Rolling Stoner/Psych 2020

Yeah I keep checking every few weeks to see if they'd gone up there yet, was really happy Colour Haze is now available there via Ripple so I could finally get their album from last year. Do you know if they'll be releasing any live stuff? Or just the studio albums? I want to get that Duma Jam live album.

But thanks!

I'm told the plan is for Ripple to reissue them every few months, and Stefan is remastering In Her Garden (2017) next. Not sure about live albums.

The Silence - Electric Meditations is real good! Psychedelic rock with sax and flutes always winning

Haha, I need to check that out. I'm annoyed that they stopped releasing their new albums on CD after the first two.

I should've said JAPANESE psych rock which is even more of a win. They only release vinyl now?

Well digital too, but they haven't done CD versions of their two most recent albums.

I mean, I'm fully aware that complaining about physical release formats in 2020 is old man yelling at clouds/first world problems, but it's annoying when a band starts out releasing CDs but just stops, even though they are still on the same label. But Drag City in general has been really inconsistent this year about which releases do and do not get CDs, I don't know how much of that is artist driven or the label itself looking at numbers.

Fester's Lucky 13 & Year-End Summary
https://fastnbulbous.com/lucky-20/

https://fastnbulbous.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-lucky-13.jpg

Nice list! Glad to see some love for that terrific Molassess record, I dug that one a lot.

Thanks. Weird, I know that Japan has been one of the last holdouts -- as of last time a friend of mine was there a couple years ago, CD stores were still going strong in Japan. Perhaps it's finally ending now.

99% of my purchases are mostly digital Bandcamp downloads, except for a few reissues with liner notes with print too small for me to read anyway.

Here's my ballot for the Stoner Hive poll.

1. Motorpsycho - The All Is One
2. Elder – Omens
3. Molassess - Through The Hollow
4. Colour Haze – We Are
5. The Sonic Dawn - Enter The Mirage
6. Lord Buffalo - Tohu Wa Bohu
7. We Here Now - The Chikipunk Years EP
8. Rose City Band - Summerlong
9. Shaman Elephant - Wide Awake But Still Asleep
10. Causa Sui – Szabodelico
11. Kings Of The Valley – Kings Of The Valley
12. Kimono Drag Queens - Songs Of Worship
13. Coogans Bluff - Metronopolis
14. Turtle Skull – Monoliths
15. Karkara - Nowhere Land
16. Population II - À La Ô Terre
17. Slift – Ummon
18. Lykantropi - Tales To Be Told
19. Witchwood - Before The Winter
20. All Them Witches - Nothing As the Ideal
21. Vitskär Süden – Vitskär Süden
22. Fuzz – III
23. Uffe Lorenzen - Magisk Realisme
24. Acid Mess - Sangre De Otros Mundos
25. Hollow Ship - Future Remains
26. Places Around The Sun – Places Around The Sun
27. Oh Sees - Protean Threat
28. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - KG
29. The Earth Below – Nothing Works Vol. 2: Hymns For Useless Gods
30. Puta Volcano - Amma
31. Enigma Experience – Question Mark
32. Wild Tinderbox - Hardboiled Fire
33. Dead Quiet – Truth And Ruin
34. REZN – Chaotic Divine
35. Elephant Tree – Habits
36. Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol - Burger Babes...FROM OUTER SPACE!
37. Dune Sea – Moons Of Uranus
38. Troll Teeth – Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing
39. Cortez – Sell The Future
40. The Death Wheelers – Divine Filth
41. The Burning Brain Band – The Burning Brain Band
42. Kairon; IRSE! – Polysomn
43. Ozric Tentacles – Space For The Earth
44. Stone From The Sky – Live In La Grange
45. Elden – Nostromo
46. Vespero – The Four Zoas
47. Lord Loud – Timid Beast
48. Øresund Space Collective – Four Riders Take Space Mountain
49. Lowrider – Refractions
50. Bantha Rider – Binary Sunset Massacre
51. Sons Of Otis – Isolation
52. Heavy Moon – Abuse Your Delusions Part I
53. Kanaan – Double Sun
54. Heavy Moon – Abuse Your Delusions Part II
55. Crystal Spiders – Molt
56. Bill Fisher – Mass Hypnosis and the Dark Triad
57. 10 Code – Ride
58. The Absurd – The Sun Still Rises
59. Mountain Tamer – Psychosis Ritual
60. Ikitan – Twenty-Twenty EP
61. Grin – Translucent Blades
62. Pharaoh Overlord – 6
63. Doctors Of Space – First Treatment
64. Polymoon – Caterpillars Of Creation
65. Black Helium – The Wholly Other
66. The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol – Berserkir Volume One
67. The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol – Berserkir II
68. Kanaan – Odense Sessions
69. Swamp Lantern – Phantasms
70. Narla – Till The Weather Changes
71. Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets – Live At The Roundhouse
72. Sun Crow – Quest For Oblivion
73. Bogwife – Halls Of Rebirth
74. The Brothers Keg – Folklore, Myths and Legends of The Brothers Keg
75. Ape Skull – Fields Of Unconscious
76. The Kings Of Frog Island – VI
77. Kitchenwitch – Earth And Ether
78. Mothers Of The Land – Hunting Grounds
79. Slomosa – Slomosa
80. The Swell Fellas – The Big Grand Entrance
81. Häxan – Aradia
82. Occult Hand Order – The Chained The Burned The Wounded
83. Witchrider – Electrical Storm
84. Döda Havet – Tid och rum
85. Thammuz – Into The Great Unknown
86. Lord Fowl – Glorious Babylon
87. Green Druid – At The Maw Of Ruin
88. Familiars – All In Good Time
89. Hair Of The Dog – It’s Just A Ride
90. Dixie Goat – There’s No Light Without Darkness
91. Moon Goose – The Wax Monster Lives Behind The First Row Trees
92. Humulous – The Deep
93. Temple Of The Fuzz Witch – Red Tide
94. Phe – Glooming Dawn
95. Radar Men From The Moon – The Bestial Light
96. KIND – Mental Nudge
97. Hammada – Atmos
98. Stone Machine Electric – The Inexplicable Vibrations of Frequencies Within the Cosmic Netherworld
99. Temple Fang – Live At Merleyn
100. Orbital Junction – Egos And Instincts

