Doomed & Stoned

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

I love an album I can really sink my teeth into, viscerally and intellectually. UMBERSOUND have big aspirations on this latest offering, 'Tracks From The Slither' (2026), crafting deep strains of mournful doom that stir feelings of sorrow and tragedy over ten thematically interlocking tracks.

"My God, It's Coming From The Ocean!" The title alone of the latest single grips the heart. Lyrically, some of the language strikes Pauline motifs of Christianity ("Lord of the cosmos," "I live for your truth," "You won't forsake me when I rise," "Even death may die") -- though this is in fact a sendback to H.P. Lovecraft's beloved Cthulhu lore. "The follower seeks connection, but what answers back is not comfort," says Umbersound, "it's exposure to something beyond that the human mind can’t handle."

The album is going old school and tactile in every way, complete with recording on magnetic tape (imagine!). I get proud chills at that, with definite flashbacks to my Memorex mixtape days. And, as a side note, I am thrilled by the backlash I am seeing to AI among the youth of today, as well, but I digress. It's time for a mass movement of getting Back To Human again.

The video appears to be of the "old fashioned" editing sort, too (you know, art that takes time, patience, concentration, and joyful sweat). It's murky, unsettling, and very, very wet. There are moments that were appropriately indescribable, because, as old H.P. understood well, words fail when contemplating the Great Old Ones (and one in particular who homes in terrifying black depths).

Brainchild and passion project of New York's Joe D’Angelo (whose band Grey Skies Fallen we have featured in these pages before), it is entirely evident to me that this man knows his doom. The tracks drew me in because they had something definite to say, ethereal places to take the imagination, and didn't overstate their case. This is why concept albums rule, because they tend to take the musician to risky and rewarding artist realms.

The riffs are just killer, from the sick groove of the opening title track to the churning slow grind of "Foundations of Strife," finishing with heart-stopping dread in "The Loop Closes." This man knows his doom and is capable of bringing it to life with subtlety as well as bravura. And you should definitely get to know it, too, oh lovers of doom metal.

Brimming with fire and fury, Umbersound's Tracks From The Slither emerge to dominate your speakers on vinyl, cassette, and CD via Red Book Records on July 17th (pre-order here).

Stick it on a playlist with My Dying Bride, Celtic Frost, Tiamat, Cathedral, Amorphis, Opeth, Paradise Lost, and Katatonia.

Give ear...

SOME BUZZ

Umbersound is a NYC-based doom metal project created by Joe D’Angelo (Grey Skies Fallen). The music centers on slow, heavy compositions that blend crushing riffs with melancholic, atmospheric textures.

At its core, Umbersound is about introspection—musically and psychologically. The songs move at a steady pace allowing weight and emotion to unfold over time rather than a full assault. Drawing from themes of internal struggle, avoidance, and consequence, the music reflects the parts of life people tend to ignore until they can’t anymore.

Rather than offering escape, Umbersound creates an immersive space where listeners are pulled into dense soundscapes shaped by analog warmth and stark melodic contrast. Each song builds on this approach, pushing deeper into a sound that is both oppressive and reflective.

With Tracks From The Slither, Umbersound continues to evolve—focusing on the slow emergence of buried thought, anxiety, and identity. The album will be available digitally via Bandcamp, with physical editions—including vinyl, cassette, and CD—released through Red Book Records.

Umbersound‘s upcoming album “Tracks From The Slither” expands further into psychological terrain, exploring avoidance, internal decay, and the consequences of neglecting one’s inner self. Much of the album was captured in single takes, prioritizing instinct over precision and allowing each moment to exist as it happened.

Tracks From The Slither by Umbersound

“Tracks From The Slither” continues UMBERSOUND’s yearly release cycle - each record evolving in process while remaining rooted in the project’s core doom atmosphere.

This time, the approach shifts toward a raw, analog-driven methodology. Nearly the entire album was recorded through tape, pushing saturation to the limit. The result is loud, dirty, and heavily textured—an intentional departure from a cleaner digital production in favor of something more raw this time around. The record leans into a heavier sonic weight than previous releases, with more screaming vocals as opposed to clean. The tape machine itself becomes part of the album…the harmonic saturation that shapes the album’s character.

The sound evokes the feeling of discovering a lost late reel buried in a vault - something unstable, and almost cursed. That sense of an unearthed presence runs throughout the album. Performance-wise, “Tracks From The Slither” strips away the extra bells and whistles. Much of the material was captured in single takes, prioritizing instinct over precision. The goal was not perfection, but directness - committing fully to each moment as it happened.

Tracklist:

1. Tracks From The Slither 2. The Hands That Built Beauty 3. Foundations Of Strife 4. My God, It’s Coming From The Ocean 5. It Still Breathes 6. The Loop 7. Shifting Tides 8. The Gnawing 9. Highway Of The Fever Dream 10. The Loop Closes

Recorded and mixed by Joe D’Angelo. Mastered by Acle Kahney at 4Dsounds. Album Cover by James Hutton.

Follow The Band

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Everything about this production bleeds real to me. The tone struck by the opening tremolo of the guitar is stark and alarming, as though referencing something troubling we all sense in the backdrop, the terrifying hum of our age. With wondrous skill, a whole soundscape is created about it, buttressed by deep bass picking, brave drumming, and a second guitar that really brings the doom.

This is France's DDENT, and if you're not familiar with them, the team of four are far from newcomers to the scene. Drawing roots from 2013, the band's fruits include three prior full-length records and three EPs added to that, a deft stylistic blend of doom and post-metal.

'Feeding the Void's Luster' (2026) is their latest five-track juggernaut, and today Doomed & Stoned is bringing you the official premiere of the intriguingly titled single, "Dis à la lune qu’elle vienne," which translates to English as "Tell the moon to come." You don't really need to worry about the language barrier (should one exist) to feel the full weight of its sentiment. The line is sourced from a poem by Frederico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936), which mourns the death of a dear friend gored to death in the bullfighting arena. In this moment of terrifying tragedy, the poet shouts for the moon to appear to wash out the blood-soaked sand with its pale light.

As you can tell, this music is utterly human and its emotion becomes even more apparent as one breaks into the lyrical underpinnings. Out in the heat of mid-summer, DDENT's new record promises something "heavier, louder, more towering, more cathartic" to top their existing opus. A seventh record at the cusp of a strange new era that feels as foggy as the stage they play on. The sound is wide awake, terrifying, surreal, poetic, and ultimately transcendant. Look for the release on July 24th on the Chien Noir label (get it here).

Give ear...

SOME BUZZ

DDENT formed in the early 2010s as the instrumental brainchild of guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Louis Lambert and drummer Marc Le Saux. First EP Chien Noir was released in 2014, which quickly led to the addition of live musicians to the project. This milestone laid the foundations for a dark post-rock sound that induces a gripping spiritual and sensory journey. While 2017 debut LP آكتئاب narrated the introspective journey of a poet, their sophomore album TORO (2018) dealt with the search for truth through creation. It is safe to say that literature and philosophy have always been a centerpiece of DDENT's music.

In 2019, DDENT performed at Europe's largest metal festival Hellfest, tantalizing both the audience and critics with their bewitching performance. As a result, Louis Lambert started working on the follow-up album Couvre-sang — a massive and poetic post-metal 11-track awash with dark, elegant atmospheres and intriguing thematics, described as "pure instrumental industrial bliss, a living breathing beast, crafted superbly, with real emotional levels" by The Sleeping Shaman. In 2021, Lambert kept working as a solo act and released a cinematic single and video entitled "VOLEMOI". 2023 saw the talented songwriter's return with the Ex Auditu 2xEP on Chien Noir, then entering hiatus... until now.

DDENT returns this summer with a new lineup and a new album: “Feeding the Void's Luster”. Captured in two takes, with no metronome or samples, this volcanic five-tracker finds the quartet pulling from older material, twisting and rearranging it until they become a completely different beast. Heavier, louder, more towering, more cathartic.

