“You see, eventually the Doom Charts will help put an end to war and poverty. It will align the planets and bring them into universal harmony, allowing meaningful contact with all forms of life, from extraterrestrial beings to common household pets…”

~ probably misheard quote by Rufus in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

The Conjunction of the Spheres has this time caused for wonderful things to happen. For you see, the stars have aligned to bring all of you out there the August 2025 Doom Charts! Together with another Bandcamp Friday. So, there goes your paycheck! Cause of the 214 albums that received votes this month, the Top Forty is published and twenty-five of them receive a blurb. Blurbs, a few lines of words to spur you into action. To entice you to listen to the album and by all means, to buy it if you like it… Some day some how… Bandcamp now perhaps?

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. PATRIARCHS IN BLACK – HOME /NEW!

39. BLACK MOON CULT – OPHIDIAN FUTURE /NEW!

38. CHURCH SNAKES – CHURCH SNAKES /NEW!

37. GRUSOM – III /NEW!

36. DEFTONES – PRIVATE MUSIC /NEW!

35. HIGH MASTER – ROAD MAN /NEW!

34. SUNBEARER – UYAGA /NEW!

33. ASTRAL NOMAD – NOMAD-2 /NEW!

32. FARSEER – PORTALS TO COSMIC WOMB /NEW!

31. RISE OF THE WOOD – DISCHARGE /NEW!

30. SAGENESS – INNER EMPIRES /NEW!

29. NETHERLANDS – VAPORS /NEW!

28. ARCADEA – THE EXODUS OF GRAVITY /NEW!

27. TORSO – ANNIHILATION DAY /NEW!

26. IVY GARDENS – DEATH OF DON VALLEY /NEW!

25. MAANTA RAAY – MAANTA RAAY /NEW!
987 Points
Heavy Psych, Stoner, Rock
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
No Sabes Music

Much like its graceful namesake, MAANTA RAAY glides through proto-metal and stoner riffs as well as thick heavy psychedelia like open waters, with the greatest of ease. There’s a gritty garage feel to the vocals and combined with the heavy bottom (of the ocean) end, and a powerful, blues-based lead guitar that roams free, the band creates an outstanding wave of sound for you to behold. Perhaps MAANTA RAAY are just scratching the surface, but the debut is both smooth and wildly energetic, as they chart their own course through the currents of the heavy underground.
~ Jon McGough (Stoner Rock Army, Stoner HiVe, Outlaws Of The Sun)

24. LOMMI – 667788 /NEW!
1113 Points
Stoner, Doom
Gothenburg, Sweden
Majestic Mountain Records

Gothenburg, Sweden’s power trio LOMMI can be described as riffs on riffs on top of riffs with some riffs on their full-length record, 667788, which may be the total number of riffs on the album. The band is not just about riffs, as the eight tracks on the record are heavy and melodic to go along with, you know what, the riffs. A heavy, riff-filled, melodic when required, mashup of Helmet, Pantera, Down, Alice In Chains, Prong, Therapy?, and High On Fire. How’s that for a list of ingredients? Great stuff.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip, Rich & Turbo’s Heavy Half Hour)

23. TOILET SNAKE – BACK FROM THE SEWERS /NEW!
1269 Points
Sludge, Doom, Punk
Milan, Italy
Electric Valley Records, Teschio Dischi

It is a refreshing thing to hear a band get down to business. No bells and whistles, make up or flashy wardrobes. No droning intros with a promise of the big riff that never arrives. Expect loud amps, pounding rhythms and gnarly vocals. Everything that one hopes for when digging into a heavy music release. Less is more as the EP format leaves the listener searching for more venom to inject. One of my favorite EPs of the year, so far. 
~ Bobby Rayfield (Monuments In Ruin, Inherent Records, Mystery Pick)

22. WUCAN – AXIOMS /NEW!
1288 Points
Rock, Hard, Prog, Seventies
Dresden, Germany
Long Branch Records

And as you are enjoying Axioms and you think WUCAN is navigating safely through the waters of the seventies hardrock and prog, they produce some synth and theremin elements, which give the composition a touch of space and krautrock. For even though the use of flute will always remind of Focus and Jethro Tull, the WUCAN four throw entirely different curveballs. Bombastic or danceable, they can move through all avenues with a stage conquering attitude.
~ Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe)

21. AFGHAN HAZE – SERMONS OF FILTH AND DISGUST /NEW!
1494 Points
Sludge, Doom
Connecticut, USA
Self-released

Riffs baby riffs on this one as the Connecticut four piece bludgeon you with their cross of doom and sludge, battering you over the head throughout its 40 minutes. Crushing stuff … one the better doom outings this year to these ears. 
~ Chris Tighe (The Mighty Decibel)

