Michigan Stoner Doom power trio Grave Next Door will release their debut album, Sanctified Heathen, via Black Doomba Records on March 18th, 2022. The band’s gritty brand of deep stoner grooves have been earning notice for the last few years and the band has also been touring a lot of late, spreading the good word of riffs. Check out the video for their latest single “As Heavy As Texas” – only here at Ghost Cult!
Kontact’s debut EP is rather tricky to pin down in terms of style. Voivod makes the most immediate comparison with an aesthetic immersed in similar cosmic theming and the vocals channeling Snake in a similarly manic yet almost robotic sneer. However, the guitar work draws more on Speed Metal gallops and doomy riffs than the high-pitched dissonance that would come with such an association. King Gizzard at their heaviest might also be an applicable reference point though there isn’t quite as much psychedelic fuzz wafting about.Continue reading
Having left their Doom Metal roots behind on 2016’s Wider Than The Sky (Radiance), 40 Watt Sun completely doubles down on slowcore with their third full-length album. In fact, Perfect Light (Svart/Cappio Records) might even be a little softer than its predecessor with nary a trace of fuzz or distortion to be found. It often feels more like a slow-motion singer/songwriter record, especially with the Jerry Cantrell-esque twang throughout. I suppose it’s only fitting when you consider that guitarist/vocalist Patrick Walker is the only returning band member, having recruited an entirely different cast of musicians for this effort.
Not content to just let the sludgy boi/spooky girl pairings have all the fun with multi-artist collaborations in Doom, A Story Of Darkness And Light (Stickman Records)features the coming together of Elder and Kadavar as Eldovar (I don’t know where that ‘o’ comes from either). The two groups certainly make for interesting bedfellows; while both are arguably rooted in Seventies Rock traditions, Elder has evolved to Heavy Prog splendor while Kadavar largely subsists on off-the-cuff Stoner Blues. However, their shared interest in various genre experiments as well as established track records of high quality material gives plenty of fertile ground for such a union.
If Black Label Society was influenced by Classic Metal and Doom instead of Southern Rock, they would probably sound a lot like Temptation’s Wings. The Asheville, North Carolina-based group features delightfully Ozzy-esque vocals with extra Zakk Wylde gruffness, guitars rooted in beefy bottom-heavy tones with playing that consists of steady gallops and melodic leads, and rhythms with a certain Southern Metal swing. All presented with a barbarian attitude that lends itself well to tales of drinking and mythological conquest.
For Bandcamp Friday just passed (December 3rd, 2021) Sleep released their unedited version of their classic album Dopesmoker, originally released on 4/20 in 2013 via Southern Lord. The album is available now streaming from Bandcamp and CD. It also includes live versions of “Holy Mountain and “Sonic Titan!” Purchase and stream the album as the band re-envisioned it, and read the fascinating backstory below.
Apostle Of Solitude’s fifth full-length doubles down on the formula last expressed on 2018’s From Gold To Ash, condensing their signature melancholic Doom Metal even further to its most foundational elements. Until The Darkness Goes (Cruz Del Sur Music) is just a little over thirty-six minutes long, making it their shortest album to date, with the six songs herein almost exclusively driven by slow riffs and mournful vocal harmonies.
Five albums into a career as one of the top bands in the modern Stoner Doom scene, Monolord offers their mellow, tripped-out effort to date with Your Time To Shine (Relapse Records). While there’s still plenty of dank fuzziness to go around, it feels almost like a backdrop at times as the cleaner guitar textures are given near equal priority and the vocals are at their most prominent. Fortunately, it feels like more of a culmination of a gradual trajectory rather than a radical shift in direction; after all, these elements started gaining traction on 2019’s No Comfort and it’s easy to imagine guitarist/vocalist Thomas V. Jager’s 2020 solo album rubbing off on the process.
Ghost Cult returns to Gimme Metal hosts today as our chief, Keefy, hosts our very own “Guest DJ special!” Celebrating 9 years of www.ghostcultmag.com, He’ll bring you a two-hour show of killer tunes today, Tuesday, November 9th at 11 AM EST with our own curated playlist of awesome metal tracks from across Death Metal, Stoner Doom, Prog, Thrash, Viking, Dark Folk, Black Metal, and more! Bands on our playlist include Creeping Death, Vreid, Matriarchs, Suffocation, Melvins, and more! Sign up for FREE with the app or online, tune in and let’s goooooo! Continue reading
