“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us…”

~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Remember, remember… The fourth of November… For if you recall the Doom Charts post of September, you know what that First Friday of November… means. It is the new publishing date for the brand new October Doom Charts. Which are only a week away! But due to a little holiday for yours truly, I could not get the September Peroration post up sooner than right now. But hey, right now is all we have anyway, and all we truly need. So, get those shoes off, get those headphones on or put the speaker on full volume, for below we have a selection of eighteen albums the Doom Charts Contributors all love very dearly… And one of those or all of those might be your next favorite record… The record you will be spinning, next, now and forever…

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 or because there were so many contributors in love with that one album, that many decided to send blurbs for it, and only one got published… You can peruse that love here…

BONES OF MINERVA – EMBERS
Metal, Progressive, Alternative, Psychedelic, Doom
España
La Rubia Producciones / Aloud music

A dark album, but full of epic in which progressive-metal is endowed with a strong melodic charge and flavored psychedelic elements. All soaked in a lyric that does not tarnish its alternative spirit and forms a truly fascinating duality. The beast has returned to come out of the darkness and show the world its full potential. With balanced songs they manage to combine terror and darkness with the ethereal and dreamy, and that is where their magic lies. His dreamlike landscapes are enriched with a powerful rhythmic base in which the metal spirit of the Madrid quartet is splendid.
~ Roberto Lucas (Denpa Fuzz)

COLOUR HAZE – SACRED
Psychedelic, Stoner, Seventies
Germany
Elektrohasch

With more than 25 years of existence, the band continues to keep its essence intact, but at the same time, it does not stop exploring new sound paths so as not to fall into monotony. On this new album there is both, songs that sound COLOUR HAZE without a doubt and others in which the frontiers of the band’s sound continue to expand. Combining dreamy landscapes of heavy psychedelia, the songs have moments more typical of progressive rock from the 70’s, but also with riffs that crackle in the purest stoner style. Without a doubt, a multicolored rainbow in which magic emerges when you least expect it.
~ Roberto Lucas (Denpa Fuzz)

DOCTOR EXPLOSION – SUPERIORIDAD MORAL
Rock, Garage, Punk, Psych, Surf
Gijón, Spain
Slovenly Recordings

Their hard as nails, bang on the can, garage rocking punk and punk rocking garage sound is back with a vengeance! Here to show the squares some class, where the fuck it’s all at and how the beat goes on. It’s beat music for the surf poets, mystic psychedelic atmospheres for the punk rebels and a wild call to arms for the rock guerrillas. Ten powerful new tracks to herald the coming of a new superior moral and to make fun of it all. Sure, it is rebellious, but only to an extent that you can enjoy the shit out of it. There’s even a tiny stonerrock touch on the album as well!
~ Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe)

DRÖÖG- DRÖÖG
Falun, Sweden
Progressive, Melodic stoner doom
Majestic Mountain Records

Through melodically mysterious and strangely cinematic composition style, DRÖÖG gives us seven tracks telling a darkly soulful, riff-driven and hook-rich, bluesy stoner doom story from the darkest parts of Northern Europe’s history all in their native Swedish. Taking us on a shadowy journey where magic, revenge and the lusts of the flesh go hand in hand, each track blends into an overarching theme without being a concept album. The songs have organic flow and are intertwined in a way that the listener, even without knowing a single word of Swedish can flow with the impressive vocal harmony and sense its narrative arc which becomes apparent like pieces in a puzzle. A fantastically intriguing debut not to be missed.
~ The Doom Oracle (Spectral Ecstacy)

FREEDOM HAWK – TAKE ALL YOU CAN
Proto, 70s, Stoner Rock
Virginia Beach, VA, USA
Ripple Music

With Take All You Can, FREEDOM HAWK perfects the proto metal/seventies hard rock stylings that so many bands are looking to borrow from and/or emulate today, at times sounding like Ozzy got the gig in Deep Purple. From the guitar work, the production, the vocals, the keys, and everything else about this record, we have an alignment of the desert stars that has resulted in rock and roll perfection.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip)

