If you have never spent whole mornings, afternoons and nights with burning ears and rumpled hair, forgetting the world around you listening to heavy rock, forgetting cold and hunger–

Below are fifteen amazing albums by damn cool bands and artists that got blurbed about by the Doom Charts Contributors for the regular April Doom Charts but unfortunately did not make the Top 25 of that month’s edition. This is that Peroration post, that post of pure adoration for the albums blurbed. Cause we love so much of what we hear and when we love what we hear, we try to get the good word out on those albums as much as we can! And there is way more on the way, way more out there and way more to discover… It’s the never ending story of the heavy underground!

The following are professions of love and adoration by Doom Charts Contributors for albums they could not stop spinning. Each month, the Doom Charts critics submit their picks for the best new doom, sludge, metal, stoner, psychedelic and other sorts of heavy rock albums. The results are compiled and tabulated into the chart which is published monthly. However, sometimes a love is so great, but for whatever reason the album unfortunately did not make the published Doom Charts Edition. You can peruse that love here…

BLIND GOD – EX OBLIVIONE
(Doom)
(Rzeszow, Poland)

Debut duo of tracks which the band describes as “caveman riffs” and indeed these sound as if the band has its studio in a dank Neanderthal cave with clubs and rocks as their main instruments. These heavy, chugging riffs from Poland will have you yearning for more of these old school doom riffs with a dash of stoner metal.
~ Fuzzy Cracklins

COMA HOLE – COMA HOLE
(Doom Metal, Stoner Metal)
(Westerly, Rhode Island, USA)

It’s a rare two-piece that pulls off the layers and intricacies in the way COMA HOLE has done on their debut EP and they executed that feat masterfully! Eryka Fir’s gripping and thoughtful bass-riffs wielded with warlord-like determination punctuated by Steve Anderson’s tech-infused onslaught of percussion are the chariot on which Eryka’s sirenesque vocals ride calling all the unwary to the their doom.
~ Gravitoyd

ECSTATIC VISION – ELUSIVE MOJO
(Psychedelic Rock, Retro Rock)
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)

ECSTATIC VISION have a heavy, sun-drenched psychedelic/stoner sound that pays tribute to 70’s hard rock. Vocals are clean and put through reverb for a great trippy effect. Riffs are plentiful and the dirty fuzzed sound is perfect to get your head moving. But – before you start to get too comfortable, ECSTATIC VISION throw in passages that start to pile on the intensity with meatier playing which morph Hawkwind with The Stooges! This is the good shit.
~ Tony Maim

GITHYANKI – ROLLIN’ THE DICE
(Grunge Metal, Stoner Rock)
(Seattle, Washington, USA)

You see Seattle on the band’s profile, and stoner rock / grunge metal in the tags. You press play with a certain sound in mind. And then this album grabs all your Fu Manchu and AIC expectations and smashes them against a wall filled with posters of Biohazard, Nailbomb and Fudge Tunnel. Groovy as you like it, with a throbbing guitar tone and an explosive rhythm section that shakes the room. Learn from my mistake gentle people, this album will groove your brains out!
~ Ioannis Valiakos

GROS MENE – PAX ET BONUM
(Montréal, Québec, Canada)
(Psych Folk, Heavy Psych)

I swear to God, this album will swing all parts of your body in ways that you have never imagined. Drenched in the blues of the American South, while it winks at the songwriting ingenuity of Era Vulgaris QOTSA, the twelve songs flow smoothly with an elegant swagger that will have you begging for more. Together with Patron’s self-titled album in 2020, and the recent brilliant EP by Greyborn, this is probably one of the grooviest albums I ‘ve listened to in the past couple of years. And the French language only makes it tastier, to say the least. Give it a listen and make some space for it in your vinyl collection! Brilliant stuff!
~ Ioannis Valiakos

INTOXICATED – WATCH YOU BURN
(Death, Thrash)
(Orlando, Florida, USA)

NOT PLAYABLE ON BANDCAMP YET

The general East Coast USA family probably relates Orlando, Florida to a vacation at Walt Disney World. Those of us who have planted our roots in the world of heavy music relate it to classic death metal. INTOXICATED proudly carries the flag for modern FL metal fans. Crushing riffs, double bass rhythms, blast beats and screaming vocal chords all set the tone for Watch You Burn. Packed with thrash and death vibes combined, there is a welcoming crossover feeling and INTOXICATED handles it in the best way possible. Hardcore meets death. All who stand before them shall crumble. Walt is likely rolling in his grave.
~ Bobby Rayfield

LAS CRUCES – COSMIC TEARS
(Traditional Doom)
(San Antonio, USA)

More than 10 years after their last album, the cult LAS CRUCES are back and delight us with Cosmic Tears. Good George Trevino just can’t be killed and that’s a good thing. The new long player again has the necessary underground touch and especially songs like ‘Cosmic Tears’, ‘Stay’, ‘Wizard From The North’, ‘Holy Hell’ and ‘The Wraith’ are absolutely amazing. Anyone who likes LAS CRUCES will now know what to expect and all other doom freaks who have never heard of this great band should check out bands like Revelation, Iron Man, Reverend Bizarre, Pale Divine or Iron Void orientate.
~ Tom Schmahl

