminds of High Desert Queen at certain times. Boisterous and big, elevated to huge once that Viking lore evoking throat chanting enters the track. Refrain and following build will surely shiver your timbers, a break lead by guitar turns into a slowed down tempo with an extremely wide vista worthy of Zeus and his mountain. Kaktus and Kraken Mare are already out and for you to immediately partake in; both sporting rumbling drums, booming basslines and once again that anthemic stonerrock riffage. Where Kaktus is all that and Kraken Mare becomes bigger almost titanous, delivering the ending it deserves. Ending the four track is the title track Olympus Mons, a soulful two minute long instrumental, that offers insights into what The Big Rip might also turn into given time. Highly atmospheric, the views are endless as the sound seems to drift on forever. The Big Rip has been climbing towards the biggest summit they could find. And the four track Olympus Mons sounds like a band enjoying the view from the top. Their next step will be to spread their arms and fly…
(Written by JK)
You can listen to Kaktus and Kraken Mare now and be all jazzed up for the entire Olympus Mons EP dropping August 22nd!
Red Mess – Hi-Tech Starvation Noisolution – 2025 Rock, Grunge, Stoner Rated: ****
The first single for their new album Hi-Tech Starvation is called Huntress and was released May 23rd, and there are six more damn gritty grunge and stoner anthems on the new Red Mess record. The three Brazilians now based in Berlin, got this knack for infusing a bit of noise, a bit of punk, a bit of blues and even a bit of funk into their grunge and stoner. This makes their sound recognizable and extra infectious. Inexistent Color, with its high dynamics. Ransomware with its thunderous ending. Intravenous with a more metal based approach for the intro and then opening into a melody that reminds of nineties alternative greatness. Because raw and wild in that middle section and turning the song into the track which seems to encapsulate a lot of the different aspects of Red Mess and their new Hi-Tech Starvation. All the different elements have their time to play the field. And then going into that two minute long more stoner trucking track that is Xenon seems like the pay-off that wasn’t even necessary and therefor feels extra rewarding. Makes you want to howl, just like bassist/vocalist Lucas Klepa does in following Kind Villain… Hi-Tech Starvation has everything to fill your every need and give you all sorts of satisfaction. Red Mess is back, get served!
(Written by JK)
You can listen to the first single Huntress of the upcoming album "Hi-Tech Starvation" now and be hungry for the rest to be released in August by Noisolution.
Fusskalt – Faceless Man Self-released – 2025 Stoner Rock, Stoner Metal Rated:
Even though I’m generally more intrigued by bands who dare to think outside the box and explore the boundaries of the heavy underground with some kind of quirky conviction, I absolutely love me some straight up traditional stoner rock that harks back to the heydays of bands like Tummler, We, 7 Zuma 7, Red Giant and more modern equivalents like Sasquatch. Fusskalt from Denmark can be added to that list. They showed some promise from the get-go and have come to full fruition on their latest ep/album. It’s packed to the brim with catchy songs, a chugging rhythm section, great leads and tons of energy. Add to that the impressive and convincing vocals of new singer Niko and you’ve got every ingredient needed to separate a traditional stoner rock album from the pack and make it a great one. And that’s exactly what ‘Faceless Man‘ is: a great ep/album and by far Fusskalt ‘s best release to date.
Pink Floyd – Pink Floyd At Pompeii - MCMLXXII Sony / Legacy – 2025 Rock, Prog, Psych Rated: *****
I was there. At Pompeii. Not at the Pink Floyd filming back in 1971 unfortunately. No I was there a bit more than a month ago. Dream Theater played there. Not a month ago unfortunately. But a few weeks. I wish I could have been there as well. But as I strolled across the ruins for a few hours with a blistering sun above me, scorching the sand underneath my feet and slowly making me step forward into an ever more strangely dreamy condition, I entered the arena where it all happened. The Pompeii Amphitheatre that was home to one of the greatest moments in the history of live music. And perhaps a pivotal moment for Pink Floyd. Two tunnels from the Pompeii Amphitheatre are dedicated to this concert, with reels from the movie playing over and over and many pictures, quotes and stories. It’s wonderful, but it would have been even better to be able to sit down in the Amphitheatre, exchange the audio guide for decent headphones and high quality music and listen to the entire record on site, while the sun slowly sets. A unique environment, which was recognized instantly by Pink Floyd and the director Adrian Maben. The film therefor glances at Pompeii city, wandering through the streets, showing glimpses of its splendor and beautiful murals. Even as night falls and Pink Floyd plays on, the shadows of its past come to life…