GRACELESS – CHANTS FROM PURGATORY
Metal, Death, Black, Doom
Leiden, Netherlands
Self-released

If you’re into wall-of-sound, crushing metal that mixes equal parts death and doom … well here’s a no brainer for your check-out list. Simply put, it’s the best death/doom record of the month. Sub-woofers are exploding!
~ Chris Tighe (The Mighty Decibel)

GUTVOID – DURANCE OF LIGHTLESS HORIZONS
Death Metal, Doom
Toronto, Canada
Blood Harvest Records

Starting off with a slow and ominous feeling of doom. So far, so good, right? The record progresses far from this with strong and creative songwriting. We are presented with the growling decay of death metal vocals early and drawn deeper into the dark through the opening track. The slow pace is eventually broken. Blast beats and double bass do come and go periodically but at this point it becomes a surprise of what this ride may have in store. The gifts keep on giving. Lots of spacey lead guitar parts seem to consistently drift around the massive wall of sound. Even when the pace is quickened the monstrous sound continues to feel like a steamroller and remains wrapped in a darker vibe of gloom. Emotionally depressing and very, very good!
~ Bobby Rayfield (Monuments In Ruin)

HIGH TONE SON OF A BITCH – LIVE AT THE HALLOWED HILLS
Doom
Oakland, California, USA
Ripple Music

Live At The Hallowed Hills has HTSOB in their element, which is turning shit up to 11, but never without some melody (for a doom band) and nuance. Do not lose any of the details amongst all the riffage and doomy goodness. Soak each track in and pay attention to the details from this heavy collective.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip)

LORD OF CONFUSION – EVIL MYSTERY
Doom, Psychedelic Rock, Psychedelic Doom Metal
Portugal
Gruesome Records (USA) / Morbid and Miserable Records (Europe)

Keyboard heavy psychedelic doom drenched in a dark cloying atmospheric that is in parts both majestic and menacing. Lord of Confusion’s music will appeal to fans of bands like Windhand, Haunted, Horehound and Witch Mountain but also to those that worshipped at the altars of Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus, old school doom with a new school twist.
~ Frazer Jones (Desert Psychlist)

MAD CHICKEN – POULTRYGEIST
Stoner rock, Hard rock, Hen house grunge
Arcos, Brazil
Abraxas & Limestone Records

I had already been impressed by the madness of Eggsplosion (2019) and Chicken of the Grave (2021). The straight-in-your-face rock festival is goin’on with Poultrygeist. The styles and atmospheres follow one another: locomotive, swamp, doom, dust, etc. As long as the genre is direct and authentically rock, MAD CHICKEN uses it in a raw way, without hiding behind the artifices of a post-prod laboratory. Those who think the chicken is a farm animal are wrong, here we caught the proof that it’s one hell of a free wild creature. Sure, guys, Mike’s still in the house!
~ Thierry ‘Chicken-T’ François (Metal Intégral)

MEZZOA – DUNES OF MARS
Grunge, Stoner, Nineties
San Diego, California, USA
Iron Head Records

Not on bandcamp

MEZZOA is exhibit A for the longing of the times when flannel flew high, and that flag is waving furiously on the San Diego Trio’s second album, Dunes Of Mars. A lot of their bio info throws “stoner” around, which I get. Their album title may be the most stoner album title of 2022. But to me this is way more 90s grunge/heavy alternative than stoner. This is not a knock on it; it is killer and perfectly fills the void for those of us whose musical tastes were sculpted during that (mostly) amazing time in music history.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip)

MISCELLEN – BLACK MANDALA I
Rock, Alternative, Psych, World, Noir, Prog
Washington, DC and Bristol, UK
Self-released

MISCELLEN is back, with a completely different and totally other worldly album called Black Mandala I. This time the record seems to move to the Sahara sands, the Middle East, the dangerous outskirts of some huge and towering city long forgotten and shrouded in mist, mystery and covered in dust. Opening with Odyssey I, the album immediately shows its Mesopotamian colors, adding Oud and Ukulele to the instrumentation is only part of that colorization. The entire song feels like a sirocco whirling around you, dizzying you and making you loose all sense of space and time. It is the set-up for what is to come…
~ Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe)

