“It’s a Saturday night thing when you feel cool like a gangster or a rockstar… They call it a chippie, a small habit. It feels so good, you start doing it on Tuesdays… then Thursdays… then it’s got you. Every wise ass punk on the block says it won’t happen to them, but it does…”
Let’s state the obvious once again… We love heavy rock! In every shape or form. We love it so much we even make lists about it and send them across the globe. If you meet any of us on the streets, in the shop, on a festival or during a concert; chances are we will quickly start rambling about this or that heavy album that warped our brain and you should definitely check out! It might be an addiction. But we love being addicted in that case. Every month, a throng of heavy music fiends send their list of favorite albums of the past month to be calculated and tabulated into the monthly Doom Charts. Along with those lists, most of the Doom Charts Contributors send in a blurb or two or three for their very favorite albums. Some of those of course make it to the Monthly Chart. A few do not. But, as we just mentioned, we love heavy rock, and we professed our love for a certain album in the form of a blurb. Let’s not let that blurb, those precious words of adoration and our sweet sweet love for that heavy album go to waste! So, here it is, that OTHER Monthly post for the Doom Charts! That post of devotion and worship for the entire heavy underground! Beware though; our full blown addiction might be your next chippie…
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…
ADOLF PLAYS THE JAZZ – LOW LIFE | WE CAN’T LOSE. WE HAVE ALREADY LOST
Post Rock, Cinematic, Experimental, Jazz
Athens, Greece
Cinematic, unforgiving and relentlessly melodic, this album would be the perfect soundtrack for a midnight walk in a deserted megacity. Remarkable musicianship and a great sense of melody, combined with a top notch and warm sound production. Between post rock and jazz, this album benefits greatly from the brilliant colours of the saxophone and the quality vocals and lyrics of their singer Nefeli. Friends of PIJN and Red Sparrowes will love this. Hands down their best work to date, you ‘d be making a serious mistake not to check it out today!
~ Ioannis Valiakos
BIRDSTONE – LOSS
Heavy Psychedelic Blues Rock
Poitiers, France
BIRDSTONE‘s roots go back to the psychedelic blues rock of the late 60s and early 70s. Their music is both down-to-earth and transcendent, like the juicy fruit of a distant, almost shamanic inspiration and a regenerated dynamism close to garage rock. I love Loss, this second album of this French trio which enriches classic rock with a very personal touch, as well as an obvious instrumental and vocal skill.
~ Thierry ‘T-Bird’ Francois
COME TO GRIEF – WHEN THE WORLD DIES
Doom, Sludge
New Hampshire, USA
Over the past decade or so the term “doom” has slowly been converted to reference a genre of rock bands with a big sound that are a bit slower. Since discovering GRIEF in the 90’s, I have always used GRIEF as the template for what best describes the “doom genre”. COME TO GRIEF steps right back into the darkness with where the original band left off. Taking the name from their exact album I would hand to someone who wants to know about doom, we are fortunate to now have COME TO GRIEF back in our musical universe over 30 years later. Our time has come. The band has delivered a brand-new slab of sludge drenched doom that will stand as a testament to heavy music when our world has collapsed.
~ Bobby Rayfield
COWARDS AND THIEVES – DEDICATED TO DEAD PEOPLE
Sludge
Florida, USA
Dedicated to Dead People is a ballsy record filled with creative risks. Without attaching themselves to one well-defined genre, COWARDS AND THIEVES risk alienating everyone. But the band successfully blends numerous influences (including doom, punk, thrash, emo, and stoner rock) into a unique cocktail of melodic metal that’s as radio-friendly as it is heavy.
~ Pat Schober
FAMYNE – II – THE GROUND BELOW
Doom Metal
Canterbury, United Kingdom
The riffs are heavy, the drums are powerful, the voice is clear, nuanced and expressive, the guitar solos are impactful without being demonstrative. The Ground Bellow makes me feel swirling into the galactic maelstrom of a pure doom metal which is both classic and contemporary. The immense superiority of FAMYNE is an instrumental and vocal skillness deliberately oriented towards dramatic efficiency. What an album!
~ Thierry ‘Pumpkin-T’ Famyne
FATIMA – FOSSIL
Doom, Grunge
Paris, France
FATIMA delivers grunge for a new generation. The French band takes the best of the 90s Seattle sound, blends in some eastern influences, and gives us an album full of original music, high energy, and fantastic riffs. Fuzzy’s been spinning this one all month — give it a listen, and you will, too!
~ Fuzzy Cracklins
A gnarly blend of grunge and doom that’s inspired by oriental melodies, 60’s monster flicks, and dinosaurs. Now, that sounds like a winning recipe in my book. FATIMA hoists a 77-ton dinosaur fossil onto the riff-scale only to break the scale while drinking a strawberry brain shake with wizards and the king of rats. You don’t know what that means? Me neither, but it sounds as heavy as an Argentinosaurus, I think.
