“Turn on your love light… and leave it on.”

~ Ron “Pigpen” McKernan

Another Friday in the land of heaviness… Another round of albums for that other Monthly post. The Doom Charts Peroration Post. February 2023, and we’re here to serve you a platter of no less than 27 albums that Contributors blurbed about, because they fell head over heels with them. The 27 club! Alive, kicking ass and grooving hard. 27 albums! Shall we do the math? All resonating with the Doom Charts Contributors on some pure level of adoration… So, here they are, to start your weekend off with a bang!

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…

ANATOMY OF HABIT – BLACK OPENINGS
Experimental, Doom, Industrial, Post-punk, Shoegaze
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Self-released

Black Openings is the perfect follow-up to Even If It Takes a Lifetime. This is the opportunity to savor once again the cocktail of post-punk, experimental doom and industrial rock of which ANATOMY OF HABIT holds the secret. The riffs are heavy, the vocals are powerful, cold and low, the rhythm is extended with sparkling metallic percussion. 3 tracks for 38 minutes, the long songs are constantly evolving. The atmosphere of the album is an artistic black which reflects the colors like a painting by Pierre Soulages. It’s simultaneously a dark and brilliant album.
~ Thierry “Pumpkin-T“ François (Metal Intégral)

AN EVENING WITH KNIVES – FNR SESSIONS
Rock, Metal, Post, Sludge, Doom
Eindhoven, Netherlands
Argonauta Records

As we trust everyone already knows, the progressive sludge and alternative metal from the Eindhoven trio named AN EVENING WITH KNIVES is always tasty and extremely well executed. And perhaps not everyone might be aware, yet, that they’re live even better. A small bit of proof for that can now be heard on the live, but without audience, in the Effenaar venue recorded seven track album called FNR Sessions. A taster for their live sound and how it has changed with their new drummer. AN EVENING WITH KNIVES, will always leave you wanting more…  
~ Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe)

ATOMWINTER – SAKRILEG
Death Metal
Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany
Trollzorn Records

It’s the same crusty doom/death grisliness as previous releases but this time it’s all about the death metal riff. Brutality and filth still prevails but Sakrileg is the fastest album the band has yet written despite being weighed down with pustules and scabs. This album will make even the leprous headbang.
~ Steve Woodier (Deathrattle Podcast)

BENTHOS – BENTHOS II
Heavy Psych, Stonerrock
New York, NY, USA
Self-released

Benthos II brings us a conceptual domination of crunchy riffs, craggy vocals and perilous atmosphere. They list “ear candy” as an instrument. I cannot confirm nor deny such practice but it sounds oh so sweet.
~ Bucky Brown (The Ripple Effect)

BONE WEAPON – THRIVE OR STARVE
Death, Doom
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Transylvanian Recordings

Death/doom that never deviates from its sole purpose of asphyxiation by claustrophobic filth…
~ Steve Woodier (Deathrattle Podcast)

DEADBLONDESTARS – METAMORPHOSIS
Grunge
Sheffield, UK
Self-released

Yes, singer Gary Walker sounds uncannily like Chris Cornell, and yes the riffs are reminiscent of some of Kim’s and Jerry’s best work, but these guys take what was the best from 90s era Seattle and make it their own, creating their best album till date and never sounding like a cheap imitation.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip)

DRUG MOTHER – RISE WITCH
Stoner Metal, Doom, Hard Rock
Newcastle, Australia
Self-released

Australia’s DRUG MOTHER list among their many hobbies drinking and watching movies about witch’s, a fact that goes a long way in explaining why their album “Rise Witch” is so dedicated to matters of the occult. Obsessions with witch’s and alcohol aside “Rise Witch” is an absolute gem of an album that has its gnarled feet planted in the camps of stoner metal, doom and heavy psych, the perfect musical backdrops for its tales of legend and myth, let’s just hope they never start watching rom-coms.
~ Frazer Jones (Desert Psychlist)