20. EVER AGE – EVER AGE /NEW!
1550 Points
Psych, Rock, Stoner, Blues
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Self-released

Though the band recorded the album in three feet of snow in the harshness of Vancouver, the debut from EVER AGE feels more like a warm summer day. From the opening instrumental track Coldera which feels like daybreak, building until a ruby red sunrise cracks the sky to the serene acoustic Radiant Figure, EVER AGE keeps the day full of psychedelic dreams and bluesy grooves. After the sun sets, you might spin this soundtrack again, basking in the day’s wonderful moments.
~ Jon McGough (Stoner Rock Army, Stoner HiVe, Outlaws Of The Sun)

19. VVARP – POWER HELD IN STONE /NEW!
1700 Points
Stoner Doom, Post-Metal, Stoner Metal
Melbourne, Australia
DHU Records

Wispy ethereal vocals drifting majestically over thrumming grooves of low slow heavy riffage and ponderous pummelling percussion are the ingredients that make up VVARP‘s sprawling new opus “Power Held In Stone“, an album that is as haunting as it is heavy and as majestic as it is muscular.
~ Frazer Jones (Desert Psychlist)

18. WITCHRIDER – METAMORPH /NEW!
2034 Points
Stoner Rock, Alternative Rock 
Graz, Austria 
Fuzzorama Records

Austrian stoner/alternative rockers WITCHRIDER are back with an electrifying new EP titled Metamorph: six energetic tracks that showcase a newfound intensity from the band while building up a solid “wall of sound”. However, if you’re like me and you’re a fan of the band’s saccharine sweet melodies and strong QOTSA vibes (veiled in just a bit of darkness, of course), you’ll be pleased to know that those are very much intact. In short: Metamorph is everything you love about WITCHRIDER, but cranked up to eleven. 
~ Stephanie Zalta (DoomCakes, Screaming From The Heavy Underground)

17. BLACK TONGUE REVEREND – UPSTATE OF MIND /NEW!
2130 Points
Hard Rock, Metal, Stoner Rock, Blues
Albany, New York, USA
Self-released

Stoner, hard rock, metal and blues… That’s Diesel Blues for ya! You can smell the fumes as the smoke wafts from their amps. A touch of doom and a spell of proto and you’ve got a banger of an album called Upstate Of Mind, delivered to ya by the three good ol boys that are known as BLACK TONGUE REVEREND. These tracks, breathe, they have soul, they live. Just listen to opening and absolute smashing When The Reverend Comes To Town and following freak power blues groover 37 West and be entirely intoxicated by their sound…
~ Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe)

16. RED MESS – HI-TECH STARVATION /NEW!
2268 Points
Stoner Rock, Alternative Rock
Berlin, Germany
Noisolution

If you’re at all familiar with RED MESS, you’re well aware that the band expertly marries the most malleable of grooves with intense bursts of barreling stoner riffs and the bite of metal. On their new album Hi-Tech Starvation, RED MESS finds a very captivating meeting point between the doom/punk ferocity of their first full-length album with the grungy stoner meets cool psychedelic flow of their second. The melodic, feel-good interludes are as dreamy as ever, yet the heavy parts have a newfound grit, brimming with coarse but vibrant stoner metal goodness. Hi-Tech Starvation encapsulates everything you love about RED MESS, amplifies it tenfold, and delivers it to you in a fast-paced and concentrated form that will leave you craving more.
~ Stephanie Zalta (DoomCakes, Screaming From The Heavy Underground)

15. GOOD SPIRITS – THE GREENSEER /NEW!
2483 Points
Psych, Rock, Stoner, Alternative
Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
Self-released

I’ve been bragging about ‘ The Greenseer’ since I first heard it and I still stand beside it as being one of the best albums from August. As stated on the bands Bandcamp they took a different direction musically and boy has it paid off! The band holds on to their Alt- Rock beginnings, though the bluesy-psych they incorporate may bring comparisons to bands such as All Them Witches, or the doom-psych element they use comparable to that of Elephant Tree. The result is powerful sing-along choruses surrounded by a colorful background of instrumentation that really feels like its straight from the heart, bringing good vibes and GOOD SPIRITS to all that listen.
~ Jon McGough (Stoner Rock Army, Stoner HiVe, Outlaws Of The Sun)

