Wastes- Into The Void of Human Vacuity (2017)

Wastes deliver punishing funeral/death doom from France, that speaks to the pain, suffering, and sadness endured by living in this dark universe. Each sorrowful grief stricken dirge packs a heavy blow, and hits you hard with it's meaty death metal sound. The vocals and pacing are just spot on. This album goes about as fast as a group of pallbearers heaving rather than carrying a concrete tomb in the mud during a heavy downpour until it reaches it's destination, which is a hole in the fucking ground. There's like one time that the drums play something that resembles straight up death metal or thrash beats, but that's all youre gonna fucking get here. The vocals are fucking killer. They have that classic death growl that is full and bellows with despair, while at other times it shrieks with anguish and animosity. This album is the perfect soundtrack for the rainiest days and the grayest skies. It's straight forward in it's execution, but there's an eerie layer of atmosphere that is ghastly and ominous, if not somewhat supernatural, that makes this stand out amongst the rest in the graveyard. I could listen to this kind of shit for hours. So yeah I obviously really liked this one. Cheers! -Samir

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Judd Madden- Cosmic Black Wizard Demon Horse Lord (2017)

Continuing in the great tradition of Australia releasing excellent Doom/Sludge Metal comes Judd Madden's "Cosmic Black Wizard Demon Horse Lord". What you get with release is a heavy slab of Drone, Sludge, and Instrumental Stoner Doom being dragged by a sloth riding a giant snail through desolate landscapes. That might not the art that it is featured on the cover but it might as well should be (someone needs to make this!). Clocking in at almost an hour, this is a pretty straight forward with no frills and heavy metal thunder. Toward the end though on the last track we get the calm after the storm and shit gets chill. A pretty sharp contrast from all the headbanging and nodding that is being asked of you from the previous tracks. We've been featuring a lot of great Instrumental Stoner Doom on this blog as of lately and this is no exception. The sound on this is dank and full. When the strings hit that low note, it's a satisfying blow that I personally didn't want to end. Judd Madden is a beast and a one man doomsday device, threatening to turn the earth into fucking mad max fury road with his cataclysmic song of destruction and doom. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Cheers! -Samir

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Mad God- Tales of a Sightless City (2017)

Gloomy riffage coupled with something a little more... Inhuman - that's what Mad God is bringing to the table. They're a stoner/doom trio based out of South Africa who have been divinely inspired by the Great Old Ones to create some fiendish tunes. Their first full-length album "Tales of a Sightless City" melds Lovecraft-influenced themes with a slow, doom-driven woe in a way that will fill your head with otherworldly visions of dreary horror. You'll get a solid dose of booming riffs on this release, but the band also seems to know when a quieter mood is more appropriate to carry the listener to an explosive finish. Some of these tracks have a long draw, but even in the more subdued moments, there's something sinister developing underneath the surface. All at once the tentacles will come out and start seizing your mind during a trippy solo or a fast stoner groove - and in your ruin you'll be enthralled! I really dig the lyrics here - every song is a dark fantasy with demons, magic, ancient curses, and more. There's a lot to love on this album, so get ready to worship the Old Gods... Or at least be destroyed by them! -Brandon

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Witch Throne- The Crystal Man (2017)

If you haven't heard of Witch Throne before, I've got great news: you've heard of Witch Throne now! The band formed in 2015, put out an EP titled "Follow the Witch", then went on hiatus shortly afterwards. But Witch Throne is back, now as a one-man project, and there's a monstrous new full-length to show for it! "The Crystal Man" is a concept album about the titular Crystal Man who is burdened by a great sorrow. He turns to a new drug called Celadon Sunshine in hopes that it will set him free... But stories like that never end well, do they? The sound is heavily influenced by doom greats - the first track gives off a strong Uncle Acid vibe and as the album rolls on you'll hear plenty of Sabbath worship too. With those two driving forces behind it, you can probably imagine that it's got its own type of dark swagger that keeps things moving. Structurally, the tunes seem to match the drug addict themes by switching between upbeat stoner highs and miserable, doomy lows. This makes for a killer roller coaster of sound that stoner/doom fans are definitely going to want to get on. Let this one take you for a ride, but be warned that you'll probably get hooked - I've been listening to it over and over and I'm still not done with it! -Brandon

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Poseidon- Prologue (2017)

Jesus Fucking Christ, Poseidon is heavy as fuck!  This is the sort of sludge based doom I need in my life. This is probably what Mastodon wanted to sound like when they first started. With a name like Poseidon you do expect something that's big and grand, if not oceanic in size, and these guys deliver for sure. Their sound is definitely full, with thick heavy handed detuned guitars, and bass grooves that cause tectonic shifts. There are of course some chill moments on here. "Mother Mary Son of Scorn" is one long example of this. You get a different dynamic from band, w/ clean vocals and acoustic guitar. The music itself is still melancholic, but it's a change of pace. The band charges forward with the might of a killer whale on "Chainbreaker", returning to the merciless sludge doom introduced at the beginning. The mix on prologue is fucking top notch. I feel like I can hear everything as clear as it should be. But that fucking bass sound though. It's got the right blend of distortion and is just perfect. It's got the right amount of heaviness and weight to it as well. I should probably mention after all of that bass worship I just wrote, that I thought the singer had a good range. Both his singing and screaming were excellent, and it was a good fit with the music. Overall, I'm very impressed with this band, and if this is indeed a prologue of what's to come, then I can't wait to hear the rest of the chapters from Poseidon. Cheers! -Samir

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Atomic Trip- Strike #1 (2017)

Judging by the cover, you'd probably think that this is just another Sabbath rip off, or someone worshiping at the altar of the Iommic one himself. However, there's more than meets the eye here with this explosive blend of fuzz and Instrumental Stoner Doom. These gargantuan sized riffs from Atomic Trip will hit you with hypnotic waves of radiation haze, while burying you in a mushroom cloud of fallout and smoke. Atomic Trip is so mesmerizing with their release "Strike #1" that the trance you are in will make you forget about the true horrors and evils of war, as you use the flames from the world burning around you to light up and continue your buzz. There's only two tracks on this, and both of them are very long, however it is common that when I review stuff on here, I've already listened to it about 5 or 6 times. So keep that in mind. Even though "Strike #1" is repetitive as fuck, it's not lackluster in the least bit and is enjoyable from front to back. The guitars on this are so fucking thick and just have the right amount of fuzz and distortion. Same goes for the bass as well. Overall, I fucking loved it. I didn't know what to expect when I saw the art, or at least I didn't expect it to sound like this. Cheers! -Samir

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Fvneral Fvkk - The Lecherous Liturgies (2017)

GodDAMN. "The Lecherous Liturgies", the first EP from German doom masters Fvneral Fvkk, may only be two tracks long (three if you count the bonus track), but that's all the band needs to absolutely crush you under the weight of their monolithic sound. On first listen, you'll be hammered by a beautiful, dark, melodic flavor of doom metal that is soaked in sorrow and dripping with despair. The clean vocals especially add a dimension of seductive melancholy that can hit you deep. There are definitely plenty of epic, swelling moments here that will light fire in your soul and leave you feeling singed by the grim passion it inspires. Once you're good and wrecked by the power of the music you can start to delve a bit deeper into the lyrics - and if you hadn't noticed yet, you'll now realize that the songs are all grandiose tales of sacrilegious perversion. It's easy to miss if you didn't see that the first track was titled "Erection In The House Of God". The way the band pulls off this depraved motif with such subtlety in the music is amazing in itself - but the fact that the tunes are so great on top of that really makes this release stand out. I really love the few songs that are on here and I can't wait for the band to put out more! -Brandon

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