THE DOOMED & STONED SHOW
Back in action, with new finds from the heavy underground, Billy Goate (Doomed & Stoned) and John Gist (Vegas Rock Revolution) share songs by The Age of Truth, Komatsu, Savanah, High Reeper, Merlin, and more! We even find time to talk theories about Big Foot, experiences with ecstasy, dreams, weird times at shows, plus adventures in speaking Norwegian!
Many thanks to our patrons for making another week’s episode possible!
The Doomed & Stoned Show is now playing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, Mixcloud, PlayerFM, and streaming platforms everywhere.
🔥 PLAYLIST 🔥
INTRO (00:00)
1. The Age of Truth - “Salome” (00:31)
HOST SEGMENT I (08:23)
2. Shun - “Run” (25:05)
3. Surfsquatch - “She’s The Devil” (28:52)
4. Robots of the Ancient World - “MKUltra Violence” (33:30)
5. Doors To No Where - “Darkness Falls” (37:06)
HOST SEGMENT II (44:58)
6. Komatsu - “Blackbird” (54:12)
7. Nephila - “White Bones” (58:57)
8. Savanah - “Velvet Scarf” (1:00:33)
9. 10,000 Years - “Gargantuan Forest” (1:08:49)
HOST SEGMENT III (1:14:33)
10. Pieces of Molly - “Spirit Man” (1:33:18)
11. Fugentpecker - “Never More Never Never Land” (1:37:21)
12. Wytch - “Evil Heart” (1:40:54)
13. Merlin - “Merlin’s Bizarre Adventure (Stoner Cut)” (1:45:44)
HOST SEGMENT IV (1:50:58)
14. High Reeper - “Vermillion Iron” (2:01:21)
15. Bretus - “Nuraghe” (2:06:07)
16. Ape Vermin - “Ancient Ruin” (2:10:39)
17. OAK - “Broken King” (2:15:58)
OUTRO (2:21:57)
18. Witchthroat Serpent - “The Fall Of Whitewood” (2:22:49) [bonus]
CREDITS 📝
Theme: Dylan Tucker
Thumbnail: Vagelis Petikas/Revolver Design (for Nephila)
Incidental Music: Hellvetika
Want Even More Fuzzy Riffage?
👊 Get a hold of our new compilation Doomed & Stoned in Colorado
🎵 Listen to songs from past shows in our ever growing Spotify playlist
📺 Check out our HUGE music video playlists on YouTube!
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Italian Doomers BRETUS Tell Ghostly Tales on New LP, ‘Magharia’
Hailing from the City of the Two Seas, Italian doomers BRETUS return with a new album of ghost stories. Longtimers know that Bretus and Doomed & Stoned practically grew up together. Though the band has been active since the turn of the century, our first exposure came with their debut full-length ‘In Onirica’ (2012) and subsequently we formed a friendship with the Catanzaro doomers that continues to this very day. It’s hard to believe they’re already over two decades old (okay, 20 years young, if you like). And what do they have to show for it? A handful of LPs, an EP, and a split with fellow Italianos Black Capricorn.
If you’re as much a fan of vintage horror movies, H.P. Lovecraft lore, mysticism, and the occult as Zagarus (vox), Ghenes (guitar), Janos (bass), and Striges (drums), there’s a whole world of story and sound awaiting your deep dive into the Bretus catalog. Adding to their already excellent discography, a fifth album now reveals itself: 'Magharia’ (2021).
I won’t spoil my interview with the band (see below) if I tell you that the album concerns, shall we say, several tales of the supernatural variety. An ominous gong is struck to the backdrop of monastic chant as Magharia opens in epic fashion “Celebration of Gloom,” a song characterized by a chugging proto-trash tempo, trve metal stylings, and Gothic vocals appropriate to it’s subject. It’s a rather grim account of a certain sacrilegious priest and his daliences with young women of the church. As a preacher’s kid, I’ve seen this kind of thing play out a hundred times and can assure you these sweeping romances between clergy and laity never end well. In this case, it winds up with a ghoulish rite and a victim’s vengeance.
“In the sky lightning strikes…wicked laments rise from the ground.” Welcome to “Cursed Island.” True to the spirit of the lyrics, this track really let’s it all hang out, with quasi operatic vocals that occasionally erupt in maniacal laughter (reminding me vintage Reagers-era Saint Vitus, with its lusty swagger). And why not? This is after all about the mystery that surrounds one of the most haunted islands on earth.