To embody this renewal, DDENT welcomes new drummer Alain Minot (ex-20 Seconds Falling Man), whose hardcore and punk style infuses the tracks with some new tension. Blackened vocals from bassist Nicolas Zivkovich (Les Tigres du Futur, Fiend, Krv) also make an appearance on most tracks for the first time, without ever overshadowing the instrumental part — the cornerstone of their hypnotic post-metal.

Whereas band founder Louis Lambert used to write the bulk of the material, DDENT now operates as a full-blown collective. This record marks the first step in a new process, a way to reunite the band through playing together. Next up: an album consisting entirely of new material, work on which will begin in the fall.

Follow The Band

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

The best thing about ENDLESS FLOODS is the fantastic journey, epic in every way. Hailing from Bordeaux, France, this attentive collective of musicians brings incredible artistry to every album produced, with a backdrop of honest reflection and mystery.

'Passages' (2026) is their sixth full-length tapestry, and it builds thematically upon their last album 'Rites futurs' (2024) -- which also premiered in these pages. The multi-dimensional architecture of these four tracks is a wonder to behold.

"Visions" dips into long forsaken neglected practices of the sacred, a trip into places both visceral and unutterable, prophetic and apocalyptic. "Deuxième monde" is a veritable thunderstorm, complete with the reassuring glow of silver-lined clouds, exalted hills, and rapturous birds. Meanwhile, "Liminal" reaches symphonic heights of ecstasy, with lilting female/male vocal harmonies. Finale "Primordial" is simply a glorious finish. I felt like I really experienced something cinematic by the end of it all.

Endless Floods have gifted us an album to really get lost in. Each song has a character all its own, refreshingly distinct from the one before or after, yet quite complementary in terms of mood and tempo. I can see this record appealing to heavy music fans (all the hallmarks of metal are here: foreboding drumming, crushing guitar chords, etc.), yet crossing over to listeners who are simply ready for something different: a thoughtfully crafted aural experience that touches soulful depths.

Passages by Endless Floods comes out May 22nd (get it here). Stick it on a playlist with Kylesa, Monarch, Russian Circles, Ethereal Riffian, and They Watch Us From The Moon. And now, get ready to be swept away in blissful, watery surrender.

Give ear...

SOME BUZZ

Spanning post-rock, progressive doom and dark folk, 'Passages' balances crushing metallic weight with soaring atmospherics where ethereal male-female vocal harmonies and epic riff crescendos are enhanced by gripping synths and sax flourishes. 'Passages' is a haunting journey through liminal spaces, weaving collective memory and personal ghosts into a sonic bridge between past sacrifices and a common future.

Bordeaux, France's heavy alchemists Endless Floods formed in 2015 in Bordeaux around Stéphane Miollan (ex-Monarch, Bombardement, Faucheuse), Benjamin Sablon (ex-Monarch, Bombardement, Shock, Mégot) and Simon Bédy. Their first outings raised a prodigiously dense wall of sound by blending drone and doom metal aesthetics with mind-expanding ambient structures, like a sorrowful procession arising from the limbo.

The trio released their self-titled debut in 2015, followed by their sophomore album II in the winter of 2017. This drone-sounding assault saw the band sinking deeper into bleakness and minimalism, immersing the listener in a monolithic and feedback-laden sonic experience described by the press as “a vast, never-ending room of heavy” (Cvlt Nation), “a juggernaut of sonic grandeur” (Metal Nexus) or simply “sublime” by Pure Grain Audio. Their third album 'Circle The Gold' epitomized a fresh start in their creative process: between chaos and light, the Bordeaux trio transcended genre boundaries while unveiling a more melodic and cathartic aspect of their music.

After a five-year hiatus, Endless Floods returned with a new lineup and their fourth record 'Rites Futurs' in the summer of 2024, revealing in a prodigious blaze of post-metal, doom and shoegaze for an overall gripping aural experience.

PASSAGES by Endless Floods

While 'Rites Futurs' introduced the theme of transformation through rites of passage, their upcoming new album 'Passages' plunges into it and suffocates. The four songs alternately evoke the in-between worlds, the present and the distant past, the sacrifices of a bygone era ("Visions"), moving from the collective wandering of a landscape of constrained structures ("Deuxième monde") to the individual narrative haunted by our own ghosts ("Liminal"), finally surrendering to "Primordial". 'Passages' is a transitional object between two states of mind, a tool for drawing a common future.

'Passages' was recorded by Thibault Laisney and Stéphane Miollan, mixed by Stéphane Miollan in Bordeaux, with mastering by Ben Jones. Endless Floods is a shifting structure whose members, at the time of recording this album, are: Louise Dehaye, Benjamin Sablon, Stéphane Miollan, and Xavier Godart.

Follow The Band

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Stormy and brooding, Steps into Shadow is the latest offering from Swedish progressive death-doom five-piece GOLD SPIRE. Active since 2019, the band has one full-length record to its repuation, with a second shortly to follow. Today, Doomed & Stoned gives you an exclusive first listen to the title track.

Following in the shadowy tradition of bands like Enslaved and Paradise Lost, the song gives the impression of being in the midst a surreal nightmare. The addition of the saxophone charges the atmosphere with wild instability. Lyrics speak of this "ruinous path where we fallow, wandering in disrepair...burdened until our last steps." Gutteral vocals cry out for "rain to deluge this unbearable world."

Says the band:

The album 'Steps into Shadow' is dedicated to the Swedish working class and to the struggle for emancipation in times of eroding democracy and the resurgence of fascism. The title track reflects on the societal and personal decay inflicted on the downtrodden as the ruling class tries to make unity and solidarity an impossible option. It also has personal sentiments embedded, exploring our complicated love for our childhood hometown in northern Sweden.

Look for 'Steps into Shadow' (2026) by Gold Spire on Awakening Records, releasing June 19th (pre-order here).

Give ear...

SOME BUZZ

GOLD SPIRE’s second full-length album Steps into Shadow will be released on June 19, 2026 via Awakening Records. The album will be available on CD and digital formats.

Formed in 2019 in Uppsala, Sweden, GOLD SPIRE was created by brothers Erik Sundström and Påhl Sundström following the end of Usurpress. What began as an outlet for ideas developed during the recording sessions for Usurpress’ final album Interregnum gradually evolved into a project drawing from progressive death metal, doom, progressive rock, and jazz-influenced arrangements.

Together with saxophonist Magnus Kjellstrand and bassist Petter Broman, the band developed a sound focused more on atmosphere, contrast, and dynamics than strict genre boundaries. Heavy sections sit alongside slower melodic passages, while saxophone, flute, and layered arrangements play a consistent role throughout the material.

On Steps into Shadow, GOLD SPIRE moves toward a darker and more direct approach while keeping the progressive and death metal foundation central to the album. The material balances heavier riffs and dense arrangements with more restrained passages, allowing the album’s atmosphere to build gradually across its runtime.

The album also marks the first release with vocalist Arvid Sjödin (FLOATING), who joined the band following the departure of former vocalist Heval Bozarslan. His vocal approach brings a different presence to the material while fitting naturally into the band’s evolving sound.

Steps into Shadow was recorded between 2023 and 2026 at Studio Siborator by Erik Sundström, with mixing and mastering handled by Lawrence Mackrory. The artwork was created by Påhl Sundström.

Rather than moving further toward technical excess, GOLD SPIRE continues to focus on mood, pacing, and atmosphere, combining progressive structures with death metal weight and darker melodic elements without losing cohesion.

Follow The Band

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Now here's a band that's taking it back to the nuts and bolts of doom. Determined beats, plaintive riffs, groundshaking downtuned soundwaves, poignant lyrics, and vocals that guide us through the surreal landscape of the age in which we live.

This is France's BRÜLE and the burly three-piece doom act today brings us their latest single and music video ahead of next week's big release, the 7-track stomper, 'Beltane' (2026).

