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When I was much, much, much younger, I went to a talent show at a girlfriend’s high school. Most of the acts were musical, so they set up a stage in the gym rather than using the auditorium. About four or five of those bands were hardcore punk fronted by the same kid, and every song exploded in a sub-two-minute speed-punk rage blast.Continue reading
Los Angeles Sludge Doom band Vape Warlök will release their new album ...And His Skull Shall Make My Bong, via the Pillars of Creation label, appropriately on 4/20! Spiritual disciples of bands we all bow down to at Ghost Cult, such as Electric Wizard, Sons of Otis, Bongzilla, and Sleep, we are thrilled to bring you the full album stream ahead of its release on the day of the blessed leaf!Continue reading
Messa’s fourth album, The Spin (Metal Blade Records), finds the band embracing their inner prog rock guitar gods, and channeling that energy in a few different directions. The first few songs might fake you out as they sound as if the band is heading in a more post-punk direction. The guitars gallop with more tension at a fairly brisk pace. This is certainly a shift from their earlier material that found them as more of a doom band. The vocals are very strong and well-defined from a songwriting perspective, which is the most important element of their sound. The band has always carried a smoky blues-based undercurrent, which is still present, though at times they wander off into more atmospheric shadows, as heard on ” At the Races”. Their guitarist begins to shine on this one, and his heroics do not let up from here. Continue reading
In this episode, keefy welcomes back our old friend Karl Agell (ex-COC, COC Blind, Lie Heavy, Leadfoot) to discuss the new doom metal supergroup Legions of Doom with members of Trouble, The Skull, Saint Vitus, and more! Legions of Doom released an EP and a debut album – “The Skull 3!” Karl catches us up on the last few years of life, his many projects, how this band formed, and pays tribute to late vocalist Eric Wagner (The Skull, Trouble), and more.Continue reading
This review is going to break from the normal narrative we normally use here at Ghost Cult, where we steer away from how we feel personally about an album and try to stick to objective facts since Hangman’s Chair is one of my favorite bands. If you think that this will be a gushing love letter only fueled by my fandom, let’s correct that notion. My favorite bands are held to a much higher standard. My expectations here are exalted since I am emotionally invested in them. Continue reading
London’s WREN have been releasing music for over a decade and Black Rain Falls (Church Road Records) is their third full-length record. The band describe it as “a crystallisation of the conceptual voice-giving to natural collapse, humanity’s decline and the shadowed spectre that has imbued WREN since the beginning.” Continue reading
Oakland, California atmospheric and progressive Doom Metal conjurers Snakemother team up with Bay Area powerhouse Ripple Music for the vinyl and CD reissue of their acclaimed self-titled debut album this April 25th, 2025! Pre-orders are live at the links below. Continue reading
In this episode, Keefy explores the desert-inspired heaviness of Coma Hole! Eryka Fir (bass, vocals) and Steve Anderson (drums) discuss their powerful debut album, Hand of Severance. Discover how this two-piece band from Southern Rhode Island blends stoner rock and doom metal to create a bold, immersive sound. Listen as they talk about their musical evolution, unexpected inspirations, and the creative synergy between Eryka’s haunting vocals and Steve’s pounding percussion.Continue reading
Voidwards are an enigmatic collective formed in 2005. Bagulnik (Aesthetic Death Records) is the first full-length in their career of almost twenty years. The record draws inspiration from a Russian teacher named Ivan Perfiliev and his writings over a century ago about a swamp that he claimed had supernatural properties.Continue reading
Black metal is to thank for bringing the mystique back to music. This duo from Portugal cloaks themselves in black shrouds, we can assume they are not playing in, but instead of blast beats Lord Sin hits you with some creepy dirges on their sophomore album Confessions (Larvae Records). The graveyard stomp of the riffs allows darkness to possess their sound organically, rather than having to pull out all the Halloween decorations to convince the listener. Halfway into the first song, it’s easy to hear where they fall in the middle ground between doom and black metal. For a duo, they are cranking out a great deal of sound and care about writing songs, rather than just bashing out riffs. Continue reading