14. FLORIST – ADRIFT /NEW!
3201 Points
Heavy Psych, Stoner, Doom
Tampa, Florida, USA
Threat Collection Records

If you like your grooves a little raucous and rocking and surrounded by all manner of swirls, whooshes and whirls then FLORIST‘s “Adrift” is the album for you, a mix of Hawkwind-esque spaciousness and old school desert/psych grooviness so cosmic and otherworldly it should be sponsored by NASA.
~ Frazer Jones (Desert Psychlist)

13. GUILD – REIGN /NEW!
3252 Points
Psychedelic, Stoner, Doom
Perth, Australia
Self-released

Perth psychedelic ensemble GUILD‘s debut release “REIGN” is a brooding, twisting behemoth featuring eleven tracks spanning a myriad of genres from the opening Space Rock of “The Sacred Pipe”, through the heavy stoner riffage of “World Full of Monsters” to the Doon-laden trilogy of “Regicide”, GUILD show incredible flair for atmospheric Stoner/Doom that raises “REIGN” to great heights. Excellent debut!
~ Stevie Reek (Howls from The Hollows, Doomed & Stoned, Stoner HiVe)

12. THE BIG RIP – OLYMPUS MONS /NEW!
3302 Points
Stoner, Psych, Rock
Porsgrunn, Norway
Self-released

When the universe is stretched to its inevitable limit, the Big Rip overrides all fundamental forces eventually pulling even atoms apart. THE BIG RIP from Norway carry a similar unstoppable momentum on the four track EP Olympus Mons. The power of the ethereal vocals, soaring clean and clear high above the fray. The expansive heavy-psych essence intermixed with the stoner-based riffs unraveling all of space-time. The gravitational force and structures of the songs themselves, pulling at you as the cosmic inflation is about to end it all. If this was the last thing you heard, it would be a peaceful transition into oblivion.
~ Jon McGough (Stoner Rock Army, Stoner HiVe, Outlaws Of The Sun)

11. SUPERSEED – TREMOR /NEW!
4080 Points
Hard Rock, Stoner, Alternative, Punk
Bristol, UK
Savage Magic Records / Freq Factory Records

SUPERSEED pretty much have it all. All your hard rocking needs that is. Melodies, hooks, kickin guitars, awesome vocals and heavy duty bass and drums holding it all down tight. There isn’t one bad or mediocre song in the batch. These tracks would be great in a live setting I’m sure. Give it a spin.
~ Andy Kovalcik (Bandcamp-NYP-Hard&Heavy)

10. DËRRO – HALCYON /NEW!
4382 Points
Grunge, Stoner
Asheville, North Carolina, USA 
Arcane

The band that has influenced the stoner/doom/desert/whatever genre the most since Kyuss is Alice In Chains. I hear more AIC in newer bands today than just about any of the other giant influences. The debut EP from Asheville, NC band DËRRO is a perfect example.  You get some AIC, some Tool, and some other 90s goodness all over the six tracks on Halcyon. While occasionally straddling the line between AIC and Shinedown, DËRRO leans more towards the good side than the not so good side of that equation for the vast majority of their excellent EP. North Carolina is killing it right now.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip, Rich & Turbo’s Heavy Half Hour)

9. BLACK WATER RISING – THE EDGE /NEW!
6103 Points
Grunge, Hard Rock, Metal, Stoner Rock
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Self-released

There’s something really cool about seeing a band from your own backyard making moves, and BLACK WATER RISING is one of those groups that make you feel connected to where you came from. The Edge delivers a powerful, fresh take on hard rock, featuring impactful riffs and memorable lyrics. The album masterfully fuses rock, grunge, and stoner rock, creating a record that you will want to keep blasting.
~ Michael D’Amato (Playgroundz Rocks, D’Amato Production)

8. GIANT HAZE – COSMIC MOTHER /NEW!
6495 Points
Psychedelic, Stoner Rock 
Kiel, Germany
Tonzonen Records

Cosmic Mother ain’t your Sunday drive—it’s a full-blown sandstorm in stereo. Riffs rougher and dirtier than desert dunes, grungy ‘90s swagger, and a heavy modern punch that hits straight in the chest. GIANT HAZE rise from the smoke of the cosmic tales on a violet‑hazed stage like a bastard lovechild of Kyuss, Fu Manchu, and the Misfits – recorded full old-school, no gimmicks, no gloss, with raw energy that’s alive, breathing, and relentless.  Fuzzed-out tales of loss, black memory holes, toxic suns and cosmic weight delivered with soulful-to-snarling vocals and grooves, thick enough to get stuck in. Plug in and ride—Cosmic Mother doesn’t ask. She commands!
~ Mel Lie (Sunday’s Heavy Tunes)

