Number 2

 

 

Number 2

Almost fifteen hundred points! Another huge jump to reach the Number 2 album of 2025 according to all of your votes. It switched places with the one on Number 1 constantly and was on so many lists, it is surely a favorite album for everyone across the globe. Released in May through Blues Funeral Recordings and Majestic Mountain Records, it sky-rocketed to the Number 1 spot on that months’ Doom Charts. And with the promise of a Volume 2 following this album, (March 20th to be exact!) the anticipation for this band’s abilities has only grown to immense proportions. Stoner metal mixed with minor doom touches and space elements. Incredibly fuzzy and even opting for some more progressive touches here and there. It’s the quintet doing their own brilliant thing! They have a certain ring to their sound, a cold spark and an icy glimmer. It’s always been there, but this time around, it’s what makes the entire album hum and sing. The energy seems to vibrate at a perfect pitch. And it gives their metallic edge that extra bit of shine. Delivering constantly in big riffs and soaring payoffs. The vocals are pristine and add that extra bit of shiver. The band has delivered many great albums in the span of their career, starting ten years ago with Ecosphere and Dark Majesty from 2021 making it to the Number 11 position of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2021 according to all of your votes. But this new one, is on a different level. Topping up on everything you have come to love about the band. The record takes you on a celestial drive and beyond the event horizon, eternity awaits…

On Number 2 we find: 

KAL-EL - ASTRAL VOYAGER VOL. 1

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Blues Funeral Recordings

Majestic Mountain Records

Kal-El – Astral Voyager Vol.1

Number 11 on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2021

Number 2

 

 

Number 2

Today we will know which album gets the Silver Medal according to all the votes that came in. Our lovely Heavy Underground is filled with amazing albums and it is not a competition. We all know this. We are all brothers in riffs and sisters of the groove. The votes just show how incredibly loved a certain album is. Cause you can bet your ass that all of those albums already mentioned and the ones that will be mentioned in the 21 to 100 post that goes live in a day or two are all loved by just as many. But this album, we mention today, got 74 points more in votes than Greenleaf on Number 3. Which is not that big of a jump of course. Especially since the jump we make on January 1st is much bigger. A band I have been blessed to see live ever since they first stepped on a stage outside of their native country. And have been blessed to see grow into the band they are now. Always delivering the goods live. Always. And the new album showcases that talent and the talent to write songs that will do good on those stages. And this is just their second album! They started sharing some vocal duties, added vocal harmonies and move around with more dynamics. And the hooks! Oh, the abundance of! And all very warm to the touch; emitting a gritty yet vaporous energy and with the warming of the earth we can only expect more heat in the future… For this is… 

According to all of your votes, on Number 2 we find: 

Slomosa - Tundra Rock

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MNRK Heavy

Number 2

 

 

Number 2

It’s the Silver Medal! The second spot on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2023 according to all your votes. It sits only eight points above the Number 3 album Domkraft and Sonic Moons. All those votes went out to a band that already made the Number 1 spot of the Countdown back in 2019, Number 5 in 2021 and now Number 2. It’s an album that everybody could only come to grips with for a month and which therefor only rose through the ranks as the votes came in. And on those final days, the album shot passed the amazing albums we already visited in the past few days. An album we must confess, once again, we did not click with as hard as we did with their earlier ones. I remember feeling a bit too much of a Ghost touch as we started getting acquainted with the lay of this new land. That feeling has somewhat passed after having the album on repeat for the past few weeks. And their crossing over a tad more to the metal side of classic hard rock has shown to open up their larger than life sound to even more euphoric choruses and even more dynamic interplay. You can hear they’ve been on the road for a while and saw what worked best live, incorporating so much of that experience and that energy into this new album might have tilted the album askew, perhaps my initial weirdness about some of it was stemming from this, but not for these five infidels, they land it beautifully. And we all now know that the next time they brings their ritual to avenue near you, you will need to participate. Missing them next year will be a holy sin…

On Number 2 we find…

Green Lung - This Heathen Land

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Nuclear Blast

Number 2

 

 

Number 2

 

