2023
Interview: Thomas Powell of Auralayer
Written by Kirk The month of July was packed to the gills with great releases. One of those records was Thousand Petals, the debut album from newcomers Auralayer (you can read my review of it […]
stoner metal
2023
Album Review: Ephedra – “Valley of the Shepherd” (Instrumental Stoner Doom)
Written by Kirk Ephedra – Valley of the Shepherd> Instrumental stoner doom/space rock> Switzerland> Releasing March 17> Independent/self-release April 29, 2021 was a tough day for stoners the world over. William Mecum, lead guitarist and founding […]
2020 Albums
Album Review: Lucifungus – Derek 6 (Stoner Doom)
Lucifungus made a pretty strong impression in 2018 with their debut EP and a bunch of awesome show lineups in 2019. I’m glad to finally get some more from these guys. A very riff focused doom duo with a lot of gain, the way it ought to be. I wonder if they have the orange amps. Definitely got the Melvins vibe. […]
Luke Oram
Microdose: Eluvian, Deserts Of Mars, Dirty Grave & Orbyssmal
Four albums, four small reviews, four great sounds. […]
2020 Albums
Hyborian release new track “Planet Destroyer” and details of Vol II via Season Of Mist
We’ve all heard stoner rock, stoner doom and southern metal, but Progressive Sludge Metal is a tag that gets me excited every time. As you can tell by the sounds on display in this new single, they’ve done well to replace the monotony of sludge with the exciting energy of progressive metal. It’s good blending that creates a nice middle breeding ground for all sorts of goodies. Definitely looking forward to the new album in full. Check out the full art and details below as well. […]
2019 Albums
Interview: Golden Core (Norway)
Golden Core are a duo from Oslo, Norway. Their latest album, Fimbultýr, dazzled me earlier in 2019 with their genre defying blend of progressive and stoner metal styles. If you are not familiar then it is a fine entry point into the bands discography and will no doubt provide every kind of metalhead with something interesting and something new. The album appeared on my 2019 End Of Year List and I reviewed the album in more detail earlier in the year, so I’m very happy to have had the opportunity to the interview them. […]
2018 albums
Tape Review: Sumeru – Summon Destroyer 8 (Doom Metal)
Sumeru are a Australian and they play some serious stoner metal with a lot of variety, It can be doomy, and it can also be progressive. The music, production and presentation is top notch. This tape is quite alluring thanks to the cover art by Paolo Girardi who I covered recently for his artwork on Abominate (2019) by Firespawn. I always enjoy being able to collect cassettes from good bands who also use good artists, hell it’s practically the premise for my collection. The band’s name is probably a reference to Mount Meru which “is considered to be the center of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes”. […]
2019 Albums
Album Review: The 4 Way Split – 9 (Stoner Doom)
I promise I won’t confuse Dopelord, Dopesmoker and Dopethrone since I’ve been listening to a bit of all lately. This is one of the most impressive collaborative albums I’ve heard in modern doom history. It’s a Polish supergroup in a sense. Doom might have started in the UK but these guys are all proving that it could finish in Poland. I’ve been pretty vocal about my love of Spaceslug for over a year now so I am pretty excited about this new track from them and getting to know the other bands a bit better. It’s a really great showcase for the current state of doom which is more alive than ever. […]