“Heavy boots of lead
Fills his victims full of dread
Running as fast as they can
Doom Charts lives again…”

~ probable misheard lyrics by Black Sabbath

We’ve arrived at the third Friday of the month and are here as usual to post the Doom Charts Peroration Post. Filled this time around with no less than 18 amazing albums. Some of those made the Regular July Doom Charts, but received more blurbs than the one we published. SHEEV, two more! HIBERNAUT, three more! That means something right? Get on those if you haven’t already… No less than 194 albums received votes for July, and besides the forty published two weeks ago, you get a small selection of heavy love today. To remind you of the good stuff you already heard or to wet your appetite for something new!

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 and metal albums. The results are compiled and tabulated into the chart which is published on the First Friday of the new month. 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 multiple blurbs were written, and only the one got published… Well, you can peruse that love here…

ATOM JUICE – ATOM JUICE
Psych, Prog
Warsaw, Poland 
Heavy Psych Sounds

I am a sucker for late 60s early 70s psych prog stuff when it is done well. Poland’s ATOM JUICE totally gets it, and that is why their self-titled debut absolutely rules. The six tracks over 40 minutes are part of a trippy journey leveraging all of the killer influences from the bands from that era who perfected that genre (Allmans, Floyd, Beatles), while bringing their own spin and a tad bit of heavy to modernize their sound. I am selling all my shit and joining the cult of ATOM JUICE.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip, Rich & Turbo’s Heavy Half Hour)

BIRDDOG – BIRDDOG
Heavy Rock, Stoner, Doom
Ottawa, Canada
Self-released

Although I didn’t add it to my description, BIRDDOG has the tag “party rock” on their Bandcamp page. It’s a pretty accurate explanation of the rowdy stoner influenced tunes contained within the band’s debut, it’s all about a good time! I can just imagine a small venue with no air conditioning, the beer flowing, the sweat is pouring, and a bar room fight breaks out as the band jams out on stage. The hard-hitting riffs and tempos are accompanied by gritty vocals that make for the perfect pairing. Add on top of that the catchy lyrics and melodies on tracks like Medicine and Nervosis and not only do you have a great album but also a great party!
~ Jon McGough (Stoner Rock Army, Stoner HiVe, Outlaws Of The Sun)

BLACK MAGNET – MEGAMANTRA
Electro Industrial Metal 
Oklahoma City, USA
Federal Prisoner

As I write this blurb, I believe it won’t be able to make it on to the Doom Charts because people don’t often include industrial metal into the heavy rock sphere. However, BLACK MAGNET‘s album Megamantra could be called Industrial Doom, or Electro Sludge, couldn’t it? Anyway I dig this album whose riffs are as heavy as hell, whose atmospheres are as dark as the cosmic void. This is another reason why the Peroration List is useful: opening minds and bringing together Goth fans, Doomsters, and X-treme metalheads. This album can do it!
~ Thierry “Pumpkin-T“ François (Metal Intégral)

FOOT – THE HAMMER
Rock, Grunge, Psych, Stoner
Melbourne, Australia 
Copper Feast Records

The Hammer truly brings the gavel down on some heavy concepts. It’s the result of a 2-years-long creative process that rendered a gritty and unabashedly honest version of FOOT‘S moody signature sound. While still brimming with the energy, robust riffs, and atmospheric reprieves the band is known for, each song has an air of confrontation, generating the notion of facing one’s hardships in a candid and confident manner, an encounter that was perhaps a long time coming. In the way, The Hammer will not only hook the listener with its delightfully tempestuous grooves, but it has a powerful way of inspiring introspection, tenacity, and self-reliance. 
~ Stephanie Zalta (DoomCakes, Screaming From The Heavy Underground)

FUCK THE FITZROY DOOM SCENE – SALVATION
Stoner Rock, Alternative Rock
Melbourne, Australia
Inverted Records