EARTHBONG – PROCEED AS ONE EP
Metal, Doom
Kiel, Germany
Self-released

… Before, the feedback starts howling and the riff begins its slow and heady march towards the swing and groove we know EARTHBONG can and will deliver. A rolling thundering landscape of riffs and thunderclap drums enfold. And it’s at the 4:20 mark when the bitter and bleak, black and burned vocals come in. Taking you on a circling dance, much like a giant beast, inspecting its prey, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce…
~ Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe)

ETA LUX – HIGH & LOW
Stonerrock, Desert, Doom
Bremen, Germany
Fuego

High and Low offers a little something for everyone, from thunderous doom to the grooviest fuzz. This album reminds me why I love this genre of music so much.
~ Ryan Foster (Slightly Fuzzed)

GRANDMA’S ASHES – THIS TOO SHALL PASS
Stoner, Grunge, Prog, Psych, Doom
Paris, France
Nice Prod

It took the fourth listen for This Too Shall Pass to click for me, but when it did it did hard.  I was expecting more of the straight-ahead stoner/grunge of the EP, but what we got is so much more. Huge sound with some folky and proggy elements (did someone introduce them to Genesis?), this is a much more complex and epic outing than GRANDMA’S ASHES debut and This Too Shall Pass is much better for it.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip)

THE HYSS – HYSS III: THE HYSSENING
Stonerrock, Sludge
Chicago, IL, USA
Self-released

Hÿss III progresses their aggressive take of hardcore fuzz with unrelenting hook, dissonant chops and dynamic rhythm. There’s elements of punk, hardcore, stoner rock and metal present without pigeonholing themselves, yet retains an accessibility to fans who may pigeonhole themselves in one genre or another.
~ Bucky Brown (The Ripple Effect)

KLASTOS – RAT KING
Sludge, Stonerrock
Östergötland County, Sweden
Self-released

Think High On Fire, think Crowbar and you’ll think right. Rat King is a short but very powerful doom opus with raw, low vocals, fuzzy strings and pounding drums. The riffs are so heavy they sink you deep into the ground. This is the second EP by KLASTOS and I just can’t wait to finally hear their full-length debut album. Hurry up, dudes!
~ Thierry “Pumpkin-T“ François (Metal Intégral)

OLD MINE UNIVERSE – THIS VAST ARRAY
Hard Rock, Heavy Rock, Stoner Rock
Toronto, Ontario and Pocos de Caldas, Brazil
Witch City Music

This is a fantastic album from a band with hard rock in its heart and stoner blues in its soul.
~ Steve Woodier (Deathrattle Podcast)

PÉ ROTO – TORMENTO
Stoner, Doom
Braga, Portugal
Doomed Records / Raging Planet

Destructive Portuguese doom/sludge with added dissonance to the riffs for maximum aural distress. Tormento is an album swollen with bloat, (very) slowly decomposing as you listen to a heaving groove struggling under its own obese weight. The sludge laden depth of these songs are boundless in their extremity, remorseless in their depravity, colossal shambling structures of doom.
~ Steve Woodier (Deathrattle Podcast)

THE PSYCHOTIC MONKS – PINK COLOUR SURGERY
Post punk, Noise rock
Lille and Paris, France
Fat Cat Records / Vicious Circle Records

Pink Colour Surgery refuses to back down, until it finally drives away its stubborn point; there is no escape. You need to let go and give yourself up to the bleakness. White walls, grey streets, zombified youths robotically dancing in the alleys. Sweat and energy and movement, but no joy. We have come to an understanding. The future is grim, so we dance, and move our bodies, we are beaten by the drums, by the inevitability of defeat.  At various points on Pink Colour Surgery the band lets their blackened crust crack, and light drips in.. Even when you hear the world around it crumbling to dust on the background the songs have beauty and hope, whether they are in vain or not. On goes the beat again though, throb, throb, throb. THE PSYCHOTIC MONKS plod on, they smile sad smiles and rip open another can of melancholic soundscapes and cling-clanging stomps.
~ Jasper Hesselink (Weirdo Shrine)