"The War Machine" is a fitting closer to the band's second studio album, a powerful commentary on the nature of war and how we are irresistibly drawn to it -- almost as a "sacred force."

This whole album gets better every time I listen. I recommend you not miss it! Out May 1st (get it here).

Stick it on a playlist with Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Castle Rat, Witchskull, Early Man, and High Reeper.

Give ear...

SOME BUZZ

French heavy doom powerhouse BRÜLE announce the second phase of their Grand Work entitled ‘Beltane,’ whose ritual release ceremony will take place on May 1st 2026.

In Celtic mythology, Beltane follows the winter festivities of Samhain and Imbolc and marks the arrival of the light season. It is associated with a rite of passage from darkness to light, towards better days.

BRÜLE's new album ‘Beltane’ - which will be celebrated on May 1st 2026 - also appears as a rite of passage, an artistic quest.

Occult doom and flamboyant heavy rock ripple over a burning pyre of references such as Cathedral, Green Lung or Dead Witches. The album mentions ancient forgotten religions, the death of gods, the fascination for the hidden, the vast cold spaces of the cosmos...the occult.

French trio BRÜLE emerged in early 2023. With tortured, slow and dark melodies and sharp heavy riffs, these wizards of a new era invoke pagan traditions and Jung's interpretation of alchemy; namely, a process that reconciles opposites such as light and shadow to create a new harmony. This is about sabbaths, fire and cult.

Created by Arno Bechet (vocals, guitar) and J.M. Prats (bass), the project was quickly joined by Carla Boccand on drums. After a few performances on local stages, the band set to work on the first stage of their Great Alchemical Work. Debut album ‘L'Œuvre Au Noir,’ was released on June 21st 2024 (S/R) with tracks in both English and French. The album was mastered by Esben Willems (Monolord) at Bersek Studio, Sweden.

Beltane by Brüle

BRÜLE's new album ‘Beltane’ was recorded by Mathieu Lesieur at Record It studio in Perpignan, France. Mixing and mastering by Arno Bechet. Artwork: J.J. Paterson. Press pictures: Léna Filliastre.

BRÜLE’s new album ‘Beltane’ is set to be released on May 1st 2026.

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~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Humans have been fascinated by Mars for millenia, but in recent decades the prospect of travelling to Mars have gone from cinema to reality with the landing of the Mars Rover. This has made many wonder whether we could open Mars up to human habitation, perhaps plant the "seeds" of a Second Earth. Even more intriguing is speculation as to whether Mars was once an Earth in its own right and we all relocated from that planet to this one.

As long as we're speculating, if it were possible to power a rocket ship to Mars fueled by music, we would definitely want Montreal heavy rockers PARADISE along for the ride. The Canada scene has been fire in recent years, and it's great to see the spirit of rock 'n' roll alive and kicking up there. Think about it: in this jaded era of fake music, here's a group of five genuinely real, thinking, feeling humans who make music that you can also see live.

The vibes are infectious. They call it volcanic rock, and the band's been at it in some form or another since 2002. After two initial releases in the early part of the century, Paradise returned to the recording studio in 2020 ready for a new beginning. Now following the release of Paradise, they’re bringing all the attitude, energy, riffing, and fuzz to bear in the brand single before us: "Queen of Mars."

Beginning with a splash of pedal-mediated wah, the song picks up a groovy, heart-pounding pace, joined by grinding desert revving perfect for the visuals of the music video. Vocals tell the story in gritty and clean tones of "straying beyond the desert's edge" and encountering the elusive Queen of Mars, depicted as "a gypsy spirit, wandering this ancient land." Mysteries abound and you are invited to trip with the band into this strange, electrifying realm.

Paradise's new single comes out on Tuesday, April 28th, so this is your chance to hear it first! You can get it here and here. Stick it on a playlist with Freedom Hawk, Sandveiss, Bone Church, Kal-El, and Blackwülf.

Give ear...

SOME BUZZ

After years of silence, speculation, and simmering creative energy, Montreal’s cult heavy‑rock outfit Paradise erupts back onto the scene with their first new music since their 2020 self‑titled album. The band announces their long‑awaited return with the upcoming single and music video “Queen of Mars,” marking the beginning of a bold new chapter in their cosmic, riff‑driven mythology.

Formed in 2002 during a lightning‑strike moment of inspiration, Paradise built their identity on what they call “volcanic rock”, a molten blend of heavy rock, classic metal, and stoner‑rock undertones. Their early albums "Rock Anthropologists on the Kon‑Tiki Voyage" (2002) and "Hotel" (2005) became underground favorites, fueled by wild creativity, tongue‑in‑cheek concept worlds, and collaborations with icons like Voivod’s Michel “Away” Langevin and the late Denis “Piggy” D’Amour.

Their 2020 self‑titled comeback album re-established the band with a harder, sharper edge. Now, in 2026, Paradise resurfaces once more, this time with a fully realized retro‑futuristic vision inspired by the sci‑fi imagery of the ’60s and ’70s.

Paradise by Paradise

The band’s new single, “Queen of Mars,” introduces listeners to a cinematic, hypnotic space‑rock sound that expands Paradise’s sonic universe while staying rooted in their heavy‑rock DNA.

The track paints a vivid portrait of a timeless, wandering figure, the Queen of Mars, who embodies freedom, resilience, and cosmic sovereignty. Moving through a desert of memory and isolation, she becomes a mythic symbol of transformation and inner power. Musically, the song blends atmospheric guitars, ritualistic rhythms, and poetic, controlled vocals, landing somewhere between Hawkwind’s cosmic rock, Dozer’s desert‑space textures, and the dramatic sweep of Muse.

“It’s been a while since we’ve put something out, so I know some fans have been waiting. We’re close to the sound of our last record, but there are surprises. We used ’60s and ’70s sci‑fi imagery to inspire us, sounds and moods from far beyond,” says guitarist Frank Kelly.

Kelly remains the band’s primary music writer, working closely with vocalist R.L. Black on lyrics and melodies. For this new material, they also brought in Luc Bourgeois (Sandveiss) to elevate the songwriting even further.

“We just let it go, whichever song was ready first. We’re doing this for fun and to keep the creativity going. We hope people get it, but honestly, we’re having a blast,” adds Kelly.

Paradise has 8–9 new songs in the pipeline, all shaped by their signature approach: naming tracks early in the writing process to set the tone and guide the lyrical world. This time, that world is drenched in analog futures, cosmic psychedelia, and B‑movie sci‑fi charm, a natural evolution of the band’s long‑standing love for heavy music, from Judas Priest and Dio to Kyuss and Fu Manchu.

Paradise’s live reputation remains intact: high‑energy, high‑intensity, and unapologetically fun. “We’re a party band. Just five guys having a blast. So many bands take this too seriously; it takes the fun out of it,” comments Kelly.

With their return, fans can expect a renewed sense of adventure, a deeper dive into their cosmic aesthetic, and a sound that continues to evolve without losing the volcanic spark that defined them from day one.

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By Billy Goate

Grungy stoner grooves rule the day in the debut solo project by Yorkshire, England multi-instrumentalist Joel H. Bulsara. A Bloodstock veteran, Joel has been vocalist of doom heavyweights Sound of Origin and the gritty prog metal juggernaut IREOSIS -- both of which deserve a hearing if those bands are new to you. Grandiose, imaginative, and brimming with passion, 'Hastur The King' (2026) was quite evidently a labor of love.

You all know how I love a good concept album. When this project was sent to me out of the blue, it just so happened to coincide with my foray into the 1895 novel 'The King In Yellow' by Robert W. Chambers, which in turn grew out of a deep dive into the lore of True Detective (Season 1).

