Category: Doom metal

Top 40 albums of 2016 – 2020: #’s 5 – 1

Here we are at the top of the music mountain. Again, putting this list together wasn’t easy. It went through at least four drafts before it felt “right.”

#5: BODEGA – Endless Scroll (2018)

This post-punk record by the Brooklyn band took a good chunk of the world by storm, receiving a lot of airplay in England and across U.S. alternative radio stations and being played at Paris fashion shows. It’s full of great hooks, scathing lyrics about hipsters, death, perceptions of masculinity, sex, and people willingly enslaving themselves to technology. BODEGA instantly became my favorite band of 2018 when I heard this.

#4: Flat Worms – Antarctica (2020)

This wild psych-punk (and I’m not sure that’s an accurate description) album unleashes raw power from the get-go and doesn’t let up for the entire run. It takes subjects like consumerism, rich elitism, racism, existential angst, and xenophobia head-on with hammering guitars and drums as heavy as a glacier. This album was locked into my #1 spot for Best Albums of 2020 after its release.

#3: The Well – Death and Consolation (2019)

This doom metal album from Austin, Texas’ The Well was my favorite album to send to fellow doom-lovers for Christmas in 2019. It hits hard in all the right ways – chugging bass and guitars, fierce yet in-the-pocket drumming, and lyrics about mortality, horrible things that lie beyond the veil, epic mystical battles, and overcoming fear of such things to transcend this illusionary existence. Heavy stuff? Yes, but The Well carry it with the ease of Hercules.

#2: Kelly Lee Owens – (self-titled) (2017)

This album made me want to create electronic music even more than I already did. I hadn’t touched my digital turntables in months, and then Kelly Lee Owens releases her self-titled debut of house, ambient, and synthwave music and slaps me awake with it. Seeing her live at the 2018 Pitchfork Music Festival only slapped me harder. The problem? She’s so good, and this album is such a strong debut, that it’s tempting to hear it and think, “Damn, why should I even bother?” I’ll be happy if I can create something a fifth as good as this.

#1: David Bowie – Blackstar (2016)

I mean, come on, was there any doubt? David Bowie’s final album is a masterpiece. I can’t say it any better than that. He faced his mortality with introspection, acceptance, and even humor. His backing jazz band is outstanding on this, and every song carries extra weight when viewed with the hindsight of knowing the Thin White Duke was getting ready to head back into the brilliant dimension that spawned him.

Thanks for all the good music, everyone.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 40 albums of 2016 – 2020: #’s 15 – 11

We’re more than halfway through this list now, and we have a welcome comeback album, a live album, an improvised album, a double album, and an EP. What are they? Read on to find out.

#15: Yardsss – Cultus (2020)

You could almost call this an EP, since it’s only three tracks, but two of those tracks are each over twenty minutes long. Cultus is the improvised album I mentioned. It’s a stunning soundscape of shoegaze, psychedelia, synthwave, and jazz that the band created out of thin air with no plan at all. It’s a testament to their talent and an amazing listen.

#14: LCD Soundsystem – American Dream (2017)

Here we have the welcome comeback. LCD Soundsystem returned after a hiatus to bring all of us the dance punk we desperately needed as the country was beginning to tear at each other’s throats in fear and ignorance. Tracks like “Emotional Haircut” skewered hipsters and “Call the Police” addressed xenophobia – all the while making us dance.

#13: Windhand – Levitation Sessions (2020)

My wife and I watched a few live-streamed concerts in 2020, and all of them were good. This one, however, was the only one to give me chills. Windhand always brings power and spooky vibes to their brand of doom metal, and the Reverb Appreciation Society’s sound gurus did a great job of capturing Windhand’s wizardry in this live session. The hairs on my arm stood during “Forest Clouds.” I wanted to run through the streets yelling, “Wear a damn mask and wash your hands!” to everyone in sight to increase the likelihood we could all see Windhand live again soon.

#12: Thee Oh Sees – Facestabber (2019)

It was a bit difficult to choose which Oh Sees record to include in my top 40 list, because they put out a lot of material during the last five years – especially in 2020 when John Dwyer and his crew had nothing else to do but make more music and released multiple albums, EPs, and singles. The double-album of Face Stabber, however, was the album that I kept coming back to and giving to friends as a 2019 Christmas gift. It blends psychedelia with Zappa-like jazzy jams (with the stunning twenty-plus-minute “Henchlock” taking up one side of the double album) and took their music to a different level, which was pretty high already.

