“Once you start down the Doom Charts path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you, it will.”

~ Yoda

April has been heavy! Heavy on all fronts! Music wise the amount of stoner and doom masterpieces has once again been staggering. And on a personal note, I’ve been swamped with work, which meant there was little time to do stuff for the Doom Charts or Stoner HiVe. In part due to a little holiday to Scotland that will start after Sonic Whip Festival. Which is a different kind of heavy… not being able to spend as much time with this heavy rock thing we love. Cause it is and remains for all of us, a labor of love. Or perhaps obsession or addiction. Cause I forsee withdrawel symptoms hiking around Scotland. But don’t worry, I will be taking the forty below and all the others I love with me; so when the need arises I can inject some heavy rock into my veins! Cause below you will find once again, 39 brand new and amazing heavy rock albums that will cater to your progressive, stonerrock, psychedelic rock or metal and doom needs! 275 albums received votes this month and the Top 5 ran away with a lot of them… But perhaps you already saw it coming, cause you’ve been as hooked as the rest of us…

Welcome to Doom Charts, representing some of the finest bloggers, journalists, radio, podcasters and 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…

40. THE INFAMISTS – LIVE EVIL / NEW!

39. UDOL – EL REGNE / NEW!

38. IROH – THEY RIDE / NEW!

37. FAMILIARS – KEEP THE GOOD TIMES ROLLING / NEW!

36. MOTUS – HERE COMES THE SUN / NEW!

35. KRAZARK – FIREFLAKE / NEW!

34. SLOANWALL – ELEPHANTRY / NEW!

33. ORSAK:OSLO – IN IRONS / NEW!

32. TANITH – VOYAGE / NEW!

31. SINS OF MAGNUS – SECRETS OF THE COSMOS / NEW!

30. THIS SUMMIT FEVER – DISTRACTION RITUALS / NEW!

29. COUCH WIZARD – FEAR / NEW!

28. SMOULDER – VIOLENT CREED OF VENGEANCE / NEW!

27. SWAN VALLEY HEIGHTS – TERMINAL FOREST

26. RED EYED CULT – UNIT 61 / NEW!

25. CANNABUS – THE MAPLE SPLIFF SESSIONS / NEW!
1143 Points
Stonerrock
Welland, Ontario
Self-released

On hearing the opening track ‘Cannabust’ I felt I was drifting in a Hermit Mage’s meandering, psychoactive dream of weed, acid and fuzz. The next track, a bluesy number called ‘Feeling Alright’ was more scathing but still couldn’t escape the acidic, fuzz knotted sound and I have to tell you, these knots are pulled TIGHT all through THE MAPLE SPLIFF SESSIONS. Seething licks that sizzle and pop as hard as any of the Japanese freak out bands, bite and scratch their way out from the clutches of fuzz leaving each track scarred and pitted. It’s been a while since I’ve heard an album as tight as THE MAPLE SPLIFF SESSIONS, even my tinnitus broke out in an acid sweat.
~ Steve Woodier (Deathrattle Podcast)

24. :NEPAAL – PROTOAEOLIANISM / NEW!
1179 Points
Psychedelic, Space Rock
Hungary
Psychedelic Source Records

Hungarian label Psychedelic Source Records really do have a knack of finding amazing Psych/Spacerock/Stoner seemingly from thin air! :NEPAAL are a five piece instrumental jam band and flex their muscles to lysergic effect over three mammoth jams! Highly worth a listen!
~ Reek of STOOM (Doomed&Stoned, Stoner HiVe)

23. GORILLA PULP – MASK OFF! / NEW!
1422 Points
Rock, Heavy Blues, Stoner Rock
Viterbo, Italy
Self-released

This is a fine album of easy to listen to melodic hard rock songs. It’s catchy, not something that takes repeated listens just to “get it”. In a perfect world the song “Don’t Jump the Fence” would be burning up the rock radio charts. They’d be as popular as a band like The Foo Fighters. I’m just happy that I found out about them and this album.
~ Andy Kovalcik (Bandcamp-NYP-Hard&Heavy)

