The Doom Chart for November 2018

Doom Chart

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ain’t that the truth? We here at the Doom Charts hope to shine a light upon the music landscape to help you blaze your own trails of fuzz within the heavy underground. Down here are endless routes leading towards some of the best music off the beaten path. The November Doom Chart had over 300 individual albums submitted from our Doom Council and the final outcome yielded the tightest pattern of scores this year with 14 new entries and 2 tie scores...

Welcome to Doom Charts, representing some of the finest bloggers, journalists, radio, podcasters and album reviewers from the doom-stoner-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 2018

Stoner HiVe's Top 10 artists listened to last month...

Stoner HiVe's

Top 10 artists listened to last month...

Greenleaf

Deville

Arctic Monkeys

Red Dragon Cartel

dEUS

Craneium

Hank von Hell

Johnny Kidd & The Pirates

Henry Derek Elis

Wasted Theory

Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Arcadian Child

Samavayo

Black Atlas

Spacelord

Craneium

In a bit of a hurry (as usual) and still getting used to the new keyboard. But that’s all besides the point. We’re here, right before the new edition of the Doom Chart will go up, to let you know what albums were spun the most during the past week. Well, let’s do it fast and sweet then… Craneium and their new The Narrow Line, stunningly beautiful! Spacelord, groovy, wild and marvelous! We love Indecipher! Black Atlas and their Weight Of The World record is solid and amazing. And how about the new Samavayo! Vatan has been on heavy rotation over here. But Arcadian Child has gotten the absolute most spins. And we mentioned Superfonica, a great release through Ripple Music and Rogue Waves, a few days ago. It does something magical to us, and that is why we love music! And everything about it! Go check’m out! Check’m all out!

Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2018

Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2018

Here we are again. At the end of another year. And just like every year since it’s inception, Stoner HiVe will do a Top 20 Countdown throughout December to build up towards the Number One album of 2018 on January 1st. It’s a voted list. YOU, decide which albums make the final cut. And sure, there are blogs and sites out there who probably do it better, different or perhaps even worse. But we’ve been doing it since 2009 and it was the whole reason the HiVe got started back then…

So, in short, we implore all of you once again to send your list for favorite albums to our email. You have the time till December 12th to do so. Cause on the 13th we start the countdown. Rules? You ask?  Well, there aren’t that many. Please limit your votes to albums released in 2018 and that’s about it. 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!

Every year we hope that more of you find the time and energy to send in your list. It has been a steady grower since 2009 and it would be grand to finally break the 100 list barrier before the HiVe turns 10 next year. But even if we don’t, it is still an honor to countdown for you, your favorite albums of 2018…

The deadline to send in your list closes on December 12th! So, there’s still enough time to get down and dirty and do the lists business. Go on…. If not for yourself or me, do it for the rest of the lovely freaks out there… Scurrying in the HiVe…

Send your lists HERE

Arcadian Child – Superfonica

Arcadian Child – Superfonica

Ripple Music / Rogue Waves – 2018

Rock, Psych

Rated: ****

Their debut album Afterglow was released in 2017 and now the Cyprus born fourpiece Arcadian Child is back with a follow-up titled Superfonica. Eight concise rockers that still feel incredibly jammy thanks to the slow rolling psychedelic current. It sometimes feels like you are floating in a life raft across a vast and endless ocean, the sun blistering your skin, out of food and water, but you still feel incredibly happy and you lay there, smiling at your lot. Yes, it has the unearthly quality of making everything feel alright. Worldly and Eastern music influences might also play a key factor in this; just check out closer The March and try and not be completely content. The entire album feels like a majestic wave of acceptance and being in awe of the beauty of everything. Sure, we have gone overboard again in describing our feelings when we listen to Superfonica. But we simply adore the album, we accept our faith and decided to jump out of the life raft and swim with the fishes…

(Written by JK)

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City of Thieves – Beast Reality

City of Thieves – Beast Reality

Frontiers – 2018

Rock, Hard

Rated: ****

A power-trio from London, that loves it’s no nonsense rock ‘n roll and knows how to pound the walls with massive fists and drown the senses in riffs. We are listening to Beast Reality by City of Thieves. This screams for loads of beer and intense headbanging. Cause sure, we’ve been treated to this kind of thundering rhythm sections, walls of guitars and howling vocalists before. But not often is it done this well. Like the Australian pub rock we love; and UK answer to that or the more eighties approach. They’ve managed to combine it all into another pint of good freaking rock! This is, simply put, damn good! Let’s spend out money on fuel and alcohol!