Cool list, thanks. I haven't heard most of these but based on those I have the Lowrider is too low imo.

Needs the new Kansas album ;-)

Lots of great stuff on here not really getting traction anywhere else, even if all my faves are way too low! Cool list fnb; you're a real one, for sure...

Here's a list from one of my Doom Charts geezers, who has good FB discussion group and also contributes at https://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/. There were at least a dozen new discoveries for me. My fave might be Automitism.

Remi's Top 100 Albums of 2020
1. Elder - Omens (heavy psych/progressive stoner)
2. Psychonaut - Unfold the God Man (post-metal/sludge)
3. Motorpsycho - The All Is One (prog/psych)
4. Dead Quiet - Truth and Ruin (sludge/proto-metal)
5. Huntsmen - Mandala of Fear (americana metal/prog metal)
6. Transit Method - The Madness (modern rock/progressive rock)
7. The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic (prog metal/post-metal)
8. Slift - Ummon (prog rock/space rock)
9. Protest The Hero - Palimpsest (math metal/prog metal)
10. Gargoyl - Gargoyl (math-metal/grunge)
11. Lowrider - Refractions (stoner rock)
12. Rookie - Rookie (70s rock/pop-rock)
13. Shaman Elephant - Wide Awake But Still Asleep (progressive rock)
14. Familiars - All In Good Time (heavy psych)
15. Melted Bodies - Enjoy Yourself (heavy metal, experimental)
16. Elden - Nostromo (stoner rock/hard rock)
17. The Night Flight Orchestra - Aeromantic (AOR rock)
18. Freeways - True Bearings (classic heavy metal)
19. Dead Lord - Surrender (hard rock)
20. Vitskär Süden - Vitskär Süden (stoner/heavy psych)
21. Lykantropi - Tales To Be Told (psych/folk)
22. Bambara - Stray (post-punk/noise-punk)
23. Howling Giant/Sergeant Thunderhoof - Turned to Stone Chapter 2 (heavy psych/prog stoner)
24. Dead Sun - A/B (post-hardcore, slowcore)
25. Mother's Cake - Cyberfunk! (modern rock/progressive rock)
26. Wailin' Storms - Rattle (post-punk/noise/americana)
27. Haken - Virus (heavy progressive rock)
28. UUBBUURRUU - UUBBUURRUU (heavy psych/stoner rock)
29. Country Westerns - Country Westerns (americana/college rock)
30. Wytch Hazel - III: Pentecost (heavy metal, prog rock)
31. Autocatalytica - Powerclashing Maximalism (prog metal, tech metal0
32. Elephant Tree - Habits (stoner/doomgaze)
33. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - X: The Godless Void and Other Stories (indie rock/alternative rock)
34. Maggot Heart - Mercy Machine (post-punk/noise-rock)
35. Dboy - New Records in Human Power (punk rock n roll)
36. Narla - Till The Weather Changes (heavy psych, stoner rock)
37. The Nude Party - Midnight Manor (psych/garage)
38. The Unfit - The Unfit (grunge/punk)
39. All Them Witches - Nothing as the Ideal (heavy psych/stoner)
40. Kaskadeur - Uncanny Valley (prog-rock, psych rock)
41. Kings of the Valley - Kings of the Valley (heavy psych, progressive stoner)
42. Daydream - Mystic Operative (garage punk, hardcore punk)
43. Valkyrie - Fear (hard rock/heavy prog)
44. Kadavar - The Isolation Tapes (heavy psych, progressive rock)
45. Phoxjaw - Royal Swan (post-punk/post-hardcore)
46. Slomosa - Slomosa (desert rock)
47. Blacklisters - Fantastic Man (noise-rock)
48. Sun Crow - Quest for Oblivion (stoner, doom)