I think it’s safe to say that Australia is the birthplace of a kind of stoner rock, with a truly unique identity on the current  international scene. And the Melbourne band FUCK THE FITZROY DOOM SCENE is a worthy representative. Besides the ironic name, whose unexpected origins are almost legendary, the band also shares with the local stoner scene a solid but staggered way to approach stoner that I find quite typical of Melbourne, if we compare with Dr. Colossus. And Salvation, their new album, the third since 2014, is the perfect illustration of this. It draws on multiple influences, explores a wide variety of genres, mixes the vocals of the four musicians, and brings it all together to create an uninhibited, refreshing album, full of infectious energy and sensitivity. And above all, it has a flawless musical coherence that will please the most demanding listeners and all others!
~ Jay Baner (La Capsule Stoner)

GAUPA – FYR
Stoner, Psychedelic Rock, Progressive Rock
Falun, Sweden
Nuclear Blast Records

GAUPA probably get bored hearing how vocalist Emma Näslund sounds like Björk, so let’s just get this out of the way: she does, let’s all deal with it, because GAUPA is one of the coolest bands out there, blending all sorts of musical inspiration into their version of stoner/psych rock. You get some folk, you get some soul, some 90s alt rock, you get all sorts of good stuff, but for this release, you get (only) four tracks of more GAUPA goodness on the mini album, Fyr. There is zero reason why GAUPA doesn’t take the next step as a band in popularity with these four songs, similar to what Messa did with their new record this year.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip, Rich & Turbo’s Heavy Half Hour)

HEBI KATANA – IMPERFECTION
Doom, Proto, Hard Rock 
Tokyo, Japan 
Ripple Music

HEBI KATANA can call their new record Imperfection, but it is as close to the opposite as a band can get at this point in their career. The trio has always been a DIY machine that gives you their material, warts and all, at a fast clip, which to me is a big part of the charm of the band. Signing to Ripple has not eliminated that vibe but has actually enhanced it, giving the listener the best written, best played, and best sounding HEBI KATANA album till date, but still allowing for that DIY sound and ethos to shine through. Some killer proto doom goodness all the way from the land of the rising sun. 
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip, Rich & Turbo’s Heavy Half Hour)

HIBERNAUT – OBSIDIAN EYE
Stoner Metal, Progressive, Sludge
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Olde Magick Records

So far, Obsidian Eye is looking like an easy #1 on my Doom Charts for July. This also puts HIBERNAUT in the running for Album of the Year as we tumble into the second half of 2025. Full disclosure: Obsidian Eye might be too intense for the casual listener. Each of the album’s 6 songs flows together seamlessly, and without a break. Which means there’s no respite, no chance to breathe between each onslaught of Stoned-Out Metal.
~ Scott Spiers (CleanAndSoberStoner, Monster Riff)

HIBERNAUT have crafted an epic album in every sense of the word. Massive in scope, with a wild and visual storyline, huge riffs that quake and shake, and an impressive balance of genres as the SLC crew weave through bludgeoning sludge and heavy psych explorations. These guys have cooked up something special with Obsidian Eye, an iconic testament to the sense of adventure at the core of heavy metal.
~ Kyle SB (Good Boy PR, Stoner HiVe)

“Obsidian Eye,” takes everything that was great about their debut and injects it with steroids and gunpowder.  The foundation of their stoner/psychedelic tendencies remain intact but their sludgy doom has turned into a whole never lifeform.  Seriously, this album is intense as hell and surprisingly aggressive.   Of course, with the subject matter asking the question of “who decides to die” then the music is going to be very abrasive!  The album, according to the band, is a conceptual journey into death, decay and the perversion of rebirth…heavy subject matter!   The production/mix is on fucking point too.  It has a bottomless feel to it, which helps the guitars/bass sound deeper than the ocean.  But the drums and vocals don’t get lost in this seemingly endless immensity—both are very pervasive and powerful.  I usually listen to music in my car or with a pair of headphones; no matter what way I chose with this album, I could feel my atoms vibrating apart as their wall of sound smacked into my body.
~ Justin Wittenmeier (DoomedForMetal)

LES MAZOETANS – MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM HANOI
Rock, Garage, Surf, Noise, Punk, Blues
Netherlands
Self-released / Forbidden Place Records / Sounds Haarlem Likes Vinyl

