“Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames…”

~ Mevlana Celaddiin-i Rumi

There’s no denying it. The monthly regular edition of the Doom Charts is what this thing we do is all about… It is also what you heavy rock enthusiasts are waiting for. And we thank you all for it. But we hope, the small contingent of followers that also dig that other monthly post, are as thankful as we are for the Peroration Post. Cause very often, one of the many Doom Charts Contributors, has found that one album the rest somehow had not. She or he then dediced to vote for it and immediately send in a blurb. The result, the rest reads it, hears it and falls as much in love with it as the one with the initial spark… So, consider the TWELVE blurbs below as that, the possible spark that might ignite a lifelong infatuation with a certain album… Let’s not dally, let’s fan that heavy rock flame!

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 on the First Friday of the new month, 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 are in love with that one album, that many decided to send blurbs for it, and only one got published… Cause we only publish the one blurb… Well, you can peruse that love here…

BLACK AIR – IMPENDING BLOOM
Rock, Post, Doom, Atmospheric, Jazz, Instrumental
Vienna, Austria
Self-released

Impending Bloom, has been spinning ever since its release, always whenever the need arose to hear something that was able to paint this forlorn, nightly or blue hour before the dawn atmosphere. The Austrian quartet are highly skilled at providing you with a solemn soundtrack for a night of introspection, directing you, with gestures belonging to a slow waltz, towards a horizon filled with insights. The combination of post rock, doom, jazz, and all sorts of atmospheric influences, borrowing from folk and Americana turns it all into a new kind of genre. We are tempted to call this Alpine Noir, like the mountains is all sounds so tall, huge and yet so serene and calm. Glowing yet chilling and when almost tortured chords howl across languid progressing and subtle buzzing melodies, you feel much more and can see that even that blue hour before the dawn eventually gets brushed away by strokes of light…
~ Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe)

CAVERN DEEP – PART II – BREACH
Doom Metal, Heavy Psych
Umeå, Sweden
Bonebag Records

CAVERN DEEP are musicians and lyricists but they are also storytellers and with “Part II-Breach” they have taken that part of themselves to a whole other level. “Breach” is the continuation of the story they started with their debut “Cavern Deep” only this time doomier, denser, darker and more magnificent. “Part II-Breach” is the sort of album end of year lists were made for.
~ Frazer Jones (Desert Psychlist)

DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE – SYSTEMIC
Doom
Melbourne, Australia
Invada Records

This is real Doom in many regards. Not that any other form or band isn’t real, it’s just that DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE has the uncomfortable ability to express themselves as indigenous people and write music that reflects what it feels like to be themselves. But that’s when things get scary: they also write what it would be like if majority of populations had to experience any sense of objective, detached, universal justice. If that’s not DOOM, then I don’t know what is.
~ Scott Spiers (CleanAndSoberStoner)

DREAD SPIRE – ENDLESS EMPIRE EP
Sludge, Doom
Davis, California
Self-released

Davis, California’s DREAD SPIRE lay down thick, grimy sludge that’s “dense by even genre standards, quaking and rumbling with a physical weight that’s conjured from an imposing effects setup for vocalist Richie’s bass guitar, accompanied by an onslaught of drumming from Erol behind the kit. ‘Endless Empire‘ is their debut EP, but the musicianship and sonic largesse that’s contained within certainly doesn’t sound like a first effort. Across four tracks of doomed sludge, the duo unleash an avalanche of riffs and drums, with a burly but technical delivery that crushes and grooves without letup.
~ Kyle SB / Shasta Beast (Stoner HiVe)

ETERNAL ROT – MORIBOUND
Blackened Death Metal
UK
Godz ov War Productions

You want skull krushing heaviness akin to facing a wall of bulldozers coming your way? If so, check out Moribound the third full length from ETERNAL ROT. This six tracker lays waste to everything in its path instrumentally and when you add the mumbling croaks at the mic, there you have a record that is destined to be embraced only by the most hardened of metalheads. You have been warned!
~ Chris Tighe (The Mighty Decibel)

THE FAR OUTS – THE FAR OUTS
Garage, Psych Rock
Brisbane, Australia
Rebel Waves/Ripple Music