ROTOR – SIEBEN
Psych, Stoner, Instrumental
Berlin, Germany
Noisolution

ROTOR’s seventh album, appropriately titled Sieben, finds the long-running instrumental band in fine form. One of the earliest progenitors of post-Kyuss heavy psych, Rotor drink from the same well that sprung forth bands like Causa Sui, Papir, The Machine, and, of course, Colour Haze (like many of the aforementioned, ROTOR are distinguished alumni of Colour Haze house label Elektrohasch). On Sieben, the band takes a varied approach to mixing the textures in their sonic pallete, turning out the instrumental track Queens of the Stone Age should have written after their first record (Reibach) one minute and employing almost Allman Brothers-esque countrified harmonies the next (Auf Grund). Heavier tones make themselves known too on tracks such as Schabracke and Kahlschlag. In the hands of a more novice band, such an approach could come off as scattershot, but ROTOR are masters of their craft and they seamlessly blend these disparate sounds into a delicious smoothie of heavy psych. Perfect comfort food to help get genre fans through the long winter.
~ Ben Bellum (The Greatest Thing You’ve Never Heard)

SEUM – DOUBLE DOUBLE
Doom, Sludge, Hardcore, Punk
Montreal, Québec, Canada
Electric Spark Records & Riff Merchant Records

The Canadian lords of distortion return with another offering of filthy bass driven stoner sludge, and one that could be their finest work to date. The band simultaneously refine their sound and amp up their grime and bite. Prepare for vocals that sound as if Gaspard is shredding his cords, bass so heavy it measures on the Richter scale, high energy drum work and more groove than you can shake a bong at. If you’re a fan of NOLA style sludge then DOUBLE DOUBLE is essential listening.
~ James Sweetlove (CaveDwellerMusic)

SNAKES DON’T BELONG IN ALASKA – THE CHAIRLIFT SESSIONS
Psych Rock, Krautrock, Stoner
Newcastle Upon Tyne, U.K.
Self-released

SNAKES DON’T BELONG IN ALASKA just celebrated a decade of making freaky improv jams, and this latest recorded session doesn’t disappoint. Their guitarist, Jarrid Kolodnicki, is leaving the group, so they decided to record two final jam sessions with the snakey boy, The Chairlift Sessions and The Psychedelic Jazz Lounge, also released in February. Along with Snakes’ unique blend of stoner/krautrock/psych, The Chairlift Sessions features general banter and goofy song titles like “I’ve Got Blisters On Me Fingers And A Cramp In Me Toes.” Sit back, light up a J, and chill out to the snakey boys’ jams.
~ Nick Pipitone (The Third Eye, Monster Riff)

SOLFAR – LIGHT TOMB
Atmospheric Post-Doom
New Jersey, USA
Self-released

SOLFAR‘s ‘Light Tomb‘ is a unique release with a fresh sound.  The atmospheric and post elements are fully integrated into their brand of science fiction doom metal.  This is a deep, adventurous album filled with imaginative song writing.
~ Justin Wittenmeier (Metal Temple, DoomedForMetal)

SPACE SHEPHERDS – LOSING TIME FINDING SPACE
Psych Rock, Heavy Psych, Space Rock
Ireland
Self-released

You normally wouldn’t think of Ireland when imagining psychedelic jam bands, but SPACE SHEPHERDS is here to change that. Their third studio release, Losing Time Finding Space, is cosmic-inspired rock good for fans of intergalactic heroes like the Oresund Space Collective and others who have mastered the genre. Most of the songs on this record twist and turn through the galaxy and last for more than 12 minutes, heavy at times but with enough breaks in the action to allow you to catch a breath.
~ Nick Pipitone (The Third Eye, Monster Riff)

TEKSTI-TV 666 – VAPAUDEN TASAVALTA
Krautrock, Garage, Psych
Helsinki, Finland
Svart Records

