“If heavy metal bands ruled the world… We’d be a lot better off…”
~ Bruce Dickinson
Welcome to the Doom Charts… The October 2021 edition has 23 new ones out of the 25 we mention. What amazing times we all live in! Sure there is some weird stuff going on as well.. Across the globe… But… The amount of heavy music released every month remains staggering. And to think that we only mention these 30 in total out of the 230 that got voted for. So the contributors voted for another 200 different albums that unfortunately did not make this list. But fear not, most of them will always find their way to you… Either through one of the personal pages of the many contributors or perhaps through another one of those extra posts that might just happen in a week or two. Who knows right… As long as the heavy stuff is your true north, it will always find a way…
Welcome to Doom Charts, representing some of the finest bloggers, journalists, radio, podcasters and album reviewers from the heavy underground around the globe. Each month, our critics submit their picks for the best new doom, sludge metal, stoner-psychedelic and heavy rock albums. The results are compiled and tabulated into the chart below. This is a one-stop shop for the best new albums in the world…
30. CRYSTAL SPIDERS – MORIERIS
29. SNAKE MOUNTAIN REVIVAL – EVERYTHING IN SIGHT
27. LAVABORNE – BLACK WINGED GODS
26. THE LUCID FURS – DAMN! THAT WAS EASY
25. OUR MAN IN THE BRONZE AGE – HEXED ENDEAVOURS / NEW!
(Rock, Alternative, Prog, Metal, Post)
784 Points
(UK)
A devastatingly effective sound, it features multiple tentacles to ensnare the listener. On an imminently progressive harmonic base, the echoes of post-rock, stoner, post-metal and sweet melodies cloak voices. From nostalgic piano to apocalyptic waves of unapologetic riff-rock, the British quintet offers us an enormously immersive experience with over an hour of monumental songs. Taking into account that four of its members contribute their voices, we can intuit the monumental tints that their melodies can acquire. If to that, we join his two drums, making the rhythms rise and fall at will, you can imagine the result.
~ Roberto Lucas
24. IAH – OMINES / NEW!
(Metal, Prog, Doom, Stoner, Psych)
822 Points
(Córdoba, Argentina)
OMINES reflects the evolution of a band that with each new work is more mature and accurate in its compositions. With a defined style, IAH invites us to explore instrumental environments in which psychedelia, post-rock, stoner and post-metal coexist in perfect harmony. Without fanfare, and knowing when to put the intensity, they manage to create songs full of beauty with which to transmit different states of mind to the listener. Long songs in which they express their good work and that are built from the calm, but that contain different oscillations that make them less monotonous. With nods to the characteristic ambient sound of bands like Yawning Man, they manage to combine progressive elements with the quieter echoes of desert rock.
~ Roberto Lucas
23. CRANEIUM – UNKNOWN HEIGHTS / NEW!
(Doom, Fuzz, Stoner, Space, Rock, Metal)
936 Points
(Turku, Finland)
So you want to get down and dirty with something that’s fuzzy, scuzzy and covered with spacey, melodic elements? Well… look no further than Craneium’s third studio release Unknown Heights. The soaring melodies and sinister guitar tones will gently pluck at your mind molecules while you effortlessly drift into the void…..
~ Jamey Morris
22. INDIGO RAVEN – LOOKING FOR TRANSCENDENCE / NEW!
(Doom, Sludge, Metal, Stoner)
948 Points
(Toulouse, France)
My first feeling when listening to this album was : “Here is the junction point between Trouble and This Mortal Coil”. With their full length debut album, Indigo Raven opens a new path in the world of doom metal. Indeed, thanks to Julie Docteur’s magnificent way of singing as well as to her spiritual and existentialist lyrics, Indigo Raven adds to the heavy and doom riffs of Benoît Sangoï a shamanic dimension. The first 5 tracks deal with atavistic flaws of Humanity and converge on the 6th awesome a capella song: a questioning which could allow mankind to transcend his faults. An excellent album which combines under a very strong identity, the heavy and raw sounds of doom with the gothic romanticism.