Thus far, the record’s been sporting a pretty up-beat pulse, so surely you’re ready for some good old fashion doom? “Moonchild’s Scream” concerns a albino girl accused of being possessed by the devil for her appearance. One day, she disappears in the dungeons of a castle and legend has it that her cries can still be heard every five years during the Summer Solstice. Doesn’t get more doom than that, folks!
After a brief interlude (“Necropass”), we arrive at my favorite track of Magharia. “Nuraghe” concerns the spirit of a woman judged and condemned for a crime she was innocent of still roams among the ancient stones. Boy, the ancients sure did have a hang-up with free-spirited, independent women, didn’t they? The song itself is possessed by the spirit of Pentagram in its biting guitar work and rhythmic attack. Love the riffage on this one! Some of it could have been played out just a little more for my taste, like the all-too-brief Soundgardenesque motif at the two-minute mark. It returns a minute later, again in brief. C'mon Ghenes, let your inner Kim Thayil loose! Maybe we can convince them to improv at this point with a bitchin’ guitar solo at their next festival appearance. Then again, perhaps this fits artistically with the song, which speaks of obscure “grim dancing bats” and a ghost that haunts through swift shadows passing over glimmers of light. Once again, Zagrus expressive song style comes through to distinguish this as a gem of the genre. I shall be revisiting it on my personal playlist often.
“Headless Ghost” strikes graceful Goatsnake groove as the yarn is spun about the restless and tormented soul of an ancient Roman warrior who has risen from his place of rest. All he wants is the skull that was looted from his place of burial. Give it back to him! “No one will be spared tonight,” the lyrics warn, as the song shifts down to a dire doom dirge as the night unveils a strange moon and the wanderings of a cursed soul, seeking his head and not more. “He is living again in this hell.”
“The Bridge of Damnation” is one of the creepiest of the record, said to be about “a bridge, a young boy, and his three torturers.” The mood is quite dark, with esoteric atmosphere, reverberating vocalizations, guitar and bass trading off notes. Oh, and did I mention this tale from the crypt involves death and resurrection, as well? The riffmaking and drumming are absolutely on point, as is the singing – which by now in the record I’m not only am accustomed to, but have grown to admire. Another keeper!
“Sinful Nun” winds and grinds as Zagarus croons about the inner torment of a Sister who has never gotten over her beloved, who died under such unspeakably tragic circumstances that she decided to consecrate herself to God in celibacy. However, her vows are in vain as she still pines for her long lost lover. The verses are sung to the accompaniment of a galloping tempo, which seems to represent the fevered anguish of a soul forever stricken by grief and the haunted memories of lost love. This is juxtaposed in the chorus by a cursed riff that seems to speak as the Hand of Fate itself. “Farewell to this life,” are the Sinful Nun’s final words.
At last, we reach the album’s namesake and though “Magharia” is entirely instrumental, it would be a mistake to assume you know what it’s going to do. Around the four-minute mark, I had to check and make sure I was listening to the same album, as dark synth busted out a metronomic rhythm, leading to a declamatory section of keyboards to accompany the math-like guitar play and an improvisation of almost creepy seventies-sounding prog, which after its playful fit dissipates suddenly in a bluesy collapse.
Bretus have cooked up a remarkable horror soundtrack that, though it speaks of ancient lore, is very much a fitting backdrop to the unreality of our own times. Fitting somewhere on the stylistic spectrum between Candlemass and Paul Chain, Reverend Bizarre and Cardinals Folly, Margharia may be the band’s finest effort to date. Certainly, it rewards repeated listens, and will haunt you for many years to come. Look for the record to drop this weekend (pre-order here), with multiple physical formats releasing via The Swamp Records (compact disc), Burning Coffin Records (cassette), and Overdrive Records (vinyl). Until then, you can stream it all, right now, right here!
Give ear…
An Interview with Bretus
What is the concept behind the new album and what themes do you explore?
Musically the new record is most “in your face” than the previous album. Also our approach to the recording was different. We rehearsed and arranged together more than before. The result is an album more raw to us. It is a concept album born around different italian old ghost tales. Some of these is supposed to be legend or myth, who knows.
When did you write it? Was it during the pandemic lockdowns?
We had more ideas about new stuff long before the pandemia arrived. We spent this time working on the pre-production of the tracks.
Can you give us a track-by-track explanation of each song on the album?
For sure!
“Celebration of Gloom” is a strange song because there are many influences in it. Including a solo flute in the middle of the track. However is a very loud and gloomy song.
“Cursed Island” probably is the most rock 'n’ roll song of the album. If you know what I mean. Rock in the attitude. Also the first video of the album.
“Moonchild’s Scream” is 100% pure Doom with a heavy mid-section.