Explosive garage psych of the highest order with a punk rock attitude and an energy that grabs you by the throat. This could have been the brainchild of Uffo Lorenzen (Baby Woodrose) and Dave Wyndorf (Monster Magnet). All songs are one better than the other, and this is a very rare quality for any album really. Especially “TJ” is a masterpiece of how modern prog psych should sound. Have no doubt that this album will have you listen again and again, brilliant stuff!
~ Ioannis Valiakos (Desert Vulture)

TRAMALIZER – FUMES OF FUNERAL PYRES
Death Metal
Pieksämäki, Varkaus, Finland
Soulseller Records

There’s no room to breathe with this rabid slice of Finnish death metal. Devastating death metal filled with churning riffs and wailing leadwork thats sounds like a spoiled brat clinging to its mothers skirt tails.
~ Steve Woodier (Deathrattle Podcast)

WARP – BOUND BY GRAVITY
Stonerrock, Psych, Doom
Tel Aviv, Israel
Nasoni Records

I can never get enough of great stoner rock, and the trio from Tel Aviv, Israel brings it with their second album, Bound By Gravity. The riffs are real on this one…these guys have taken it to the next Iommi worshiping level with their latest offering which will be much loved amongst the crowd that digs the holy riff. Great production, amazing guitar work, excellent songs, killer riffs, never outstayed its welcome, and simply crushes everything around it.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip)

WESTING – FUTURE
Classic Rock, Psych, Stonerrock
Visalia, California, USA
Rinding Easy Records

While still firmly Zeppelinesque in nature, WESTING emerges from the ashes of Slow Season with a heavy cosmic boogie steeped in gritty western analog and pulsing with  psychedelia.
~Bucky Brown (The Ripple Effect)

WHEN HEARTS WITHER – THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS
Gothic, Atmospheric, Doom Metal
Australia, Gympie, Queensland
Self-released

“This Is Where It Ends”, is a perfect combination of melody and sorrowful—it sounds epic while pulling on the heartstrings.  The atmospheric touches make the album’s dense sound expansive while never taking away from the heavier aspects of the band’s brand of melancholic doom.
~ Justin Wittenmeier (Metal Temple, DoomedForMetal)

WIZARDS OF HAZARDS – SUPERNATURAL
Traditional Doom, Heavy Metal
Finland
Inverse Records

The best way I can describe Supernatural is if Dave Brockie had chosen to go down a different path and make traditional doom/heavy metal rather than founding GWAR. Vocals aside both the guitar and drum work are on point and work in perfect unison. It’s simultaneously old school and yet innovative and fresh, familiar yet exciting. This is theatrical, powerful and captivating doom metal with an impressive level of underlying groove that should be considered essential listening for all fuzzheads.
~ James Sweetlove (CaveDwellerMusic)

WUW – L’ORCHAOSTRE
Experimental, Doom, Metal, Ambient, Orchestral
Paris, France
Pelagic Records

The Colin brothers’ new album is a varied and captivating journey through 41 minutes of instrumental metal. WUW‘s music is made up of abstract soundscapes drawn by drones and waves of synths layered with concrete constructions of heavy riffs, hypnotic ostinatos and mostly slow and massive structuring rhythms. Melodies fueled with nostalgia and disturbing mystery creep through the labyrinths of your imagination. L’Orchaostre could be the perfect soundtrack for a dark and intimate movie, probably some kind of human drama in a futuristic dystopia. Open your mind and dream…
~ Thierry “Pumpkin-T“ François (Metal Intégral)

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

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 (Morbid And Miserable Records); 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); ‘The General’ (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); James Sweetlove (CaveDwellerMusic); Jamey Morris (Fistful of DOOM); Jasper Hesselink (Weirdo Shrine); 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); Justin Wittenmeier (Metal Temple, DoomedForMetal); 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); Matt Hartnett (Aftershocks TV); 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) ; Scott Spiers (CleanAndSoberStoner) ; 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.