49. Troll Teeth - Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing (progressive sludge, heavy metal)
50. Kimono Drag Queens - Songs of Worship (psych rock, prog rock)
51. Idles - Ultra Mono (post-punk)
52. Chronus - Idols (heavy metal/heavy prog)
53. Gouts - Big Horse I Love You (instrumental stoner/heavy post-rock)
54. Mountain Caller - The Truthseeker (instrumental heavy post-rock, heavy psych)
55. Khan - Monsoons (instrumental progressive stoner)
56. New Primals - Horse Girl Energy (noise-rock/dance-punk)
57. Deftones - Ohms (metal, post-hardcore)
58. Arcadian Child - Protopsycho (psych rock/stoner)
59. GoGo Penguin - GoGoPenguin (nu-jazz, post-rock)
60. High Spirits - Hard To Stop (proto-metal, heavy metal)
61. The Lemon Twigs - Songs for the General Public (indie rock/glam rock)
62. Places Around The Sun - Places Around The Sun (desert rock/modern rock)
63. Yardsss - ∅∀‡ | Cultus (dark ambient, post-rock)
64. Arcing Wires - Prime (progressive rock, jazz rock)
65. Lord Buffalo - Tohu Wa Bohu (heavy psych/americana)
66. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Viscerals (stoner, noise-rock)
67. Molassess - Through the Hollow (progressive rock, heavy psych)
68. Forming The Void - Reverie (progressive doom/stoner)
69. King Gorm - King Gorm (heavy psych/prog metal)
70. Mount Hush - Mount Hush (stoner rock/heavy psych)
71. Rafael Denardi - Two Handfuls of Rock (stoner rock)
72. Holy Fawn - The Black Moon (heavy post-rock/blackgaze)
73. Gaytheist - How Long Have I Been On Fire? (hardcore, noise-rock)
74. The Bloody Mallard - Realm (instrumental heavy psych/prog rock)
75. StoneBirds - Collapse and Fail (post-metal/progressive sludge)
76. Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters (heavy psych, prog)
77. The Glad Husbands - Safe Places (post-hardcore, mathcore)
78. Ritual King - Ritual King (heavy psych/stoner)
79. King Buffalo - Dead Star (heavy psych/stoner)
80. Turtle Skull - Monoliths (psych rock, stoner rock)
81. Wayward - Wayward (punk rock n roll/metal)
82. Automatism - Immersion (prog rock, krautrock)
83. Palehorse/Palerider & Lord Buffalo - Legends of the Desert Vol 1 (desert rock, psych rock)
84. Kingnomad - Sagan Om Rymden (progressive stoner rock)
85. Oresund Space Collective - Four Riders take Space Mountain (psych/space rock/jazz fusion)
86. Population II - A La O Terre (psych rock, space rock)
87. Colour Haze - We Are (stoner/psych/jam)
88. Loviatar - Lightless (doom, post-metal)
89. Radiant Knife - The Body (progressive sludge)
90. Mammock - Itch (math-rock/noise-rock)
91. Dvne - Omega Severer (post-metal, prog-metal0
92. Jeremy Ivey - Waiting Out The Storm (rock & roll, alt-country, amercana)
93. Hydra - From Light to the Abyss (stoner/doom)
94. Svalbard - When I Die, Will I Get Better? (post-metal/post-hardcore)
95. Gloe - Dead Wait (shoegaze/math-rock)
96. Rider Negro - The Echo of the Desert (desert rock/psych rock0
97. Acid Mammoth - Under Acid Hoof (doom metal)
98. Personality Cult - New Arrows (punk rock/power pop0
99. Dirt Woman - The Glass Cliff (stoner/doom)
100. The Erkonauts - I Want It To End (prog-metal)

Lowrider are legends, and I was excited when the new album came out. Then there was the avalanche of releases this year, at one point it had slipped down to like the 400s. Had to correct that!