(Written by JK)

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Under The Mountain – II

Under The Mountain – II

Self released – 2018

Rock, Stoner, Seventies, Metal

Rated: ****

The Under The Mountain fourpiece from British Columbia has released their second album II or Deuce, as they are also calling it, a few weeks ago. Formed somewhere around the ugly year of 2009, when the HiVe had also just begun, the four Canadians released their self-titled debut three (or four?) years later. The best thing about Under The Mountain was and is that they aren’t afraid to combine stoner metal and seventies hard rock on the very same album. Hold On Tight for instance is a bluesy, ballsy hardrock track straight form the seventies. Freight Train follows the same path but Ash and Dust is a more postrock influenced stoner metal track. Wild and emotive! Into The Unknown is a much more fuzzy and grungy stoner ditty that still implores seventies touches. And Lemmy is exactly as it should sound when you use the Godfather’s name as a title. A raw, fast paced and muddy stomper! So, you’d better get your hands on this one, cause there are ten wild, dangerous and divergent songs for you to dive into. Under The Mountain!

(Written by JK)

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Northward – Northward

Northward – Northward

Nuclear Blast – 2018

Rock, Hard, Metal

Rated: ***

So, apparently, this album was already ready to go a few years back, but due to their respective other bands they never found time to start the Northward project up. We’re talking about Floor Jansen from Nightwish and Jorn Viggo Lofstad from Pagan’s Mind. With these two grand masters at the helm you would expect something proggy, something symphonic and something metal. And sure, we can still hear some echoes of what they are capable of in that respect, but this is rock, hardrock with a metallic edge. Although we're even served some radio friendly rock with a highly poppy edge on a track like Storm In A Glass. Swinging seventies is heard in Big Boy and perhaps the most proggy track is the fine piece named Paragon. It’s good. It’s all good. It’s Floor and Jorn doing their magic in a different setting. And it’s a good one!

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Greenleaf

Deville

Castle

Red Dragon Cartel

Daily Tompson

Well hello there! I did not expect to see you here. But thanks for joining and thanks for listening to all the cool stuff that is out there. We sure as hell can’t get enough of it! And we hope you can’t either! The new Daily Thompson for instance, out on Juno Records and MIG Music, is called Thirsty and messes around with grunge, hardrock and stoner making it all fuzzy, warm and psychedelic. It has something enormously laidback and we shall call it indie-stoner henceforth. Don’t hit us over the head for that. Or do, whatever tickles your fancy. Red Dragon Cartel brings us pure hardrock on their new album Patina! Out on Frontier Records. It’s Jake E. Lee and friends and you know that it can’t be wrong in that case! Or very very very wrong; and that’s alright as well! Castle has been soaring high on the Doom Charts this month. Bucky stated: “‘Deal Thy Fate’ cements Castle as its own distinguished brand of stoner meets heavy metal, especially within the Ripple catalog. Reinforced with indestructible Slayer-esque guitar tones, the threepiece lower a bridge of fuzzy hooks crossing a diabolic moat of molten metal.” Which means we had to put it on repeat ofcourse! Deville released Pigs With Gods through Fuzzorama and we already mentioned this intense muddy metal masterpiece in which we wallow! And then there’s Hear The Rivers! The new Greenleaf! Out on Napalm is continues where the last album left off. And thus is gives us their very own groove and energy, it’s their bounce, it’s their stomp and you cannot help but bounce and stomp along. Riding that green water rapid makes everything alright! All the time! So, you know what to do. You need to check’m out! Check’m all out!