22. THE EVIL – SEVEN ACTS TO APOCALYPSE / NEW!
1533 Points
Doom, Stoner Metal
Minas Gerais, Brazil
Osmose Productions

An intriguing blend of traditional and proto doom decorated in vocals that range from crooned whispers to soaring operatic arias on an album themed around the seven deadly sins of man, this is epic in every sense of the word.
~ Frazer Jones (Desert Psychlist)

21. BLACK MOON CIRCLE – LEAVE THE GHOST BEHIND / NEW!
1575 Points
Psych, Space, Rock
Trondheim, Norway
Black Moonshine

BLACK MOON CIRCLE‘s latest dark and spacy opus is a jammy masterpiece. These cosmonauts float along while simultaneously laying down crushing riffs and tripped out vibes, making even their ten-minute-plus expeditions over too soon.
~ Kyle SB / Shasta Beast (Stoner HiVe)

20. LUCIFER’S FALL – CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT / NEW!
1620 Points
Doom, Heavy Metal
Adelaide, Australia
Morbid and Missrable Records

LUCIFER’S FALL have unfortunately decided to call it quits but they are still gifting us with the excellent ep ‘CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT.‘ In just five songs and a twenty-five minute run time, this EP gives a great overview of all their eras by showcasing their ability to play a more traditional side of metal, doom, and even faster paced songs. This EP does a spectacular job at giving longtime fans a final farewell while also being a great entry point for new fans.
~ Justin Wittenmeier (Metal Temple, DoomedForMetal)

19. 1782 – CLAMOR LUCIFERI / NEW!
1771 Points
Extreme Doom metal, Very Heavy Rock, Occult
Ossi, Italy
Heavy Psych Sounds Records

The sun is definitely dead and the endless night greets you: “Welcome to the deepest darkness, my friend!” The only luminous character around is Lucifer. Listening to CLAMOR LUCIFERI by 1782 is really entering the Kingdom of Dark Shadows. Heavy fuzzy riffs resonate around you, a distant voice chanting texts written to hit the bigoted minds. This is what I felt while listening to the album, that is also what I felt during the concert of 1782 at the Molotov in Marseilles. Dark, dark and ultimately dark!
~ Thierry “Pumpkin-T“ François (Metal Intégral)

18. SONIC DEMON – VETERANS OF THE PSYCHIC WAR / NEW!
1991 Points
Fuzz Rock, Stoner Metal, Heavy Psych, Acid Fuzz
Italy
Self-released

Heavy fuzzed out psych with all volume levels maxed out at 10! Vocals are a mix of despair and stoned boredom which suit the music. Just when you think your ears cannot take any more, the wah-wah distortion solos are laid over the top of everything to get you head banging just that little bit more frantically. Highly addictive over the top stoner doom goodness! This is the good shit.
~ Tony Maim (Black Insect Laughter, Stoner HiVe)

17. SPOTLIGHTS – ALCHEMY FOR THE DEAD / NEW!
2170 Points
Doomgaze, Shoegaze, Post-Metal
New York, NY
Ipecac Recordings

SPOTLIGHTS are back with their atmospheric, shoegazy take on doom with their latest album, ALCHEMY FOR THE DEAD. This album is gigantic, like a huge shadow overtaking the earth with all the heavy, swirling guitars and their patented Slowdive meets Hum meets Deftones sound that is taken to the next level on the new record. I am baffled why SPOTLIGHTS isn’t a gigantic band… maybe ALCHEMY FOR THE DEAD is what brings them more to the masses.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip)

16. CENTER OF THE EARTH – MARS / NEW!
2286 Points
Stoner, Doom
Tikøb, Hovedstaden
Self-released

Not your typical stoner doom rock by any means, the band’s 2nd studio album channels the menacing riffage and imposing voice of King Buzzo’s “Stag” era through a heavy psychedelic rock jam that hardly gets any better. 3 songs and less than 40 mins of music is the only flaw of this album, which should be easy to fix with a quick follow-up for those of us that can’t get enough of it. Danish bands are doing amazing these days, and this album is a brilliant place to start exploring them today!
~ Ioannis Valiakos (Desert Vulture)