My Psych Spotify playlist
Remi's Spotify

Here are the 2020 Stoner/Psych records that I liked enough to purchase (or put on my list to purchase):

Hyborian - Volume II (Season of Mist)
http://img.discogs.com/KKl5U-XAjGEZDUEPGONpZuzDgUc=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-14988914-1585163873-6191.jpeg.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/0iJWhAd49tG5gaPOn0SEAW?si=dlYjZxZHS3K_IKPo92UngQ
http://hyborianrock.bandcamp.com/album/volume-ii

Catchy record perfect for those who miss the days when Baroness and Mastodon were called stoner rock bands.

Lili Refrain - ULU (Subsound Records)
http://www.grande-rock.com/sites/default/files/styles/large1/public/imagesnews/LiliRefrain-ULU-cover2020.jpg?itok=vrIVriTc
http://open.spotify.com/album/3uvcmW8NC3bmAyIkHoa6yT?si=BiQaLOZoT-KOUaEoBqPTuA
http://lilirefrain.bandcamp.com/album/ulu

One-sided 12" vinyl from prolific experimental solo artist from Rome. Touches upon many a psych rock nerve!

Lotus Thief - Oresteia (Prophecy)
http://www.rebelnoise.com/images/made/images/uploads/reviews/Lotus_Thief_-_Oresteia_Cover_250_250_c1.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/3YrHa9ICb08IQAyYpt1fpN?si=eYf7UY53R4OEsQUVgt5f1Q
http://lotusthief.bandcamp.com/album/oresteia

Former Botanist side project is it's own animal a few albums down the line. Lots of spacy female vocal harmonies.

Lucifer - III (Century Media)
http://assets.blabbermouth.net/media/Lucifer2020-315x315.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/4QGge2UHMi919rLuBsC9im?si=ZjR6i8G5SeiPtNhwOYFYtw

Catchy occult rock perfect for those who wish Jefferson Starship were an evil metal band.

Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi (Nuclear Blast America)
http://img.discogs.com/7XhVjp93cIhXelHN3kWaS4k-oG0=/fit-in/600x543/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-15124969-1586995369-9135.jpeg.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/0gsk1RGjMrtEDE05s0TZMf?si=mJ8EU_FDQ42f4rm_9ySaoQ
http://oranssipazuzu.bandcamp.com/album/mestarin-kynsi

Gods.

Serpent Omega - II (Icons Creating Evil Art)
http://imagescdn.juno.co.uk/300/CS783075-01A-MED.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/6HY6bCxEvvXQibGIAjsVka?si=iK9_2_IUQLm9566jiqzQnA
http://serpentomega.bandcamp.com/album/ii

Swedish sludge metal with powerful female vocals.

Wolftooth - Valhalla (Ripple Music)
http://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51cATtLfIKL._SY400_.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/1XrSBU9jB6ZLXL1jWGJEW1?si=-qgHAQdVRCuC_2JT_CRRgw
http://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/valhalla

A little more trad/classic metal but fans of stuff like The Sword will find a lot to like.

Early Moods - Spellbound (Dying Victim Productions)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/8/4/3/7/843701.jpg?1054
http://open.spotify.com/album/55UqcwpVeCoxGVwbdY6oiC?si=70Qs9FxIR_u9QSqXoicgHw
http://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/early-moods-spellbound-2

If Witchcraft was more into the loud side of Sabbath they could sound like this.

Frayle - 1692 (Aqualamb Records)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/8/2/3/1/823151.jpg?5052
http://open.spotify.com/album/6f77eIuTNpJDsyeiZfkPMl?si=DgAvzOuET1C1obyAKxmR7A
http://frayle.bandcamp.com/album/1692

Cleveland stoner doom metal.

Agrabatti - Beyond the Sun (Interstellar Smoke Records)
http://img.discogs.com/wzL6tGg3rAc32eucCp3Ws-3KPVE=/fit-in/600x607/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-16086216-1603187115-6840.jpeg.jpg
http://open.spotify.com/album/2GCOwRl5eyHSNd2lt0nGlu?si=wkoBl17dQOyD5ytWmnwwwA
http://agrabatti.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-sun

You like Hawkwind? Of course you do. So does this San Francisco group that emerged from the ashes of US Christmas.

Didn't know about the Agrabatti, and I'd forgotten about US Christmas, thanks!

StonerHive countdown
http://stonerhive.blogspot.com/

20. Dopelord – Sign Of The Devil
heir doom rock, their occult touches and their sludgy moments have gotten better with every release these four from Poland have put out. And now they’ve infused it with deliriously tasty space rock moments and dope ass psych. Never quite reaching that first spot on the Doom Charts the album stayed on it for quite some months. Which is logical when the peaks are so high and the energy so wild. With every track delivering gloriously evil momentum and the perfect beat to do that twisted little dance with the devil. Number 20 for your pleasure and that of Satan!

