Ho, ho, ho and a bottle of rum!   (or, if you prefer, a 20 bag of some very decent Eugene green). It’s time once again for the contributors of this ol’ rag to show their wares, and by that I mean the vast array of records we’ve been listening to in 2017. What a year it was, as the world was awakened to the reality that we were not living on planet Earth after all, but its ironic parallel Bizarro World. Oh well, at least we’re still anchored to the sanity of our turntables, which haven’t stopped churning out those addictively downtuned riffs and soul-stirring rhythms – not for a second!

Regulars know that our mission is to bring you the music and the stories of the heavy underground, with an emphasis on following the evolution of the style pioneered by Black Sabbath. This is street journalism, simply bringing you the perspective of bands and fans. Reporting without preaching and pretense – by the underground, for the underground. This is a good time for me to heap tons of praise on the contributors – both past and present – who have brought utter conviction to every review, interview, and photograph published here. Thank you for all you do for the scene!

Ok, enough ado! It’s time for us to reveal the Heavy Best list of 2017, which have given us many rewarding hours of well-spent listening. As I am often known to say, give ear… (Billy)

EDITORIAL BOARD

Billy Goate (Editor in Chief)

1. Usnea - Portals Into Futility
2. Purple Hill Witch - Celestial Cemetery
3. Hymn - Perish
4. Marche Funebre - Into The Arms of Darkness
5. HEAVYDEATH - Sarcophagus in the Sky
6. Season of Arrows - Give It To The Mountain
7. Beastmaker - Inside The Skull
8. Bathsheba - Servus
9. Altar of Betelgeuze - Among The Ruins
10. Brume - Rooster
11. The Doomsday Kingdom - The Doomsday Kingdom
12. Dopelord - Children of the Haze
13. Weltesser - Crestfallen
14. 71TONMAN - EARTHWRECK
15. Clouds Taste Satanic - The Glitter of Infinite Hell
16. Cruthu - The Angle Of Eternity
17. Taiga Woods - Taiga Woods
18. Toke - Orange
19. Vokonis - The Sunken Djinn
20. Owl Coven - Cosmic Void
21. Three Eyes Left - The Cult of Astaroth
22. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World
23. The Sleer - Midnight Sister
24. Wounded Giant - Vae Victis
25. Poseidon - Prologue
26. Chrome Ghost - Reflection Pool
27. Norska - Too Many Winters
28. Psychotic Depression - Thirty Hours Work or Less
29. Mangog - Mangog Awakens
30. Vinnum Sabbathi - Gravity Works

Billy’s Honorable Mentions

• Mang Out - Võhk
• Sahara - The Light
• Aseethe - Hopes of Failure
• Bereft - Lands
• Attalla - Glacial Rule
• Two Headed Beast - Wizard Mountain

Melissa Marie (Executive Editor)

1. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World
2. Monolord - Rust
3. Vokonis - The Sunken Djinn
4. Pallbearer - Heartless
5. Dopelord - Children of the Haze
6. Toke - Orange
7. Book of Wyrms - Sci-fi/Fantasy
8. Telekinetic Yeti - Abominable
9. The Devil and The Almighty Blues - II
10. Drude - Drude
11. Geezer - Psychroiffadelia
12. Youngblood Supercult - The Great American Death Rattle
13. Beastmaker - Inside The Skull
14. Year of the Cobra - Burn Your Dead
15. Acid Witch - Evil Sound Screamers
16. Black Road - Black Road
17. Astral Mass - Astral Mass
18. Demon Eye - Prophecies and Lies
19. Clouds Taste Satanic - The Glitter of Infinite Hell
20. Pale Grey Lore - Pale Grey Lore

NORTH AMERICAN CONTRIBUTORS

Elizabeth Gore (Los Angeles)

“I put it in alphabetical order, because like hell if I’m going to rank them!” (Liz)

• Acid Witch - Evil Sound Screamers
• Aether Realm - Tarot
• Aosoth - V: The Inside Scriptures
• Bathsheba - Servus
• Beastmaker - Inside the Skull
• Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
• Egypt - Cracks and Lines
• Elder - Reflections of a Floating World
• Grave Pleasures - Motherblood
• Havukruunu - Kelle surut soi
• Highland - Loyal to the Nightsky
• Hvile I Kaos - Agios O Fotiá
• Immolation - Atonement
• Malokarpatan - Nordkarpatenland
• Midnight - Sweet Death and Ecstasy
• Monolord - Rust
• Myrkur - Mareridt
• Night Demon - Darkness Remains
• Nightbringer - Terra Damnata
• Pagan Altar - The Room of Shadows
• Purple Hill Witch - Celestial Cemetery
• Ruines of Beverast - Exuvia
• Sinmara/Misþyrming - Split: Ivory Stone/Hof
• Unearthly Trance - Stalking the Ghost
• Warbringer - Woe to the Vanquished

Lara Noël (Chicago)