~ Thierry ‘Pumpkin-T’ François
21. DUST MOUNTAIN – HYMNS FOR WILDERNESS / NEW!
(Doom, Folk, Psych, Rock)
978 Points
(Finland)
“Hymns For Wilderness” is an intoxicating blend of Psychedelia, Pagan/Folk, Doom and Black Metal that is simply lush, expansive and totally addictive. From the people behind ORANSSI PAZUZU/WASTE OF SPACE ORCHESTRA, this is seven tracks of Pure GLORY!
~ Reek of STOOM
20. THE SLOW VOYAGE – SOUL’S WHISPER / NEW!
(Rock, Psych, Stoner, Space)
984 Points
(Los Ángeles, Chile)
The serene and firm evolution of Slow Voyage does not stop, after Time Lapse, they have shown maturity and exquisite musical taste. Soul’s Whisper is a jewel of modern psychedelia, soft at times and tormented at others, great instrumental work, the reach of Chileans is just beginning, enjoy.
~ Roberto Fuentes
19. PLAINDRIFTER – ECHO THERAPY / NEW!
(Rock, Stoner, Prog, Desert)
1022 Points
(Gelsenkirchen, Germany)
Somewhere, deep in the west of Germany, dense sound clouds float out of fat factory chimneys of the Ruhr area and unleash a humongous soul-stroking dreamcatcher corpus. Atmospheric, in lightness grooving psych waves, in spacious desert jumping fuzz swirls, massiv riff salvos and soul-stroking voice form the gigantic, organic-flowing backbone atoms of this stirring soundcatchers. With this debut full-length, the “Ruhrpott-Trio” sends you on a mind-blowing journey through the landscape of your dreams, where you can dangle and air out your soul. Thank you, Plandrifter, for this fantastic, „old-Elder-Truckfighters-Bison Machine“ inspired and enriched with concise individuality, Trip into this Echo Therapy !!
~ Mel Lie
18. SNOWY DUNES – SASTRUGI / NEW!
(Rock, Stoner, Psych, Seventies)
1078 Points
(Stockholm, Sweden)
A fantastic album in which the songs evolve in their forms and their sound influences, offering the listener different incentives and moods. The undulations that we find in the structure of each song is one of the hallmarks of ‘SASTRUGI’. The album is a completely stimulating adventure for the listener, as each plot twist places us in a different setting. SASTRUGI is SNOWY DUNES softest album yet, but this doesn’t mean it doesn’;t have hooks capable of making you fly. Fascinating, bewitching and emotional, the album offers heartbreaking moments in which the voice breaks, exhuming tormented passages that seem to drink from the legacy of The Doors in an astral conjunction with Zeppelin in an acid trip that takes us to gratifying sensory states.
~ Roberto Lucas
17. SPACELORD – FALSE DAWN / NEW!
(Rock, Hard, Doom, Seventies, Stoner, Psych)
1225 Points
(Buffalo, New York, USA)
The duo of SPACELORD combines heavy riffs and groovy melodies to deliver their own unique blend of desert psych. This is hard rock with plenty of 70s inspiration, yet it sounds as fresh as anything else we’ve heard this year. Bow down before your SPACELORD!
~ Fuzzy Cracklins
16. WAX BRAIN – HIVE MIND / NEW!
(Stoner, Sludge, Metal, Punk)
1240 Points
(Morgantown, West Virginia, USA)
When the album started on my first playthrough, I didn’t expect to enjoy Hive Mind as much as I did. They have the required songs about weed (Indica, Sativa), cars (Diesel), and hard and heavy things (Return The Slab) to do quite well on the “stoner rock album” bingo, but by the end I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of songs from these West Virginia rockers! Wax Brain delivers just the right amount of stoner, sludge, and Motörhead worship that should appeal to a wide selection of fans, and enough variety to keep you on your toes from song to song if that’s your thing like it is for me!