19. Mountain Tamer – Psychosis Ritual
The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020 commenced yesterday after tallying all those votes that came in during the past two weeks and it amazed me that the bottom region of the Top 20 was so close together. Dopelord’s Sign Of The Devil on Number 20 for instance only received twelve points more than the one on Number 21; but the Number 19 also only grabbed twelve points more than Number 20. A three piece heavy psychedelic rock formation out of California that released it’s third album this year. It’s got as much doom moments as it has punk and it drowns us all with their demented ritual. Leaving us all breathless and bordering on psychotic after the seven tracks have passed. Only 32 minutes long this release starts of slow, cloying and diffuse; then quickly starts to pick up speed, aggression and intensity and in the end will feel like a mountain of seismic energy has crushed every part of your being.

18. Elder – Omens
Acid Mammoth – Under Acid Hoof
UUBBUURRUU – UUBBUURRUU
Even with such a great amount of lists pouring in, so many votes cast, there is still apparently the possibility of multiple albums receiving the exact amount of points. And in this case, no less than three! Three albums that beat Mountain Tamer’s Psychosis Ritual which stood proudly on Number 19 with exactly 14 points. One of them released Number One album after Number One album the past years but has not managed to claim that position with their new album among fans this year. Perhaps there already was a hint or a sign when they gave the album that title? However portentous it all might be, we definitely still adore the album and so many of you out there do as well, but not as much as all their earlier releases. So they’re stuck on Number 18 with two other bands. One of them is a deep dive into proto-metal, doom and heavy psychedelic meandering. It is that tried and tested Sabbath worshiping goodness from the ancient days that implores just enough sludge and stoner to resurrect their hairy beast and make every stomp and trample highly addictive. Just like the third act present here, a rock ‘n roll time machine running on an eclectic amalgam of genres ranging from late ‘60s psychedelia all the way to more contemporary stoner metal. Their fuzzed out and dynamic sound could be described as a new strand of classic rock or as the purest of vintage grooves revitalized for the modern age.

Disappearing People - Right Before Your Eyes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiIjdrX47zE

17. Arcadian Child – Protopsycho
Their 2018 record got spun to an incredible degree over here and the new one just improves on every aspect of that record. With eastern and world influences their psychedelic folk rock often leaves you breathless and giddy with joy; that in a world that seems to be burning at both ends, a release like this can be so uplifting and delightful. The melancholy that might be present on a track or two gets powered over by those sixties and seventies inspired grooves, the wide open atmosphere and that bright shimmering light at the end of the tunnel. No more tea for me please, just put this record on as pick me up and feel the warmth blow away all that negative energy and that cold winter spirit… And by sheer coincidence (cause that is how the Great Magnet rolls) the honorable JJ Koczan put up a review of the album on The Obelisk this very day…

16. Ritual King – Ritual King
Butterfly – Doorways of Time
“Seven titanic tracks of first-degree sensorial assault. Crunch, crush and charisma - seismic bass tones pinning currents of savage Stoner riffery with clean, clear vocals soaring like a hunting Kestrel. Jazz-infused beats suddenly give way to Doomy smatterings of harsh abrasive riffs, pierced by sweet guitar noodles. The album delivers breadth, width and height: the full dimensions of Modern Underground Metal in all it's geometric gelignite.” Right on! The other release is a classic in every sense of the word, classic metal, classic hardrock and classic compositions. It’s classy, has many albums outclassed and is almost unclassifiable. Sorry about that, we just dove deep into this magical Melbourne time machine and saw the proto-metal, seventies hardrock and eighties metal in all its glory; it made me flutter like a butterfly

Omens legit my fav Elder album yet. Is it just 'too psych not metal enough' for this demo?

Also I haven't thought abt US Christmas in forever!

I'd been revisiting US Christmas this year. Good autumnal laments for the quarentine, looking out my work from home bedroom window. Their violin/crazy horse/sludge recipe is one of the very best of the stoner rock aughts.

Regarding Elder, yah, it must be the fact that the balance tipped more from stoner/sludge to psych prog that made 'em lose some currency with stoner fans.

15. Black Rainbows – Cosmic Ritual Supertrip
They’ve had a majestic run with earlier albums and this one might just be better than all of them. And that’s saying something! There’s a different kind of groove here, more electric and more grating, more punch and more smash ‘n grab. Fast paced and invigorating. Everything feels thick, dense and swirling. Like a cosmic maelstrom that turns solid fast and then drops out of the sky with a heavy pounce. And there is twelve tracks of this. And seriously, all of them have an amazing edge to them. High energy and a weighty sound! Or as Madman Tony Maim said: “Tight, taut songs that hit you between the eyes… A potential masterpiece!” We're going straight to the devil on Number 15!