THE NECROMANCERS – WHERE THE VOID ROSE
Proto, Doom, Goth, Stoner Rock
Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
Self-released

A new THE NECROMANCERS record is excellent news in these dark times. The French band’s third full length, Where The Void Rose, is an excellent proto metal/seventies inspired doom goth extravaganza release that should be gobbled up by the people who are into the dark and heavy rock.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip)

PSYCHLONA – PALO VERDE
Desert/Stoner Rock
Bradford, UK
Psycho Waxx

PSYCHLONA takes their already perfectly fuzzy brand of psychedelic stoner rock and takes you on a trip! This album might have it all, from infectious rock n roll, to psychedelic mind benders. I love how PSYCHLONA continues to evolve, and they really put it all together on this one.
~ Ryan Foster (Slightly Fuzzed)

ROBOT GOD – WORLDS COLLIDE
Heavy Psych Rock, Space Jam, Space Rock
Kozmik Artifactz
Sydney, Australia

Tender and hard it touches you – the sound of ROBOT GOD. Dreamy climb longings that just bewitch you. A long road trip, a mellow shooting star night – this album is the perfect background. Promise!
~ Silvi Pearl (Doomed & Stoned, Electric Fire Records)

SIGH – SHIKI
Death Metal, Black Metal, Doom, Avant Garde
Tokyo, Japan
Peaceville Records

An absolute brain buster of an album, SIGH’s Shiki effortlessly shape-shifts between death, black, and doom (check out that riff in Kuroi Kage) metal while flirting with symphonic textures and smooth jazz seemingly just for the hell of it. All of it while knowing just the right moments to display technical virtuosity in the sometimes power metal-esque leads and polyrhythmic percussion without going all prog about it. For an album that defies as many expectations as Shiki, it has no business being as accessible as it is. Even if your mileage varies on extreme metal, there’s no reason not to give Shiki a try.
~ Ben Bellum (The Greatest Thing You’ve Never Heard)

SUMERLANDS – DREAMKILLER
Doom, NWOTHM
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Relapse Records

Now with Brendan Radigan (Magic Circle, Pagan Altar, Stone Dagger) on vocals, SUMERLANDS ’ second album expands on the band’s blend of trad metal pyrotechnics and doomy wistfulness first pioneered by the aforementioned Pagan Altar. To the extent they favor one style over the other, I’d say they lean towards trad metal, but fans of either (or of guitar harmonies and soaring vocals in general) will find a lot to like here.
~ Ben Bellum (The Greatest Thing You’ve Never Heard)

VIVISEKTIO – UUSI NORMAALI
Hardcore Punk
Finland
Svart Records

Blasting out from the first note with fury and angst, VIVISEKTIO is not willing to sit silently in the shadows and wither away. These tracks are full throttle from beginning to end. This is a solid representation of hardcore punk rock done the right way, in my opinion. Something I wish would arrive in my email more often. Though I do not speak the language, the delivery is powerful and makes me feel hyped about a new album to burn the neighborhood up with. The adrenaline rush almost made this old man throw his walker though the living room window. All old man jokes aside, this album is a serious ripper!
~ Bobby Rayfield (Monuments In Ruin)

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

Look at all that special kind of 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); Ben Bellum (The Greatest Thing You’ve Never Heard); 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 Decibel); 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); JC Cansdale-Cook (The MotorFuzzin’ Ibex); Jim Thompson (Heavy in the Hills); JJ “HP Taskmaster” Koczan (The Obelisk); John Gist, (Vegas Rock Revolution / The Doomed & Stoned Show); 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); Nick Pipitone (The Third Eye, Monster Riff);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); Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip); Roberto Lucas (Denpa Fuzz); Roberto Fuentes (La Habitación 235); Robert Pannell (Doom Loom); Rod Reinhardt (Captain Beyond Zen); Roman Tamayo (Doomed & Stoned); Ryan Foster (Slightly Fuzzed) ; 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.

This doesn’t have to be the end? We can all share a few thoughts about our new favorite album right here, in this lovely pool of blood at the bottom…