Commanding an intoxicating blend of high energy riff rock, with punky grit, downtuned power, and sinister doom metal touches, PEGZILLA is rebellious and unabashed as ever in their wild new single, “Bootlicker.”

You may have encountered the self-described thrusting stoner-doom trio during the pandemic with their EP, ‘Giver’ (2022) or the stand-alone track “Eyes of Phthonos” that followed. Now, as the band gears up for their debut full-length record Disobedience, their sound has ripened and ready to burst.

PEGZILLA’s “Bootlicker” is an anti-fascist anthem, a call to resist; a reminder to stay awake, stay angry and stay sensitized to this crucial moment in time. It’s lead singer and guitarist Olivia Saperstein’s direct response to events currently taking place in the United States.

As you might expect, bands in our scene have a lot to say about the state of the world and these days politics touches all of life, so it’s hard to avoid an opinion altogether. This is nothing new for rock and metal, as it has been notoriously outspoken and anti-authoritarian for many generations (that’s especially true here on the West Coast), and remains one of the most powerful forms of free expression today. “Bootlicker” has got some real kick to it and I look forward to savoring the rest of the album in months to come.

Survivors of this year’s devastating fires in Southern California, Pegzilla are emboldened and ready to stir the cauldron. See them live as they premiere the new single on December 4th in Los Angeles at The Goldfish performing with Ben Katzman and Lord Friday the 13th (get tix here). You can grab “Bootlocker” right here, out December 4th, which Doomed & Stoned is premiering today as an honest-to-goodness, real life music video.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

If Sabbath got hexed by a riot grrrl and dragged through the desert at midnight, you’d get PEGZILLA. The three piece heavy rock band out of Los Angeles California features Olivia Saperstein on vocals and guitars, Juan Barsse on bass, and Ryan Swain on drums. With hints of doom metal, psych and even punk rock it’s hard to fit this rowdy trio into a tidy box. Instead label them one thing: LOUD.

For their first release since reforming and losing their Altadena home in the Eaton Canyon Fires, PEGZILLA is back with “Bootlicker”, the first single from their forthcoming debut album “Disobedience”. The song is a direct response to the current U.S. administration and its inhumane practices. “It’s a call to wake up, speak up for what’s right and resist,” says lead vocalist and guitarist Olivia Saperstein.

The powerful, riff heavy track is accompanied by a blood splattered music video, directed by Monica Moore Suriyage. The video was shot in Altadena at the Pasadena Waldorf School. Connected by Altadena Musicians, the band was proud to shoot in a town they formerly called home. “It was mutually beneficial for both the school, and local Altadena musicians,” says Saperstein, “So shooting there was so perfect.”

The video features campers who kill off their visiting co-eds and dance in their blood. With cameos from members of local LA bands Moonfuzz, Broken Baby, Lord Friday the 13th, and The Holy Cuts, the piece feels like a true community affair.

“Bootlicker” will be released on all music platforms on December 4th of this year, along with the video premiere. The band is set to celebrate their release at the Goldfish LA on 12/04, alongside Ben Katzman and Lord Friday the 13th. Limited 7” vinyl will also be available at the release party!

Doom comes in many shapes. There’s doom that combines elements of stoner rock and then there is doom that touches the waters of atmospheric death and black metal, such as pioneered by bands like Katatonia, Paradise Lost, Evoken, and others. The release before us ‘Latitudes Of Sorrow’ (2025) brings together two bands who pull their origins from the same year that Doomed & Stoned began: 2013.

First up are three grey clouds from SHORES OF NULL. The Roman quintet brings harsh vocals and growls contrasted with clean, melodic crooning, and this is pitted against a dark ensemble of guitar, bass, and drums. It’s the ideal time of year for this kind of sound, as it matches the gloomy weather and provides a morose commentary on the state of human existence in contemporary times.

The band provides us with a walk-through of these tracks:

“An Easy Way”

It is the song that opens the split, and it is the most straightforward of all our songs in there. It has a dual nature: on the one hand, it’s quite catchy and memorable; on the other, it retains a deep inextinguishable darkness that leaves very little room for hope. Lyrically, it deals with depression and the inner struggle, as well as the temptation to surrender when everything seems utterly bleak. It is a reflection on human frailty that can lead to self-destruction.

“The White Wound”

This song was inspired by the avalanche that struck Hotel Rigopiano on January 18, 2017, in the Central Italian region of Abruzzo, near where I grew up. Imagine 120.000 tons of snow coming down from the mountain at the speed of 100 km/h and destroying everything on its way. 29 people died and only 11 survived. Musically, it blends doom-and-gloom passages with sudden blackened blastbeats, reflecting the unpredictable violence of nature. Lyrically, the song meditates on grief, loss, and the anger over the negligence that allowed the tragedy to happen, leaving lasting emotional scars.

“The Year Without Summer”

Browsing the web for catastrophic events, I came across an unprecedented volcanic eruption that took place in 1816 in modern-day Indonesia, which triggered devastating consequences. Sunlight was obscured, temperatures plummeted, and the world faced famine, floods, and epidemics. The song captures the fear, uncertainty, and despair of that time, exploring both the material devastation and the inner turmoil of those who lived through it. It’s a meditation on fragility, loss, and the inescapable force of nature. It features MN of Convocation of growls.

The CONVOCATION side is no slouch, and everything fans of the band love about the Finish crew is here. Furious roars that seem to manifest as pure flame, plaintive guitar strains, swelling rhythms, and bewildering atmosphere that will sweep you away into its aura. “Abaddon’s Shadow” is a watery behemoth like none other and you’ll dissipate right into the molecules of “The Empty Room.”

Latitudes Of Sorrow is deeply affecting and powerful through and through. Shores of Null and Convocation are ideally paired on this release and provide a good balance to this ship adrift in nihilistic fog. Releasing on cassette and CD, in addition to digital format, on Friday, November 21st via Everlasting Spew Records (get it here).

Stick it on a playlist with Enslaved, November’s Doom, Marche Funebre, and Endonomous, along with your favorite death and funeral doom bands.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Shores of Null stand out from their contemporaries with their ability to blend seemingly disparate elements into their sound, overwhelmingly heavy and soothing at the same time: blackened aggression stands alongside gothic-doom sections without either sounding out of place. Their music can be both melancholic and majestic, made of chorale-like guitar textures across the instrument’s entire range, sustained by a powerful rhythmic section and punctuated by a refined mixture of clean and growled vocals, along with extensive use of pleasing vocal harmonies which have become the band’s trademark through the years.