Deville – Pigs With Gods

Deville – Pigs With Gods

Fuzzorama – 2018

Rock, Stoner, Metal

Rated: ****

Back in 2013 we mentioned their almighty Hydra album. Two other great ones came before and one damn great one called Make It Belong To Us came out two years later. Why we never mentioned that record beats the hell out of me? I reckon we should be flogged for neglect and dragged down the streets naked. Tar and feathers may be applied. For forgetting to worship the four Swedes from Deville and their fourth release, is pure heresy. So, let’s try to make up for the negligence and mention their fifth one entitled: Pigs With Gods. No less than twelve tracks grace the album and all of them are gritty, grimy and aggressive. Moving distinctly into a more metal approach and fast paced dynamic the album soon becomes a stalwart testament to something we like to call: leaving all options open. Whether this is due to the new rhythm section or not; the tracks try different approaches to their stoner metal sound. Opting for bombast here, groove there or spacious post influences where ever they envision them. It seems Deville has thrown all the imaginary boundaries out the window and aimed to make the record they heard in their head. And that is the only way to go. Cause now we have a muddy masterpiece in which to wallow…

(Written by JK)

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King Buffalo – Longing To Be The Mountain

King Buffalo – Longing To Be The Mountain

Stickman Records – 2018

Rock, Desert, Stoner, Psych, Kraut

Rated: ****

For starters: Longing To Be The Mountain is one of the best album titles and already offers an insight to what is to come. It's simply gorgeous in all aspects. In tune with nature the new King Buffalo record takes you through the wide expanse and above the big wide divide. This is sleeping the dream kind of stuff! This is introspective and stellar at the same exact moment. It is so spacious and so luscious that it feels like cream to your ears. It is a true odyssey and adventure that makes you fall in love with everything all at once. Expertly weaving hypnotic and dreamy into something that not only feels grandiose but really is gigantic. Not in a bombastic sense, but in something true and honest.  It reminds of that line from a long-lost poem: ‘all my life, my heart has sought for a thing I cannot name’. And with this album we can state: it has been found…

(Written by JK)

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Nekromant – Nekromant Lives

Nekromant – Nekromant Lives

Ripple Music – 2018

Rock, Stoner, Psych, Proto, Metal, Hard

Rated: ****

Nekromant! These three Swedes have constantly delivered the heavy raw and rowdy ruckus since their inception under the name Serpent. Since the name change the band has only become even tighter and have managed to explore all those different areas of the proto metal and doom rock genres we all love so dearly. The new Nekromant Lives is a testament to everything right and beautiful in those heavy genres. This time however the proto goes more into the early hardrock territories. It’s got the speed, it’s got the stamina and it’s got soul. Here are three good old boys in nothing but black, axe wielding, aiming to explore the seventies and delivering so much thick hard rock gusto you immediately envision yourself in some worn down club from that era, banging your head away and knowing that it is all happening right there and then. And yes, stoned. Ripped. Twisted. Good people. Groovy, wild and stunning stuff! The new Nekromant is here for you! 

(Written by JK)

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Stonewood – Stonewood

Stonewood – Stonewood

Self released – 2018

Rock, Stoner

Rated: ****

Five crazy Italians from the city of echoes, the city of illusions, the city of yearnings. Yes, Stonewood hails from Rome and sound like a poetic take on all that goodness that came from the desert. Especially on a track like Legs of course. Grin. But in all seriousness, these cats are definitely paying homage to atavistic stoner and archaic desert rock without sounding like a copycat anywhere. That is quite a feat and the eight tracks on their self-titled debut are exactly that. Sounds that could have been out there for ages; but are now captured by the five from Rome. Easy to the ear, their sound immediately becomes a home and even though the tracks all have their very own Stonewood signature they also all of them sound like themselves. Out Of Sight for instance is a slow burner. While Blue Stone is a stomper with a majestic languid ending. China White takes the trip the other around, starting out laidback and luscious and ending fast paced and wicked. And we can state all the other identities; but it’s just better to whoop in general. Because we love the vocals, the rumbling bass, the intense drums and wild guitars! Stonewood! Bella zio!

(Written by JK)

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