~ Remi VL
15. LOOSE SUTURES – A GASH WITH SHARP TEETH AND OTHER TALES / NEW!
(Rock, Stoner, Psych, Garage, Punk, Seventies)
1560 Points
(Sardinia, Italy)
Imagine for a moment, a scenario where Buddy Holly, Screaming Jay Hawkins and the Meteors had a fuzzy, garagie, Sabbathian love child with Charles Manson, TheTrashmen and The Atomic Bitchwax in a seedy, by the hour motel somewhere in a dusty, desert border town. This saucy, groovy lovechild lurches and staggers through ten tracks of what feel like they could naturally soundtrack a murderous peepshow scene in a Tarrantino Film. With Loose Sutures ‘A Gash With Sharp Teeth And Other Tales’ we are taken on a titillating treat of a proto punk-doomy bender; a drunken, psychedelic misadventure to a sleezefest of frantic, psychedelic classic rock punctuated by some softer moments of spacy, instrumental soundscape dripping in charisma. Loose Sutures have crafted an album that is equal parts bold, spiteful and strangely sexy giving the finger to any notion of doomy convention and dousing the listener in it’s provocative mix of lofi psychedelia and stoner rock, gyrating audaciously through a whole lotta freaky retro fuzz with a garishly gloomy brashness that’s just as fun as it is addictive.
~ Doom Oracle
14. DAMNED TO EARTH – DAMNED TO EARTH / NEW!
(Metal, Sludge, Doom, Southern, Stoner)
1804 Points
(Savannah, Georgia, USA)
Here comes Damned to Earth hailing from Savannah, Georgia. Some of you may be familiar with them under their previous epithet: Forest Evil. After parting ways with their singer, changing their sound and restructuring, the guys are dragging their brand-new boots (already full of dirt) to the Stoner Doom scene. The vocal is grainy and the riffage tasty for days! We have here a self-titled EP that is both impressive and resolutely groovy. I completely dig this blend of southern infused sludgy fuzzy blues hardened in Stoner Metal! Yup, make sure to check out these guys!!!
~ Marc-Eric Gagnon
(Metal, Rock, Hard, Doom, Stoner, Psych)
1830 Points
(Austin, Texas, USA)
DUEL remain true to their roots showing that they are a band from Texas, offering a sound of pure heavy-rock with frenetic songs in which their boogie-rock looks to the past sideways to revitalize the sounds of the 70’s. Catchy choruses, thoughtful melodies and hilarious riffs that instantly win over the listener creating an album that will blow your head off with a sound that will be familiar to you. Good doses of proto-metal and psychedelia complete this attractive sound cocktail ideal for lovers of primitive rock.
~Roberto Lucas
12. SHEEV – MIND CONDUCTOR / NEW!
(Metal, Stoner, Prog)
2400 Points
(Berlin, Germany)
I knew upon hearing this Berlin based bands first EP, I was on to something special. Fast forward a couple years and Sheev‘s first full length album is unleashed upon the world. “Mind Conductor” comes on you like a freight train, with enough twists and turns for a roller coaster ride of aural pleasure. A progressive metal, stoner rock hybrid that’s sure to stand the test of time.
~ Adam Walsh
11. SLOWSHINE – LIVING LIGHT / NEW!
(Rock, Psych, Noise, Post, Stoner)
2420 Points
(Berlin, Germany)
SLOWSHINE create songs soaked in filters and fuzz, combining the warmth and haze of 1970s British psychedelics with the expansive riffs of the stoner. Striking a perfect balance between the melodious shoegaze vocals and a certain post-punk talent, with the fuzzy riffs, they create a heavy psychedelic album of many carats. Its kaleidoscopic atmospheres more typical of the pioneers of psychedelia, hit with a diffuse sound, which sometimes inclines to a stage more typical of noise. Here, the sludge beats appear in measure amidst hypnotic rhythms and soulful voices.
~ Roberto Lucas
10. WOODEN FIELDS – WOODEN FIELDS / NEW!
(Rock, Hard, Seventies, Psych)
2899 Points
(Stockholm, Sweden)
A whole bacchanal of fuzzy riffs and penetrating guitar sounds, great rhythms with an infectious groovy coupled with soulful vocals and characteristics, let WOODEN FIELDS take you on a journey between the vintage spheres of the 70s and the anthems of modern rock, heavy, bluesy, but catchy. We are facing three veterans of the Swedish hard-rock scene, so this fascinating new project will surely become one of the references for contemporary retro rock lovers. This debut is an album that crushes you, making its melodies make the hearts of vintage rock fans beat faster.