The Rome-based metal band has been an unwavering presence within the metal underground since their musical outset in 2013, churning out a series of impressive records: the melodic and somber Quiescence (Candlelight, 2014), the darker and more complex Black Drapes For Tomorrow (Candlelight/Spinefarm, 2017), and the ambitious Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying) (Spikerot Records, 2020), a 38-minute long doom manifesto that sees guest appearances of the doom-titans Mikko Kotamäki (Swallow The Sun) and Thomas A.G. Jensen (Saturnus), along with the angelic voice of Elisabetta Marchetti (Inno).

Shores Of Null’s fourth album, The Loss Of Beauty, released in March 2023, was hailed as one of the best albums of the year within the genre. The band supported the release with an extensive EU/UK tour alongside Swallow The Sun, Draconian, and Avatarium, followed by standout performances at major festivals like Hellfest, Rock Imperium, and 70000 Tons Of Metal, among others, further solidifying their status as one of the rising forces in the metal scene.

In 2025, Shores of Null released Beauty over Europe, a powerful live album capturing the raw energy and emotional depth of their performances across the continent. The release serves as a testament to the band’s commanding stage presence and the resonance of their music with audiences worldwide. Looking ahead, the band is set to unveil Latitudes of Sorrow, a highly anticipated split album with Finnish funeral doom masters Convocation, promising a profound exploration of grief, atmosphere, and sonic weight.

Convocation started as a death metal project that later developed more close to darker doomish soundscapes, an outlet for really heavy and slow music with the will to experiment including synths, organs etc. This brought in 2017 the release of the 4 apocalyptic anthems comprised in “Scars Across”.

Three years later Convocation came back with the grandeur of “Ashes Coalesce”, an aural study of concepts encircling death while 2023 finally brought the third album “No Dawn For the Caliginous Night”, their most majestic and immersive release.

The one, the only, the legendary BEZELBONG are back and better than ever. Few bands make it past their first year together, fewer still make the 10 year milestone. Poland’s four-member stoner-doom metal crew have been at it since 2008, approaching 20 years of heavy, unrelenting riffdealing.

Most of us discovered BelzebonG with their monolithic debut, 2011’s Sonic Scapes & Weedy Grooves. Its influence was immediately felt, inspiring scores of instrumental stoner-doom acts that followed. Since that storied beginning, the band has released new sounds every three or four years, their last being a live record in 2021. Their latest offering brings together four brand new songs, as has been their custom with the previous three albums.

On ‘The End Is High’ (2026), BelzebonG conjure some of their dankest jams yet in full sonic fury (the recording captures it all beautifully), including “Bong & Chain,” “420 Horsemen,” “Hempnotized,” and “Reefer Mortis.” All of them bear the trademark BelzebonG songcraft. The band has always had a knack of building on a few catchy ideas, building dire atmosphere around them, and doubling down on slow, powerful grooves.

“420 Horseman” kicks off with a whinny and a furious trot. Get ready little lady…hell is coming to breakfast. A headbanging trance ensues with emphatic riffing and slow chug, surrounded by a swirling flurry of guitar madness. The mood is ominous, plowing ever deeper into a nihilistic abyss, a fiery chest swelling of grim determination and abandonment.

Look for Belzebong’s triumphant return The End Is High on Heavy Psych Sounds, one of my favorite all-time labels in the scene. Release date is slated for February 20th and you can pre-order the LP soon on 12" limited run variants and straight black vinyl (available soon here).

I had the privilege of meeting these guys at Psycho Las Vegas, filmed their set and interviewed them, and I can say their live act absolutely backs up what you’re about hear with full conviction.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Poland’s loudest riff dealers, Belzebong have been spreading their fuzz-drenched gospel of bong metal since 2008. With no vocals and no compromises, they summon crushing instrumentals soaked in doom, sludge, and psychedelic haze. Their hypnotic live shows and cult-like following have turned them into underground legends, delivering slow, sinister grooves straight from the green abyss.

With acclaimed albums like Sonic Scapes & Weedy Grooves, Greenferno, and Light the Dankness, Belzebong have toured extensively across Europe and the U.S., leaving trails of blown minds and smoke-filled venues in their wake. Belzebong is not just a band—it’s a ritual of riff worship for those who live by the fuzz and die by the bong.

The skies crack, the world coughs, and the smoke clears only to reveal the end. From the depths of the riff-choked void, Belzebong return with a new sermon for the final days — The End Is High. Recorded and mixed by Satanic Audio at Sound of Records, this new chapter drags you deeper into your doom — where the incense burns green, and time moves slower than death itself. This is the soundtrack for the final procession. No salvation. No redemption. Bong. Fire. Death

From Sardinia, Italy comes four-piece heavy rocker INDIGOSAUR. The band’s name seems to aptly sum up the kind of electricity, energy, and heft you’ll encounter on their debut nine-song record, ‘Cosmic Censor’ (2025). With that chill desert fuzz and frenetic perpetual motion rhythm you’re definitely in for a good time. Rainy late-night atmosphere pervades the listening experience, and I enjoyed taking this one for a drive on my pre-dawn coffee runs this fall.

Today, Doomed & Stoned brings you the second single “Titania,” which delivers the addictive momentum and feel-good rocking we’ve come to expect from late-'80s metal along with the heart-pounding groove of bands like Kyuss and Truckfighters. Loving the guitar play on this one, especially, with its subtle sendbacks to bands like Guns 'N Roses and Stone Temple Pilots.

Says Indigosaur:

‘Titania,’ second single, is an homage to the Bard, William Shakespeare. Titania is the queen of the fairies but it’s also an icy moon, like the one mentioned somewhere else in the album. The song goes straight to the point, an unstoppable race downhill lead by a syncopated riff and rousing groove, catchy but dark.

Look for Indigosaur’s Cosmic Censor, issued by the esteemed Electric Valley Records on December 5th (pre-order here).

Much of the album follows fascinating lyrical rabbit trails that include “pessimistic reflections on the human condition, metaphorical descriptions of astronomical phenomena, and their link with mythology.”

And in case you’re wondering about the meaning of “Cosmic Censor,” just take a look at the album cover. The black hole says it all, which the band characterizes as a “gravitational abomination from which nothing can escape.” Some scientists have speculated that our universe is itself nested in a super massive black hole, which is indeed food for contemplation as the vinyl spins.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Electric Valley Records present the Sardinian heavy rock quartet Indigosaur’s debut LP, Cosmic Censor, scheduled for 5 December 2025 on three vinyl variants and across digital platforms.