1. Amenra - Mass VI
2. OHHMS - The Fool
3. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World
4. Faces of the Bog - Ego Death (vinyl issue)
5. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
6. Monolord - Rust
7. Dopelord - Children of the Haze
8. Bathsheba - Servus
9. Pallbearer - Heartless
10. Taiga Woods - Taiga Woods
11. Norska - Too Many Winters
12. Hällas - Excerpts from a Future Past
13. Brume - Rooster
14. HEAVYDEATH - Sarcophagus in the Sky
15. Vokonis - The Sunken Djinn
16. With the Dead - Love from With the Dead
17. Ufomammut - 8
18. High Priestess - Demo
19. Monolith Cult - Gospel of Despair
20. Attalla - Glacial Rule

Suzi Uzi & Tim from Black Road (Chicago)

1. Goya - Harvester of Bongloads
2. Book of Wyrms - Sci-Fi/Fantasy
3. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World
4. The Obsessed - Sacred
5. Electric Wizard - Wizard Bloody Wizard
6. Monolord - Rust
7. Youngblood SuperCult - The Great American Death Rattle
8. Horisont - About Time
9. Thorr-Axe/Archarus - Split
10. Pallbearer - Heartless
11. Attalla - Glacial Rule
12. Bionic Cavemen - Reactor
13. Brume - Rooster
14. Shroud Eater - Strike the Sun
15. Ruby the Hatchet - Planetary Space Child
16. Year of the Cobra - Burn Your Dead
17. Wucan - Reap the Storm
18. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
19. Astral Mass - Astral Mass
20. Alunah - Solennial

Alex Watt (Indiana)

1. Drug Honkey - Cloak of Skies
2. Vokonis - The Sunken Djinn
3. Pallbearer - Heartless
4. Incantation - Profane Nexus
5. Astral Mass - Astral Mass
6. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World
7. Black Road - Black Road
8. Toke - Orange
9. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
10. Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
11. Geezer - Psychoriffadelia
12. Vallenfyre - Fear Those Who Fear Him

Jamie Yeats from Wizzerd (Montana)

1. All Them Witches - Sleeping Through the War
2. Kadavar - Rough Times
3. Electric Wizard - Wizard Bloody Wizard
4. Brume - Rooster
5. Year of the Cobra - Burn Your Dead
6. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World
7. Mothership - High Strangeness

Shawn Gibson (North Carolina)

1. Old Thunder - You Will Be Hated
2. Chained To The Bottom Of The Sea - Decay and Other Hopes Against Progress
3. Temptations Wings - Skulthor Ebonblade
4. Art As Catharsis Sampler 2017
5. Spirit Adrift - Curse of Conception
6. Unearthly Trance - Stalking The Ghost
7. Primitive Man - Caustic
8. Spectral Voice - Eroded Corridors of Unbeing
9. Low Flying Hawks - Genkaku
10. Iron Monkey - 9-13
11. Destroy My Brains - Destroy My Brains
12. No Funeral/Livid - Split
13. Serac - Wage War Against The Prairie
14. zhOra - Ethos, Pathos, Logos
15. DWOOM - Pale Mare Demo MMXVII
16. Usnea - Portals Into Futility
17. Angel Witch - Seventies Tapes
18. Tchornobog - Tchornobog
19. Omega Sun - Opinion For The Masses
20. Owlcrusher - Owlcrusher
21. Lo! - Vestigial
22. Possessor - The Ripper
23. Attalla - Glacial Rule
24. Mephostofeles - Devotional Doom
25. Mudbath - Brine Pool

Dan Simone from Black Spirit Crown (Ohio)

1. Monolord - Rust
2. Clouds Taste Satanic - The Glitter of Infinite Hell
3. Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
4. Electric Wizard - Wizard Bloody Wizard
5. Hyborian - Hyborian: Vol.1
6. Vokonis - The Sunken Djinn
7. Sparrowmilk - Articles of Separation
8. Ufomammut - 8
9. Telekinetic Yeti - Abominable
10. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
11. Race of Devils - Verbis Satanas
12. Contra - Deny Everything

Papa Paul (Pennsylvania)

1. Stygian Fair - Into The Coven
2. Siena Root - A Dream of Lasting Peace
3. Blues Funeral - Awakening
4. Hallas - Excerpts From a Future Past
5. Skunk - Doubleblind
6. The Sonic Dawn - Into the Long Night
7. Zeremony - Soul of Zeremony
8. Mirror Queen - Verdigris
9. Gin Lady - Electric Earth
10. The Judge - Tell It To The Judge
11. The Weight - Same
12. Demon Head - Thunder in the Fields
13. Horisont - About Time
14. The Obsessed - Sacred
15. The Shelter People - EP
16. Strange Bru - Coke Lane
17. Thee Seasons - Time Change
18. Kadavar - Rough Times
19. Black Finger - When Colors Fade
20. Nekromant - Snakes and Liars
21. Pagan Altar - The Room of Shadow
22. Doublestone - Devil’s Own
23. Demon Eye - Prophecies and Lies
24. Clan - Carnivores
25. Dirty Grave - Evil Desire

Adam Mundwarf from Urchin (Portland)