Hastur, for the uninitiated, first appears in a short story 'Haïta the Shepherd' by Ambros Bierce in 1891, as an ancient deity encountered in the fields by a sheep herder. Vague and mysterious, he was incorporated into the weird fiction of authors for the next 100 years (including H.P. Lovecraft). Robert W. Chambers identifies Hastur as The King in Yellow, for in his day yellow was the adopted color of self-proclaimed decadents in Paris and London who pursued beauty, pleasure, and art to extremes. Within this collection of interlocking short stories, people encounter a play so unimaginably corrupting that they become insane.

Like other insightful authors, Chambers tries his hand at prediction, drawing clues from the emerging cultural, social, and economic developments of his own time. He wondered how easily the relative stability of society might be unhinged by modernity. His imagined a dystopian 1920s with rapid industrialization, a bureaucratic state run-amock, and a breakdown in shared values, leading to government sponsored suicide clinics. These lethal chambers, as he called them, were afforded as a mercy to those driven cray cray by reading The King in Yellow, a fictional play within the novel. I'll leave it to you to find parallels with our own age.

Musically, Joel H. Bulsara has succeeded for me in translating the dread, mystery, and horror of the novel into musical form. I don't know that any genre of music is as well-suited to the job as doom metal. I suppose he could brand this as HASHTUR as a full-fledged band for touring and it would fit well into stoner motifs of the scene.

Joel H. Bulsara's album Hastur The King comes out May 29th (pre-order here) and this is its first single, "The Yellow Signed Paper."

The song is haunting and melancholic, thick with the atmospheric might of slow dragging, downtuned rhythms and sweet NOLA inspired riffs. Passionate and inventive, this is by far one of my top albums of the year and a stand-out of the decade so far. The guitar tone, fuzz, and overall vibe of tracks like this one, "Moon Witch Blessing," "The Taro," and "Madelbrot Madness" hit a real sweet spot for me.

Stick it on a playlist with Alice in Chains, Monster Magnet, Aleph Null, Kryptograf, Chrome Ghost, Erronaut, Foster Mother, and Goodeye. A must-listen for fans of the heavy rock scene!

Give ear...

.....................................

ABOUT THE SONG

From Joel H. Bulsara:

Chamber’s work is so good. I related to it when I was younger, because I come from a musical theatre background and my mother used to write play scripts as well as run an amateur dramatics group.

We’re all a little mad. But mate, I developed some big issues later in my life that, luckily, aren’t as bad now as they were. Put them together, and I could easily fictionalise and correlate a story around my life using Chamber’s lore.

This song in particular is the ‘curse’ being presented as a gift to the protagonist by Hastur. A lullaby of promise. The musical composition expresses the spirit of that lullaby in that it moves into what seems like an uneasy happiness, a dream-like state. Perfect to set the tone for a hypnotic message. “Join him”.

The references mentioned here are Hastur’s brother (being lore-wise Cthulu, where Hastur wishes to remove him from the ultimate rule over humanity, so that he may do so himself). You are to join him to do so, at the end of the song where you are in a lull.

The Great Forest is The Forest in Brittany, in which a secret is held, where Hastur can provide you it. All you need to do is enter the pact by taking his hand, and he can take you there. Seeing primarily yellow in the description of the forest, presents a focus on yellow, Hastur, rather than the rest of the forest - hinting to the old idiom ‘Can’t see the forest for the trees’. What you’ve been searching for was in front of you all along, and you accept it as normality...the madness that is!

The sign is significant to The King in Yellow, as you might already know. It is the physical world link that could be metaphorically taken as a sign, or a call to action. Curiosity might kill the cat, but in this case, it only leads to madness.

The piper is related to the old art trope, using the pied piper story to be relatable to the story. Hastur is lulling us into his musical (the play; almost as if Cassilda’s Song was the whole play). As such, Hastur is the piper, and this is the “sign of the piper”.

After, what seemingly was, an innocent and benevolent offer to the protagonist (or listener, if you like), Hastur has control. This is where the second verse begins. Now there seems to be a trap described but, you enjoy it. And I write that in the lyrics as a tongue-in-cheek snark; you could say that once you’re under his command, you do enjoy it, and if anyone said anything about it, you wouldn’t care. Like a junkie to a needle.

Follow The Band

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

First of all, I've got to say that I love the band's name: MYSTIC TAPE DECK. I have fond nostalgia for the cassette tape format, with all its hiss and possibility. Here comes another band out of Boise, to join those we've premiered on this blog (including Ghorot and Ealdor Bealu), and this pair with roots in the DIY '90s scene seems to be aiming for something big and out of the ordinary.

Tags I've never seen before appear connected with their projects, including garage jazz and gutter prog. Whatever you want to call it, it'll get right under your skin and into your bloodstream. At times bizarre, baddass, and amusing; at others sublime and soothing. That is how I would sum up the most entertaining 16-song collection that was Bards: Of The Shimmering Seraphs last year, the third in a series reaching back to 2019. Each installment has been a labor of love production, complete with books and artwork exploring hidden knowledge of the underground.

The duo loves experimentation, venturing into realms of folk, electronica, rock, and metal -- sometimes mashing things up obscenely, but at the same time tempered with an accessibility that pulls magnetically toward rhythm and harmony. You can tell they're having fun with it, and that makes me smile.

"The Soothsayer's Bone" is Mystic Tape Deck's latest single, and I appreciate that it comes with a lore of its own, continuing with the theme of the wandering bard that seems to umbrella their opus well. The band frames this song with an old Shakespeare quote, most apropos for our time: "Hell is empty and all the devils are here."

If you are a fan of randomness, but with intelligence, mystery, and history behind it, I'm betting you'll dig what this band is dishing.

Look for more on Mystic Tape Deck website and Bandcamp page.

Stick it on your own eclectic playlist with bands like Tenacious D, Mr. Bungle, Gentle Giant, Frank Zappa, Melvins, System of a Down, and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets.

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THE LORE

"The Soothsayer’s Bone" is said to be the femur of a prophet and psychic so ancient, their name has been forgotten to the mists of time. The bone has been passed down through a long chain of people in positions of great power around the world. It is said to possess great fortune telling powers, granting whomever holds it the ability to use it as a sort of divining rod to merge normally disconnected timelines and open a window through the astral veil - through which the future can be seen. The outcomes appear as implanted “memories” in the mind of the user, who can then “see” the future outcome of a chain of causal events as though they are recalling something they had already experienced.

The relic has a history of being passed down through a long chain of tyrannical rulers who have used the powers of the bone to forecast the outcome of military battles and political upheavals. It was especially useful in the hands of despots and oppressors who used it only for personal gain and securing their continuing authoritarian power.

While the bone could potentially be used to advance humanity and create a more just and peaceful world, instead it has passed the eons in the hands of simple minded evildoers who use it instead for personal gain and power over others. Some legends say that it was always meant to serve only the needs of its most selfish and hateful masters, but that one day it will fall into the possession of someone who will make great peace with it and vanquish evil from the Earth.

Nazilic scholars say that the relic has existed through multiple iterations of the great cycle, and is fiercely guarded by those in power who hold it, preventing it from landing in the hands of the one who will use it for the goodly benefit of all humankind. Many of these despotic leaders have insisted they be buried with the artifact, being unwilling to part with it even in death, but it has been dug up and robbed from their graves each and every time.

Nazilic monks believe it is their destiny to finally possess the bone, and that it will play a role in the final dissolution of the shining one by falling into the hands of one who shall rise from amongst their own ranks. So far, however, they have not been successful in obtaining it through several iterations of the great cycle.

MYSTIC TAPE DECK will reveal "The Soothsayer's Bone" on April 13th, 2026.