Fans of Pink Floyd all have their own favorite album and there are many to choose from. All of them have their merits and many are landmarks. But recognized universally as one of the best albums ever made is of course The Dark Side Of The Moon. No longer present Syd Barrett, still there Roger Waters. But of course, Live At Pompeii was right before that album. Recorded in 1971 it has some of their best songs from the previous period. And here, as they play live and are whisked away by the shadows and move through time and space, those songs become even better. No extra musicians, no background singers, no extra layers, just the four that are Pink Floyd. Young dogs, still under thirty, playing on the very edge of the needle, and becoming all they could be. Eagerly and with an urge to do justice to their surroundings the four lift songs like Echoes, Set Controls For The Heart Of The Sun and Careful With That Axe, Eugene into a higher dimension. Bulbous and brimming with an energy that almost bursts out of every riff and fill, exploding like the volcano behind them. And that makes Pink Floyd At Pompeii a legendary album and film…
But there’s more. Even though the studio snippets, the dark atmosphere, the breakfast chatter and the lighthearted talk takes some of the energy out of that performance video. It does have its merits, for it shows them working on that legendary album, prophesizing that ‘they could become slaves to their equipment’ and the start of their ‘electronic goodies’ dependency. It also shows a Pink Floyd, already a big band, still not aware themselves of that they are about to become one of the biggest bands to ever have walked the face of the earth. That given can make the viewer giddy and smiling uncontrollably through every part of the chatter. The best thing however about this new MCMLXXII edition is the extra’s, the mix and the fact they took out those horrible space images that were there in earlier editions. This is done right. This is done the way it should be. And we can thank Steven Wilson for restoring the entire sound to its rightful proportions. Huge, mountainous, yet with so much room for the individual instruments to breathe, it makes every second of this version sound like a lifetime. And there are some hundred and fifty more of those seconds on the final unedited version of A Saucerful of Secrets…
This is a restoration filled with love and time, Lana Topham for devoting every waking moment for years to restore the original version of the film and Steven Wilson for mixing this stream of music into the beautiful obsidian it was always destined to be. And to add that alternate take of Careful With That Axe, Eugene as a final gift is another testament to the love and energy that went into this thing. The music is stunning, the mix brilliant… But it is even more beautiful to see a band out of time, out of space and on the very of exploding…
Welcome to your Monday! May it be a lovely one and a great start of a good week! Looking at the week past, it’s been hectic and jumping in to get the June Doom Charts done, limited even more of the time available for Stoner HiVe. So, we only managed to post Doktor420’s blurb about White Noise Generator. Our own Spider Kitten and Paddang blurbs for the Doom Charts. And wrote some words about the upcoming very cool Hibernaut album and the already out there King Potenaz. Both deserving every moment of your time, just like it did mine. And the same goes for Birds of Nazca. Love that band! Check out their new single! And check all the others out, it’s good and it’s heavy!
It’s a pre-order, fundraiser and a way to get the not just the word out about the new album to arrive in October. But also to get you soaring high on the new video and single Gang Rinpoché! We’re talking about Birds of Nazca and they are in the process of finalizing their new album Pangea! It’s instrumental brilliance is apparent from that opening lift off to the powering middle storm and the night sky that shines bright with all the stars. Birds of Nazca is a two piece from Nantes, France and know how to walk that tight rope between stoner rock, heavy psych and doom in perfect fashion!
We loved their first album from 2020 and white bandshirt (grin) and the four track Héliolite from 2023 was on repeat for months. We can’t wait to hear Pangea and hope more will help out getting the Birds of Nazca to soar high across the globe…
King Potenaz – Arcane Desert Rituals Vol.1 Majestic Mountain Records – 2025 Rock, Doom, Stoner Rated: ****
The Italian trio going by the name of King Potenaz has gone through a ferocious development in just three years. Delivering their first two track demo back in January 2022, following that up with two singles and then turning those tracks and four more into the wonderful debut full-sized album that is Goat Riders which was released in April 2023. And then, back in March we already got the news that a new one was on the horizon and that Rivers Of Death would be the lead single. A doom march rife with the occult and slithering with creepiness. As warm as a freshly dug grave, the fuzz is ever present and so is the feeling of death, lurking around the corner. And that feeling and that atmosphere is ever present on the new album called Arcane Desert Rituals Vol.1. Out on Majestic Mountain Records it contains four tracks filled with mysterious doom and ritualistic proto rocking. There’s a sludgy touch, something wicked and something wild. Most tuned down low, slow and morose. And then sometimes, when the moon is full and the energy feels especially right, they speed up or turn a corner that leads into a heavy metal Cul De Sac. Psychedelic middle parts of a swing and groove to sway to and let fly your thoughts, it’s all there and more. Although Arcane Desert Rituals Vol.1 might not be the immediate power grab, it soon starts to take hold and slowly strangle you until you fold and submit to King Potenaz. And once you do, you start to hear those minutely infused weird drum parts, that bass that goes into a different direction and those vocals that sound like Satan storming into heaven. Final track Ariadne, The Serpent Witch adds the wonderful voice of Jana Maista to make it an even grander ritual, an arcane and ancient sounding opening, only slowly turning away from that atmospheric glow to become this harsher thunderstorm and then letting the voice radiate again with all her elven and angelic beauty. But of course, she’s a witch. So, the darkness and the wickedness does return. Before it all dissipates into the shimmering ritualistic fantasy it all might have been…