Formed in Cagliari in 2018, Indigosaur—Lorenzo Alrifai (drums), Ivano Caria (bass), Nicholas Crozier (vocals), and Gianni Pintus (guitar)—started out by putting together the experience its members had gathered through the years and shaping the songs that would end up on their first record. Their first shows were key in building the band’s cohesion, with Indigosaur seeing live performance as the purest expression of their music. The Italian group plays a vintage and strictly valve-driven sound, drawing on thee hues of the darkest hard rock from the '70s, the steely taste of the new wave of British heavy metal and the narcotic atmospheres of stoner from the end of the millennium.

After a break caused by force majeure, the band returned to playing, both in local rock venues and in more unusual settings such as the cliffs of Ogliastra and the coast of San Pietro island, putting on a handful of “secret shows.” They shared stages with fellow Sardinian bands like Elepharmers, Ilienses Tree, Black Capricorn, and Fuzzriders.

In 2023, they recorded the tracks for their debut, while continuing to hone their live craft. In the summer of 2025, Indigosaur opened for American heavy rockers Duel on their European tour and later for London-based Italo-English outfit Gramma Vedetta. Currently working on new material, the band are eager to bring their sound to a wider audience.

Cosmic Censor is the band’s first record: nine tracks of lysergic heavy rock, at times direct and relentless, at others winding down a more complex path. Vocal lines snake through massive riffs, the rhythm section drives the songs between crushing grooves and passages of reflection. The lyrics dwell on bleak reflections on the human condition, with metaphorical visions of astronomical phenomena and their links to mythology. At the center stands the “Cosmic Censor,” a gravitational abomination from which nothing can escape.

As much as I love when heavy music explores realms of fantasy with swords, sorcerers, and goblins, real life is just so much heavier, though admittedly not as fantastic. Life is beset by doubts, fears, imperfections, and human frailty and forgetfulness.

It seems to me a medium as powerful as metal is uniquely equipped to explore this tangled web of complexity. In its latest concept-driven EP, ‘Unwell’ (2025), Wisconsin’s LIMINAL SPIRIT isn’t bashful about facing end of life issues in all its banality, bewilderment, and indignity.

The as now one-man project written, recorded and mixed by Jerry Hauppa does so through jagged powerful, jagged chordal monoliths and angular, jutting rhythms reminiscent of Meshuggah. All of this surrounded by a tangled blackberry vine of dissonance, and marinated in a swirling fog of mournful, groaning guitar ambience that seems to reflect the ongoing decline of humanity, trapped as we are in ghostly boxes of isolation and loneliness dotting endless, flat expanses of asphalt and concrete, awash in artificial light, noise, and pollution.

Dismal as it may sound, let’s be brave and confront reality – our reality – for what it is, shaken awake from the dream state that technological escape has (temporarily) provided. Perhaps we will find the individual and collective gumption to do better, perhaps not. Liminal Spirit invites us to face our demons and find out.

Give ear…

About The Record

Liminal Spirit is a solo project by Milwaukee-based multi-instrumentalist Jerry Hauppa (also known for his work with Deorbit), known for his progressive doom/avant-garde metal and “seance music” designed to channel spiritual passage. He returns in 2025 with his third EP since his self-titled debut in 2023.

Titled “Unwell,” this five-track EP delves into haunting themes of memory, guilt, and spiritual confrontation. By blending progressive doom metal with experimental storytelling, Hauppa conjures what he calls “seance music”, a boundary-pushing sonic ritual designed to evoke shifts between spiritual dimensions. Enhancing its spectral and unsettling aura, three of the tracks feature microtonal guitar work, imbuing the EP with a unique dissonance and ghostly resonance.

“My goal with this record is to explore ideas that represent some of my greatest fears. Having worked in nursing homes, I’ve seen firsthand how miserable they can be. The thought of losing my faculties and facing spiritual judgment terrifies me—and that’s what I wanted to capture,” says Hauppa.

For fans of Skepticism, Jesu, Confessor, Cynic, and Anata, “Unwell” will be available on all major streaming platforms on October 31st, 2025.

Track By Track:

The album starts with the main character, Phillip, being admitted into a nursing home by his two children, Jonathon and Madeline. Phillip is aware that his memory and body are failing, and hopes he was a good enough man to have a rewarding afterlife. He is haunted by the spirits of two children who claim he murdered them years ago. Phillip recalls nothing of the events and doesn’t believe he could do such a thing. During the climax of the record, Phillip is killed by the vengeful spirits, then is cast into hell in the epilogue of the record. The music on the record reflects the uncertainty and horror Phillip feels along the way, and there are multiple calls back to an old song, “Welcome to My World,” by Jim Reeves, that anchor the themes of possession felt through the release.

1. “Admittance” - Phillip is admitted into the nursing home by his children, Jonathon and Madeline. The song feels clean and jazz-inspired, then ends with Jonathon playing Phillip’s favorite song, “Welcome to My World,” to comfort him.

2. “Unwell” - Phillip ruminates on his own character and loneliness, not knowing who he is or what events contributed to his life. The music is disjointed to reflect his mental state, composed on microtonal guitars to create an alien feeling. The sound is more distorted than on “Admittance,” and the level of distortion increases with each subsequent track, leading to the album’s climax and epilogue.

3. “Visiting Day” - Phillip longs for a visit from his children, who checked him into the nursing home, but instead is visited by the ghosts of two children who claim that he was responsible for their deaths years ago. The music shifts to reflect a sinister presence. They tell him they will return in three days and that he is to repent in the meantime, but he has no recollections of the actions of which they speak.

4. “EOLC” - The vengeful ghosts return after three days and make Phillip relive the events of their deaths at his hands. He is physically tortured and killed by them, as the music becomes more sinister and violent.

5. “A Better Place” - Phillip passes into a purgatory where he is judged for his actions, and ultimately cast into hell. The music shifts to reflect the environment as evil, oppressive, and hopeless. The descent into hell is mimicked with a chromatic descending passage.

Musically, THE APULIAN BLUES FOUNDATION is one of the most interesting bands I’ve encountered in some years. Their new album pays homage to early-20th century blues and its revival in the late-60s fused to “the lysergic and scratchy stoner-rock typical of the ‘90s, in which verses and atmospheres from the past are reworked in a current, personal and heavier solution, with a punk attitude.”

Oh you’re gonna love it. Take a listen to the first single, “Mississippi Bowevil Blues” – it’s 8 strong minutes of hell yeah.

Every element of the instrumentation works as “Everybody Out to Love Jesus” unfolds – and they’re right, it does conjure that wet '90s streets sound of the Seattle scene, particularly the burly, deep-throated strum of the bass. The guitar’s bittersweet plucking and strumming reminds me of the deep feeling in LA act The Great Sadness and the jadedness of UK sisters Coma Wall.