Photo credit Patrick Perkins

LYRICS

They plough their fields, They sow their rows They weave their blankets for the nights when the cold wind blows They swing their scythe, They reap their stow And they grind their crusty bread with the soothsayer’s bone

They light their fires, Burn their effigies All dancing deep in madness, rapt in ecstacy They wave their flags, They wail and moan And they beat the war drums with the soothsayer’s bone

They’re the prowlers on the prairie They’re the keepers of the key They’re the shadow steppers stepping, stepping over you and me They’re the dreamers of the desert And they’re never at home And they stir their bubbling stew with the soothsayer’s bone

They pour their wine, They fill their grail Collect the seeping gore in gilded golden pails They nod and chant, Ascend the throne And they pierce the astral veil with the soothsayer’s bone

They pick their battles, They win their fights Adore their kings and revere their shining knights They sacrifice the innocent, For sins they must atone And they pick their rotten teeth with the soothsayer’s bone They’re the prowlers on the prairie They’re the keepers of the key They’re the shadow steppers stepping, stepping over you and me They’re the dreamers of the desert And they’re never at home And they stir their bubbling stew with the soothsayer’s bone

SOME BUZZ

Initially conceived in the minds of two 11 year old boys making up imaginary bands and drawing album covers for them, Mystic Tape Deck was officially forged and magnetized in a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign in 2019.

This was when Patrick S. Perkins (ref. as “PS Perkins”) and Ron Thomas came together (again*) to make the first installment of Mystic Tape Deck’s BARDS series, “BARDS: Of The Morning Star.”

The initial edition was a 52 page book and a 78 minute CD containing DIY home recordings which served to tell the story of a mystical being known as “The Shining One.” This first book/CD was intended as a Minerval’s gateway and guide to a vast and mysterious parallel universe where a deeply strange and art-obsessed cult of followers lurk in urban communes they call “encroachments” and who use performance art as both ritual and religion, referring to themselves as “The Cloak of Nazili” or simply, “The Cloak.”

Since the first installment was published, Mystic Tape Deck have produced an additional two book/CD installations in the BARDS series which further expand on the home-spun mythology underpinning this imaginary and eldritch monastic tradition. At least two more of these are in the works, with book 4 already underway and nearing completion (est. release date late 2026).

BARDS: Of The Morning Star [Part 1] by Mystic Tape deck

Taken as a whole, the BARDS series also stands as a testament to the diy ethic and what is possible if you just continue moving forward a little at a time. The project begins with a decidedly lo-fi approach to the music and books as we embark on a “figure it out as we go” type of journey that progressively gains clarity of vision and production as its creators gain experience by creating it.

It has always been of paramount importance to us that above all else, it gets made, and put out into the world - rather than allow it to languish and rot for a pretense of “perfection” in the dark and spidery basement where we create it. The story of its creators learning how to create and conquer these ideas is inextricably woven throughout the entire experience.

Mystic Tape Deck has always kept at the center of its vision a simple motto: “More Than Sounds,” and we continue to deliver on that promise with everything we create. This isn’t just music. This is multimedia storytelling, in a realm where we can be as weird and wild as we want (dare) to be.

The project explores many deeply spiritual concepts, ancient alchemical and hermetic wisdom, mixed with a healthy dose of decided absurdity, as it drills into the mechanisms of The Cloak and the mythical being at its center known simply as “The Shining One.”

BARDS: Of The Next Revolution [Part 2] by Mystic Tape Deck

Perkins and Thomas spent most of the 90’s playing together in various incarnations of bands such as “Godzoundz”, “Size Of…” and others. They self released many cassettes, did a couple DIY tours, and played some pretty wild shows, serving as one of the more bizarre fixtures of the Boise underground DIY scene for over a decade. Perkins and Thomas also form the experimental improv performance art and musical duo known as “The Pleasant Company” (indefinite hiatus).

Perkins played drums for Boise band “The Universal” from 2005 - 2011 releasing a self titled EP recorded at local Chop Shop studio, and a full length recorded by Grammy winning producer Art Hodge “Everything is Everywhere (2009)” for which Perkins also designed the six panel cover art.

Perkins was also a founding member of seminal Boise band Caustic Resin, playing drums on 2003’s "Keep On Truckin” (Up! Records) as well as guest appearances on several other albums.

BARDS: Of The Shimmering Seraphs [Part 3] by Mystic Tape Deck

Follow The Band

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Boise's blackened doom wrecking ball crew GHOROT are back with their third album of the decade, 'Obsidian' (2026), and today Doomed & Stoned is sharing the ferocious new single "Lascaux."

The music video opens with primitive tribal groanings that take us to an ancient Paleolithic cave in France, for which the song is named. Here in this the Sistine Chapel of prehistoric art are preserved rare glimpses of early human life and mentality, shrouded in startling, colorful, ghostly visions of aurochs, stags, horses, and bison, along with occasional human handprints.

Something strange happens in the music video, where we are transported from the context of wet mud, clay, ochre, and umber, into a sped-up world of sophisticated machinery, complex computer servers, manufacturing equipment, and a population explosion. Will the handprints of our own humanity remain as a testimony to this complex age? What will be left to testify to the depth and beauty of humanity, as more and more is surrendered to the soulless fortunes of the artificial?

The roar of Ghorot gives voice, no doubt, to the undercurrent of collective unease experienced around the globe in our time. The song ends with a fierce fist-raising chant, frenzied guitar strains, and roiling feedback.

Expect great rumblings, visceral vox, and reeling riffs on the band's forthcoming album 'Obsidian' (2026), out next Friday, April 10th on Lay Bare Recordings/King Of The Monsters Records on vinyl, compact disc, and cassette (pre-order here).

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LYRICS

In darkness, the flickering torch Casts light against the wall.

Flame flicker mine image illumination cursed twisting mirage of our conscience striking against the Perigord. Wander now past author of the timeless, the Great Unknown.

Cryptic vision is eating away at the hearth of the most squalid absolutely colossal putrefaction. Aging, the sculpted hunger. Starved. Death comes for us all. The walls will call for faces.

Obsidian by Ghorot

Spears gleam with deadly aim. Slaughtered beast, transfixed in the flames.

Glacial Frost, Horn of Woe. Splintered Axe, Blood in the Snow.

Auroch, Obsidian. Bos Primigenius, Megaloceros.

Painting, haunting, fading out. Crystal moment full of doubt. Fashioned blade, pulled on out. Rotted teeth. Not a sound.

Crushing. Prancing all about. What goes in, must come out. Marked cave. Full of clout. Minds turned in. Eyes burned out.

Follow The Band

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Doesn't matter how much you've had a dish, sometimes one particular chef just hits it out of the ballpark, bringing all the flavors to life. It takes a lot of love and that practical knack and know-how, but an experienced cook with good instincts can make it irresistible. In BRONCO FORTE we have a band that gets it right again and again on their new album, 'Lightning Scars' (2026).

The Los Angeles quartet draws from familiar stoner rock, doom, and blues motifs as their raw ingredients, excelling as true auteurs with a record that is quite listenable. There is a certain something that pulls you in. I think it's the tuning of the guitars, downtuned to just the right frequency to give you that warm, fuzzy, comforting feeling.

Everything in the world may be going to hell, but the sounds give a strange consolation. Someone else out there also senses this reality is crumbling and has some salve for the pain. These very human songs are communicated not only through relatable lyrics, but through effective tone, color, rhythm, and vocal harmonies that come together like a beautiful painting.

Powerful, too. Just listen to the brawling low-end riffage that introduces "Obvious Alias." Or the bittersweet riffage that brings us to "Cultist Canyon" (one of my favs). The dreadful low-end on "Goat Church," the sweet and sour blues of "Dusk Jacket," and the interwinging dual guitar action on "Emberwalker" have marked this as one of my favorite listens of the year so far.

This is the sound that made me fall in love with the doom-stoner scene and it's good to have it back in capable hands. This is a band I would want to hear live, that's for damn sure.

You just can't go wrong with Bronco Forte's Lightning Scars, out on Friday, April 3rd (pre-order here). Stick it on a playlist with Soundgarden, Sonic Moon, and The Devil and the Almighty Blues.

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Lightning Scars by Bronco Forte

SOME BUZZ

After so many iterations of heavy, desert-inspired doom rock over past decades, it seems the essence of purely driving riffs, earworm harmonies and strong songwriting that defined a genre has been forsaken. Bronco Forte are a return to the stark blast that made bands like Kyuss, Alice In Chains and Soundgarden legends.