Another project by Jeroen Ligter and Pieter Holkenborg. This time joined by Xavier Teerling. Names you might know from other bands they play in together or apart from each other, like Geishas of Doom, Atlanta, Automatic Sam, Kintsugi Empire and Suit And Tie Johns. This time they turn their garage into even more of the trashcan variation and infuse it with surf oriented guitar work. Distorted noisy vocals and mouth harp weirdness turn a few moments into something The Stooges could have produced. And there’s a lot of that ramshackle attitude that Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is known for. Cause there’s blues there as well, the growling, the stomping kind. The kind that only a wild man can deliver, completely feral and baring teeth.
~ Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe)

MOSARA – RUMOUR OF A FUNERAL
Sludge, Doom Metal
Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Self-released

“Rumour of a Funeral,” is a pretty extreme album. I can hear some elements of post and sludge in it too, which only adds to the album’s potent mix of doomed melancholy and crushing sonic palpitations. Of course, doom isn’t the happiest genre but that doesn’t mean it can’t be emotional—this album definitely is. After all, not all emotions are happy ones! The whole album is suffocating and not just in the oppressive atmosphere for dense riffs but also in the production and mix. It sounds absolutely immense and palpable….the audio version of a panic attack that precedes a bought of depression. Doom is easily my favorite genre of all time and I love when a band embraces the sounds of darkness—MOSARA not only embraces but chokes it to death. Making death dead is no easy feat and the results are frightening.
~ Justin Wittenmeier (DoomedForMetal)

MYWITCHMYBLOOD – DYING SKY
Doom, Sludge, Drone
Oklahoma City, USA
Self-released

After last year’s cool sludgy doom effort ‘Yetzer Hara’, MYWITCHMYBLOOD are back with a new 3 track ep titled ‘Dying Sky‘, with clocks in at 24 minutes. The first track is another masterful combination of doom and sludge, just a few notches better than before. The big surprise lies in the other two tracks, with the second one being a dark and brooding acoustic ballad that creeps under your skin big time and the third one displaying some of the finest atmospheric drone known to mankind. Impressive stuff that makes me wonder where they’ll be heading next.
~ Ronny Dijksterhuis (Stoner HiVe)

PHARAOH OVERLORD – LOUHI
Psychedelic rock, Drone
Pori, Finland
Rocket Recordings / Ektro Records

This krautrockish slow monolith is constructed from a single riff, with guitars, synths, hurdy-gurdy and what have you. Usual suspects of Jussi Lehtisalo and Tomi Leppänen are responsible, but also Aaron Turner (Sumac, Isis, Old Man Gloom) and Richard Dawson join the fold. They say they wanted “to explore or maybe even recreate the feeling one of our favourite albums: Tony Conrad with Faust – Outside The Dream Syndicate, from 1973” and I dare say they’ve definitely explored something. With the exception of the surprise growley vocals, this was exactly what I was expecting to hear from the band, or rather I wasn’t surprised to hear this album. After forays into Italo-disco, synth-pop and folk music, it shouldn’t come as a surprise they’re going into a totally different direction.
~ Jukka ‘Shrike’ Kolehmainen (Psychotropic Caravan, Abhorrence, Shrike’s Playlists)

SEEDY JEEZUS – DAMNED TO THE DEPTHS
Progressive, Stoner, Acid, Psychedelic
Melbourne, Australia
Label Brown Music / Lay Bare Recordings / Echodelick Records

The 3rd album by SEEDY JEEZUS (definitely joined by Mr. Tony Reed) is a masterpiece of Heavy Psych Rock. It is difficult not to think that the band has catched the spirit of Pink Floyd from the years 73-77 in several tracks. Composed and written on the theme of mourning, music and lyrics are particularly charged with emotion. Note that the B-side of the album is a magnificent suite divided into 7 movements which allows you to appreciate all the intelligence and talent of the band. From A to Z, Damned To The Depths is fascinatingly beautiful!
~ Thierry “Pumpkin-T“ François (Metal Intégral)

SHEEV – ATE’S ALCHEMIST
Progressive Doom, Progressive Metal
Berlin, Germany
Ripple Music