The Apulian Blues Foundation ups the ante to full-on doom, which is very much at home in this world. The genre blending and lyrical point of view is a fitting commentary on what has been a very strange progression in music and civilization these past 100+ years.

By far one of my favorite albums of the year, and I hope it gets into many headphones and speakers. This is a band I would love to hear more from in the fast times ahead. New record 'Traditional Songs About Life, Death, and Rebirth’ (2025) emerges November 21st (get it here)

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

From the dunes of Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, to the arid lands of Southern Italy, comes the unique sound of THE APULIAN BLUES FOUNDATION — a meeting point between the roots of African blues and the acid, monolithic rock of Puglia. The idea behind the project captures the essence of Delta blues and merges it with the primal power of stoner rock, giving birth to what the band defines as “delta stoner.”

Formed in 2015, the band began their journey with the self-produced EP “Vol.1,” recorded and mixed by Bari-based sound engineer Andrea Dinapoli. After years of intense live activity — performing at Waves of Doom Fest, Freak Out Stoned Fest, Zolla Fest, Promontorio Music Fest, Rock in Lama, and sharing the stage with notable national and international acts — the band is now ready to present their first full-length album.

Their new record, “Traditional Songs About Life, Death and Rebirth,” will be released on November 21, 2025 via Zann’s Records. Comprising eight tracks, the album pays homage to both early 20th-century blues and the gritty, lysergic stoner rock of the 1990s, reinterpreting the verses and sounds of the past through a modern, raw and punk-driven lens.

Recorded and mixed at REH Studio within MAT Laboratorio Urbano in Terlizzi (BA) by Dario Tatoli, and mastered by Claudio Gruer (Nick Oliveri, Yawning Man, Brant Bjork) at Pisi Studio in Rome, the album marks a major step forward for the band, solidifying a sound that is both personal and immediately recognizable.

With this record, THE APULIAN BLUES FOUNDATION confirm their place as one of the most original and genuine acts in Italy’s contemporary rock scene — delivering a sound that feels both ancient and modern, dusty and visionary.

ABOUT THE TRACK

«When the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught us to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.» Jomo Kenyatta

“Everybody Ought to Love Jesus” draws heavily from the tradition of early 20th-century African American spirituals. In that historical context—marked by racism, segregation, and daily oppression — the Christian faith and the figure of Jesus took on a salvific role, embodying the hope that, after a life of suffering and martyrdom, peace could finally be found beyond the earthly realm.

In this song, however, we completely overturn that perspective, denouncing the oppression and coercion imposed by religious institutions. We do so using the very tools and narrative style of the prayer song itself — now confronted with distorted guitars and slow, drawn-out tempos, the “bastard offspring” of that same African American musical culture that later gave birth to rock ’n’ roll and its many descendants, now turned against itself.

The result is a conclusion diametrically opposed to the original message of salvation: there is no redemption in those who claim to sell Paradise while being the first to turn earthly life into Hell. Only damnation remains. We are doomed.

The marriage of heavy rock and doom metal comes alive in RITUAL ARCANA, aptly dubbed by the band supernatural hard rock. Every element of this record is electrically charged, thoughtfully appointed, and powerful, driven by the combined talents of SharLee LuckyFree on bass & vocals (former Moth), Scott “Wino” Weinrich on guitar (The Obsessed, Saint Vitus, Spirit Caravan), and Oakley Munson on drums (The Black Lips).

Wino is perhaps the most well known in this scene and will be a definite draw for Doomed & Stoned readers, and for good reason. His riffs are undeniably magnetic. There are elements that will take you back to his early Saint Vitus records (the tracks “Road Burnt” and “Subtle Fruits”) which are trademark Wino doom through and through. Others (such as “Occluded”) have that headbanging chug with an ominous low-end that The Obsessed is famous for, and of course the solos that manage to sing in a language all their own – at times soulful and sorrowful, at others maniacal and possessed.

As much as I like Wino’s singing, having SharLee on vox is simply the Midas touch. Her singing is dark, foreboding, and authoritative, perfect for the medium of doom, and she can really soar in frightening and enchanting ways.

Oakley Munson’s drumming is on point. Never sluggish, always keeping the urgency of each song front and center. There’s tangible rhythmic heartbeat to every song.

Ritual Arcana may be my favorite collaboration of the year, issued just in time for the Halloween season. Today, we reveal the title and opening track “Ritual Arcana” in a brand new music video, which will give you a feel for the vibrant nature of the band’s debut. Out January 23rd of 2026 on Heavy Psych Sounds.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Ritual Arcana is the debut self titled full length record manifested by the power of three. A cauldron of doom, hard rock, and the supernatural, this breakthrough album is a ritual, a descent, a death, a resurrection, and a cosmic awakening.

With dark moon above, the candles are lit, and from the depths rises Ritual Arcana. A 3-piece sonic force featuring the high priestess SharLee LuckyFree on bass & vocals (formerly of Moth), the legendary godfather of doom Scott Wino Weinrich on guitar (The Obsessed, Saint Vitus, Spirit Caravan), and the pirate timekeeper Oakley Munson on drums (The Black Lips).

Ancient gates of destiny open by virtue of key, sword, and feather, as Ritual Arcana unleashes their debut album this January on Heavy Psych Sounds. By the power of supernatural hard rock, the ritual begins, and we set ourselves free.

We’ve all heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Indeed, linguistics – regardless of the language spoken – all reach a point where words fail. Music has the uncanny ability to touch thousand, feelings, instincts and impulses otherwise inexpressible with not but sound.

Enter evocative Italian instrumental trio BASALTIC PALTEAU, deftly blending strands of heavy psychedelia, ambient, desert, stoner, and noise rock into a sensory experience that deserves full volume to bask in all its magnificence.

Before us is the band’s debut LP, ‘Dead Dinosaur Echoes’ (2025), which emerges October 17th on Electric Valley Records (get it here) and receives its Doomed & Stoned world premiere today.

According to the band:

‘Dead Dinosaurs Echoes’ is not just an album; it’s a collective ritual, a descent into the deepest layers of perception. Every note is a crack in the rock, every crescendo an emotional eruption. Between sounds dense as magma and silences heavy with omens, the album invites the listener to get lost in it, and perhaps, to find themselves.

In short: excellent, immersive, and addictive.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Basaltic Plateau is a sonic experiment fusing psychedelic fascinations, stoner rock, and the abrasive distortion of noise. Formed in late 2023 after a chance encounter between Marco, Roberto, and Maurizio at a beach party steeped in surreal sounds, the trio set out to create an instrumental project — a sonic journey transporting listeners through evocative landscapes of beaches, dunes, sea, and untouched nature.