After years of creative toil and preparation, Los Angeles quartet Bronco Forte is stepping into the spotlight as a fully-formed heavy rock phenomenon, with roots in the classic heavy music of the 1970s, seasoned with a deeply modern sensibility and sonic approach. The songs on their debut full-length album, Lightning Scars, chronicle the uncertain lives of ordinary people in the cities and wildernesses of California and beyond, as the characters they depict strive to maintain their integrity in the face of a rapidly-changing world.

The band’s lyrics balance literary style and kitchen-sink realism. Their riffs are deep and dirty, conjuring up the kinds of swinging grooves that cause involuntary head-nodding. The song structures are clever without being cluttered, and the band’s judicious use of vocal harmonies brings a powerful pop sweetness that cuts like a ray of light through the deep swampy stomp of their songs. It all adds up to a fresh yet familiar take on hard rock for a new era, as they draw inspiration and energy from their musical ancestors while casting aside the weary genre cliches of the past.

On Lightning Scars, guitarist and vocalist Chris Klepac’s focused songwriting and poignant lyrics meld seamlessly with guitarist Sako Injaian’s (All Hail the Yeti) energetic riffs to create a sonic tapestry that is somehow as catchy as it is heavy. Together, bassist Jen Glomboski (White Forest) and drummer Geoff Summers (Batillus, A Storm of Light) lay down a rhythmic foundation that is as solid and unwavering as the endless expanses of concrete and asphalt that blanket the band’s home of southern California.

Lightning Scars was tracked and mixed by engineer Kevin McCombs (Linkin Park, Story of the Year) at legendary North Hollywood studio The Steakhouse – the same studio where Queens of the Stone Age recorded Era Vulgaris. From there, the band took the audio to heavy rock mastering wizard Nick Townsend (Alice in Chains, Frankie and the Witch Fingers), who cut the resulting album to lacquer on his own personal lathe. Album art from Kevin “fetusK” Bernier (Prosthetic Records, Intronaut) completes the package.

Lightning Scars will be available on LP, CD and download on April 3rd, 2026.

Follow The Band

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

In an age of fakeness, doubt, and lies MONSTERNAUT are keeping it real AF.

Down to earth in every respect, the Finnish band's new album 'Approaching Doom' (2026) is back-to-basics garage metal that don't need no fancy dancy digital tricks and back room splicing and dicing to bring it to life. WYSIWYG, period. Pure and utter heavy annihilation. Matter of fact and in your face.

Recorded last year over a 10-day period "on and mixed to RTM SM900 magnetic tape using analogue equipment and VOVOX sound conductors," the band shares. "No editing, no autotune, no amp emulations and no drum samples were used on this album. This human-made music is genuine and pure!"

Ten granite tracks are what you're in for, with stark titles like "Black Blizzard," "Human Stew," and "Final Pain," featuring sweeping wave-run riffs and heroic shredding from guitarist and vocalist Tuomas Heiskanen, motorific rhythms from bassist Perttu Härkönen, and big, brash drumming care of Patrik Kuitunen.

The rawness, honesty, and brutality of this collection of songs takes me all the way back to Metallica's St. Anger for a point of comparison. Many fans were shocked by the harshness and bare bones production (a disenchanted coworker of mine gifted me with the CD), preferring the magic mirror illusions of high studio production. Yet something about it really drew me in as I listened to it on long I-5 back and forth commutes to work.

While I might get myself into trouble for comparing Monsternaut fare with Metallica's most controversial album, I mean it as a high compliment. Authenticity will always win over parlor tricks, especially in this disappointing age of AI slop. A band should, in this writer's opinion, be able to reproduce it live as it sounds on the record or GTFO of Dodge.

Come witness the future soundtrack of the Mad Max generation. This is Monsternaut's Approaching Doom, out Friday on Heavy Psych Sounds (get it here or here). Stick it on a playlist with Megadeth, High on Fire, The Watchers, Rifflord, and Bone Church.

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SOME BUZZ

'Approaching Doom' is the third album by Monsternaut, a darker and heavier representation of the band’s established devotion to groovy riffs and to the point compositions. The songs took shape over several years, during which the arrival of a new drummer opened the door to more adventurous rhythms and riff ideas, pushing the band into new territory while staying true to their roots.

Drifting away from the fuzzy stoner rock of the early days, 'Approaching Doom' showcases a darker, more metallic and uncompromisingly stomp-inducing sound. Sonically, the album leans toward the grit and weight of early 90s metal rather than polished modern production, giving it a raw and immediate edge. Its lyrics and atmosphere follow a naturally darker direction as well, adding an extra layer of tension beneath the grooves.

MONSTERNAUT - Approaching Doom by HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS Records

Recorded entirely the old fashioned way, straight to analog tape with no digital editing, it captures the band playing as they are, relying on performance, chemistry, and feel rather than correction. The result is a record that hits harder, feels more focused, and marks a confident new chapter in Monsternaut’s evolution.

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A new generation of Dutch garage rock has arrived...

More and more, a generation saturated in deep fakes, doubtful news, and AI generated slop is flying to the accessible unpolished power of punk rock to express their angst with the world.

We know with punk it's not rocket science: 3-chord power chord progressions, fast-paced 4/4 time signatures, and 140–220 BPM. What does make the genre come alive, and distinguish a punk band, is their lyrics, attitude, and live performances. There's no sense in trying to reinvent the wheel. More important is to keep the wheel turning.

A band that's doing that and then some is the cleverly monickered SICK SHOOTERS, following in a scuffed tradition that has spanned decades yet lost none of its edge in the present day. Punk has become a rite of passage in many ways between the generations, so it's good to get some fresh life breathed into the genre in this new 11-track stomper, 'Super Sonic Rock Saga' (2026).

The Utrecht foursome give bright, high energy aura to songs like "Evacuation," which laments being caught in the crunch of political control and the nagging human instinct to be free. You wanna run, but "what you gonna do...when they're coming for you?"

Frenetic energy and sweet guitar soloing are surrounded by warm, dissonant fuzz and primal garage anthems on Sick Shooters' Super Sonic Rock Saga, out March 19th via Wap Shoo Wap Records (get it here).

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SOME BUZZ

Netherlands’s newest garage rock ’n roll wrecking crew, Sick Shooters, are ready to pull the trigger on their explosive debut album, Super Sonic Rock Saga, next month on Wap Shoo Wap Records.

All four members of the Utrecht quarter earned their stripes in local punk outfits No Brains, Spurn, and Ultragoblin. Battle-hardened by years in the underground scene, the result is raw, urgent, and unapologetically loud.

Super Sonic Rock Saga delivers eleven razor-sharp tracks packed with undeniable hooks. Fuelled by raw production and the striking absence of a bass guitar, the album channels the spirit of ’90s garage punk while tipping its hat to ’70s power pop. It’s a lean, high-voltage sound that wastes no time and pulls no punches.

From straight-up punk rock blasters like ‘Evacuation’ and ‘Never Comin’ Home’, to fist-pumping garage anthems such as ‘Heartbreaker Soulshaker’ and ‘Supersonic Lovin’’, and even bittersweet love songs like ‘Sweet Telephone’ and ‘Daisy’, the band proves they can hit hard without losing melody. No filler. No half measures. Just full tilt rock ’n roll.

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~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Now this is a good idea: a trippy doom soundtrack to Conan the Barbarian. It's certainly a film that has inspired many a metal band over the years, not to mention the original pulp novel by Robert E. Howard's and Frank Frazetta's stunning artwork. The band behind 'Songs in the Key of Conan' (2026) is a San Francisco collective, formed around a core of three musicians, called SLEEPBOMB (great name, by the way).