For a long time the Number 2 album hold supreme on Number 1; but then the one that ended up on Number 1 jumped over it. But then they switched places. And then they switched places again. And this went on to the final lists entered and in the end the Number 1 album has only 30 points more than Number 2. But Number 2 has almost six hundred points more than Wo Fat on Number 3. So, indeed. There is a definite Number 1 and 2 for you all. Just as there is a definite Number 3 and 4 for you all. And well, it is a great record, probably my personal favorite. But it might also, in part, be due to the fact that this album brings to a close, a majestic trilogy started in 2021. That’s right, the album on Number 2, brings back hope for the future, warmth, a sunrise that will give you new energy to move forward. Cause you feel how difficult it has been, especially, the vocals throughout the three albums, but you also hear growth there, and a very open approach to lyrics and sharing. And we talk about all that in a long interview. Musically, the band has album been about that tightrope dance between heavy psych, hard prog and atmospheric rock. That majestic balancing act between claustrophobic, tight, pressurized and all those wide-open spaces, giving air and on this album: almost angelic light… On Number 2 we find…

 

King Buffalo – Regenerator

 

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On to Number 1!

Number 2

 

 

Number 2

Today we get to hear which album, which band will receive the Silver Medal for it’s album in 2021. The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2021 is nearing conclusion, only two spots left. And we know Greenleaf and their Echoes From A Mass record is situated nicely on Number 3. So, who will it be? Well, we jump almost hundred points from Greenleaf on Number 3 to reach the album on Number 2. An album that fits the times so perfectly; even though it might not have been written with the state of the world in mind, it shows that these three cats can do more if not all with their music. As we already wrote back in May when we mentioned the album on the blog: “For you know, what might be missing from loads of great albums we all love so dearly in this enormous heavy rock niche we all curl up into to hide from the outside cold. Might be a sense of urgency and the ability to transcend the mundane; offering insights and feelings about what the human condition is going through. These guys have the strength and ability to make you feel that both we and they are hemmed in and torn by similar walls, frustrations and tragedies. The new album is dense enough to be compulsive, somewhat hard to hear at first, the precision and the fury that resides underneath the riffs and rhythms. Where their earlier record offered a same approach but all layered with a different sort of shade, they now show more humility and a dazed frenzy. The new album is about casualties, a search for alternatives, for something to do, something worthwhile. They emerge as masters at rendering the boredom and desperation of living comfortably in this society. Of translating the impossibility to escape the prison of prosperity. Often the sense of helplessness and impotence is not particularly pleasing; and such withering and brutal personal honesty is what now sets this band apart from most peers. The same can be said about those synapse-snapping shifts in tempo and tone or the way the bass weaves itself beneath all the different elements, lifting them up and with that emphasizing each one even more. It brings focus to every note played and every color chosen. Dense, concentrated and heavy but opening up whenever they allow the tension to slacken. The first of a set of three... Amazing artists with sublime craftmanship...” Second place, the Silver Medal of 2021 goes to the album on Number 2:

King Buffalo – The Burden Of Restlessness

 

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Number 2

 

 

Number 2

The jumps become incredibly huge now. We jump over a thousand and two hundred points from Elephant Tree at Number 3 to reach the Silver Medal position. We can safely state that all the albums that have popped up on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 of 2020 deserve to be there! But I guess when the amount of points received by the votes of all you crazy freak out there is this enormous; there is no denying the fact that the Numbers 1 and 2 are dead set in their position. I’ve been very vocal about this album during the year; cause it is without any doubt my personal favorite. And if Shasta Beast had not taken the lead, I would definitely have written something about this amazing album. Shasta wrote back in August:  “There's no holding back either as the album opens with one of its most entertaining cuts. The aptly named "Blast Off" starts with one of the best licks on the record, piercing guitar notes that seem to strobe and echo out to the farthest reaches of space. Underneath are rocksteady drums that build towards the inevitable explosion of distortion, a  launchpad for a driving groove.” And right he is, best opening track from 2020 on the Silver Medal album according to all the voters that sent in their list to the Stoner HiVe… On Number 2 we find!

Psychlona - Venus Skytrip

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Ripple Music

Cursed Tongue Records

Number 2

Number 2

And what we mentioned about the Top 6 being in a league of their own considering the amount of points they all received, well, the Top 2 positions are even further removed from those other four we mentioned the past four days. Cause we jump almost 450 points from Salem’s Bend on Number 3 to reach the Number 2 spot… Indeed, this album received so many votes it almost broke the scale. And it’s only on the Silver Medal position! Do you realize what that means for the Number 1 spot? Cursed Tongue Records released this nugget somewhere around June and it immediately made everyone’s jaw drop, head bang and blood rush! It was our very own Reek Of STOOM that wrote it about back then for the HiVe. “… an album of Intensity, Intelligence and Invention. The band’s new opus, reads like a Rocker's almanac: a mental cognizance of every Great band you ever heard...” Exactly, it’s all there he mentions the ‘dreadnought riffs’, ‘heavy blues monoliths’, ‘glistening knives of fuzz’ and the ‘fabric of psychedelic doom’. “The band have unearthed a album that is immediately evocative of all the 70's Heavy Blues giants and the influences can be heard throughout… But Retro it is not... This is Modern Heavy Rock music of the very Highest Order that just has enough of that nostalgic feel to be familiar..” And Bucky Brown immediately predicted it on their bandcamp page: “You’re probably gonna want to keep your AOTY checklist handy and mark this debut near the very top.” Second place, the Silver Medal of 2019 goes to!