15. PLAINRIDE – PLAINRIDE / NEW!
3010 Points
Cologne, Germany
Stoner Rock, Funk
Ripple Music

There are elements of southern swagger and classic rock bluesiness in what PLAINRIDE, and their numerous guests, bring to the table with their latest opus but you will also find touches of 70’s funkiness and soulful R’n’B making their prescence felt here too with emotianally charged vocals decorating songs that see wacka-wacka guitar refrains sharing space with searing bluesy solos and fuzz drenched desert rock riffage over a variety of rhythmic back drops that can range from fist pumping to dance inducing. If you are looking for an album that documents aspects of rock, blues and soul music from the 70’s right through to the present day while still sounding original and fresh then this is the one you want!
~ Frazer Jones (Desert Psychlist)

14. THE CROOKED WHISPERS – FUNERAL BLUES / NEW!
3052 Points
Psych, Doom
Los Angeles, CA
Ripple Music

A+ mix of sludgy, dark and evil riffs and a great variety of vocal styles. This had me from the start and I cant get it out of my rotation.
~ Ryan Hilton (Black Throne Productions)

13. KARMA VULTURE – SOMETHING BETTER / NEW!
3627 Points
Desert rock, Heavy psych, Hard rock
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Bent Knee Records

KARMA VULTURE have three main colors on their palette: powerful stoner, introspective psychedelism and catchy melodies. These three colors and their thousands of gradients allow a surprising and complete album. After their promising debut EPs, I’ve been hooked by the various tracks of SOMETHING BETTER : grungy hard songs, beautiful psych jams, and in the middle, this flamboyant symphonic ballad entitled Pictures Of The Past. You want to hear something good, you’d better listen to SOMETHING BETTER.
~ Thierry “Pumpkin-T“ François (Metal Intégral)

12. KING POTENAZ – GOAT RIDER / NEW!
3766 Points
Doom, Stoner, Metal
Fasano, Italy
Argonauta Records

“The king isn’t dead, long live the KING POTENAZ“! Bend your hooves, kneel and bow low before his emissary – the Watchman of all raging desert storms, hallucination-causing cosmos mists and occult-spiritual horror spheres from ruins forgotten for a thousand years. If you give your ear to this ghostly, Fire Roller Bike rider, with the goat’s head, its immense imposance will inhale you with body and soul and spit you out again as a refined heap ground to the finest dust. This stunning goat-herding trio from the devilish „ Desert Underworld Of The Two Suns“ had already hooked the fan community with its debut-single in 2022 and made them frenetically tap their feet and crave for more!  Fortunately, the two suns in the aforementioned desert underworld did not have to burn hot and cast crazy shadows for too long before the KING could release his imposing GOAT RIDER with the perfect and uniquely heady drug in the motorcycle tank, to the thirsting, worldly subjects! Brewed from hot blazing and fuzz rubbed desert riffs, hazy creeping doom rock lava, subtle metal occult aggression, a tail of cosmic sphere, passionate vocal power and ramifications into the 70s and 90s, this marvel sends the “subservient addict” into the boundless nirvana of bliss of frenetic foot bobbing and head nodding and “super-wow”!
~ Mel Lie (Sunday’s Heavy Tunes)

11. THE GOLDEN GRASS – LIFE IS MUCH STRANGER / NEW!
3874 Points
Proto, Psychedelic, Classic Rock, Stoner
New York, NY
Heavy Psych Sounds

I have zero musical talent, but if I did, I would want my band to sound just like THE GOLDEN GRASS does on LIFE IS MUCH STRANGER. Think of all those killer proto bands that are showing up in reissues and comps these days (Dust, Farm, Orang-Utan), sprinkled with some Stones/Crowes magic, with touches of prog, psych, Southern, and boogie, all of which makes this record familiar and like nothing else at the same time.  An album of the year candidate for sure.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip)