~ Crypt Guard
FIDEL A GO GO – MOD CONS
Brisbane, Australia
Grunge, Stoner Rock
What a brilliant debut! Grungy tunes with one hell of a southern swagger, great vocals and hooks in every song. New layers unfold with every listen and it’s really refreshing to hear a band with its own sound, wearing their influences on their sleeve. The other time I felt like this recently was with Prosperina’s brilliant album “Flag”. The Australians present a killer debut that deserves a much bigger audience. Make sure to check them out today!
~ Ioannis Valiakos
This may be a debut, but I have a feeling these guys have been around music for many years. Every song on this album touches on just about every rock sub-genre of the last 40 years, and there isn’t a dud in the bunch. Groovy, melodic and angsty… it’s all in there.
~ Adam Walsh
GNOME – KING
Stoner Rock, Alternative
Antwerp, Belgium
Alright, I’m calling it right now: the Belgian mostly-instrumental heavy rock outfit might have coined the dance of the year with their irresistible choreography for their track ‘Wenceslas’. I don’t wanna slight the step arrangement of ‘Kraken Wanker’, but the charming one-step of ‘Wenceslas’ is priceless, and as of now, my go-to dance move to impress the ladies. Anyways, the sophomore outing of the Antwerp-based rockers GNOME is a damningly catchy heavy rock affair that’s not to be missed!
~ Crypt Guard
GOATSMOKE – WHAT’S THE SCENE, BOB?
Stoner Metal, Stoner Rock, Punk
Bengaluru, India
I just had to write something about this release, didn’t I? GOATSMOKE‘s debut EP delivers stoner rock riffs, underpinned by a sludgy groove that is heavily spiced with a punk attitude. Following in the footsteps of other bands from their city such as Bevar Sea and Diarchy i would say the scene there is going from strength to strength.
~ Bob ‘What’s The Scene’ Baker
I AM THE NIGHT – WHILE THE GODS ARE SLEEPING
Black Metal
Kymenlaakso, Finland
There is a wealth of black metal showering the metal community these days. Wading through those waters and discovering an album like While The Gods Are Sleeping is rewarding. With the occasional break in the blast beats, the mid-tempo grooves, ambient synthesizer backgrounds and slower, gothic passages provide the right amount of reprieve for the furious stampede of riffs lurking directly behind them. Look to the skies and accept this storm is upon you.
~ Bobby Rayfield
KALEIDOBOLT – THIS ONE SIMPLE TRICK
Proto-Metal, Progressive Rock
Helsinki, Finland
What an interesting adventure this record is. This One Simple Trick contains a wide array of traditional and nontraditional song assembly built upon a solid rock and roll foundation that is structured around extremely talented riff attacks. One can only imagine how much fun this group must have while formatting these jams. Seems there may be a little tongue in cheek snicker at their ability and how far out they can go with it yet remain totally approachable to the listener. Buy the ticket, take the ride.
~ Bobby Rayfield
Their combination of primitive sound inherited from the proto-metal of the 70’s, with stoner elements and their progressive developments, make them a particular and at the same time unique band. In this new work, nothing is as it seems, since each song offers us infinite turns in its development, which makes them a fundamental hook to keep the listener trapped. Their frenetic proto-metal simmers until it reaches a delicacy of hard-progressive, psychedelia, and even blues, but above all we are dealing with elaborate songs in which nothing seems left to chance.
~ Roberto Lucas
LARGE PLANTS – THE CARRIER
Psych Rock, Neo-Psych
Bedford, UK
This beguiling combo was previewed last year with a cheeky cover of Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita,” transforming it into a spooky, melancholy psych prog gem. While Jack Sharp recorded all the parts himself, it could easily have been accepted as a Wolf People album, with songwriting and riffs that hold up that band’s strongest work, such as the haunting “Hold Onto,” the alternatively chonky and ethereal “No Difference,” and the proto-metal guitar harmonies that kick off “Wreckers.” This is clearly a fully realized work, backed up by Sharp already touring the album with a live band consisting of two of his music students, The Taylor Twins (Oliver and Edward) and Joe Woolley of The Lords of Thyme.
~ Tony Van Dorston
MORPHINE SOCIAL CLUB – SUFFOCATE
Thessaloniki, Greece
Neopsych, Garage Rock
If you ‘ve ever wondered what it would sound like if Billy Idol decided to join Filter to play some Danzig-inspired tunes, the amazing new EP by MORPHINE SOCIAL CLUB is your answer. Four wonderful songs with top-notch sound, great guitar work, a driving rhythm section and intelligent lyrics. Highly recommended release, check them out today!
~ Ioannis Valiakos
MOURA – AXEXAN, ESPREITAN
Psych Rock, Prog Rock
A Coruña, Spain
The tradition of Galician music is reflected in some songs that ride on the back of a psycho-progressive steed. With folk elements they make magic flow in each melody. Cosmic flirtations and kraut rhythms join this colorful party, in which psychedelia floats in an atmosphere more typical of myths and legends. A whole multicolored rainbow in which any style is invited. They have done it again, a magical and fascinating album.