That journey, however, was also rooted in unfinished history. Marco and Maurizio had already shared the stage in Le Mal Noir, their university band that played notable shows in the early 2000s but never recorded an album. Picking up that thread years later, on their first day in the studio, Marco reminded Maurizio with a smile: “You owe me a record.”

About a year later, Basaltic Plateau finally brought their debut album to life. Drummer Roberto brought with him a solid background from the early 2000s, having played in several bands on the Bologna scene. After moving to Sardinia for study, he settled there permanently, becoming the rhythmic engine of the trio.

The debut album, Dead Dinosaurs Echoes, is a sonic journey through the cracks of time and consciousness: expansive psychedelia, desert stoner rock, and abrasive noise come together to create a hypnotic, raw, and deeply evocative musical experience. As spiritual heirs of the ‘90s underground scene, Maurizio Cau (guitars and synths), Marco Serra (bass), and Roberto Loscerbo (drums) craft soundscapes suspended between dream and nightmare. Guitars roar like ancient volcanoes, synths evoke cold and distant stars, while bass and drums pulse with the force of a land in constant motion.

The album moves along a double track: on one side, it’s a lysergic trance, a cosmic drift through dunes, oceans, and astral storms; on the other, it’s a dark reflection on the relationship between humankind and nature, on the corruption imposed by greed and war. The tracks echo a buried past, geological, mythical, and ancestral, where forgotten creatures and primordial ghosts are awakened by the plundering of resources and industrial fury.

Six full-lengths, two EPs, strong and steady since 2008. Dang. What keeps North Carolina trio AITTALA going? Sheer compulsion for music making is my guess. There’s nothing like the experience of the real thing, despite the obscene ease and seductive sophistication of AI fakery. To hear and feel heavy music live from their minds and voices and hands of real human beings just like you – well, there’s just nothing like it. Bands with stubborn longevity like Aittala serve as an inspiration to the scene. Pick up an instrument, get to jamming, let your voice be heard.

If this is your first encounter with the band, perhaps “Isolation” is as good an introduction as any. Mysterious strumming, powerful emphatic chords, and wall-shaking disruption clears the path for soulful, soaring guitar soloing and somber Gothic intonations.

The words are relatable to everyone who has felt isolation in the wake of family breakdown, fallen idols, and the loss of true community. We are increasingly siloed into a lonely, virtual existence, housed conveniently in cages of wood and plastic and concrete, subsisting on artificial, processed, and packaged goods churned out by humanless factories. It’s a nightmare that H.G. Wells, Orwell, and Huxley hinted at but could have scarcely envisioned in its nihilistic, nightmarish reality.

Lyrics are stained with regret, lamenting a life devoid of meaning, where technology has eclipsed talent. The machine has been slowly replacing us all for generations, now accelerating humanity into the unknown. With little to believe in and reality on a shakey basis, more and more people are wondering, “What’s the point?” and losing themselves in a soul-crushing death spiral of drugs, alcohol, greed, violence, debauchery, and inevitable madness.

Born with an expiration date
Blessed with the curse you cannot escape
The taste is so bitter sweet
When you learn you’ve become obsolete

Aittala sees clearly in these desperate times, which makes their sound all the more compelling. Witness the gravity and might of “Isolation” now, as Doomed & Stoned brings you its world premiere. It comes from their new EP, “Ill-Gotten Gains’ (2025), available soon on Exitus Stratagem Records (get it here).

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Genre-blurring metal duo AITTALA returns with their latest and second EP of 2025, "Ill-Gotten Gains,” dropping November 21, 2025, via Exitus Stratagem Records. The EP’s lead single, “Isolation,” is accompanied by a gripping music video that captures the emotional weight and sonic depth of the track.

“Isolation” sets the tone for the EP with its doomy atmosphere, heavy guitars, and unexpected time signature shifts. Lyrically, it explores the consequences of past decisions, a theme that runs throughout the entire release.

The music of AITTALA (pronounced ‘EYE-tah-la’) crosses many metal genres; it’s hard to put it into just one category. The sound infuses elements of classic heavy metal, doom, progressive, power, thrash, and hard rock with lyrics drawing inspiration from the darker side of the human condition. The AITTALA sound has been cited for being unique, which is no easy feat in the metal genre.

The first incarnation of AITTALA was formed in 1991 while Eric was living in the Netherlands. With fellow American Tim on vocals and Dutch bandmates Ed (drums) and Jon (bass), the band became a staple of the Dutch metal scene.

With the release of the 3-song EP 'Selling Heaven’ in the summer of 1993, AITTALA opened for such bands as THE GATHERING and SADIST. Unfortunately, as the demo started to create a buzz in the underground European metal scene, Eric had to return to the US and disbanded AITTALA.

In 2008, the time was right to resurrect AITTALA. From 2009 to 2022, AITTALA released 6 full-length albums: 'Bed of Thorns’ (2009), 'Haunt Your Flesh’ (2011), 'Effigy’ (2014), 'American Nightmare’ (2016), 'False Pretenses’ (2019), 'Live to Regret (2022) & Machines (EP 2025). Each release showcases a natural progression of songwriting and lyrical content but retaining the core AITTALA sound and evolving it.

The current lineup of AITTALA consists of Eric Aittala on guitars/vocals and Gary 'Zeus’ Smith (THE FIFTH, ex-MR BLACKWELL) on drums. They continue to write, record and tour to bring AITTALA to the masses.

LACERTILIA are about to bring full-blooded rhythmic energy to your weekend with a brand new music video. Their new album, ‘Transcend’ (2025) is heavy rock at its lustiest, and more than that really: a trip for mind and body.

As with the other songs on the new album, “Weird Scenes,” delves into thought-provoking sonic spaces. Says the band:

Imagine living your life over and over again, learning from your mistakes as you go, spiritually evolving over countless eons and eventually ascending to the higher astral plains, only to be kidnapped by outer dimensional soul snatchers as soon as you got there? Imagine that this was in fact a short snippet from an infinite series of nightmare scenarios conjured up by a malfunctioning artificial intelligence? Imagine that the singularity has already happened, life isn’t real and you are actually trapped inside a simulation?

Strap yourselves in for “Weird Scenes,” a fuzz and wah drenched, garage rock stomper from Lacertilia’s forthcoming album 'Transcend’. With nods to '60s psychedelia and '70s riff rock, this track is far-out, fun filled, heavy, trippy and groovy.

'Weird Scenes’ is the second single taken from our third album 'Transcend’ due out on 24/10 via Majestic Mountain Records. Taken from live footage of Lacertilia’s 10th Anniversary Show at The Globe in Cardiff, captured and edited by Dan Donnelly at Bewt Studios.