The band has been active in some form since 2003 and in the past 8 years or so has put on some pretty impressive live shows, scoring heavy instrumental soundtracks to silent films like Nosferatru, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Metropolis. These are obviously musicians with a deep appreciation for cinema, which is reflected with every twist and turn of the songs they have composed, which draw deftly from psychedelic, drone, and doom styles.

Sleepbomb's Conan the Barbarian excursions circle back to 2017 with a number of live shows ever since. What a great way to experience cinema! I'm sure Sleepbomb has been having a blast putting this together and refining their work to bring us this 16-track full-length, which explores the twists and turns of the famous 1980s Arnold Schwarzenegger epic.

There are moments of pulse-pounding excitement, such as the roiling, hypnotic drums that open the album on "Forged in Steel," leading into "Blood on the Snow." Sleepbomb has a real knack for building a coherent and exciting soundscape that pulls you right into the narrative, whether you're watching the film or not. The guitar's primitive almost industrial chugging and the dancing basswork is ideally suited for the subject matter. The guest musicians add an ethereal atmosphere that transport the listener to a plane of imagination and awe.

“For the first track," says guitarist Charles Hernandez, "we came up with an homage to the original score very organically. It was something that wasn’t spoken about. I went home one day,and worked it out. It’s also one of the most percussive pieces we’ve come up with. The drums set the tone for the piece, and for the score as a whole."

“For the second track, ‘Blood on the Snow,’ we had our work cut out for us. One of the highlights of the original score was the music used for the raid on the village, that’s later used for the battle between Thulsa Doom’s men versus Conan and Subutai. This was where we needed to strike out on our own, and I'm pleased with the results. I love the way it builds to the point where it explodes when the raiders attack the village with metallic fury.”

Tim Gotch (bass, synths) adds: “‘Forged in Steel’ and ‘Blood on the Snow’ is normally divided by Conan’s father’s iconic speech about the origin and riddle of steel. My duties in Steel are the synth; Charlie’s guitar and the driving drums are the primary instruments, but I like to think the synth line is pretty cool as well.”

Today, Doomed & Stoned proudly present this performance video of the opening two tracks to Sleepbomb's Songs in the Key of Conan. A brilliant effort through and through! Recorded, mixed and mastered by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios. Out officially on June 3rd via koolarrow records.

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SOME BUZZ

San Francisco-based cinematic doom act Sleepbomb will release their upcoming LP, Songs in the Key of Conan, on 5 June 2026 on vinyl, CD, and digital formats via koolarrow records (run by Faith No More’s Billy Gould). The album reconceives John Milius’ 1983 classic Conan the Barbarian, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Sleepbomb crafts full, original scores for genre films, settling on a drone influenced style of doom metal while incorporating other textures to suit each film’s distinct atmosphere. Their goal is to re-contextualize the experience of classic films through immersive, reinterpretative sound. Historically conceived as a live project, Sleepbomb has been performing their scores across the West Coast of the US since 2003.

Musically, the band ranges from heavy doom riffs to dreamy shoegaze, dark soundscapes punctuated with shimmering guitar and ethereal vocals. Originally stylistically close to a chaotic version of Throbbing Gristle vs Black Sabbath, Sleepbomb has been exploring experimental sounds and forms throughout their career, guided by the band’s love of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Coil, Neurosis, Sunn 0))), Ulver and Swans, among others.

Sleepbomb joined Bill Gould’s koolarrow records and Belgium’s Consouling Sounds in 2023 for the release of their score for the classic 1920 German Expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. They were overjoyed to repeat this collaboration for their 2025 release of The Sleeping Dead: excerpts from an alternate score for George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.

Songs in the Key of Conan by Sleepbomb

The forthcoming album, Songs in the Key of Conan, is the culmination of a complicated eleven-year journey for Sleepbomb, originally conceived as the next step in their evolution beyond improvised silent film scores, inspired by Conan the Barbarian, directed by John Milius.

Over the course of the first five years, Sleepbomb’s music for Conan developed from two hours of messy improvisation into a taut, fully written original score; full of driving percussion, soaring synths and dynamic guitars. Over the same period, Sleepbomb evolved from a loose ensemble playing beer gardens to a fixed lineup selling out Bay Area theaters, with Conan becoming their signature work.

Likely, without Covid, this record would have come out in 2021 and sounded very different given the pre-pandemic lineup of Sleepbomb. The album’s path was further delayed by licensing issues that halted live performances of the film and internal scheduling shifts. With the addition of Claire Hamard in 2022, Conan was finally recorded at Earhammer Studios in summer 2024 with producer Greg Wilkinson, alongside longtime live collaborators Matt Pankuch (horns) and K.R. Morrison (percussion). Tracking wrapped in about a week with minimal setbacks. Claire amicably departed the band in 2025, but her performances remain an integral part of the album. Mixing resumed in late 2025 and moved quickly, finally bringing Songs in the Key of Conan to its awaited completion.

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~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Much respect to Oxford's DESERT STORM, who have been plowing away since 2007 and are definitely at the top of their craft with their latest album, 'Buried Under the Weight of Reason' (2026).

Seven albums deep, this release somehow feels different from the previous six. Still brimming with fury, but somehow more serious, brooding, weighty.

Now Desert Storm have always been heavy, and in many ways the band's instincts for effective song writing keeps getting sharper, but you know you've entered a new realm of dire when you hear the deep resonating march of the bass and drums on the first track. "Newfound Respect," indeed. Three-minutes in, a romping charge begins, that weaves rhythmic elements of groove metal in with grinding sludge.

All the music is written collectively by the band and it shows, with Matthew Ryan (vocals), Ryan Cole (guitars), Elliot Cole (drums), and Andrew Keyzor (bass) bringing something interesting and valuable to the table in every song.

There are unexpected twists and turns throughout the album, such as the jazzy, bluesy guitar interludes in "Shamanic Echoes" and "Cut Your Teeth."

After hearing songs like "Woodsman," "Dripback" and "Twelve Seasons," you'll happily pit the band's vocal heft against any other (I don't think I've heard anything this fierce in many moons).

Desert Storm's Buried Under the Weight of Reason is a mastercraft of thoughtful musicianship, pithy lyrical subtext, and sheer oceanic might. The songs get better with every new hearing, a true tour de force. A fitting album for uncertain, troubled times. Released for the first time through Heavy Psych Sounds, which is presenting the album in a stunning array of vinyl options (get it here or here).

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SOME BUZZ

Desert Storm are a formidable force in British heavy metal. Hailing from Oxford, England, the band formed in 2007 and have since carved out a reputation for their genre-defying blend of stoner, sludge, post-metal, and doom. Now, 19 years deep into their journey, they remain impossible to pigeonhole—constantly evolving, yet unmistakably Desert Storm. If you’re drawn to titanic ri􀆯s, intricate sonic textures, and vocals that balance ferocity with raw emotion, Desert Storm deliver that and more.

Their latest album, “Buried Under The Weight Of Reason”, is the highly anticipated follow-up to 2023’s acclaimed Death Rattle. Released worldwide via the renowned Italian label Heavy Psych Sounds Records (home to legends like Pentagram, Bongzilla, Conan, and Mondo Generator), the record marks a bold step forward for the band.

DESERT STORM - Buried Under The Weight Of Reason by HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS Records

With their latest body of work, Desert Storm carve out a sound that is as primal as it is progressive—melding sludge, doom, and heavy metal weight with moments of softness, space, and surprising vulnerability.

Across these tracks, the band summon the wilderness, ceremony, and chaos of the human condition, pushing their sound into new territories while staying true to their instinct for heaviness.

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~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

I've been hearing a ton of good things about Mexico's DEMONS MY FRIENDS. The band delivers on their thought-provoking name (a reference to our human internal struggles) with wistful, grungy atmosphere, explosive drum and bass attack, searing downtuned guitar riffs, and harmonic vocals that find a place of calm and resolve in the midst of raging storms. If you're looking for a vibe to anchor to in the choppy tumult of our times, this is it.