“Necropass” is like Caronte travelling the damned souls across the Stige River.
“Nuraghe” is a heavy oriented track with a very dark feeling.
“Headless Ghost” has a more stoner trend than the others and in the end there is a psycho riffing.
“The Bridge of Damnation” includes our '80s dark influences into our sound, probably the most haunted track of the album. The story is based upon an old weird story that happened in our native city, Catanzaro.
“Sinful Nun” is like an experiment and neither of us can explain really what it is… ah ah aha! For sure the most heavy track of all.
Finally “Magharia.” You cannot believe it but the idea comes from a Who’s album, Quadrophenia. Either of us wrote a part of the song. The result is a kind of horror soundtrack.
How do you feel that your basic style or approach to song composition has changed since you first started writing songs in the early days?
You already know a lot of things about us, we know you from so long ago! Please don’t ask how old we are. (laughs) Basically our approach is the same from the beginning. Of course we listen to a lot of new stuff during these years so every album brings different “colors.”
Where are you most looking forward to playing live once pandemic restrictions are eased?
Everywhere! We are angry for live gigs or simply to drink beers with friends.
THE BYRD’S NEST
SIBYL VS. MISTER EARTHBOUND
First things first: Welcome to the inaugural edition of The Byrd’s Nest, where every now and again I’ll be sharing my thoughts and impressions on the music of the heavy underground. Thanks for tagging along!
Before us is a split between Richmond’s own MISTER EARTHBOUND and SIBYL – Doomed versus Stoned. If I’m honest, ‘Hypnotic Rhythm’ (2020) kind of leaves the listener yearning for more and more.
True to its name, the record is both hypnotic and rhythmic with transitions so smooth between the bands you’d swear the two crews were away on a camping trip to Lake Drummond in the Great Dismal Swamp and took a bunch of generators and music gear to set up their studio in the wild, letting the listeners tag along. Harnessing all the backwoods Virginia voodoo that could be mustered, we get a very memorable effort from these riff-borne residents of Old Dominion.
Mister Earthbound is Richmond’s answer to The Doors with the amps dimed out. While still maintaining an Old Skool blues sound, the band has no problem sharing the bed with metal – dare I say swamp metal.
Sibyl continues the guitar-driven motion churning, bringing this record deeper into the depths with what one could only envision as a Siren of the Swamp beckoning the listener deeper and deeper into the foggy abyss.
Will they return mainland to tell the whole strange tale? Only you can find out what they’ve seen and heard by embarking on the journey with them!
BIG BAD BRETUS IS BACK!
Ominous is precisely how this record opens. Hard and heavy riffs meet vocals that recall a young Danzig with that deathly croon from down below. 'Aion Tetra’ (2019) as a record is polished and well laid out, mixed evenly and just loud enough.
The new spin by Catanzaro quartet BRETUS passes all the tests. Car test? Check. Headphones? Check. Home Stereo of Doom? Check.
Instantly classic riffs with a great mix of keys, acoustic guitar, and electric artifacts. A neo-traditional take on all that is doom. The use of modulation is effective and makes the room spin around.
From the entry into the catacombs to the center hall of hell, you’re on an epic trip reminiscent of Candlemass. The drums sit perfect in the pocket. Counter melodies of the bass and guitars intertwine like serpents in a den. A constant barrage of riffs with solos are, surprisingly, not self-indulgent. The keys in “Deep Space Voodoo” add further to the disorienting ambiance, like entering the lair of a creature hidden in a gaseous maze.
With a prologue like “The Third Mystic Eye” and an epilogue like “City of Frost,” the album opens and closes seamlessly. Bretus will keep your heads banging through the entire spin.
Randy J Byrd is a Richmond-based
bassist, photographer, and scene hound
for Doomed & Stoned in addition to
heading up the River City Doom Council.
MAY MELEE!
In our first ‘cast of May, The Doomed & Stoned Show introduces thirteen new tracks of downtuned devastation from around the fertile planet!
PLAYLIST
- Troll Teeth - I Don’t Feel Well" (01:02)
- Doublestone - Here Comes The Serpent" (04:13)
- Kabbalah - “Phantasmal Planetoid” (08:12)
- Altar of Betelgeuze - “Sledge of Stones” (14:47)
- The Doomsday Kingdom - “Never Machine” (20:06)
- Death Metal Pope - “Forever My Queen” (Pentagram) (26:42)
- Caskets Open - “Birthday” (31:38)
- Bretus - “Old Dark House” (36:35)
- Norska - “Samhain” (41:44)
- Come To Grief - “No Savior” (48:42)
- Monolithian - “Ixodes” (55:59)
- Vokonis - “The Sunken Djinn” (59:56)
- Witchfinder - “Brain’s Flare” (1:08:27)
Also streaming on Mixcloud, where you’ll find months of archived broadcasts.