This record is one wild ride folks, so hold onto something steady!

Give ear…

Some Buzz

Lacertilia stand out as a fearless blend of psychedelic soul and heavy riff warfare, rooted in their Welsh stoner rock identity but unafraid to draw from cosmic textures, primal energy, and punk-inspired vigour. For the past decade, the Cardiff-based quintet has been a formidable force in the UK’s heavy psychedelic sphere, forging a reputation as purveyors of high-energy, cosmic rock. They have seamlessly bridged the worlds of underground punk, metal, and stoner rock, delivering their high-energy cosmic sermons everywhere from DIY stages to hallowed European festival grounds like Hellfest in France, Freak Valley in Germany, Desertfest London and their biggest headline show to date: the 10th anniversary show in Cardiff in 2024.

Their recorded journey maps this evolution: from the explosive arrival of their 2015 debut EP “Crashing Into The Future” through their 2016 LP “We’re Already Inside Your Mind” and the raw power of the “Live at Hellfest” EP, to the lockdown-forged introspection of their 2020 sophomore album, “Calling The Quarters”.

Their sonic evolution culminates in their forthcoming third album and Majestic Mountain Records debut “Transcend”, which sees the five-piece refining their explosive sound, merging the massive riffs and spacey explorations they are revered for with darker, more intricate textures of folk, prog and post-rock. The result is a heavier, more dynamic listen that charts a course through themes of profound personal growth and transformation, grappling with the nature of reality, existential dread, the breakdown of relationships, and the future of mankind.

Coming on October 24th, “Transcend” is the culmination of a decade of growth — a mind-altering sonic statement from one of the UK’s most compelling underground rock acts.

Lacertilia is:
*Matt Fry – Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
*Lucas Zalunski – Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
*Michael Young-Temple – Electric Guitar, Djembe
*Ed Hughes – Bass
*Carl Richards – Drums

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
                                –Charles Caleb Colton

Covers are probably one of the coolest traditions we have in the heavy music scene. It’s all too easy to lose touch with the spirit of previous generations (the aesthetic and sentiment of 1970s folks music, for example), but covers help to keep the essence of a song alive.

I’m addicted to covers (always have been) and appreciate the fuzzed up series put out over the years by the likes of Heavy Psych Sounds, Redux Records, and Ripple Music, so I love when a band or series of bands give their take on brilliance.

Usually that includes the original melody, harmony, and rhythm, though all that can be in flux. Sometimes covers can be entirely unpredictable (think Low Flying Hawk’s rendition of “Dam that River” by Alice in Chains). At other times, a cover will up the ante over the original, such as Howling Giant’s majestic take on “Rooster.”

A well-written song can stand up to this kind of scrutiny, even feeling reinvented. Such is the case with GORDON HEAVYFOOT. The message remains the same, but with a notably growling new animal giving it voice.

This week, Canadian musicians Nichol S. Robertson and Friendly Rich Marsella are poised to release a standout collection of heavy interpretations (really a better term than “covers”) of six Gordon Lightfoot songs. Joining Robertson and Marsella are Gavin Maguire on drums and Vivienne Wilder on bass. The recording was mixed by producer Greg Dawson of Olde (producer of Olde, Grale, Thantifaxath, Panzerfaust records).

While paying tribute to the famed Canadian singer-songwriter of yesteryear, the spin before us stands surprisingly well on its own merits.

Nichol and Friendly tell Doomed & Stoned:

We wanted to honour Lightfoot using our unique voices as artists. We chose these tunes, as they lend themselves well to the heavier interpretation. The band was sort of born from a play on his name, and then when we began working on it, we realized it really worked well. Sometimes, all you need is a creative spark like that, and it almost seems to write itself. That being said, Nichol wrote these sludgy tunes with some help from our bassist Vivienne. Simply put, these are all Gordon Lightfoot songs re-imagined in a heavy dark world.

“Black Day In July”

Motor City madness has touched the countryside,
and through the smoke and cinders you can hear it far and wide

The album begins emphatically, with the spirit and conviction of a downtuned stomping rhythm. When the first verse begins, there is a chill of the night, smoke-filled atmosphere afoot, and I can imagine myself among hushed throngs as the story unfolds.

“Everyone is listening and everyone’s awake.” The lyrics resound today, though contemporary listeners may update their sentiment to the moral, social, and political realities that have evolved since the ‘60s and '70s.

Don’t think it’s going to be a gentle ending. No, we are ushered into pure madness. The payoff, as with so many of the songs here, is well worth the build-up.

“If You Could Read My Mind”

If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts could tell

Even if, God forbid, you haven’t heard the original song (and it won’t take much more than a hop, skip, and a jump to listen for the first time), Gordon Heavyfoot’s rendition holds its own. Many people feel isolated and alone in their thoughts, misunderstood, which makes the words so relatable.

Here, however, the singer takes a break (after the opening “1-2-3-4”), and the instrumentalists do their thing, an extended solo guiding us through the song. The wordless approach is a brilliant call that seems in line with the sentiment of the song, which explores how two people can be so close and yet have such a hard time expressing the true nature of their thoughts and feelings. So, appropriately, it’s a guitar takeover. The ever winding, twisting, screeching, angsty electrified stream of melodic consciousness says it all. Pure music is capable of tapping into a kind of spiritual language that somehow seems to get its point across by how it touches mind, body, and intuition.

All philosophizing aside, this will be an instant yes for many of the regulars here, its tone warm, fuzzy, and inviting. There’s an honest to goodness desert-stoner vibe going on, often noodling its way into psychedelic frenzy, bass and drums providing hearty support for the journey. I was really attracted to the guitar tone, of which Nichol tells me: “The guitar tone is simply a stratocaster through a Traynor Bassmate. With a custom ALLCAPS fuzz and occasional wah.”

“Oh Linda”

I’m gonna sing you a goodbye song
Sing a song that’s most unkind
I ain’t even gonna try to change your mind

This song works so effectively in this style, and would make a fitting companion to the raspy, corrosive cover of Bill Withers’ “Aint No Sunshine” by Montreal’s Dopethrone. The repeated rhythm is a brooding, dark, and bluesy and dons a hypnotically agreeable riff that’s easy to get lost in. The longest song of the album at nearly 6 minutes (just a second shy), I found myself really leaning into the lazy, hazy flow.