Their latest single, "The Theory of Change," opens the lush new 8-track album 'Survive/Yourself' (2026), coming soon to Ripple Music, which I think a lot of people will be talking about this year. The record channels that deeply affecting alt-rock and grunge sound many of us came of age with, but with a distinctively doomy twist and moments of unsettling experimentation that kept my ears engaged. This band indeed has a special sound and I hope we get to see them perform live quite a bit as the months unfold.

Stick "The Theory of Change" on a playlist with Deftones, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, and Fostermother (get it here).

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SOME BUZZ

Demons My Friends is a Mexican band that blends elements of rock, post-punk, and doom. The power trio—Lu Salinas (bass/vocals), Tarro Martinez (drums), Pablo Anton (guitar/vocals)—embarked on their creative endeavor via an impromptu recording session at the SXSW music festival in Austin, TX in 2022 and have consummated their relationship with their debut full-length titled "Demons Seem to Gather", which was produced and mixed by Jeff Henson (Duel, Spirit Adrift, Clutch) and mastered by Alberto de Icaza. They have also provided direct tour support for artists like Bruce Dickinson and Graveyard.

Their approach is typically described as both emotionally charged and sonically adventurous, mixing raw, authentic energy with a sense of reflective moodiness; while their thematic focus often deals with personal struggles, societal themes, and the complexities of human experience, with a touch of existential or philosophical contemplation.

Demons Seem To Gather by Demons My Friends

When life fell apart, Demons My Friends once again found solace in music. For their second album "Survive Yourself," the heavy trio wrote for five days in Cuernavaca, Mexico, channeling a year of personal turmoil (sick relatives, lost jobs and family crises) directly into the music. Recording became a patchwork journey through four different studios made possible by long-time collaborators and producers Jeff Henson, Pastas, and Fer Monroy. Survive Yourself is the raw emotional document of a band holding it together when everything else was falling apart. Intricate, honest, and definitely their deepest and heaviest album to date.

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~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Italy's TONS is one of those bands I've had my ears tuned to for a long time, at least as far back as the last decade when I noticed them as a deep player in the Heavy Psych Sounds catalog.

Riffing on stoner-doom themes as old as Black Sabbath and jettisoned into a full-fledge scene by the likes of Sleep and Electric Wizard, the trend continues well into the new century with the likes of Dopethrone, Bongripper, Weedeater, Demonic Death Judge, Weed Demon, Mephistopheles, Leather Lung and others taking the genre into something far more sinister-sounding.

For newbies, Tons has been shaking things up since 2009, with their first album in 2012 and their second raising even more eyebrows in 2018. During the pandemic, they released Hashension and split with no-less than the legendary Bongzilla.

Now the Turin four-piece brings us the first taste of a third album 'Stoned Villains' (2026). They say write what you know, and these guys have plenty of stories to tell about their psychonautic misadventures. Plenty of tongue-in-cheek stoner humor pervades the album, with songs like "Darth Vaper" and the one before us now, the first single "The Big Bong Theory." This song does major battle damage, with massive monolithic chords, explosive beats, and acid-soaked vocals that are nothing short of vicious. Prepare to be shook.

Look for Stoned Villains out 4/20 on Heavy Psych Sounds (pre-order here).

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SOME BUZZ

Your favorite weed sludgers are ready to come back with their fourth studio album this April, the aptly titled "Stoned Villains" on Heavy Psych Sounds Records. The band's distinctive sound emerges immediately upon the first listen: seven tracks of heavy and sulfurous doom-sludge with influences ranging from the '90s to Turin-inspired hardcore punk — the scene in which our "villains" were formed and raised.

Heavy and cutting guitars, a seismic rhythm section, and Gingerzilla's voice barking out ungraceful tales of weed abuse and uncontrolled eating. The song titles perfectly describe Tons: a band that doesn't take itself too seriously and turns its trademark irony into a superpower.

The Big Bong Theory is the first single from the album 'Stoned Villains,' out in April. It's a blend of heavy, slow, and relentless sludge metal with psychedelic moments culminating in a drone-doom-esque finale. The drums pound, the guitars terrify, while Gingerzilla's acidic, raspy voice recounts tales of gargantuan bong sessions.

'Stoned Villains' was recorded and mixed in Turin by Danilo "Dano" Battocchio at Deepest Sea Studio and mastered by James Plotkin. Artwork and graphics by Steuso.

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~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

The psychedelic stoner-doom outfit LORD ELEPHANT from Florence, Italy generate massive sound for a three-piece. Active since 2016, the instrumental heavy rock band's recorded output emerged during the pandemic with 'Cosmic Awakening' (2021) followed by a series of singles in 2022, and a Doom Sessions split with Oreyeon in 2023. Now the band comes at us with 'Ultra Soul' (2026) -- 7 new tracks that bleed from one to the next in interlocking fashion.

The album art by JJ Farfante ArtLab (Melvins, Mudhoney, Ufomammut) captures the creative process we're hearing: a mess of roots digging, twisting, sprawling in all directions, giving us a great grounding in the slow 'n' low, while at the same time compelled by a vivacious will to live, to explore, to understand. As rhythm, spontaneity, and instinct converge something coherent, meaningful, and powerful emerges from the creative morass.

Track titles match the vivid, picturesque, and psyched-out experience of the sound: "Electric Dunes," "Giantia," "Smoke Tower," "Black River Blues," "Astral Crypt," "MindNight," concluding with "Leave This World with Me." For this premiere, the album works as one continuous journey.

The album opens like the haze of a rising sun over vast ocean dunes, with bubbling signs of life as green sprigs reach irresistibly heavenward and gasses rise in a homage to the Great Power of the universe. Three-and-a-half minutes in things really amp up with winding, curling riffs, equal parts jubilant and turbulent. There is a balance between the tumult of the sea and the freedom of the open sky, and by 8 minutes in we seem to swing effortlessly between them without fear or hesitation.

21 minutes in, the elephantine stomping really begins, in big lumbering footsteps. Edoardo De Nardi's basswork has been a standout of this whole experience with a doom-laden sentiment that matches Soundgarden in dread, Sabbath in joyful revelry, and Sleep in conceptual grandiosity and breadth.

At 26 minutes, there are wafts and whispers, eerie echoes of time and space and an unreachable past that has nonetheless become part of our experience, one might even say our collective soul. Machinations unfold, jutting angularly and clashing violently toward the sun. Leandro Gaccione's guitars go wild.

Tommaso Urzino is a masterclass on the drums as he grounds us in this most extraordinary experience through shifting tempos and temperaments, and his endurance carries through right to the finish.

Here is a band that truly lives up to its name, Lord Elephant showing intelligence and fiery spirit at every turn. It is a joy to listen to and let unfold, without any expectations. Just let it wash over you and enjoy! Out by week's end officially on Heavy Psych Sounds in the usual stunning array of vinyl options (get it here).

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SOME BUZZ

Lord Elephant are back with their second studio album "Ultra Soul", a psyched blend of 70's, 90's and 00's extravaganzas mixed together with the distinctive heavy breath of the band. Blues, doom and sludge are fused again in the strange trademark of the trio, allergic to genre-labels and ready to expand the vision beyond cages!

Born in 2016, the band refined his shape until the release of “Cosmic Awakening” in 2022 via Heavy Psych Sounds, a blend of psychedelia, stoner, doom and blues that gained excellent feedback in the scene.

LORD ELEPHANT - Ultra Soul by HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS Records

Through 2022 and 2024, the band shared the stage with rock legends like Eyehategod, Church Of Misery, Nebula, Bongzilla and others, touring Europe in summer 2023 with stoned legends Weedeater and taking part in festival like Desertfest, Rock in Bourlon, Heavy Psych Sound Fest Italy and Switzerland.

In January 2025, the band recorded his second studio album “Ultra Soul” in Ravenna with renowned producer Riccardo “Paso” Pasini (Nero Di Marte, Ephel Duath, Ottone Pesante), reaching a new level of depth and connection between the three members through the new songs.

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