Be the first to hear The Doomed & Stoned Show when it broadcasts live on Grip of Delusion Radio. AND if you enjoyed today’s selection of new music, take a deep dive into the heavy underground through our scene-by-scene compilation series (our next one will be announced soon!). Check 'em out here.
Italy Strikes Back!
Doomed & Stoned Compilation Series
The latest installment in our quarterly compilation series is here! ‘Italy Strikes Back!’ (2016) was inspired by the flurry of activity in the doom-stoner heavy underground we’ve been witnessing over the past two years (see our story here). Thanks to our Italian contributor Mari Knox Knox for heading this one up. Here’s what she has to say about the new project:
Doomed & Stoned focuses its quarterly compilation series on the Italian scene for the first time. Here are 26 tracks by 26 artists, selected among the best budding Italian bands that agreed to join the mix. Through this perfectly arranged playlist, ranging from heavy psych and stoner rock to doom and sludge metal, you will experience a journey into the most dark, lysergic, and sour sides of the Italian underground.
Special thanks go to all bands who contributed their tracks to this project and to the gifted artist Franca Vecchio, who designed a magnificent artwork just for the occasion, taking inspiration from the erotic horror Italian comics of the past.
Download “Italy Strikes Back” and DOOM ON!
-Mari Knox Knox-
Bands featured:
ARCANA 13
Atomic Mold
Black Capricorn
Bretus
Elevators to the Grateful Sky
FAVEQUAID
Gargoyle
Haunted
Indivia
KAYLETH
Kröwnn
L'IRA DEL BACCANO
Megatherium
MESSA
MR.BISON
Nudist
Organ
RAIKINAS
RAMA
Rosàrio
SATOR
SaturninE
Sonic Wolves
Temple of Dust
The Ossuary
WOWS
Art by Francesca Vecchio
*This is a free compilation. Any donations received go towards purchasing more free downloads from Bandcamp for the entire compilation series (yes, Bandcamp charges us for free downloads). Our aim is to catch the world on fire with the power of mighty riffs and downtuned devastation!
Bretus Drops New Vid!
This will get your Tuesday off and rolling! The riffs have never been sweeter in this BRETUS classic, “From The South.” The monster track, from their self-titled LP, is presented here in a new music video, appropriately green-tinted as it takes us through fields of weed to the highest plateaus. Long live Bretus!
2015: The Year of Italy’s Revenge
By Billy Goate (Editor in Chief)
It’s been one hell of a year. I don’t know if I’m just paying attention more or if there’s really been a tremendous groundswell of creativity in the heavy underground, but this year - 2015 - has been like none other!
I decided to monitor several scenes around the world to see just how robust the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Music was (you know, doom metal, stoner rock - the twin styles of Black Sabbath). What I discovered was a bonafide DIY revolution, as the millennial generation joined members of the old guard in picking up their instruments, tuning low, and playing mind-blowingly heavy music.
My journey transported me on wings of sound to the great booted country of Italy, a land with a rich heritage of thrilling composers - from the spirited works of Vivaldi and Scarlatti to the bold, operatic opus of Verdi, Puccini, and Rossini. Perhaps Italy’s first “rock star” was violinist Niccolò Paganini, whose virtuosic powers stretched the limits of conventional sound and solo concerts left audiences agape with awe. Paganini earned himself the dubious reputation of being possessed by none other than the devil. This bold, innovative, and hedonistic nature of Italian musical culture has had an undeniable influence on the development of metal, with acts like Paul Chain, Death SS, and Ufomammut delivering powerful, larger-than-life statements. One simply cannot discuss Italian heavy music without taking into account this rich heritage of mind-bending, border-stretching, even rebellious sound.
Today, the underground Italian heavy music scene is witnessing unprecedented creative activity – a musical renaissance of sorts that stretches from ocean to mountainside. Italy has always had a long, proud tradition of epic doom, but this year a new generation of doomers and stoners are flourishing and have been given wonderful platforms to reach a wider audience through homegrown labels such as Argonauta Records, Blood Rock Records, Brigadisco Records, Cruz Del Sur Music, Heavy Psych Sounds, Jolly Roger Records, Taxi Driver Records, Terror from Hell Records, just to name a few. Together, they have birthed some of the year’s most vibrant records.
