Number 4

 

 

Number 4

 

Number 4 & 3 are very close together once again, but we get there by jumping almost three hundred points from Messa at Number 5. So, before we get to the Top 3, we got that album that missed the Bronze medal by a mere twelve points according to all you crazy voters. Indeed, we’re here on the Number 4 spot to pay homage to an album we did mention on the HiVe this year back when it was released in June 2022. There’s a lot of metal and it’s all used in such a way that it marries the psych, prog and stoner influences so it becomes this incredible immersive experience. And there will be moments when the heavy rock, heavy metal high, will induce euphoria and might bring you to tears. Or it might just be me… The opener, for instance, goes the way of gigantism; with its wide arcs and the vocals, which by the way have become even better on this album than on all those that came before. It grabs you entirely, pulls you closer to the abyss, has you dangling over and just whispers in your ear to enjoy the view. Which you will; even if there is unbelievable peril in your heart, it will also fluster with glee for all you see and hear... The second track, is catchy and you feel the energy build, and build, and upon the final return you can see the crowd go berserk. Third track has the same kind of wide vista, giant vocal lines and an emotional charge that will give you shivers and run a current of electricity up your spine. And after that six more amazing tracks roll out. All glowing and impassioned melodies; with as much melancholy as assertiveness... See… This here album does not conceal at all what it is destined to do… It’s hear to elevate the Sergeant to Royalty… On Number 4 we find!

 

 

Sergeant Thunderhoof – This Sceptered Veil

 

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On to Number 3!

Number 5

 

 

Number 5

The first big jump. We jump almost hundred sixty points from Clutch on Number 6 to reach Number 5. An album we never got around to mentioning on the HiVe but an earlier album was featured on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2018. The new album reigned supreme on the Doom Charts when it was released in March. And rightfully so, for this Italian foursome delivers ten tracks of wild craftmanship that meanders through the doom landscape as much as it does through black metal terrain; but only using those influences to color their worldly and otherworldly compositions that also include minute and kaleidoscopic takes on blues, jazz, folk, Mediterranean or / and Middle-Eastern sounds. Indeed, we already passed The Otolith which can be qualified as avant-garde and art, and this album can borrow from those same qualifications as well. Did we expect to see so many of you vote for this album? Perhaps not, for it is not the easiest of doom rock albums. On the other hand, you, out there, the fans of everything in the Heavy Underground don’t necessarily want things easy. You want the total experience! And this album give you all that… On Number 5 we find!

Messa – Close

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Out on Svart Records

 

 
On to Number 4!

Number 6

 

 

Number 6

We jump only twelve points from Freedom Hawk on Number 7 to reach this band and their album on Number 6. The next jump will be bigger though… Anyway, on Number 6 we find a band that even got some remarks from voters that did not vote for them, stating: ‘well, I’m not voting for them, they’re going to get enough votes anyway.’ I guess there are even some Stoner HiVe Top 20 followers that do some strategic voting! Holy hell! Well, we never got around to mentioning them on the HiVe this year, but we did manage to see them live again after a gap of quite some years. On the Helldorado Festival in Eindhoven… But due to wild nature of the festival, things tend to get a bit hazy there and I have bizarre memories of seeing them on all of the stages of the Festival. Indeed, it got a bit weird over there! You could say Red Alert! Watch out! But we don’t really listen, cause We Strive For Excellence in whatever we do. Even partying… Or well… And more extremely personal stuff, it also features a song, that in my mind, could have been the best song of this year, if only they did a few things a bit different. I love the voice man. And so do all the fans of this band. And Jackhammer Our Names, could have featured more of the voice, more of the proclamation, declaration nature it does so well… Anyway, obvious from the start… We find on Number 6!

Clutch – Sunrise On Slaughter Beach


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On to Number 5!

Number 7

 

Number 7

 

It’s time for Number 7! And to get to Number 7, we jump only nine points from Steak at Number 8. A lot of bands and their albums were close together this year, well, at certain points in the list that is, but spilling the beans a little, the Top 5 will make bigger jumps in points. Well, sort off. Anyway, the band we find on Number 7 has been making the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown back in 2011 & 2015. And we really thought we mentioned their new album on the HiVe when it was release in September. But we just realized we did not. It’s their sixth full length and brings you all that golden bluesy hardrock, that propelling groove and that pulsating stonerrock we’ve come to love from these crazy Virginia Beach four. A bit of Sabbath and a whole lot of Ozzy, thanks to the pitch and energy of the vocals. And then there’s that proto touch, that seventies love, it’s smash ‘n grab, take all you can from all the heavy rock genres you love kind of thing. And that makes this album one hell of a ride! On Number 7 we find!

 

Freedom Hawk – Take All You Can

 

 

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 On to Number 6!