Hippie Death Cult - III

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Number 2

Number 2

We move twenty-five points up from Bronze Medal album Hear The Rivers by Greenleaf on Number 3 to reach the album you voters voted for to reach the runner-up position on Number 2. Another band that has been making the final list for multiple years. And even reaching Number 2 before. Number 8 back in 2011 and the Silver Medal for their 2014 album. This time around they were bested by almost forty points by the album that ended up on Number One. But lets focus on the raw album that lays before us. A record that translates into sound all that angst, fear and worry the writer felt when going through an awful period. It will be choking you with emotion and harrowing visions. It will be pummeling you raw with pounding riffs and grate your soul with a bone chilling voice. And that is how the record grabs you and sits you down, it will speak to you and philosophize about it all. And all of that resounds in the music. Oppressive and suffocating on one hand and expansive and progressive on the other end. There is light at the end of the tunnel… 

The Silver Medal goes to…

Yob - Our Raw Heart

Number 2

Number 2

We seriously jump almost a cool hundred points from Ufomammut's 8 album on Number 3 to reach the album that receives The Silver Medal for ending up on the Number 2 spot of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2017. Can you guess which? Of course you can, everybody could. And after this everyone will know which album ended up on the Number One spot. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. For this tasty slab of heaviness deserves every bit of attention. There is no denying the fact they reigned supreme on the Doom Charts for a few months. And their 2014 album ended up on Number 14 of that year's Top 20 Countdown. This one takes all the goodness of that album and the one that came after to new heights. This is Doom of a higher plane. A universe of slow psychedelics and meticulous metal repetition. The sludgy atmosphere surrounding the entire record is perhaps what's most addictive about this band. It's thick, juicy and drenching in its grandiose epicness. Oh, yes, we have to go overboard with the accolades and superlatives again. More leads, even more groove and riffs that immediately nestle themselves in every fiber of your being. They sound large, they sound huge and they seem to get better and better with every album they release. They give themselves no rest and there is no rust to the sonic onslaught that is their thundering signature... The Silver Medal goes to...

Monolord – Rust

Number 2

Number 2

Asteroid’s, III made it to the Number 3 position. And now we jump another forty-seven points for the Silver Medal on Number 2. Indeed, forty-seven points to reach they sun bleached tones and dried out fuzz. A band that made the 13th position of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2011 with their soundtrack to a super vacation. This one exposes your over and over to a truckload of fantastic riffs, fine arcs, vistas and unquestionable good hooks. Every one of the eight tracks on this record are filled to the brim with those amazing riffs and hooks, interspersed here and there with some psychedelic freak outs, bluesy solos or droning guitars. Add to this the wild bass work and intense drumming and we have a legendary album in the making. And if that isn’t enough to fulfill that prophecy we have vocal lines that are exactly, smack dab, in the middle of the mix and precisely right. Some might claim that continuous, repetitive contact with music and message could be viewed as brainwashing and mind control. Well, I don’t believe that. I do believe in this quartet. Completely and utterly! “We are the Gods, the kings of nowhere…” They are Gods alright. Greek gods, and we will worship them as they rightfully should be. By everyone!

1000Mods – Repeated Exposure To...

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Number 2

Number 2

“The more candles on my cake means I get a little more exercise in blowing them out.” ~ Lemmy

No less that forty points! Yes, we jump forty points from Glowsun’s Beyond The Wall Of Time on Third place to our Silver medalist. A band that has been making the Top 20 countdown almost since their conception. Ending on Number 12 back in 2011 and Number 15 in 2013. Apparently everyone out there has been even more in love with their newest release. Less of a nightmare but still scary and intense and it will definitely give you the creeps. Or as Madman Tony Maim put it back in September: “A heavier sound which still retains the ‘69/’70 Blue Cheer vibes but at the same time turning up the psychedelic and druggy feel which holds so much allure to warped minds like myself – and indeed you – my dear Stoner HiVe readers.” So without further ado, let’s get wicked with NUMBER 2 !!