“Pony Man

When it’s midnight on the meadow, and the cats are in the shed
And the river tells a story at the window by my bed
If you listen very closely, be as quiet as you can
In the yard you’ll hear him, it is the pony man

This may be a new Halloween classic, worthy of a playlist with Acid Witch and Uncle Acid. Most of us boxed into cities don’t get to experience a quiet midnight on the meadow, but in our mind’s eye the singer can take us there. This demented ghost story goes from eerie to gnarly, Weedeater-style, eyebrow-raising, Dixie Dave territory. So much thoughtful intention was put into the unfolding story that you can’t help but get chills. The sweet spot begins at that 2 minute mark when the rest of the band joins the fold, and a repeated riff just keeps doubling down on the sugar.

"Ribbon of Darkness”

Ribbon of darkness over me
Since my true love walked out the door
Tears I never had before
Ribbon of darkness over me

This is pure doom (probably the doomiest folk song, lyrically, among Gordon Lightfoot’s output), and serves as a release from the nervous tension balled up inside us after the previous song. The grizzling vocals give a sardonic twist of the knife, while lumbering chords stomp beneath Soundgardensque cloud cover. Things kick up quite a notch in the final moments, with a stark raving mad hoe down and some hearty chuckles.

“The Way I Feel”

Now the way I feel is like a robin
Whose babes have flown to come no more

The Gordon Heavyfoot album ends with a song that would have fit just about anywhere on a normal album, but here its ominous feel seems best for last. I have to say, these songs have held up surprisingly well in the stoner-sludge medium. The vocals are ominous, gritty, realistic, defiant, savage, and ultimately unhinged, with the crashout inevitable in each song. The finale here does not disappoint, with an insane Mr. Bungle-like turn.

This is one of my favorite listens of the year so far. If the mood strikes you, it just might be yours too. The attention to detail raises its artistic merit into something I can see being influential in the scene, even if the record is temporarily lodged in the underground of the underground. This may become more and more the norm as AI slop muddies the waters. I can envision a future underground network that passes authentic, badass music like this through trusted hands (much as in the good old days of mix tapes). However, I do hope this project surfaces for wider circulation, perhaps through a record label release. For now it remains among the whispers of the Doomed & Stoned. Spread the word.

Look for the debut of Gordon Heavyfoot on Tuesday, September 30th and catch the act live in October. The album will be issued digitally and on CD at the band’s management site (get it here).

Give ear…

Just in time for the turning leaves and pregnant storm clouds comes the brand new full-length, ‘Upon Tall Thrones’ (2025), by Italian doom metal champions WARCOE. The band first came to my attention in 2021 and have been plugging away on spin after spin, now on LP number three.

I’ll just say it plainly: this is a badass album. It grabs you right by the t-shirt with those impish opening chords on “Octagon.” Vocals follow in a long tradition of stoic doom proclamation, from Black Sabbath to Beastmaker to Baardvader.

Of course, it’s chock full of deliciously downtuned doom licks throughout, with piercing guitar tone. The incessant, notorious grind of a track like “Deepest Grave” could well be transporting us through Dante’s infamous circles of hell.

Strong, spirited doom riffmaking continues brave and unassailed through all nine tracks, making this a real stomper for our strange times. There’s plenty to keep us engaged, with twists and turns that keep you guessing (check out “Spheres”).

Today, witness the official music video of Warcoe’s latest single, which explores forbidden knowledge in the strange tale of the “Brown Witch.” Bass and guitar conspire with drums to bring us the lowest of low introductory sequences, a grungy underbelly dragging across cobblestone streets. The rhythm doesn’t slouch, however, as we are met with groovalicious momentum that allows the chorus to sail.

Warcoe’s Upon Tall Thrones surfaces on Ripple Music today, September 26th, on vinyl, compact disc, and digital formats (get it here).

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Formed in 2021 in Pesaro, Italy, Warcoe are a heavy doom trio rooted in the obscure traditions of Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus and Pentagram, with a strong sense of classic heavy metal riffage like Trouble or Saxon and some stoner moments.

They named their sound “groovy doom from the abyss”. The band consists of Stefano (guitars, vocals and songwriting), Carlo (bass), and Francesco (drums), and has quickly established a name in the underground doom scene thanks to a sound that blends vintage darkness with sharp and heavy riffs.

Warcoe released their debut album “The Giant’s Dream” in 2021 via Forbidden Place Records, Morbid and Miserable Records, Evil Noise Recordings, and Unforgiven Blood Records in Japan. The album was later reissued on CD and vinyl by Regain Records, who also released their sophomore album “A Place for Demons” in 2023 on Cd and vinyl while Morbid and Miserable Records took care of the tape.

“A Place for Demons” was voted #2 best doom album of December 2023 and #37 overall album of the year by the Doom Charts, further cementing Warcoe’s position as one of the most promising Italian acts in the doom/stoner revival scene.

Their sound combines the slow-burning intensity of traditional doom with bursts of classic metal energy, making them equally suited for lovers of retro darkness and heavy groove.

On September 5th, after a four-year hiatus, Brazilian band BLACK NOIA will release the single “O Baque”, an intense journey through slow-driven stoner rock, heavy psych, and samba de terreiro. The track dives into dense sonic textures, where distorted, fuzz-soaked bass lines collide with heavy and precise percussion. The result is a pulsating contrast that exposes, through sound, the historical and social contradictions of Brazil.

In “O Baque”, melodies of European origin quickly give way to the relentless hammering of riffs and drums, reflecting how Brazil’s history has been marked by violence, blood, and the exploitation of people forcibly brought from Africa. After abolition, these people were marginalized, yet their music became a tool of resistance, while European immigration was encouraged as part of a state-led project of “whitening” the country. The weight and violence of the sound dismantle the myth of a “peaceful racial mixture” and reveal the harshness of Brazilian reality. At one point, the track transforms into an immersion in a traditional samba de terreiro circle, highlighting the musicality and resistance of African peoples.

Conceptually inspired by authors such as Florestan Fernandes, Gilberto Freyre, Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, and Milton Santos, the song translates into music the contradictions, oppression, and resilience that shaped Brazil. To achieve this, Black Noia blends heavy psych and stoner doom with influences from João da Baiana, Clementina de Jesus, and samba de terreiro — sounds rooted in a historical context when, in Brazil, Black men could be arrested simply for carrying a tambourine, as musicians were deemed vagabonds and “vagrancy” was considered a crime.

The lyrics reveal the rawness of life both in major cities and in the countryside, where historical contradictions have been heightened under the weight of the capitalist system — a direct heir of European imperialism. The lyricism overflows with dilemmas amid the chaos we live in today.

Composed in Boituva (São Paulo, Brazil) by Matheus Roma, Bruno Gregório, Bruno El Joe, and Caetano Vidal, “O Baque” was recorded, mixed, and mastered at Estúdio Electric Hill, in Petrópolis, under the production of Marvin.

