This is the fourth album from progressive/stoner metal band Druids.
After very much enjoying 2016’s Cycles of Mobeum, 2017’s Spirit Compass, and 2019’s Monument, I knew I wanted to check out Shadow Work as soon as it saw the light of day. Continue reading “Druids – Shadow Work (Review)”
Besvärjelsen are a Swedish doom band and this is their second album.
This hefty release has a doom metal base that’s then mixed with grunge, and has heavy, stoner, blues, and psychedelic rock elements liberally sprinkled over everything. Some songs lean into certain influences more than others, which leads to a decent amount of variety across the album. The promo blurb mentions Alice in Chains and Windhand, and that’s a decent picture of Besvärjelsen’s sound, albeit an incomplete one. Continue reading “Besvärjelsen – Atlas (Review)”
Blue Heron are a heavy rock band from the US and this is their debut album.
I quite enjoyed Blue Heron’s brief two-track debut EP that they released last year, so when Ephemeral appeared I thought I’d take the time to see how they were coming along. In fact, Black Blood of the Earth from that release makes a reappearance on Ephemeral. Continue reading “Blue Heron – Ephemeral (Review)”
This is the third album from Swedish doom metal band Cities of Mars.
Cities of Mars offers a richly textured doom experience that combines elements of sludge, stoner, and ambient into itself. The promo blurb says that Cities of Mars is for fans of Mastodon, Kylesa, Sleep, Baroness, and The Sword, and that’s as good a place as any to start with. Continue reading “Cities of Mars – Cities of Mars (Review)”
This is the second album from Italian stoner rock band Slowtorch.
The Machine Has Failed contains 37 minutes of hard rocking stoner rock fun. Tailor-made for fans of bands like Clutch, Corrosion of Conformity, and Orange Goblin, the album has riffs, hooks, and good tunes aplenty. Continue reading “Slowtorch – The Machine Has Failed (Review)”
This is the sixth album from Alunah, a doom metal band from the UK.
Both 2017’s Solennial and 2019’s Violet Hour were solid examples of Alunah’s art, and Strange Machine carries 42 minutes of new tunes to enjoy. At this point in their career Alunah know how to play this sort of music; a Sabbathian mix of doom, hard rock, and stoner that’s based around good songs and a strong singer. What can go wrong with a formula like this? Continue reading “Alunah – Strange Machine (Review)”
This is the second album from US stoner metallers Mother Iron Horse.
Under the Blood Moon contains 37 minutes of riotous fun and escapist storytelling. Mixing stoner metal with sludge heaviness, Mother Iron Horse’s music is easy to like; the band just want to party hard and crush some skulls with their sludgy stoner metal, what’s not to like? Mother Continue reading “Mother Iron Horse – Under the Blood Moon (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal gets sent a lot of new music, (which is great), but there’s no way that everything can get covered unfortunately, (which is not so great). This new column hopes to redress this balance, if only slightly, by taking a look at a handful of releases that a record label has recently sent out that might have otherwise slipped through the cracks.
This time we’ll take a look at some releases from Majestic Mountain Records, which is a record label that I’ve only really just discovered via the wonderful Kal-El. I know nothing about the label, but I like what I’m hearing, so let’s delve into some of what they have to offer below… Continue reading “Label Roundup: Majestic Mountain Records – Bogwife, Redscale, Jointhugger, & Grand Cadaver (Reviews)”
Monolord are a doom metal band from Sweden and this is their fifth album.
After 2019’s enjoyable No Comfort, the band are back with Your Time to Shine, which contains 39 minutes of new material. Monolord know very well how to make this sort of music at this point. These five songs are satisfying and enjoyable. Combining heaviness with nuance, the songs batter your door down, before entertaining with a wealth of musical anecdotes. Continue reading “Monolord – Your Time to Shine (Review)”
Green Lung are a doom rock band from the UK and this is their second album.
Green Lung play a catchy and infectious brand of doom rock. The band have an expansive sound that takes liberally from doom metal, hard rock, folk, stoner, and Gothic rock. Continue reading “Green Lung – Black Harvest (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 