7. BASK – THE TURNING /NEW!
6984 Points
Doom, Psych, Stoner, Americana
Asheville, North Carolina, USA
Season Of Mist

The new album from Asheville, North Carolina’s BASK is gigantic. That is the best way to describe the fourth album from a band who is very difficult to describe, but one good word to cover what they do is “awesome”. The music on their new album, The Turning, is breathtaking, leveraging everything from doom, heavy psych, post hardcore, and even genres like emo, americana, and folk, all while always being heavy as hell. No band truly sounds like BASK and this point is proven even further with their amazing new record that is a complex, expertly played journey, leveraging the best of multiple genres that makes up BASK’s unique and killer sound.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip, Rich & Turbo’s Heavy Half Hour)

6. MEZZOA – TON 618 /NEW!
8784 Points
Stoner Rock, Hard Rock, Grunge
Oceanside, California, USA
Glory or Death Records

Listening to TON 618, the third album from Californian grungy stoner rockers MEZZOA, is like diving headfirst into a time capsule filled with the music of my youth: grunge, alternative rock, and hard rock, set to a backdrop of buzzing stoner rock with a strong punk/alternative metal influence. While the thirteen tracks of this ultra-high energy album fly by at breakneck speed, I can’t help but be a bit mind blown by just how much soul MEZZOA crams into each song, ensuring each track is as meaningful as it is hard rocking.
~ Stephanie Zalta (DoomCakes, Screaming From The Heavy Underground)

5. TAR PIT – SCRYING THE ANGEL GATE /NEW!
9158 Points
Doom Metal, Stoner Metal, Occult
Portland, Oregon, USA
Transylvanian Recordings

TAR PIT brings the doom on their second release.  And even though it’s been six years since their first release, the band has not lost a step.  Every aspect that was great about their debut shows up here, as well as a few other surprises.  The band has the uncanny ability to interwind doomy riffs with bluesy guitar passages as they combine aspects of funeral doom, epic doom and heavy blues into one organic sound.  Then, for extra effect, they will sometimes blend in eerie Hammond organ chords that hover above the heavy riffs and pounding drums like a glowing green fog over a dark and muddy swamp.  Don Gonzalo sings his hear out on every track, always bellowing out like a man being tortured by the demons of Hell.  And the band is never afraid to pick up the pace within their songs to create a perfectly diverse listening experience.  In short, this is doom the way it’s meant to be played: epic, raw, infectious and never boring. 
~ Jamie Laszlo (Sea of Tranquility)

4. CROP – S.S.R.I /NEW!
10290 Points
Doom, Metal, Sludge
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Sneak Attack Recording Company / Third House Communications

Wow! I was immediately hooked by the CROP’s sophomore album! The band manages the feat of playing sludge metal with extreme tendencies, while maintaining melody and dark psychedelia. The icing on the cake is that I love the singer’s voice, so tense, raspy, and expressive. All of this creates a very unique identity for the band. I don’t need any other reason to rank S.S.R.I at the top of my vote list.
~ Thierry “Pumpkin-Crop“ François (Metal Intégral)

3. HÖG – BLACKHOLE /NEW!
23207 Points
Stoner, Proto, Psych, Garage
Portland, Oregon, USA
RidingEasy Records

What does the debut record from Portland’s HÖG sound like? Like Motörhead if they were more bluesy and had a guitar virtuoso in the band that could shred with anyone doing it today. Like if Grand Funk were more like Judas Priest and AC/DC. Like Blue Cheer on so much speed. Like a brawl between three or four rival motorcycle gangs where everyone walks away with at least something broken. It is not often that a record makes me stop in my tracks like Blackhole did the first time I put it on. All I could muster was “Holy shit”, because the eight songs on this record just kick so much ass. This is 35 minutes of non-stop, killer, filthy action. 
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip, Rich & Turbo’s Heavy Half Hour)

2. SUPERNAUGHTY – APOCALYPSO /NEW!
25201 Points
Stoner, Grunge
Livorno, Italy
Ripple Music

Livorno, Italy’s SUPERNAUGHTY make the leap over to Ripple Music for their third, and best so far, album, titled Apocalypso. These guys are masters of combining killer stoner grooves with all sorts of 90s grunge worship, with some other bits of fun mixed in. On Apocalypso they have perfected their formula with the eight killer tracks that make up their new record. Apocalypso dances its way into eternity with great vocals, killer guitar work, a solid and tight rhythm section, and production that has really captured their sound perfectly.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip, Rich & Turbo’s Heavy Half Hour)