MOOZOONSII – INWARD
(Stoner, Psychedelic Rock)
(Nantes, France)

This Nantes-based trio flex their musical muscles on their first outing since their line-up change and they’ve definitely been working out! Six exploratory, heavy, complicated and dazzlingly played tracks will leave your chin on the floor, agog!
~ Reek of STOOM

MOUNTAIN OF SMOKE – IMPRINTED
(Doom, Industrial, Future, Gloom)
(Dallas, Texas, USA)

MOUNTAIN OF SMOKE, hailing from Dallas,Texas, are not new to the heavy music scene. And it comes through in their newest release, Imprinted. Envision a road-grater with a machine gun mounted on it picking off safety cones with the precision of Seal Team Six only to demolish them under the crunching teeth of low end bass leads and you’re getting close. Shear and utter brutality.
~ Gravitoyd

OUT OF THE EARTH – II
(Stoner, Doom)
(England, UK)

Soundgarden-meets-Deep Purple on the bluesy grooves within the six tunes of II. With ample amounts of heady psychedelia and sonic swagger shaping their songcrafting, OUT OF THE EARTH are out of this world… and then some!
~ Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker

PROUDHON – SOCIAL TYMPANUM
(Death, Crust, Punk, Grind)
(Besancon, France)

This album sounds as if you are trying to extinguish a tornado with a machine gun. Excellent debut for the genre, and it’s quite impressive that the drummer does the singing. Their songwriting approach reminded me of Downwinder (Volos, Greece). Awesome stuff, check them out today!
~ Ioannis Valiakos

RODEO – MOIRA
(Stoner, Desert)
(Zestoa, Spain)

Discovered thanks to that awesome Carson album; cause it is out on the same Swiss Sixteentimes Music label as well. We’re talking about MOIRA by RODEO. RODEO will probably be the only stonerrock band that in the whole wide world that sings in Euskara, the language from the Basque part of Spain. On their third full-sized album the four give us fast paced stonerrock and high energy, intensely gritty desert rock. Full on riffs and a maximum amount of groove! It’s time for a RODEO!
~ Joop Konraad

SEUM – BLUEBERRY CASH
(Metal, Sludge, Doom, Stoner)
(Montreal, Québec, Canada)

After last year’s momentous album Winterized and a some raw mayhem on Live from the Seum-Cave SEUM is back again on another low slung rampage with their new EP Blueberry Cash! It’s a quick one with just 3 tracks, but if these 3 tracks don’t get your blood pumping then your heart may have stopped! Filthy bass, harsh vocals, and furiously heavy rhythms have always defined the SEUM sound, but they’ve definitely dialed it all the way up for this release! 14 minutes is all it takes — by the end you’ll be choking on their thick sludgy sound and desperate for more!
~ Brandon Collins

SHA-FU – SHA-FU
(Instrumental, Post-Rock)
(Cordoba, Argentina)

The Argentinian instrumental three-piece SHA-FU from Cordoba didn’t mess around with their debut offering, which follows an intriguing concept, where each of the five tracks represents the evolving compositional stage the band adopted throughout the sequential writing process. The song titles are taken from gods of greek mythology starting with the goddess of birth and ending with Athena, the goddess of wisdom, strategy, battle, and art. The music was recorded excellently, resulting in a direct yet spacious sound that is partly reminiscent of Tool, Russian Circles, and Earthless.
~ Crypt Guard

TWIN VOID – FREE FROM HARDTIMES
(Doom, Heavy-Psych, Stoner)
(Spokane, Washington, USA)

Noise, Doom and Stoner make a deadly combination and TWIN VOID have made a slab of manic – and quite frankly – crazed and demented collection of big lung bursting vocals with undercurrents of promised violence, depth charge riffs that are set to explode in your brain and a wall of sound that sounds like a black hole imploding. The album as a whole is multi-layered which reveals its dark secrets each time you play it. Destructive noise has never sounded so good or pure – you are not promised an easy ride with this music but it is fucking addictive and once hooked, your tiny world will never be the same again.
~ Tony Maim

And a special thanks goes out to Doktor420 for the cover image…

If you listen, it will doom…

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); Andy Kovalcik (Bandcamp-NYP-Hard&Heavy); 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); Gravitoyd HM (Gravitoyd Heavy Music); Gruby (Doomsmoker); Günther “Doktor420” (Stoner HiVe); Héctor “Mr. Heavyhead” Hurtado (More Fuzz); Hugo Hulleman (Metalfan.nl,Orange Maze); Ioannis Valiakos (Desert Vulture); 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); Martin Doomed Desbois (Le Mellow Man, Metal Alliance Magazine) 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);  Mr Stone (More Fuzz); Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker (The Ripple Effect);  ‘Papa’ Paul Rote (Doomed & Stoned); Reek of STOOM (Doomed&Stoned, Stoner HiVe); Remi VL (Remi Post Too Many Links); 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 (Deathrattle Podcast); Tanguy ‘Mr Fuzz’ Dupré (More Fuzz); Thierry “Pumpkin-T“ François (Metal Intégral); 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.