Here, then, are some of the notable EPs and LP’s from doom-stoner bands, released between January and December of 2015, that really stood out to me: l'anno che io chiamo “Italy’s Revenge!”
24 MOONS
Sardinia
ABYSMAL GRIEF
Genoa
ABYSSIAN
Milan
APE SKULL
Roma
ATOMIC MOLD
Verona
AWAKE THE SUN
Venice
BANTORIAK
Livorno
BEESUS
Roma
BIRCH CROWN
Gorizia
Editor’s Choice
BLACK CAPRICORN
Cagliari
BLACK INSIDE
Napoli
Editor’s Choice
BLACK OATH
Milan
BLACK RAINBOWS
Roma
Read our review here.
Editor’s Choice
BRETUS
Catanzaro
Editor’s Choice
CARONTE
Parma
CONCRETE JELLY
Trieste
CRIMSON DAWN
Milano, Verona, Ravenna
CULTRO
Roma
DARK QUARTERER
Piombino
DEADSMOKE
Roma
DESERT RIDER
Perugia
Editor’s Choice
DOOMRAISER
Roma
Read our review here.
DUSTRIDER
Roma
FIRELORD
Torino
GRAAL
Rome
Editor’s Choice
GRIME
Trieste
HELIODØME
Roma
HUMULUS
Brescia
Editor’s Choice
HYPERWÜLFF
Bologna
Read our review here.
IL VUOTO
Piacenza
Editor’s Choice
ISAAK
Genova
JUSSIPUSSI
Milan
Editor’s Choice
KAYLETH
Verona
KENOSIS
Forli
KILLER BOOGIE
Roma
LAST MINUTE TO JAFNA
Torino
LVTVM
Arcidosso
MEGATHERIUM
Verona
MONDO NAIF
Padua
MOTHER ISLAND
Vicenza
Editor’s Choice
MY HOME ON TREES
Milano
Read our review here.
MUTONIA
Ceptrano
NIBIRU
Augusta Taurinorum
Read our review here.
Editor’s Choice
NIGHT GAUNT
Roma
NINELEVEN
Sermoneta Scalo
NITEHAWKS
Editor’s Choice
NUDIST
Florence
OLD SCRATCHINESS
Pavullo nel Frignano
OJM
Maser
Editor’s Choice
ORGAN
Belluno
OSSO
Lodi
POSTVORTA
Ravenna
PREMARONE
Alessandria
Editor’s Choice
PSYCHEDELIC WITCHCRAFT
Roma
Read our review here and interview with singer Virginia Monti here.
Editor’s Choice
RETURN FROM THE GRAVE
Venice
Read our review here
RITI OCCULTI
Roma
Editor’s Choice
SATOR
Genoa
SATORI JUNK
Milan
SATURNINE
Bologna
SONS OF A BEACH (S.O.A.B.)
Torino
SOUL OF ENOCH
Genoa
Editor’s Choice
SPACE PARANOIDS
Italian Alps
TEMPLE OF DUST
Monza
THE APULIAN BLUES FOUNDATION
Bari
Editor’s Choice
THREE EYES LEFT
Bologna
THOMAS DOC
Catania
Editor’s Choice
UFOMAMMUT
A Mysterious Undisclosed Location!
Read our review here.
VAREGO
Genoa
Editor’s Choice
VEUVE
Spilimbergo
Editor’s Choice
VOID OF SLEEP
Ravenna
WEEPING SILENCE
Malta
WITCHWOOD
Forlì, Faenza
POSTSCRIPT
You’re probably wanting to know my favorites of the lot, and I admit it is hard to choose even 20 of the best, so I’ll just give you a few that jumpstarted my heart as soon as I listened to them: Black Capricorn, Bretus, Caronte, Doomraiser, My Home on Trees, Psychedelic Witchcraft, The Black Oath, and Ufomammut, to name a few clear stand-outs.
Also, you’ve probably noticed several of your favorite bands out of Italy are missing from the list, but remember this only represents the 2015 releases. Thus, bands like Epitaph, Il Malpertugio Band, Krownn, Loimann, etc. etc. are not represented here.
As you can tell, I’m leaning in the direction of doom, but for you stoner-doom and psychedelic aficionados, there is ever so much to absorb yourself in, so get lost in these wonderful offerings and continue to keep your eye on Italy as a hotbed of proflific underground talent!
Italian doomers BRETUS are not done amazing us this year. Here’s the new music video for “Escape” released this weekend!
Brand new music video from powerful Italian doomers BRETUS. This is “A Final Journey” from their latest ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth’ (2015 - BloodRock Records).