~ Roberto Lucas
(Rock, Metal, Desert, Doom, Psych, Stoner)
3864 Points
(Chicago, Illinois, USA)
CANYYN (pronounced Canyon) is an authentic powerful heavy blues rock, or stoner/doommetal trio from Chicago. First of all, I do enjoy the sound quality of this self-titledEP – it’s very immersive and it seems to me the musicians are playing by myside, in the same room. I can hear and “see” each one. There are only 5 longtracks (from 5’20 to 9’20) but never boring because the jam sections are succulentand thrilling, and each song has his own musical genre: a stoner track, then apure bluesy piece, a heavy psych rock song, then a mostly heavy metal one, andfinally a heavy Hendrix-like rock. CANYYN is a diverse and “ear cleaning” albumobviously built for live experience but most of all, this EP is 35 minutes of happiness.
~Thierry ‘Pumpkin-T’ François
8. WOLFNAUT – III / NEW!
(Rock, Hard, Metal, NWOBHM, Stoner)
4303 Points
(Norway)
Catchy and infectious songwriting that sits somewhere in between the desert rock aesthetics of Kyuss, the pure riff fury of early The Sword and the accessibility of Queens of the Stone Age. Just a really dynamic and brilliant heavy rock album from an up and coming band.
~ Adam Walsh
7. JOINTHUGGER – SURROUNDED BY VULTURES / NEW!
(Rock, Doom, Metal, Sludge, Psych)
5810 Points
(Norway)
For their second full-fat Doom immersion, these nauseous Norse crank up the volume, set the fuzz to Max and fire up a massive Earth Bong of tectonic riffs, rotting shady grottos of sound and a malevolence merely hinted at on previous EP’s. Seminal Doom!
~ Reek of STOOM
6. MARAGDA – MARAGDA / NEW!
(Rock, Psych, Prog)
6240 Points
(Barcelona, Spain)
A whole rainbow of sound that encompasses true psychotropic moments wrapped in progressive wooded mists. There are many vibrations that some songs contain in which the cottony melodies contrast with onslaught of riffs that are born from the quarry of stoner- metal. The Spanish band experiments with sounds more typical of Motorpsycho and in turn offer us lysergic spirals in Earthless or Slift line. His eclecticism comes to take up moments more typical of 70’s rock to mix it with neo-psychedelic vibes.
~ Roberto Lucas
5. SCARECROW – SCARECROW II / NEW!
(Rock, Doom, Prog, Metal, Blues, Seventies, Proto)
6579 Points
(Perm, Russia)
If you passed on Russian proto metallists Scarecrow‘s self-titled debut then you missed out on one of the finest debuts of 2019, don’t despair though because you can remedy that oversight by getting on this, the bands second album “II“, it has all the bluster and swagger of the first album but with an added element of va-va-voom!
~ Frazer Jones
4. REDSCALE – THE OLD COLOSSUS / NEW!
(Rock, Stoner, Metal)
7296 Points
(Berlin, Germany)
Melodically massive and as meticulously well-produced as it is played, REDSCALE‘s ‘The Old Colossus‘ gives us a solid and riveting account of a fight or flight to a destination unknown, through a crumbling world to a place of new beginnings and shelter from the storm. A consistently emotive maelstrom of whaling riffs and huge cordage chug along with hooks galore and a beastly rhythm section driven throughout by confident, compelling vocals. The Old Colossus is a strong, tight, and robust contemporary stoner rock album which leaves the listener hanging on the edge of each track in anticipation for the next.
~ Doom Oracle
3. HIGH DESERT QUEEN – SECRETS OF THE BLACK MOON / NEW!
(Rock, Stoner, Desert)
9086 Points
(Austin, Texas, USA)
With their very impressive debut album, Austin TX’s High Desert Queen put out one of the biggest surprises in recent memory. I think this one is going to be a huge grower as more and more people get the chance to hear it. Song after song, you just simply headbang to the thundering riffs of sweet hard rock and wish for more. This is truly a must have!
~ Eric ‘The General’ Varasiftsky
2. MONOLORD – YOUR TIME TO SHINE / NEW!
(Metal, Doom, Sludge)
9195 Points
(Gothenburg, Sweden)
Your Time To Shine shows this Swedish powerhouse expanding upon their already amazing sound; their use of heavy riffs coupled with mellower, almost psychedelic sections really gives them something special. Then we add in guitar tones that most people wish they could get, some of the best percussion work on the planet, (particularly during the title track), a thunderous, massive bass guitar sound, and you get the makings of greatness!!!