#11: WALL – (self-titled EP) (2016)

Holy cow. This post-punk EP from Brooklyn’s WALL burst onto the scene like Kool-Aid Man hitting a brick wall keeping him separated from kids dying of dehydration. “Cuban Cigars” was played all over England’s BBC 6 Music (where I first heard it) and they were the talk of SXSW and the east coast’s post-punk scene. They put together an untitled full album after this, but broke up before it was released. Fortunately, the lead singer and the guitarist went on to form Public Practice. This EP, however, relit my passion for post-punk into a three-alarm fire.

The top 10 begins tomorrow. It includes more post-punk, a rap album, Canadian psychedelia, and an Australian album that never ends.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 35 albums of 2020: #’s 5 – 1

Here we are. We’ve reached the cream of the cop.

#5: Yardsss – Cultus

This album is “only” three tracks, but one of them is over twenty-three minutes long. The other two are over seven minutes each. Even more impressive? This entire psychedelic / prog-rock album was improvised. Yardsss came in without a game plan and created a monster of a record that you can’t believe was done on the fly.

#4: Caroline Rose – Superstar

This is Caroline Rose’s best album to date. She tackles subjects like fame, flying your freak flag, sex, love, lust, and finding the self with power pop riffs, playful, lovely vocals, and some of her wittiest songwriting to date.

#3: Windhand – Levitation Sessions

I watched several livestream concerts this year, and all were good. This one by doom metal giants Windhand, however, literally gave me chills. That moment came during “Forest Clouds” when I could feel something happening. The hairs on my arms stood up and I couldn’t stop grinning. It was a powerful moment that I needed to remind me that live music will return. Nothing can stop it (or Windhand, it seems), and this entire live album was like being handed a battle axe as a hobgoblin army advances on the city.

#2: Automatic – Signal

I knew right away upon hearing Signal that (A) it was a post-punk gauntlet thrown down at other bands, (B) it was sexy as an underground 1960s dance club in Paris, and (C) it was going to be my favorite debut album of 2020. Everything on this album works at a high level. It makes you feel like a sexy bad ass, and all three ladies in Automatic are such. Tread lightly, however. They’re not screwing around and might whack you with a claw hammer if you cross the line.

#1: Flat Worms – Antarctica

This psych / garage / punk masterpiece by Flat Worms went into my #1 spot upon first hearing it in April 2020 and never moved. It is stunningly powerful and chock-full of killer lyrics about fighting against the rat race, internet addiction, the depersonalization of others, economic inequality, and toxic relationships. This is one of those albums that sounds new every time I hear it. It’s a shame they couldn’t tour to promote it, because this album could’ve and should’ve made them big-time draws.

I’m already hearing good stuff in 2021, so let’s stay healthy and get back to shows and festivals.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 35 albums of 2020: #’s 30 – 26

Let’s get right to it. Shall we?

#30: The Death Wheelers – Divine Filth

It’s a soundtrack for a post-apocalyptic / zombie / biker film that doesn’t exist (but should) made by four dudes who can swing musical styles (metal, doom, surf, prog) on a dime and love B-movies. You can’t miss.

#29: Oh Sees – Levitation Sessions

The folks at the Reverb Appreciation Society came up with a great idea this year – live-streamed shows that would coincide with a release of the live show in various formats (digital, vinyl, cassette). This one from Osees / Oh Sees was the first one I watched this year, and it was a blast. My wife, cat, and I were dancing around our house to the wall of sound at one point.

#28: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Chunky Shrapnel

Speaking of live music and prolific bands, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard released one of several live albums this year, and this one was the soundtrack to a concert film that saw a limited streaming release and will hopefully be in theaters at some point. Like any live KGATLW show, it shreds.

#27: Damaged Bug – Bug on Yonkers

John Dwyer, lead cat in Oh Sees, not only released several Oh Sees projects in 2020, he also released a new Damaged Bug record – this one a tribute to outsider musician Michael Yonkers. The whole record is full of Yonkers covers, and all of them are great and make you want to search out his other work.

#26: Teenager – Good Time

This is a fun post-punk record and one of the singles from it, “Romance for Rent,” is one of my favorite songs of 2020. The whole album gets in your head and you won’t want it to leave.