So, Ripple Music’s offshoot label Rebel Waves is putting out a 60s style garage rock band from Australia that has members of Grand Atlantic? Yes please. There are a lot of bands that claim they are playing this style and mostly it sounds like the Black Keys. THE FAR OUTS are the real deal. From the production, the playing, the lyrics, it’s all the real deal time machine stuff you want those other bands to be. Let’s party!
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip)

GATEWAY – GALGENDOOD
Death, Doom, Metal
Bruges, West Flanders, Belgium
Transcending Obscurity Records

The riffs are just the screams of the unforgiven and the other instruments are the rapidly dying heart beats of the lost. GATEWAY’s ‘Galgendood’ is a potent death/doom album that is as depraved and unnerving as it is heavy and monolithic. Doom tends to be dark and depressing but this album is just messed up and releases things not meant for mortal senses. A huge success for the genre this year.
~ Justin Wittenmeier (Metal Temple, DoomedForMetal)

HEAVY MOON – ASTRAL BLACKOUT
Progressive Rock/Space Rock
Toronto, Ontario
Self-released

I keep hearing about all those UFOs and wonder if the aliens have arrived yet. If they have, the Canadian multi-instrumentalist Jakob Rehlinger has probably already made contact. His project HEAVY MOON blends prog and space rock in a highly satisfying way on Astral Blackout, with six tracks of excellent instrumental jams. The sounds are psychedelic, bluesy, and extraterrestrial. If you have a sweet tooth for space rock, this album is for you.
~ Nick Pipitone (The Third Eye, Monster Riff)

HEBI KATANA – ORANGE EP
Doom, Stoner Metal, Hard Rock
Tokyo, Japan
Self-released

Deightfully sneery clean vocals, crunching Sabbathian guitar refrains and thrusting bass and drum rhythms, yes you can argue that the production is a little raw and feral but you can also argue that it is this that is also it’s greatest asset. You also get a pretty nailed down and gnarly version of Kyuss’ “Green Machine” so stop your moaning about production values and just enjoy!
~ Frazer Jones (Desert Psychlist)

HEBI KATANA is a band I’ve kept an eye on for the past few years, and they never disappoint. They call their music “samurai doom,” but I think it’s really just good Seventies-inspired hard rock and stoner metal. The band brings the fuzz, the rock attitude, and energy of fellow countrymen Church of Misery on Orange EP, another excellent offering from these Japanese stoners. And did I mention the last track is a cover of the Kyuss classic “Green Machine”? What more could you want?
~ Nick Pipitone (The Third Eye, Monster Riff)

HOWL AT THE SKY – IN LINE FOR THE END TIMES
Hard Rock, Heavy
USA
Self-released

This album could only be recorded by an American band! HOWL AT THE SKY, it’s four bearded guys who love powerful riffs and stadium anthems. « In Line For The End Times » (and his terribly true artwork) will hang you by the hand to take you into the 80s, when Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and all stadiums rockers ruled on Earth. A real true time travel!
~ Damien Regnauld (Stoner Freaks Anthology)

JEREMIAH A.D. – UNFIT TO LEAD
Alt-metal, Nu metal, Doom metal, Sludge
Birmingham, England, UK
Self-released

JEREMIAH A.D. plays a kind of alternative metal that has its roots in doom and sludge. I’m very impressed with how the harsh words of Unfit To Lead match with the music. There are high peaks of dramatic tension on this EP. Based on doom riffs, the atmospheres alternate between calm, softness and explosive violence, just as the way of singing varies between clear voice and throat screaming. Open-minded doomsters (we all are!) and fans of Tool will dig it.
~ Thierry “Jeremiah-T“ François (Metal Intégral)

MIZMOR – PROSAIC
Blackened Doom Metal
Portland, Oregon
Profound Lore Records

While not as angry or cavernous as the masterpiece that is the previous full length, ‘Cairn,’ this latest album from MIZMOR entitled , ‘Prosaic’ still brings more than enough doom and gloom. It is also mixed with the searing edges of black metal so even while it suffocates you, it rips you to pieces. The atmosphere is palpable but there seems to be an intense focus on the music, a zeroing in on what makes the project so special in the first place. Blackened doomy sorrow with a powerful purpose.
~ Justin Wittenmeier (Metal Temple, DoomedForMetal)

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); Damien Regnauld (Stoner Freaks Anthology); 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 (Heavy Galaxy); 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.