Kingnomad - The Great Nothing (2018)

Each time Kingnomad appears, it seems like they're stepping out of an otherworldly fog as enigmatic travelers presenting music created from a place just beyond the outskirts of our conscious minds, and the delivery of their second full-length "The Great Nothing" is no exception. Now however the Swedish band is bringing an extra dose of cosmic and creepy vibes and kicking some more doom rock into their heavy psych formula - and I love it! From the opening group vocal harmonies on "The Yoga of Desolation" you'll get a glimpse into their eerie leanings before they bring things back with a brighter prog rock spirit on "Cosmic Serpent", and from there effortlessly snaking around styles but always conjuring evocative melodies that seem to resonate just beneath your skin. Between their dark/light dichotomy and chilling organ tones Kingnomad almost brings out an spooky rock 'n' roll boogie, but they tend to go wandering off into more exploratory head space before letting you get too comfortable in any one spot. It definitely hits some epic moments and with the acoustic guitars and the magic in the keys you'll hear sparks of Uriah Heep and other sorcerous 70s sounds dancing around the stern and steely-eyed rock grooves. The last track seems to go off in a dozen different directions over the course of 20 minutes, but it all twists around and melts back together at the origin point through the power of occult mysticism. There's no doubt The Great Nothing is an absolutely awesome record so let Kingnomad take you into the swirling void and show you all its unearthly splendor! -Brandon

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Skincarver - Shades of A Shallow Grave (2018)

Combining Sludge grooves with Grindy Metallic Hardcore, Skincarver pummels the senses, while eviscerating your body with their new release "Shades of A Shallow Grave". It's not full on Grindcore and its not full on Sludgecore either, but it meets somewhere in the middle where riffs are delivered with a severe crunch or unload like a thick pungent ooze. It has the characteristics of a crocodile swimming in the sewers. Surrounded by refuse and slime the hulking beast slowly waits to feed and when it does it goes into a frenzy sloshing the gross sewer water around painting the tunnels with shit and rat guts.
 I'm really digging the bass sound on this. It's not super detuned or anything but it adds that extra heftiness in there, that creates a good balance of Sludge and Hardcore grit. It has a prominent place in the mix as well, and is not so overly distorted that it's nothing but low end noise, which I like. It also pairs well with the guitar parts which already have kind of a disgusting swampy low end, which I mean in the best way possible. I always dig a really good versatile extreme metal drummer, and you definitely get that on this release. They aren't pigeonholed to strictly slow Sludgy stuff, and you get a nice variety of double kicks and blasts. Similar with the vocals. No clean singing of course, which I prefer, but nothing that is purely just death grunts. Anyway, every time I listen to it I wish it was a little longer because I have been enjoying it that much. Hopefully I won't have to wait another two years for a follow up to this one. Good shit! Highly Recommended! Cheers! -Samir

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Grave Disgrace - Sabbatharium (2018)

Goddamn, I don't know how such a killer band slipped under my radar for so long, but Grave Disgrace are here to rip open some caskets and terrorize the world with their third full-length album "Sabbatharium". This is the good shit with unholy stoner-doom so heavy that it'll drag you to hell, played nice and low with deep, powerful riffs coming at you from now until you die and then beyond! It's chock full of fuzzy wobbling bass, deadpan moaning vocals, and the stale rank stench of death unearthed from a Transylvanian graveyard in every single note. More than anything else, these guys are masters of ultra-evil, psych-tinged blues with guitar leads that make Robert Johnson's legendary trip to sell his soul at the crossroads seem like a picnic with the church choir. The massive sound, the hulking pace, and deliciously messy layering makes every track feel like a dark and joyous fever dream torn from the mind of something undead. It's a macabre vein of slow and profane doom that reminds me of all of the things that made me fall in love with this wicked genre of music in the first place - and then it builds on it! Sabbatharium is the sound of a curse that you don't want lifted, instead choosing to offer yourself up to the darkness and wallow among the damned. I don't know how to turn the volume down on this one - it's loud, lumbering, depraved and I don't want it to stop! -Brandon

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The Howling Eye - Sonorous (2018)

Last year The Howling Eye helped us wander through the galaxy and see both dark and beautiful things lurking among the stars with their debut EP "Dying Sun". Now the Polish cosmonauts are ready to take us on another journey through the fringes of space with their new album "Sonorous". Twisting off in even more wild and dazzling directions than before, Sonorous showcases a variety of tunes spanning psychedelic stoner, pensive post-metal, bright and hazy doom, and more. The album kicks off with "Kairos" whose first half bangs out a tantalizing stoner jam before cosmic radiation turns it into the kind of funk that you just can't fake! Afterwards "Stranded" comes blasting out the gates heavy and hard before losing steam and setting you to drift aimlessly among quiet trippy tones. Out there you can start to explore some moody post-metal styles on "Reflections" before crashing into "The Potion" which returns to some more terrestrial sounding stoner-doom with another chunk of funk and even a dash of surf rock thrown in. It closes on the 16-minute "Weedblazer" which burns through stoner rock territory with a wicked groove, then goes dipping into the darkness before ending in a smoky, forlorn corner of the universe. Compared to last year's fuzzed up Dying Sun, Sonorous strays much further from its stoner-doom source to offer a more vivid, varied, and far-reaching tour of the stars - and that ain't a bad thing! Just turn the volume up and let The Howling Eye take you space trucking in whatever direction they want to take you! -Brandon