Come back tomorrow to see who’s in the top 25!

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Praÿ – Hemerith

Hemerith, the new two-song EP from Lyon, France’s Praÿ, packs a lot into its running time of just over twenty-four minutes. The first track, “Faithless Goddess,” is like an orc war song from a future where orcs fight druids in a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland. The three members (drummer Antoine Berthet-Bondet, guitarist Maud Gibbons, and bassist Jason Rols) move back and forth from the lead without shoving each other around the room, and it sounds to me like the track has some krautrock influence with its beats and structure, which I don’t mind at all.

“Widow of Light” might be the name of the next villain I create for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. It starts out as a mellow affair, not unlike a sleepy grizzly awakening from hibernation and stepping out into the sun for the first time in months. Gibbons’ guitar takes on a faster pace, and soon her bandmates are chugging along behind her as they storm along a rolling river with the grizzly leading the charge while a raven cackles overhead.

This is just a sample of the power Praÿ can produce. You can get lost in this, even though it’s only a two-song EP.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jason of Praÿ.]

Spelljammer take us to the “Lake” on their first single in five years.

Stockholm, Sweden based trio Spelljammer share the first single from their forthcoming album Abyssal Trip today. Hear and share “Lake” via YouTube, Bandcamp and Spotify.


“The vastness of everything is something that I think about a lot,” says Spelljammer bassist/vocalist Niklas Olsson. And it certainly shows in both the expansive, sludgy sounds and contemplative lyrics of the Stockholm, Sweden based trio. Following a 5-year break between their previous album, Ancient of Days — perhaps fittingly spent pondering said vastness — Spelljammer is back with an album that perfectly bridges the band’s earlier desert rock leanings and their later massive, slow-burning riffs. 


Abyssal Trip (note: carefully re-read that album title) takes its moniker from the perpetually dark, cold, oxygen-free zone at the bottom of the ocean. The 6-song, 44-minute album fittingly embodies that bleak realm with rumbling, oozing guitars intercut with dramatic melodic interludes. The songs take their time to unfurl, making them even more hypnotic. Likewise, the lyrics take a poetic approach to establishing the sonic scenery.


“The lyrical themes we address, like the ultimate doom of man, and the search and longing for new and better worlds, are still there,” Olsson says. “The concept of something undiscovered out there in vast emptiness is pretty much always present.” 
The recording process for Abyssal Trip differs from previous releases in that the band — guitarist Robert Sörling, drummer Jonatan Rimsbo and Olsson — opted to capture the performances while holed up in the mental bathysphere of a house in the countryside near Stockholm. “The songs benefitted from the relaxed environment of being away from everything,” Olsson explains. Indeed, the album sounds confident and meticulously arranged, afforded by the band’s isolation. Sörling mixed the album and it was mastered by Monolord drummer Esben Willems at Berserk Audio.

Album opener “Bellwether” begins dramatically with a very slow, nearly minute-long fade in of rumbling distortion setting the stage for heavily distorted bass and guitar plucking out the lugubrious riff for another minute and a half before the drums begin, and likewise equally as long before vocals gurgle to the surface. “Lake” abruptly shifts gears, opening with an unusually fast gallop before rupturing into thundering doom that soon drops into a clean-tone Middle Eastern melodic breakdown. The title track serves as the album centerpiece, opening with ominous film dialogue about blood sacrifice that launches into pummeling, detuned guitars rumbling over gut-punching drums and howling vocals hearkening to the proto-sludge of Pink Floyd’s “The Nile Song.” The dynamic relents briefly for a slow building clean guitar melody before all instruments lock into a jerking riff topped off by a trilling Iommi style lead. Throughout, Abyssal Trip is, just like its title suggests, an epic tour through desolate zones which yields much to discover. 

Abyssal Trip will be available everywhere on LP, CD and download on February 26th, 2021 via RidingEasy Records. 

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

Review: Windhand – Levitation Sessions

It’s difficult to capture the power of Windhand live, but the Reverb Appreciation Society‘s druids did a good job of it with the Virginian doom metal band’s Levitation Sessions.