The single will be available on Bandcamp and YouTube on September 5th, anticipating the release of the upcoming album scheduled for October. Both the single and the album are part of a broader project that also includes a short documentary, supported by the Paulo Gustavo Law (LC No. 195/2022) through the municipality of Boituva. The law aims to support artists and cultural workers, promoting democratization, plurality, and diversity in cultural production across the country.

LYRICS

Ali, chumbado, eu vi
O que queria esconder.
Só agora…
O baque eu senti.
Os dilemas em mim,
Tudo que questionei,
Repetindo assim.

There, nailed down, I saw
What I wanted to hide.
Only now…
The blow I felt.
The dilemmas within me,
Everything I questioned,
Repeating this way.

You can just tell when a band has chemistry. DUSTED ANGEL has the raw energy of Helmet and all the brash, in your face attitude of Mudhoney. Not a new band, by any means, jamming since 2008, but now landing on so esteemed a label as Heavy Psych Sounds, the band is finding their way to many new ears in the heavy underground.

The Santa Cruz, California band (made up of Clifford Dinsmore on vox, guitar slingers Eric Fieber and Eddie Gregor, bassist Elliot Young, and drummer Steve Ilse), are riding the crest of a comeback wave following their last album in 2010. All the more remarkable and heartening, considering the many trials they have fought through to get to this moment. Now on the other side of COVID’s nightmares, Dusted Angel brings us their second full-length ‘This Side of the Dirt’ (2025), 8 tracks in all.

It’s stoner doom as it’s meant to be, with lead-heavy chords you can feel right inside your chest and a defiant punk ethos. Rage Against The Machine comes to mind, but Dusted Angel has more of a rubber meets the road chug – the kind of rhythm that makes you wanna break 55 every time you drive.

They’ve held their own on stages throughout the years with the best of them, paired with bands like Fu Manchu, High on Fire, and Melvins. Good rough 'n’ tumble company, for sure. With this fiery vibe, you can’t help but get caught up in the punchy surge and defiant electricity of songs like “Kiss of Shame,” their first single “Death Crushes Hope,” and the music video we’re premiering today: “Plastic People.”

Look for Dusted Angel’s This Side of the Dirt, out September 19th on vinyl and digipak via Heavy Psych Sounds (pre-order here).

Give ear…

Dusted Angel’s journey is one of passion, perseverance, and reinvention. Fifteen years after their debut LP “Earth-Sick Mind”, the sleeping giant awakens to delight the masses with their bulldozer-like blend of heavy rock, punk rock, metal and desert riff worship, topped with Dunsmore’s commanding vocals. Whether slow-burning or full-throttle, their music is built for volume, leaving audiences battered, blissed-out, and begging for more. The fiery quintet is back and ready to sweep everything away in its path, and you’re more than welcome to hop aboard this crazy party train!

Lead singer Clifford Dinsmore shares the origins of the band:

“At the end of 2008, when I first heard that Bill Torgerson (who I’d played with for years in Bl'ast!), Eric Dog Feiber, Elliot Young and Scott Stevens were jamming I was instantly curious. When mutual friend Kieth Meek told me they wanted me to join I had to see what this is all about. Hearing The Thorn and Seeking The Dawn for the first time blew my mind and I was all about being a part of this project. After I wrote a song called Dusted Angel, we mutually agreed that would be the name of the band.

"We were very active in the first couple years, playing live constantly. We released a 7” and our full length, Earthsick Mind. When we lost Bill Torgerson, it was a severe blow to the band because he is such an irreplaceable drummer. In my mind there was only one strand of hope and one man for the job: Steve Ilse! When I approached Steve, he was busy and extremely hesitant. When I told him he was the only person that could ever replace Bill, he reluctantly joined on a part time basis. When Scotty began to have severe problems with nerves in his arm and hands we began our descent into obscurity.

“We were still playing a few great shows a year with the likes of Fu Manchu, High on fire, Melvins, Red Fang, Radio Moscow, Chrom, and other friends bands that would momentarily resuscitate the motivation. I never lost interest in Dusted Angel, and always dreamed of the day we could be more than a side project. After I had survived two different kinds of cancer and Scotty left the band, our friend Donny Champion sat in for a brief period on second guitar. Then the whole COVID-19 nightmare happened and I did a year of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.

"When I came out of the fog and was able to function again we began doing limited shows with one guitar. We decided we wanted to dedicate more time to Dusted Angel and our search for a second guitar player began. Eddie Gregor was an old friend and was always around, blowing our minds with his guitar playing. When I asked, "What about Eddie?” Everyone just assumed he was too busy. When I finally asked him what he thought about being in the band, he said he had recently pictured playing with us while watching us perform. When he decided to give it a shot, things instantly gelled.

“The rest is history and for the first time in years we were able to feel like a real band again. Since his induction, it’s been non stop momentum. Incredible live shows, recording the new record, signing with HPS, and the opportunity to finally take Dusted Angel around the world. We look forward to whatever happens next!”

Given the human itch toward creativity and innovation, it was only a matter of time before the classic forms introduced by Black Sabbath and other pillars of the doom metal scene would not only evolve, but intertwine with other styles of music.

We’ve been documenting the phenomenon of genre blending for over a decade now and witnessed how well doom mingles in the realms of Eastern and Middle Eastern music – in particular, bands like OM, Ethereal Riffian, Lowen, and even High on Fire. Today, we introduce to you another, new and notable: LITANIA.

A collaboration that brings together members from Italy and Serbia, Litania travels in psychedelic terrain, grounded by drone, aggressive doom riffs, and crooning inspired by ancient Hindustan song tradition. You will find exotic instruments throughout this immersive album, which just keeps getting better from song to song.

Says the band:

Litania is also the title of our first album, eight tracks of evocative, hypnotic doom, where the raw power of guitars merges with the spiritual depth of Indian classical music. The songs, intense and dark, are interspersed with instrumental passages featuring sitar, dilruba, harmonium, and tanpura. The vocals, deep and ritualistic, draw inspiration from ancient Indian Ragas, evoking a sonic journey suspended between abyss and transcendence

And now we bring you “Ghunghru,” the second single from ‘Litania’ (2025). While ghungroo may itself refer to the acoustic anklet warn during dances to enhance rhythms, this song may be more likely inspired by it, with a pulsating beat between bass and drums that grabs you straight away, interjected by surreal vocals, and featuring some of the gnarliest downtuned, moshing doom you’re likely to hear this summer. Dare you to turn it up to 11 and shake some walls.

Litania invades your world on October 10th, releasing on Heavy Psych Sounds (get it here). A fresh sound for strange times.

Give ear…