10. GIÖBIA – ACID DISORDER / NEW!
5110 Points
Psych, Space
Milano, Italy 
Heavy Psych Sounds

GIÖBIA is all about the psychedelic space rock and they have been for a bunch of years now, releasing multiple killer albums and EPs that bend your mind and take you on quite the trip. The latest album from the Milano, Italy space riders is ACID DISORDER, a very fitting title for one of the trippiest albums I have heard this year. This is some excellent psych/space rock with keys, swirling and bending guitars, and other delightful sounds that bring you to the planet that they have been living on where they survive on mushrooms and the explicit knowledge that there is more to what we see with our normal human two eyes.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip)

9. VOID KING – THE HIDDEN HYMNAL / NEW!
6327 Points
Stoner, Doom, Metal
Indianapolis, Indiana
Self-released

VOID KING avoid all the usual cliches associated with doom and stoner metal by making their songs personnel, there are no lyrical tales of virgin’s being sacrificed, no waxing lyrical of a coming apocalypse instead we get songs about relationships, situations and events that we can all readily relate to with those stories being told in powerful grave tones over a backdrop of dank dark refrains and thundering rhythms.
~ Frazer Jones (Desert Psychlist)

8. DOMMENGANG – WISHED EYE / NEW!
6636 Points
Hard Rock, Psych, Prog, Neo-Psych
Portland, Oregon
Thrill Jockey Records

WISHED EYE‘ is a true gift for any 21st century psychedelic lover. Psychotropic moments more typical of Earthless, mix with passages heir to Pink Floyd, and neo-psychedelic tones close to bands like Dead Meadow or All Them Witches, to build a personal sound, with its own essence. The band plays with the elements and the times, to take us to navigate the cosmos or to invite us to a meditative introspection without leaving home. An exquisite, meandering album, in which the magic mushrooms have spread their diethylamide to plunge us into a sensory trance full of incentives. Captivating, velvety, and exuberant, its masterful content seems to open a new path in the band’s compositional exploration.
~ Roberto Lucas (Denpa Fuzz)

7. DANAVA – NOTHING BUT NOTHING / NEW!
6870 Points
Heavy Metal, Classic
Portland, Oregon
Tee Pee Records

DANAVA have always skirted with classic heavy metal in their sound previously, but between production and overall songwriting, it was hard to tell if the band was a stoner rock band that secretly really wanted to be Iron Maiden, or a speed metal band secretly wanting to be Black Sabbath. NOTHING BUT NOTHING settles that big time. The classic heavy metal, dual-lead-guitar-assault is at the forefront on this one. The love of the earliest of 80s metal, Kill ‘em All and Killers-worship, shines proud and true through every note, every speed-fuelled manic drum beat, every shredding lead. You think that solo is done? Wait, they’re going to follow it up with two more right after!! This album is all shred, all the time!
~ Remi VL (Remi Post Too Many Links)

6. MILANA – MILVUS / NEW!
6972 Points
Desert Rock, Stoner Rock, Heavy Rock
Mallorca, Spain
Self-Released

Much like the red kite MILANA’s debut long-player is named after, MILVUS soars on a majestic wingspan, its rufous plumage crests through the air waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Each strike is a captivating display of might and grace, igniting the hearts and minds of all those within sight and earshot, leaving them eagerly anticipating this deft force of nature’s next move; sure enough, every manoeuvre MILANA makes is as powerful and as enthralling as the last right until its colossal, free-falling finale. A record rife with cunning and awe, it is a triumphant milestone for a band swiftly ascending Spain’s hierarchy of heaviness.
~ JC Cansdale-Cook (The MotorFuzzin’ Ibex)

5. FAERIE RING – WEARY TRAVELER / NEW!
11646 Points
Stoner, Doom
Evansville, Indiana
King Volume Records

Indiana based stoner/doomsters FAERIE RING claim the doom album of the month award here at The Mighty Decibel for their sophomore WEARY TRAVELER. Musically, it reminds me of Seventh Star-era Sabbath, great riffs coming in waves supported by memorable melodies. However, in FAERIE RING‘s case they utilize epic vocals giving it a psychedlic aura.  Superb production here too, the bulbous bass work clearly discernible within the clearly thought-out song structures. Doom on people!!!
~ Chris Tighe (The Mighty Decibel)

4. WOLFNAUT – RETURN OF THE ASTEROID / NEW!
11770 Points
Stoner Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Norway
Ripple Music