Garrett Morris‘ opening guitar riffs on “Old Evil” are like the sound of a dragon awakening from a slumber in a dormant volcano. Dorthia Cottrell‘s vocals are the voice of the sorceress awakening said dragon, Ryan Wolfe‘s drums are the sides of the volcano breaking away as the dragon stretches its wings, and Parker Chandler‘s bass is the growling of the beast’s hungry, fiery belly. This heavy and hypnotizing sound is one that Windhand does well, and it’s a chilling experience.

“Diablerie,” a song about the machinations of evil beings, sounds like a swarm of black cloaked hornets. Cottrell’s vocals fade between the front and back of the song, not unlike a mist you see and feel around you but cannot grasp. Morris’ solo is like a falling star you manage to glimpse through a break in the mist before it hits the Earth and creates a shockwave for miles.

There’s a little time to breathe before “First to Die,” and I love the way Cottrell chose to sing the vocals on this version. She takes to a quieter (but not by much, mind you) approach and lets Chandler’s bass and Wolfe’s drums carry the red dwarf star matter-heavy weight of the track. The live version of “Forest Clouds” on this recording gives me chills every time I hear it. Every. Time. It’s like walking in a dark wetlands at the bottom of a cemetery hill filled with cloaked figures who may or may not be ghosts. It creeps along for nearly eleven minutes and can be unsettling to the uninitiated.

“Three Sisters” (with horror movie keyboard riffs from Jonathan Kassalow) layers the reverb on Cottrell’s vocals and Morris’ guitar to make them sound like siren and whale songs bouncing off sharp rocks. Chandler and Wolfe keep the rhythm simple and brooding throughout it, not unlike the Telltale Heart. The opening guitar squall of “Grey Garden” is practically the sound of a wrought iron gate being wrenched open on a tomb, which is appropriate for a song about death and reincarnation.

“I miss the feeling of the landslide, shaking the dust off my skin,” Cottrell sings on “Orchard” – a dark song about even darker things that lie waiting for us beyond the veil (if we choose to give them power, that is). The album ends with another eleven-minute stunner – “Cossack.” There’s enough sludge in it to make you feel like you’re wading through a swamp to battle a shambling mound with an obsidian sword you found in an abandoned dwarfish mine. It slows to the pace of a kaiju monster stomping across the countryside around the eight-minute mark.

It’s another excellent Levitation Session and a fine addition to Windhand‘s catalogue. Not even 2020 can keep their power at bay.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Fuzz – III

Just in time to shake you out of your COVID-19 self-isolation funk, Fuzz (Charles Moothart, Ty Segall, and Chad Ubovich) are back with III – an album to make you look inward and shake you out of the trappings of everything outward.

“There is no greater sum than one,” Segall sings on opener “Returning” amid wild drum fills and enough, yes, guitar and bass fuzz to fill up an arena. A running theme throughout III is how unity often produces things greater than the individual can produce. Not that individual effort is worthless. Far from it. Sometimes individuals joined in a common cause (rock, in Fuzz‘s case) combine their powers for the greater good.

The funky and skronky “Nothing People” calls out rich elitists (“Nothing People have enough to eat, but they ain’t worth a dollar.”) with garage-metal swing. “Spit” has a bit of a Queens of the Stone Age feel to it with its strip club rhythm and gritty guitar. “Time Collapse” rolls along at a smoky pace and then drops doom metal riffs and lyrics (“Claim your throne in the black.”/ “You are forgotten by the one. After the light is gone, you are always alone. Your blood the only sun.”) on you.

“Mirror” calls out squares (“Freaks are breeding love in the gutter with another, burn the ceiling of house you live in with your mother.”) and slaps them with hyper-speed guitars and heavy drum fills. “Close Your Eyes” encourages us to let go of our illusions of there always being something better just over the next hill when we often have paradise in front of us. Segall sings, “You might think I’m crazy, and I don’t blame you, living like I don’t care. I just want you to come with me and see there’s nothing out there.” as the song drops into a sweet groove near the end.

“Blind to the Vines” starts off with space-rock guitars and then switches gears to almost southern-fried rock with its riffs. “End Returning” takes us down a rabbit hole that bores through psych and doom rock for almost eight minutes. It’s a trippy way to end a heavy record, but good psych and doom makes you do that (and the song doesn’t skimp on some punk madness either).

III is another solid record from Fuzz that shows three men operating at the height of their powers for one cause – to shred your speakers and awaken us out of our funks.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: Mars Red Sky – self-titled (2012)

Any album that is (apart from two songs) recorded in a Spanish national park is bound to be interesting. Any album recorded in a Spanish national park that is also as heavy as Mars Red Sky‘s self-titled debut album is stunning.