1. Primitive Man - Caustic
2. Pallbearer - Heartless
3. Woe - Hope Attrition
4. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
5. Lotus Ash - The Evening Redness
6. Monolord - Rust
7. Big Brave - Ardor
8. Spirit Adrift - Curse of Conception
9. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World
10. Woman Is the Earth - Thaw
11. Saturndust - RLC

Colton Dollar (Portland)

1. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
2. Usnea - Portals Into Futility
3. Monolord - Rust
4. Earth - Live At Third Man Records
5. Spectral Voice - Eroded Corridors of Unbeing
6. Wolves In The Throne Room - Thrice Woven
7. Krallice - Loüm
8. Necrot - Blood Offerings

EUROPEAN CONTRIBUTORS

Svempa Alveving (Sweden)

1. In The Company of Serpents - Ain Soph Aur
2. Vokonis - The Sunken Djinn
3. Signo Rojo - Svårfödd
4. Usnea - Portals in Futility
5. Power Trip - Nightmare Logic
6. I Am Fire - From Ashes
7. Earth Witch - Out Of Shallow
8. Career Suicide - Machine Response
9. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
10. Amenra - Mass VI
11. Lurking Fear - Out Of Voiceless Graves
12. Poseidon - Prologue
13. With The Dead - Love From With The Dead
14. Unsane - Sterilize
15. Atragon - I,Necromancer
16. Firebreather - Firebreather
17. Come To Grief - The Worst Of Times
18. Alastor - Black Magic
19. Primitive Man-Caustic
20. Norska - Too Many Winters-Brutal Panda Records
21. Elder - Reflections of A Floating World
22. Ufomammut - 8
23. Iron Monkey - 9-13
24. Goya - Harvester Of Bongloads
25. Morbid Evils - Deceases

Mari Knox (Italy)

1. Devil’s Witches - Velvet Magic
2. Mephistofeles - ( ( ( I ’ M H E R O I N ) ) )
3. HELL - HELL
4. Electric Wizard - Wizard Bloody Wizard
5. Monolord - Rust
6. BALL - BALL
7. HEAVYDEATH - Sarcophagus In The Sky
8. R.I.P - Street Reaper
9. Come To Grief - The Worst Of Times
10. Ecstatic Vision - Raw Rock Fury
11. Strange Broue - Seance
12. Alastor - Blood On Satan’s Claw
13. Dumblegore - Misanthropic Ritual
14. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
15. Fuoco Fatuo - Backwater
16. Warfaring Strangers - Acid Nightmares
17. Oh Sees - Orc
18. Ufomammut - 8
19. The Judge - Tell it to the Judge
20. Loss - Horizonless

Juan Antonio from Misty Grey (Spain)

1. Blackfinger – When Colors Fade Away
2. Black Sabbath – The End
3. Hällas – Excerpts From a Future Past
4. Alunah – Solennial
5. The Obsessed – Sacred
6. Sorcerer – The Naming of the Fire King
7. Pagan Altar – The Room of Shadows
8. Devil Electric – Devil Electric
9. Book of Wyrms – Sci-fi Fantasy
10. The Judge – Tell It To The Judge
11. Kadavar – Rough Times
12. Watcher’s Guard – Watcher’s Guard
13. Psychedelic Witchcraft – Sound of the Wwind
14. Black Road – Black Road
15. Salem’s Bend – Cold Hand Live
16. Witch Mountain – Burn You Down
17. Son of the Morning – Son of the Morning
18. Thousand Vision Mist – Journey to Ascension and The Loss of Tomorrow

OCEANIC CONTRIBUTORS

Sally Townsend (Melbourne, Australia)

1. Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
2. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
3. Converge - The Dusk In Us
4. Full Of Hell - Trumpeting Ecstasy
5. Primitive Man - Caustic
6. Mutoid Man - War Moans
7. Dead Cross - Dead Cross
8. YLVA - Meta
9. Ufomammut - 8
10. Electric Wizard - Wizard Bloody Wizard
11. Power Trip - Nightmare Logic
12. Sundr - The Canvas Sea
13. The Body & Full Of Hell - Ascending A Mountain Of Heaven
14. King Woman - Created In The Image Of Suffering
15. Monolord - Rust

Zachary Painter (Taipei, Taiwan)

1. Monolord - Rust
2. Toke - Orange
3. Purple Hill Witch - Celestial Cemetery
4. Spectral Haze - Turning Electric
5. Come to Grief - The Worst of Times
6. Mesmer - Mesmer
7. Egypt - Cracks and Lines
8. Telekinetic Yeti - Telekinetic Yeti
9. Here Lies Man - Here Lies Man
10. Saturn - Beyond Spectra
11. CAVURN - Rehearsal
12. Power Trip - Nightmare Logic
13. Primal Rite - Sensory Link to Pain

Dig deeper into the music of the heavy underground through Doomed & Stoned’s ongoing scene-by-scene compilation series and look for The Doomed & Stoned Awards, including your votes for Reader’s Choice, in the weeks ahead!