14. Motorpsycho – The All Is One
All of their albums have always been one long trip, filled with tension arcs that demand exploration, devotion and adoration. The new record is no different and probably takes it all to the next level. the final piece in a trilogy that started back in 2017. Filled with long winded yet highly entertaining jams, rock tracks that have this intense pop side and rock that shimmies up against folk and prog. The biggest effort though is heard in a five part piece of art. Forty minutes of brilliant prog rock and a multitude of melodic themes. Fresh and vital sounding meandering sections of strings and almost otherworldly compositions, sounding so effortlessly and so unabashedly musical and precise. And unendingly inspirational; it will make you dream and it will make you want to create.

13. REZN - Chaotic Divine
It jumped to the Number One position of the Doom Charts upon release and it took the art of psychedelic doom to a whole new level. They’ve churned mud into mercury and grime into gold. A conceptual and exceptional piece of art that shines a different kind of light on all the heavy genres we love so dearly; it shows us that heavy riffs, quiet melodies, wild sax and intense synths can work together in perfect harmony to create something so divine yet chaotic.

12. Kind – Mental Nudge
Comprised out of members that already earned their heavy spurs on band such as Roadsaw, Elder, Rozamov and Black Pyramid. The seven tracks on their new album are heady, heavy, punchy, proggy and powerful. There is all sorts of heavy here that can all be taken at face value, but better experienced as a whole. And a whole it is; it feels round, complete and perfectly layered. It will submerge you into your own inner sphere and it will prod your psyche into every possible direction. It will do so aggressively without turning it into a violent act or violate any part of your mind, body or soul. There is something about this album that will resonate much longer than you might expect; in fact… It might resonate with you, with me and everybody who might come in touch with this album for as long as they will live… And then it will ring on into eternity.

11. Witchskull – A Driftwood Cross
Next up is an album with so much metal in it; it’s hard not to fall heavily in love with it. It’s doomy, it’s trippy, it’s pure class and intense classic metal. The riffs will lure you in, the drums will pound you into submission and the vocals with haunt you for the rest of your life. It’s thick, it’s vast and it’s electrifying. We continue to be dragged down the rabbit hole of this metal album; and love it for all the metal that it is. Even the occult touches, the stoner twitches and the Sabbath tics cannot steal away any second of the metal that is present. It is in the blood, it is marked and it is on the cross.

10. All Them Witches – Nothing As The Ideal
There aren’t that many bands that can truly deliver this kind of feeling and atmosphere with a potent mixture of mercury stoner riffs, grinded blues patterns and pressed psychedelic ambience. There is a presence lurking hear that feels weird and will ride your body like a wave of goosebumps. Changing up their magical concoction with every record, the (now) trio delivers something stunningly sinister and majestically gothic. Nothing seems to be standing in their way of imploring gritty metal riffs and chugging rhythms to create their ideal and seemingly perfect universe… Creepy by default and completely enthralling! Furious, epic and cinematic!

9. Slift – Ummon
On Number 9 we find an album that implores hefty stoner riffs, cumbersome doom influences, a whole universe filled with space rock and all that lovely kraut to color their own style intense heavy prog. And there is that jazzy side; which is so much in debt to the drummer and propels the band evermore forward and always to greater heights. Turning all into one king hell of an electric kool-aid acid trip! There are distant echoes and reveries, celestial choirs illuminating space. Ancestral voices and ancient extraterrestrial rites. Abyssal doom and apocalyptic noise. There's chaos. And there's silence. There’s a pull, a push, a change, a swing and a shift!

8. Sun Crow – Quest For Oblivion
Yes, we are talking about that proto, nay, paleo metal effort from Seattle. Adventuring through the blues roots and the doom beginnings; they turn their metal something dark, brooding and colossal. And it just grows and grows and becomes bigger and bigger as the album progresses; and we launch straight towards the edge of the known universe. Where time melts and every law of nature we assume has merit disappears like an asteroid turns into one single atom. It is an adventure, it a quest, a search for something one cannot name.

7. Bonehawk – Iron Mountain
An album, we must confess, we were pretty late to get hip to. The rest of Doom Chart Contributors were already grooving to this beast of an album and voting it up on the Doom Charts before it could grab us, pull us in an infect us with its mountainous riffs and rhythms. Intensely dynamic and continuously shifting color; the nine tracks on this album move from classic sounding hard rock and metal to stoner infused new day magnificence. Yes, for these guys its an effortlessly small step from the seventies psych, jam and blues to harmony and heavy trucking from the nineties. They’ve got their very own strange kind of magic and it will spellbind you and slowly infect you with its addictiveness.