Paddang – Lost In Lizardland Stolen Body Records / Le Cèpe Records – 2025 Psych, Stoner, Fuzz Rated: ****
I’m certainly not the biggest King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard fan. Same can be said about the The Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees, Oh Sees or Osees. But I’ve definitely danced like a maniac to the music of all of the above on various festivals in a multitude of countries. Well, out of France and straight into the Lizardland they went, the trio known as Paddang! A fourth member was added for their new album Lost In Lizardland, but the result stays the same. A wild and wonderful psychedelic scorcher. Fans of all them Osees bands or King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard will surely move their asses to this one, but as the opening atmospheric soundscape The End Of Hanoumane ends, everyone else will surge forward as well, me included, and become as manic as the girls and guys around you…
They’ve released the first single and title track for this album on May 9th. And they’ve done it in the perfect way in my opinion. For it is not the opening track of the album and more importantly, they released it with a great b-side. Not that many bands do that anymore, but we love b-sides and we therefor love Hibernaut! But you might have already known that. For even though we never got around to mentioning their debut album Ingress on Stoner HiVe, it was and is still one of our favorite albums from 2023. Obsidian Eye is the single and the title of the new album to be released on July 11th. That’s only a few days away! A few more days till you get treated to a most wonderful doom metal album. Dense and compressed in all the right ways, the six tracks seems to sludge fight and mow everything to the side as they pummel and pounce. It truly is a slaughter, with guitars that cascade upon each other. Gravelly vocals that are as heavy as they are chased. Bass work with a continuously ominous touch and drums that turns every track into a monolithic statement of intent. You’ve heard those ten ton heavy records, but this is dropping a hundred tons upon you! And while you are buried beneath all that massiveness, that’s when you hear it, when that subliminal groove takes over and the strange melody turns that menacing feeling into exhilaration and jubilation. One look into the Obsidian Eye is enough to turn you into a Hibernaut… Petrified, but inside rocking like a madman and feeling free…
(Written by JK)
The album drops on July 11th! But you can hear three singles and b-sides today!
Spider Kitten – The Truth Is Caustic To Love APF Records – 2025 Alternative, Grunge, Sludge, Americana Rated: ***
It was the foul year of our lord 2021 when we first mentioned a Spider Kitten album on the HiVe. It wasn’t our first dive into the Spider Kitten universe; it was however the record that tangled us up and made us stick around for all the decided to weave afterwards. Like that damn fine and once again different A Pound For The Peacebringer from 2023. For yes, it’s Spider Kitten. They do things differently. Every time again. Changing things up with every album released. Even though dust never gets the chance to settle when one is referring to Spider Kitten. The new album The Truth Is Caustic To Love is once again a different side of the beast, stretching yet another one of its many legs. Fourteen songs, thirty-seven minutes. Grunge powering down, sludge slamming it home, offset by Americana touched strumming and open, personal and vulnerable songwriting that turns many of the songs into a confessional statement. Another album that weaves and builds their gigantic web of heaviness…
“Are you gonna bark all day, little Doom Charts, or are you gonna bite?”
~ probably misheard quote by Mr.Blonde (Rest In Peace Mr Madsen..)
The summer is in full swing! Festivals
a plenty and holidays on the horizon. And the Heavy Underground keeps
on giving. No less than 208 albums received votes from the Contributors
this month and below are the forty that rose to the top of that majestic
heap. A gigantic pile filled with amazing records that romp through all
the genres that slowly encompassed everything linked to the Heavy
Underground. From doom to death to psych to stoner to prog and back
again… It’s all there and below you might find your next favorite summer
time record! Enjoy the tunes, enjoy the sun and smile at the folly that
is man…
It's summer time! You need some cool riffs today?
Check out the June 2025 Doom Charts! Forty brand new albums to cool you down or fire you up!
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…
White Noise Generator – Myriads Self-released - 2025 Heavy Psych, Prog-, Stoner Rock Rated:
Myriads was recorded live already in 2022 and finalized in March and now released by themselves (they search for a new label). After their 2019 debut album Dead Leaves the band moved a bit from Stoner to the Prog side of Psychedelia. Again the four tracks, most far beyond the ten minute mark, take you on a long journey, sometimes guided by strong vocals, but most of the time as an instrumental trip – epic.