Including the two albums released under the name of Wolfgang, RETURN OF THE ASTEROID is WOLFNAUT‘s 4th album. The music of the trio is a matter of balance, a balance between killer riffs and catchy melodies, a balance between Stoner rock and Hard rock (even Heavy metal). Here, WOLFNAUT also develops a new doom side, a psych side, and even offers us a ballad … finally, the influences are numerous but the blend is still balanced. It tastes a bit different and remains excellent.
~ Thierry “Pumpkin-T“ François (Metal Intégral)

3. RUFF MAJIK – ELEKTRIK RAM / NEW!
14760 Points
Stoner, Alternative, Psychedelic
Pretoria, South Africa / Cottbus, Germany
Mongrel Records

It’s hard to peg RUFF MAJIK as any one particular musical style, but then again we probably don’t need to! From the band’s inception up until the present day, a large part of their charm has been the eclectic mix of sounds from the heavy underground and beyond; their latest album Eletrik Ram is no exception! RUFF MAJIK have once again ground together a unique blend of musical influences and sprinkled it all over a sticky base of high energy rock ‘n’ roll to produce an album that will leave you wide-eyed and ready to boogie!
~ Brandon Collins (Morbid And Miserable Records)

2. MARGARITA WITCH CULT – MARGARITA WITCH CULT / NEW!
18192 Points
Doom, Stoner, Proto
Birmingham, UK 
Heavy Psych Sounds

If until now you had not heard of them, and you are fans of 70’s proto-metal, or of bands like UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS, from today, the British trio could become one of your favorite bands. Because MARGARITA WITCH CULT bring the fury with their debut album. Born from the murky industrial depths of Birmingham, (aka Sabbath City), the raucous trio pull off a tour-de-force by fusing the fucking energy of NWOBHM with the hidden imagery and heaviness of the rawest, most psychotropic proto-doom. . With direct and thunderous songs, these guys manage to melt your face with heavy-metal hits more typical of Orange Goblin, plunge you into Sabbathic darkness, blind you with riffs more typical of Dozer, or cast a spell on you with the occult spell of the aforementioned Uncle Acid. Because this debut is a devastating album, with incredible gachos, catchy choruses and a bewitching psychedelic atmosphere. A beast with several heads commanded by a raw sound, but extremely magnetic, in a waste of energy and good work.
~ Roberto Lucas (Denpa Fuzz)

1. DOZER – DRIFTING IN THE ENDLESS VOID / NEW!
33640 Points
Stoner Rock, Progressive, Fuzz
Borlänge, Sweden
Blues Funeral Records

Cult stoner rock band DOZER are back with a much anticipated return to the trenches of the heavy underground. While the members remained active, sharpening their tracks in other bands such as the mighty Greenleaf, they’ve graded a new pad of hard and heavy fuzz, throttling drums and finely honed vocals. Some say their meanest effort yet.
~ Bucky Brown (The Ripple Effect)

After enjoying that circling, pounding and groovy guitar sound master Tommi Holappa has been delivering for so many years with this Swedish quartet Greenleaf, you would almost forget that Greenleaf started as a side-project. Well, his other band is back and delivers another dose of stonerrock, that twists with sludge elements and soars with something progressive. It is that sultry, velvet, gliding sound you know from Greenleaf, but DOZER delivers all that heavy magic wrapped in barbed wire and with a flowing current of electricity that runs through your entire body and makes your bones vibrate…
~ Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe)

DOZER is such a part of the Stoner/Doom/Desert DNA that it’s easy to forget how pivotal they were, and with DRIFTING IN THE ENDLESS VOID, still are. DOZER is so deeply ingrained that countless bands seem to be influenced by them, even if they haven’t even heard of them. This album schools a whole new generation on how it’s done.
~ Scott Spiers (CleanAndSoberStoner)

The Doom Charts Mixtape…

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); 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); Jon Cosky (Gravitoyd Heavy Music); 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); Ryan Hilton (Black Throne Productions); 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, The Third Eye); 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.

“Smaller in number are we, but larger in mind.”

~ Yoda