~ Tom Hanno
(Hard Rock, Occult, Metal, Doom)
28402 Points
(London, UK)
A more colorful reinvention of the band’s sound. This new GREEN LUNG album is loaded with hooks that seduce the listener with a rainbow of vintage sounds. Energetic songs with a retro aroma on a hard-progressive base, heavy-rock and successful vocal melodies. ‘BLACK HARVEST’ is a dynamic, retro, and exciting album that quickly catches you on a journey to the late 70s and the golden age of heavy-rock. The great melodic work, the ability to arrange the songs, and the impressive production, together with the force of its powerful riffs, make ‘BLACK HARVEST’, a serious candidate to top the charts of the best albums of the year.
~ Roberto Lucas
OCTOBER SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
Special thanks to the ongoing contributors to the monthly Doom Chart. You folks help give voice to the heavy underground:
Aaron Pickford (The Sludgelord); Adam Walsh (Earmunchies); Andy Benson (Nerve Salad); Bill Goodman (The Evil Engineer); Billy Goate (Doomed & Stoned); Bob “Mr. Weird Beard” Baker (More Fuzz Podcast); Bobby Rayfield (Trendkill Radio); Brandon Collins (Super Dank Metal Jams); Bucky Brown (The Ripple Effect); Clint Willis (Hand of Doom Radio); Chris Beck (Doom Tomb Podcast); Chris Latta (Ghost Cult Magazine); Chris Tighe (The Mighty Decibal); The Doom Oracle (Spectral Ecstacy); Doomsday Jesus (DoomsdaysJesus); Duncan Evans (Alternative Control); Eric Varasiftsky (Stoner Rock Army); Frazer Jones (Desert Psychlist); Fuzzy Cracklins (Fuzzy Cracklins); Geoff Leppard (Atom Heart Mutha); Graur Zaur (Crypt Guard); Gruby (Doomsmoker); Günther “Doktor420” (Stoner HiVe); Héctor “Mr. Heavyhead” Hurtado (More Fuzz); Hugo Hulleman (Metalfan.nl,Orange Maze); Jamey Morris (Fistful of DOOM); Jay Morgan (High Desert Valley Radio); Jim Thompson (Heavy in the Hills); JJ “HP Taskmaster”Koczan (The Obelisk); John Gist, (Vegas Rock Revolution); Jonny Pirie (Hour of the Riff); Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe); Ken Elliott (Heavy Planet); Leanne Ridgeway (Riff Relevant); Magnus Tannergren (Into The Void Radio); Marc-Eric Gagnon (Stonefly Effects); Marc C. Pietrek (Vitriol INC / A Dark United Front); Mark Partin (The Ripple Effect); Matt Slighter (Cheeto) (Hwy 420, Core of Destruction Radio) Matthew Thomas (Taste Nation); Mathieu Van Der Hert (Dutch European Stoner Rock); Mel Lie (Sunday’s Heavy Tunes); Mike Williams (I Talk to Planets); Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker (The Ripple Effect); ‘Papa’ Paul Rote (Doomed & Stoned); Reek of STOOM (Doomed&Stoned, Stoner HiVe); Remi (Remi VL); Roberto Lucas (Denpa Fuzz); Roberto Fuentes (La Habitación 235); Robert Pannell (Doom Loom); Rod Reinhardt (Captain Beyond Zen); Roman Tamayo (Doomed & Stoned); Shasta Beast (Stoner HiVe); Steve Howe (Outlaws of the Sun); Steve Rodger (God’s Holy Trousers); Steve Woodier (Shrieks From Below); Tanguy ‘Mr Fuzz’ Dupré (More Fuzz); Thierry “Pumpkin-T“ François (Metal Intégral); Tom Hanno (Tom’s Album Reviews); Tom Schmahl (Rock Circuz); Tony Maim (Black Insect Laughter, Stoner HiVe); Tony Van Dorston (Fast n Bulbous); Wombat Tarantino (Wombat Cult)
Feel free to send in your albums to stonerdoomcharts@gmail.com where they’ll be delegated to the crew above to determine their thoughts and gather the votes at the end of the month. Leave us comments below and let us know what you think about the Charts.
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