Fuck yeah Slift!

6. Forming The Void – Reverie
Once again we hear a partnership between sludge metal, stoner and prog being performed at the very edge of the alchemic dreamstate. You will soon be lost in an golden oblivious state and you will experience the impressionistic compositions in all its glory. With ever more use of melodies, intricate structures and dynamic extremes they conjure up a majestic groove that will swallow you whole. It turns the heavy churn into something transcendental, mystical and magical. And it turns their sound into the all encompassing greatness of genre breaking and boundaries shaking music. An album that should be in everyone’s possession!

5. Kryptograf – Kryptograf
On Number 5 we find a debut album that just immediately turned everything and everyone around them on and in on their sound. The four Norwegians have found their own little filthy proto hole to curl up in and transform all the weird stuff they find into proto gold, occult love and prog addiction. With some doom influences, psychedelic touches and a lot of sixties and seventies devotion the four from Bergen give us once again an album married to all that brilliance out of the original golden age of heavy rock. Sharing vocal duties between three, the four ride out the fuzz wherever it may take them. And it will take you on such a wild and amazing adventure that you cannot help fall head over heels with this album… A classic in every sense of the word.

4. King Buffalo – Dead Star
It is doomy, it is metal, it is psychedelic, it is sludge and most of all it dares to fare into different territories, turning experimental into this precious adventure that one and all enjoys and wants to experience over and over again... It’s a trip, addictive by nature and always leaving the listener wanting more; a tapestry of intricate textures and of a multitude of colors, ever building and masters in delaying the inevitable, they are the kings.

December Doom Charts. Yep, there's still more stuff we hadn't heard worth checking out!
https://doomcharts.com/2020/12/29/doom-charts-december-2020/

Stefan is remastering In Her Garden (2017) next

Bulbous - annoying unanswerable question but what do you think, wait for this or get the current CD?

I mean there's no chance it doesn't sound good anyway is there.

That Wormhog & new Green Druid were pleasant surprises in December.

Yeah I can't imagine a remaster of a 2017 album would have an easily noticeable difference, unless the original was really screwed up somehow.

Of the Dec entries, stuff by Superlord, Black Spell, Satorinaut and Mollo Rilla were available NYP so I got 'em.

3. Elephant Tree – Habits
This English psychedelic stoner rock formation delivers their take on earthy and folky inspiration with a high dose of fuzz and equal amount of enchanting atmosphere. Some doomy energy here and a lot of progressive touches turns this album into a must-have classic with no effort at all. For the unbelievable amount of earth shaking riffs and thundering grooves seem to continue on like a tsunami of heaviness. You can’t remain the occasional user listening to this one; it will enlarge any form of habit or addiction you have to this kind of music; it will balloon and it will be majestic!

2. Psychlona - Venus Skytrip
“There's no holding back either as the album opens with one of its most entertaining cuts. The aptly named "Blast Off" starts with one of the best licks on the record, piercing guitar notes that seem to strobe and echo out to the farthest reaches of space. Underneath are rocksteady drums that build towards the inevitable explosion of distortion, a launchpad for a driving groove.”

There can be only one… We climb almost two hundred points from the amazing Venus Skytrip album by Psychlona on the Number 2 position of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020 to reach the Gold Medal. The Number 1 of 2020! According to all the lists sent our way, all the votes cast, this is the best album of 2020. So we thank all of you once again for voting, for helping the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown become more valid with every passing year and we thank all the bands for delivering all those amazing albums! Twenty years ago this Swedish quartet delivered a landmark album and now the boys are back with a follow-up and yet another masterpiece! Atavistic stoner rock with a majestic groove; an ode to all that pure heavy rock goodness and that spacey delivery. It is not the work of a band trying to recapture the magic of that first album but just a band of brothers that are finally taking the next step of their journey. We can go on and on about all the albums that we heard during this insane year; we can profess our love for many of them; but this one delivered all of that condensed and turned their sound into quicksilver and made it move through all manner of energy and particles that simply became unbreakable adoration for all that we worship about this thing called stoner rock. It is a dream come true, an ode once again and even bigger that before! We bow before the four and beg them to keep taking a next step in their majestic journey; we give you the Number One album of 2020… The Gold Medal goes to:

1. Lowrider – Refractions

Thx fast

The Lowrider was also number 1 on The Obelisk’s list that went up today.