I mean, good heavens, the first lines of the first track, “Strong Reflection,” are “Dead stars are burning in the sky, their light reflecting in your eyes, and here the ravens don’t show. Where I’ve been, you don’t want to know.” That alone is metal AF, so the heavy bass that moves like a mastodon, the drums that hammer like its heart, and the guitar that wails like its trumpet blast is heavy enough to knock down your garage. “Curse” is a throwback to 1970’s stoner rock with its echoing lyrics, fuzzed-out guitars, and lyrics about acid rain and how “The greatest fun, it’s not fun at all.”

“Falls” is a wild instrumental blending guitar psychedelia with thunderstorm-like drumming and bass so gritty that you could probably sand lumber with it. “Way to Rome” is a tale of gladiators (or slaves, or both since they were often one and the same) preparing for death. You can’t go wrong with lyrics like “Ride the dark horse through the fire, through the storm, as we’re set to die in the heart of the sun.” Again, metal AF, and the song shifts like sand dunes back and forth between psychedelic rock, stoner metal, and even a bit of krautrock.

“Saddle Point” is another cool instrumental, and “Marble Sky” is a harrowing tale of burning entrails, crushed mountains, and beings emerging from holes in the sky. The vocals are covered in reverb through this track, bringing to mind Black Sabbath tracks. The guitar also takes on a bit of a blues flavor as well, which is a great touch. The closer, “Up the Stairs,” is a fuzz-heavy track about climbing what seems to be an endless stairwell into space and away from the “evil sound” of Earth. That was eight years ago. Where is this stairwell in 2020? I’d like to take a walk.

This was an auspicious debut in 2012. MRS are working on a new full-length album. Let’s hope it comes soon. The world needs heavy stuff like this to shake it awake.

Keep your mind open.

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The Well release “live in quarantine” video for “Sabbath.”

Austin trio The Well share a new “live in quarantine” video for “Sabbah” via Metal Injection from their powerful third album Death and Consolation. Watch and share “Sabbah” HERE. (Direct  YouTube.)

The next night, on a small outdoor set, each band member filmed their respective video parts solo, joined only by TV’s Daniel as masked director and videographer. The scenes were then inter-woven together into a mesmerizing smokey psychedelic dreamscape using 3 cameras and projector lights to reconstruct the group experience. All said and done, this live version of “Sabbah” was recorded, mixed, shot and edited in a three day quarantine time turnaround, resulting in a unique and experimental piece of work that encapsulates the energy of The Well’s live performance, despite being surrounded by nothing but uncertainty and detachment in the world around them.

Death and Consolation is without a doubt a weighty album title. And, The Well is among the heaviest heavy psych bands in existence. So when we say that there’s even more darkness and intensity to the band’s third album than previous efforts, take heed. It’s a deep sea diving bell of enveloping heaviness and longing. 
“This one is a little more personal,” says guitarist/vocalist Ian Graham. “2018 was a strange, dark year. A lot of change going on in my life, there was a lot of depression and coming out of it over the last year. I wanted to call this Death and Consolation, because in life that’s a constant.” 

Sonically, Death and Consolation picks up where The Well — Graham, bassist/vocalist Lisa Alley and drummer Jason Sullivan — left off with their widely heralded 2016 RidingEasy album Pagan Science. The band once again recorded with longtime producer/engineer Chico Jones at Estuary Studio in 2018, who has turned the knobs for all three of their albums (Jones engineered the band’s debut album Samsara with producer Mark Deutrom [Melvins, Sunn0)))] in 2013.) Samsara, released late September 2014 was ranked the #1 debut album of 2014 by The Obelisk and Pagan Science among the Best of 2016 from the Doom Charts collective. Likewise, the band’s intense — some even say “possessed” — live performances have earned them featured slots at Austin’s Levitation Fest, as well as tours with Kadavar, All Them Witches, Black Tusk and more. 

“This album might be a little less produced, because I didn’t want to push technical stuff as much,” Graham says. “I’m so scared of getting too complicated when getting better at guitar. This is still kind of punk rock.” 

Death and Consolation is available on LP, CD and download, released April 26th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records. Orders are available HERE. 

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]