1. BORRACHO – OUROBOROS / NEW!
27820 Points
Stoner, Doom
Washington, DC, USA
Ripple Music

A new BORRACHO record is always reason to celebrate, as the Washington DC riff dealers have been slinging their stuff for almost 20 years now and have never put out anything that was not great, heavy stoner rock awesomeness. BORRACHO is one of the standard bearers of the genre, and their new record, Ouroboros, cements this legacy even further, as the band brings it once again on album number six.  Less political but still socially relevant and relatable to the everyman, the songs on Ouroboros continue to have a strong social message without picking sides, outlining the ills of society while piling on the riffs and the heavy.
~ Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip, Rich & Turbo’s Heavy Half Hour)

The new album OUROBOROS by BORRACHO is another beautifully heavy step in the evolution of the band. The new record continues the progression of the bands songwriting and riff wrangling adventures. This band isn’t slowing down at all, BORRACHO just keeps getting better every record. Moving in a slightly different direction on OUROBOROS, the songs are punchy and heavy and combine what seems like an impossible blend of raw and refined sounds that compel me to play the record over and over again. Borracho manages to bring live energy to this recording, a feat not easily accomplished. The mix is perfect, and each member of the band is outstanding at what they bring to the music. I can’t get enough.  
~ S Patrick Brooks (The Heavy Underground Farm Report, CleanAndSoberStoner)

The Doom Charts Mixtape…

…and on TIDAL as well…

Special thanks to the ongoing contributors to the monthly Doom Chart.  You folks help give voice to the heavy underground:

Adam Walsh (Earmunchies); Andy Kovalcik (Bandcamp-NYP-Hard&Heavy); Ben Bellum (The Greatest Thing You’ve Never Heard); Billy Goate (Doomed & Stoned); Bob “Mr. Weird Beard” Baker (More Fuzz Podcast); Bobby Rayfield (Monuments In Ruin, Inherent Records, Mystery Pick); Brandon Collins (Morbid And Miserable Records); Bucky Brown (The Ripple Effect); Chris Beck (Doom Tomb Podcast); Chris Tighe (The Mighty Decibel); Damien Regnauld (Stoner Freaks Anthology); Édouard Dubuisson (Les chroniques d’Eddy, MetalUniverse); Frazer Jones (Desert Psychlist); Ioannis Valiakos (Desert Vulture); Jacob ‘Reverend Fuzzcut’ Baker (CleanAndSoberStoner, Monster Riff); Jamie Laszlo (Sea of Tranquility); Jay Baner (La Capsule Stoner); JC Cansdale-Cook (The MotorFuzzin’ Ibex); Jim Thompson (Heavy in the Hills); JJ Koczan (The Obelisk); John Gist, (Vegas Rock Revolution / The Doomed & Stoned Show); Jon McGough (Stoner Rock Army, Stoner HiVe, Outlaws Of The Sun); Jonny Pirie (Hour of the Riff); Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe); Jukka ‘Shrike’ Kolehmainen (Psychotropic Caravan, Abhorrence, Shrike’s Playlists); Justin Wittenmeier (DoomedForMetal); Kyle SB (Good Boy PR, Stoner HiVe); Marc-Eric Gagnon (Stonefly Effects); Matthew Hartnett (Seismic-Sounds.com); Matthew Thomas (Taste Nation); Mel Lie (Sunday’s Heavy Tunes); Michael D’Amato (Playgroundz Rocks, D’Amato Production); Mitch Kline (DoomyRiffs.com); Remi VL (Remi Post Too Many Links); Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip, Rich & Turbo’s Heavy Half Hour); Rob Hammer (Rob Hammer, Doom/Stoner/Sludge/Psychedelic); Rod Reinhardt (Captain Beyond Zen); Ronny Dijksterhuis (Stoner HiVe); Ryan Foster (Slightly Fuzzed); S Patrick Brooks (The Heavy Underground Farm Report, CleanAndSoberStoner); Scott Spiers (CleanAndSoberStoner, Monster Riff); Stephanie Zalta (DoomCakes, Screaming From The Heavy Underground); Steve Howe (Outlaws of the Sun); Steve Woodier (Anointing The Sick); Stevie Reek (Howls from The Hollows, Doomed & Stoned, Stoner HiVe); Svempa ‘Doomsday Jesus’ Alveving (Cries From The Underworld); Thierry “Pumpkin-T“ François (Metal Intégral) & Tom Schmahl (Rock Circuz).

Feel free to send in your albums to stonerdoomcharts@gmail.com where they’ll be delegated to all the Contributors 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 and your favorite albums.