For one of the founder members of the stoner hive groups on audiogalaxy and slsk and also owner of the fb group, im terrible at missing the ballot deadline. 3 years in a row I've forgotten to vote. Joop has given up reminding me haha but as always he's done a great job.

Lets hope the gap between Lowrider albums isnt as long next time. Superb album, as was their last one all those years ago. I had the CD of it but got the vinyl reissue this year.

Thanks, Fast! I don't listen to as much stoner/heavy psych as I'd like but I love the shit out of that Lowrider album. Well deserved imo.

Yeah, been re-listening to the Lowrider and appreciating it more. I sometimes get stoner rock fatigue keeping up with the Doom Charts, hence underrating it.

Yet another damn list, and annoyingly most of it's good so had more to catch up on ;)

https://fragmentedflaneur.com/2020/12/28/50-essential-albums-2020/

Stop your smokin' and start your votin'.

Don't neglect to observe that the Metal 'n' Heavy Rock poll is not just for metalheads.

Six days till the deadline.

2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: VOTING & FURTHER CAMPAIGNING thread (open until February 19)

Yeah I can't imagine a remaster of a 2017 album would have an easily noticeable difference, unless the original was really screwed up somehow.

Incidentally, I bought the CD (Colour Haze - In Her Garden) and it seems like Stefan may indeed have remastered and quietly reissued it in 2019 (!). Super solid and lovely album, and finishing on the Skydancer / Skydance double whammy takes it above and beyond.

I don't feel like starting a new thread for this because I'm not even sure it fits here but surely the new Plankton Wat will be of interest to some people:

https://planktonwat.bandcamp.com/album/future-times

The music of Portland musician Dewey Mahood exists in constant communion with nature. From acclaimed albums with heavy-psych mainstays Eternal Tapestry to his prolific solo excursions, Mahood’s work has always been defined by his restless exploratory spirit and reverence for the environment. As Plankton Wat, his expressionist compositions exude a supernatural grace and patience, reflecting the resplendent beauty and mythical energy of the West Coast’s wild places. Piece blossoms from low-lit, porchside ambience into powerful head-trips, ushering the listener through ravines of feedback and along warm currents of synthesizer drift to peaks of lysergic bliss. Mahood’s masterful and distinct guitarwork consistently blurs the confines of the instrument, at once texturally and melodically rich. Future Times elevates Mahood’s psychedelic instrumentals to new planes. Written to the backdrop of social unrest and climate change fueled fires, Mahood lays out a sprawling cinematic and psychedelic survey of a planet in crisis that weaves a path of hope through the darkness.

also, if you're tired / wary of loving good music made by terrible people, Dewey is absolutely just the *best* dude.

i've been listening to this band from boulder a bit. i'd link a youtube but i don't think they have any. they seem to have slid from more core psyche and space into a more stoner feel to my ear, but the drone and gaze components work really well for me.
https://grass.bandcamp.com/album/grass

dunno if there's a new thread but this album is great. They're from Barcelona

https://maragda.bandcamp.com/album/maragda

“This record tells the story of Maragda, a civilization that took refuge underground after the Great Disaster. Many years have passed now, and the memory of a life on the surface has completely faded. People live under the oppression of a totalitarian government, The Core, when suddenly a strange voice speaks inside their minds. After this call, a group of rebels launches an expedition through The Unknown, willing to discover the secrets of Maragda”

Psychedelic rock and progressive rock from Barcelona.

OUT on 15th October 2021.
Pre-order available from 10th September 2021.

"Hermit" Official Video: youtu.be/ny2ii-9lpWE

Don't know if there's a new 2022 thread for this kinda stuff but

https://weloveyoujunzo.bandcamp.com/album/strato-arcology

n February 2022, Junzo fell from a train platform in Tokyo and was rendered unconscious. Junzo suffered intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage. He regained consciousness and is now in a rehabilitation hospital.

Junzo cannot access his own Bandcamp or PayPal right now so this page has been set up by his friends Tabata Mitsuru & Ned Netherwood to support him.

Pretty heavy monster jamming stuff.

Mt. Mountain - Centre

from Perth, this very chill smear of drone, motorik, and psych is so so nice. sometimes reminds me of an ambient versh of the flavor crystals, but probably more on their prev release Cardinal Fuzz Shop, also great.

Oooh sounds nice, I'll have to check that one out.

I've been digging the new Kaleidobolt, kinda stoner kinda prog kinda heavy psych that doesn't take itself too seriously.

hello stoner/psych amigos! here's a record from earlier this year that i really like:

https://dhidalahggb.bandcamp.com/album/sensoria

(brought to you by Guruguru Brain)

omg nepaal

Man I don't know how I missed out on REZN before, but this stuff is killer!