~ Roberto Lucas
PETH – MERCHANT OF DEATH
Heavy Psych, Proto-Metal, Doom
Lago Vista, Texas, USA
Opener “Dwarvanaught” sends a message that this record is going to jettison us back to the 70s as it slyly mixes a bunch of early Sabbath riffs into one memorable track. Track two then opens in psychedelic mode only to revert back to elephantine trad doom for a pummeling conclusion. Onward the lads then go for six more tracks laying the doomed atmosphere on nice and thick, the way us disciples of the sub-woofer demand. Those who bow at the Sabbatharian altar are hereby demanded to search this out.
~ Chris Tighe
SASQUATCH – FEVER FANTASY
Stoner, Doom
Los Angeles, California, USA
As SASQUATCH’s first release since 2017’s Maneuvers, Fever Fantasy was worth the five-year wait. Filled with the same heavy guitars, thick bass lines, and massive drums that distinguished Maneuvers from the band’s previous efforts, SASQUATCH follows up a new suite of riffs and hooks with edge-of-your-seat guitar solos and hints of Audioslave and Shinedown—among other classic SASQUATCH influences.
~ Pat Schober
SMOKE – THE MIGHTY DELTA OF TIME
Psych-Rock, Southern-Blues
Netherlands
If you read the press info for this album and look at the genre assignment, it’s pretty clear what to expect. The appearance of the trio also fits and the journey to the swamps of New Orleans can begin. But on the contrary, the trio isn’t geared towards riots at all, instead spoiling us with 44 minutes of wonderfully relaxed psychedelic rock on “The Mighty Delta Of Time”. For their debut, the Dutch have recorded six tracks plus an intro. Except for the wonderful ‘Lineage’ (slightly swampy with a great slide guitar), you would need headphones for the rest of the work (lava lamp and incense sticks included), because real listening is the order of the day here. So relax with the gentle ‘Bereft’ (what a solo towards the end) or the concluding 10-minute killer ‘Umoya’ (bluesy over number). Before that, SMOKE inspire us with the outstanding ‘Time’. Here, too, there is pure relaxation and an incredibly great atmosphere is in the room or flows out of the headphone shells. Well, SMOKE don’t blast us with Southern Sludge, but impress with the very finest Psych-Rock.
~ Tom Schmahl
SUNSTARE – ZIUSUDRA
Doom, Sludge, Post-Metal, Post-Hardcore
Lille, France
This album published by Course Atone Records (same label as Membrane, Nature Morte…) is the first Sumerian monolith unearthed from the depths of Doom. In the heavy kingdom of dark melodies, the tracks creep forward to the rhythm of hammering drums, deep bass, growled vocals, disturbing guitars and walls of distortion. Fans of Neurosis or Cult Of Luna will appreciate. Beware! I believe this gem carries an ancient curse that could dry the tongues of backbiters to dust.
~ Thierry ‘Pumpkin-T’ Francois
THE SAME RIVER – WEIGHT OF THE WORLD
Heavy Blues Rock, Stoner, Psych
Athens, Greece
This is one of those rare rock albums that show up out of nowhere and the minute you listen, you know that they are going to stick with you for a really long time. Ever since my brother Eric (The General) shared a promo with us on the Stoner Rock Army, the melodies of this album have sunk their hooks in me and they just won’t let go. I would go as far as to say that the “Weight of the World” easily looks eye to eye with albums by Lowrider and All Them Witches. I ‘m sure you are dying to prove me wrong, which means that you need to listen. This album is definitely one of the highlights of the month, and I won’t be surprised to see it in many end-of-year lists for 2022. And if you stop to think that this is their debut, God only knows what future releases we should expect from these guys. Brilliant stuff!
~ Ioannis Valiakos
THE SOFT EGGS – TANTRIC EELS
Psych-Rock
Denmark
Swedish duo THE SOFT EGGS have delivered one of the finest examples of Modern Psychedelia to have graced my ears in a long time. “Tantric Eels” is an ever-shifting, morphing soundscape that draws influences from The Flaming Lips & Tame Impala, but surpasses both with it’s sheer dexterity. This runs the musical gamut of styles and ambiences – always creative, mind-expanding a pure Joy to be immersed in!
~ Reek of STOOM
WARCOE – THE GIANT’S DREAM
Trad Doom, Heavy Metal
Pesaro, Italy
Although WARCOE identifies as a doom metal band, The Giant’s Dream is packed front-to-back with accessible hard rock fun and catchy, intricate riffs. The album owes plenty to genre classics like Black Sabbath and Pentagram (which makes it immediately familiar and recognizable), but it’s filled with enough originality to make it a standout effort in its own right.
~ Pat Schober
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 (Monuments In Ruin); 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); Kyle SB / Shasta Beast (Stoner HiVe)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 Schober (Monster Riff); 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); Silvi Pearl (Doomed & Stoned, Electric Fire Records) 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 Hanno (Tom’s 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.
Doom Charts 