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ИЛ (IL) - Нечисть (Nechist/Undead) (2017)

So here's another great one from 2017 I missed and I want to specifically call out Rob Hammer for posting this on his YouTube channel. If you do not follow it, you should, because a lot of the shit that I personally post about ends up being on his channel. So if you enjoy the bands I post about and don't already subscribe, do it! Anyway, so here's the band ИЛ which according to Russian to English translators is IL. The name of the album is "Нечисть" and the translation for that came out to be "Scum" while Rob states in his YouTube video for the album, that the translation is "Nechist" which is an evil spirit. The reason I'm explaining this is because I think both translations fit with how I would describe this album (***Update I'm being told it means Undead and not Scum***). It has a real thick and equally filthy Sludge Doom sound to it, but it also has this evil foreboding presence to it, which you can definitely gather from looking at the cover art as well. The book matches the cover for this one!
This album feels like it was birthed in a swamp, and features some punishing riffs that are heavy as fuck. The overall mix is excellent especially for the sound they are going for. The guitars are thick like fog penetrating haunted forest.  The vocals are wretched and miserable enough to feel right at home with these gloomy ass tunes. The drums are what you'd expect, but at the same time he does do some blasts that harken back to their blackened roots. There's a whiff of psychedelic influence that is noticeable, albeit masked by the noxious fumes of the dank riffage. However, the contrast between light and dark is barely noticeable, as its passage of time is quite limited. With that being said, I really did enjoy this one. I would say it's a contender for being one of my favorites of the year, but it's actually from last year, so it's kind of disqualified from that. Oh well, highly recommended either way. Cheers! -Samir

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Saint Karloff - All Heed The Black God (2018)

You can typically find them lurking in the shadows on cloudy nights when the thunder starts to rumble and something unnatural is building in the air, but now the fiendish rogues of Saint Karloff have entered the waking world to twist souls and contort minds with their debut album "All Heed the Black God". This record is a dizzying concoction made up of stoner rock, psych-doom, and a touch of dusty occult magic dumped into an old wine barrel and stirred with Uncle Acid and Black Sabbath in mind. Saint Karloff groan with all the strange, wicked sounds of the night no matter whether they're hitting some mid-paced jangling tunes with a groove ("Ghost Smoker", "Dark Sun") or fast, driven, dire songs blasting wild-eyed through the darkness ("Space Junkie", "Radioactive Tomb"). The sound seems to induce a paralyzing panic where you break out into a cold sweat as your brain is crawling and seething, desperate to flee from some unseen force, but you're physically transfixed and your body craves more music. There's a vaguely ghostly presence about it as though it hits just the right frequencies to shake one or two nearby spirits loose and sets them free to fly about as the songs play - but not enough ghosts to slow the rocking energies that the band brings! It's just plain awesome heavy rock music brought to you from the dark side - check it out! -Brandon

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Lowen - A Crypt in the Stars (2018)

It is a thin veil that separates us from oblivion, but a new band has formed in London that seems to walk the line. Conjuring an otherworldly kind of doom metal Lowen harnesses the power of the void to create their haunting and heavy debut album "A Crypt in the Stars". The band mashes up ancient Mesopotamian history and mythos with cosmic influences and sound resulting in monolithic tunes with their own gravitational pull. Music will progressively shift between tense, contemplative passages that are perfect for thoughtful stargazing and dark, heavy riffs that will get your head banging. Layered on top are captivating ethereal vocals that seem to travel beyond this world and into the next with chilling incantations on themes of gods and battle. The album opens on a Middle Eastern inspired chant that seems to echo across a desolate landscape and into the recesses of your soul until guitar feedback signals the incoming heavy metal dominion and summons a raspy backdrop to contrast with the beautiful yet ominous vocalizations. As that trend continues through each song it leaves you floating in a sense of all-consuming mysticism as though timeless magicks are weaving their way through the ether to command fate. The final track "In Perpetual Bloom" starts with slow and trepidatious doom as arcane power mounts with each passing minute until it reaches an explosive climax and the sound unfurls to be scattered in the vast emptiness of space. A Crypt in the Stars is absolutely enthralling - once you turn it on you won't want to turn it off! -Brandon

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