SHEEV is one of the best examples of prog stoner metal out there today. From the stoner side, we have the riffs, and a ton of them. From the prog side, we have some serious playing skills and cool tempo changes. From the metal side, we have an excellent heavy back-end rhythm section, a killer groove, and excellent soaring vocals. All of this and more makes album number two for the band, and first on Ripple Music, Ate’s Alchemist, a lesson in what complex and heavy, yet extremely accessible metal is all about. These riff scientists prepare and deliver to you nine killer tracks of stoner prog, direct from their lab, to cure whatever ails ya.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip, Rich & Turbo’s Heavy Half Hour)

From Germany, Israel, Nepal, (from Thailand for the new guitarist), SHEEV is a band of cultural mixing but above all it is a musical mixing. Ate’s Alchemist is a cocktail of progressive rock, psych rock and stoner metal. For some tracks, the comparison would be to King Buffalo in hard version. The album requires several listens to be fully appreciated because each listen reveals new subtleties. Don’t be afraid to tame this wild animal!
~ Thierry “Pumpkin-T“ François (Metal Intégral)

STEINSOPP – GOLOKA SESSIONS
Heavy Psych, Heavy Blues, Stoner
Oslo, Norway
King Volume Records

For their fifth release Goloka Sessions, Norwegian stoner psych band STEINSOPP makes no bones about the album being the result of “five humanoids with loud equipment get(ting) properly intoxicated in a cabin. Shenanigans ensue.” While this album is inarguably jammy, it’s incredibly listenable, offering a hypnotic blend of massively thick, scuzzy riffs, trippy lyrics, and otherworldly vibes that will mentally transport you to another realm. 
~ Stephanie Zalta (DoomCakes, Screaming From The Heavy Underground)

STONEGAZER – THRESHOLD
Stoner Metal, Heavy Blues, Doom
Tampere, Finland
Kozmik Artifactz

Heavy blues flecked metal and doom that also features some nice grunge-like texturing, vocals are big with an edgy southern rock raspiness, guitar tones are a mix of swirling lead work and crunchy chord progressions and the bass and drums grooves are a delicious blend of tightness and swing. If you like what you hear on “Threshold” make sure to go back and check out this Finnish bands previous work, you wont be disappointed.
~ Frazer Jones (Desert Psychlist)

TRAINER – OH, MANDY
Rock, Noise, Punk
Saarbrücken, Germany
Fidel Bastro / Broken Silence

Some bands know how to do things the proper way and get you all psyched before you’ve even heard those first tones… Those first piano keys… And often, they turn out to be the old soldiers. The old punks. Evoking memories of a lovely Barry Manilow, selling tea towels as merch and musically turning on every screw, yes, TRAINER belongs to that selection of bands. The four geezers from Germany deliver their tunes with two guitars, drums and a vocalist. And on their second album Oh, Mandy they hand you almost forty minutes of punk. But it’s a funky bunch, experimental, noisy on occasion, more wave related at other times or even moshing through hardcore slam dance territory, but always slightly manic and blazing a trail of rage and melody. Choppy by default, you’re being cast about like a ragdoll in a washing machine. Which seems fitting for the emotional charge; turbulent, anger, frenzy. It’s all there as the four translate personal strife and difficulties as well as world wide issues.
~ Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe)

WE LOST THE SEA, A SINGLE FLOWER
Instrumental Post Rock
Sydney, Australia
Bird’s Robe Records

For the past few weeks, my musical attention has been particularly captured by Australian bands. Among them, WE LOST THE SEA, from Sydney. Although they have released five albums since 2012, it was only with this latest one that I discovered them, and their progressive instrumental progressive post-rock did not leave me indifferent, to say the least. I must admit they know how to captivate anyone who decides to let themselves drift into their musical universe, which is both powerful and melodious. Each time I listen to the six tracks that make up the album, it’s like almost a mystical journey, during which my consciousness seems to gradually slips away. She wander with great pleasure among the melodies before gradually but completely merging with the music, particularly the last track, “…BLOOD WILL HAVE BLOOD,” which lasts nearly half of the 1 hour and 10 minutes of the experience. So be careful, because even though this album is called A SINGLE FLOWER, its delightful fragrance is a heady one.
~ Jay Baner (La Capsule Stoner)