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – The Night Creeper

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Number 2

Number 2

“Part of the first pair of whisky releases from Adnams Distillery in Southwold, Suffolk. Just 10 barrels were used for the original release, which uses three types of grain - wheat, barley and oats - aged for over 3 years in new American oak casks. Nose: This one lures you in with approachable toasty oak, white peach blossom, some spicy grain, the bubblegum in the background this time and cocoa dark chocolate. A little lychee and sugar that’s just catching. A touch of lime. Palate: White pepper and spices, orange and a hint of powdered chocolate. Finish: Quite comforting and almost beer like with a little rich honey and chocolate now.”

The next band leaves maestro Brant Bjork trailing in its dust as we climb fifty points to reach the Number 2 spot of the 2014 Stoner HiVe top 20 countdown. The Silver Medal goes to a band that made it to the Number Eight position with the album that came before. Back in 2011. This year’s release saw it topping many lists all across the globe and we already reckoned it would have a prominent place on the HiVe as well. There is no escaping the fact that the new record is nothing but an instant doom rock classic. They take their time and carefully craft the compelling and stirring arc’s that holds you captive for fifteen minutes per track. Ten ton heavy guitar sounds whirl and twist around you lifting you up with nothing more than a couple of chords but with so much dynamic and variation that you mistake the tornado for a desert storm and the other way around. Throbbing bass work and thundering drums together with the feedback ridden dark and haunting growls or high pitched and eerie screams make this a record that is meant for the ages… 

YOB - Clearing The Path to Ascend

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Number 2

Number 2

 

 

“New Belgium Brewing declares a snow day for everyone! This joyful phrase conjures universal meaning: forget work and enjoy.  2ºBelow is New Belgium’s winter seasonal, bringing warmth and relaxation to cold winter days. It carries the subtle chocolate and caramel flavors of the newly developed Midnight Wheat malt. Pleasantly hoppy, the Styrian Golding, Centennial and Cascade hops bring a bright note to complement roasty undertones.  It is the deep garnet of roasted walnut and presents a creamy tan head. “With its layered hops, it delivers the depth people crave in a winter beer but it’s very drinkable,” said Grady Hull, assistant brewmaster at New Belgium Brewing.  “We intentionally created a beer that could carry its weight without weighing you down…””

 

The Silver medal position has eighteen points more than Number 3, Windhand. For the longest time this album held the Number 1 spot in its clutches, which was a pretty big surprise for me. It is a damn good album but I had not expected it to reach that or in fact this position. The same goes for the current Number 1. But; let’s focus on the Silver medal first. Their ninth album made it to the Number 19 position of the 2009’s edition of the Stoner HiVe top 20 countdown. On their tenth studio record the fellas go for the gusto in a big, fast and heavy way. And it may function as a blueprint for all bands out there who might feel like they’re stuck in a rut, format or lack the guts to have the dealer set them up with an additional set of cards. For even though some of the changes seem to be floating beneath the surface and there is still much stoner groove and metal blues to be enjoyed; all limiters are thrown out of the window here. They implore a skinned off sound where instruments crackle and vocals pop. The riffs growl and claw at your face without tearing off your fur. And all eleven compositions are equally powerful and where the band used to loose themselves a bit in extravagant earthly, native or eccentric meandering they now use all those influences much more subtle and have it transport the groove like an underground current. And all those earthly up-tempo beautiful rockers are even more infectious thanks to the vocals that stun with humor and melancholy truths.  All of which are brought to us with care by blues poets, stoner souls and deranged vicars… If you’re gonna do it; do it on stage…

Clutch – Earth Rocker

 

 

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Number 2

Number 2

“These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast.” Revelation 17:13

Pfew and finally; on Number Two we once again find a band from a different country than Sweden. Germany to be exact. And the city of Berlin to be precise. These freaks wound up with almost 35 points more than Graveyard and looking at their band name they should be considered neighbors or at least be in business together? And yes, they are honoring those bands of yore. That good music, that still remains, to this day, the best that was ever made. And these guys sound as if they were right there; at its conception. They sound like the absolute best of Sabbath, Zeppelin, Cheer and all those other great 60’s / 70’s proto-metal artists. And they never sound like they are trying to emulate; but rather like they showed them the way. Smell it, sniff it, smoke it and enjoy their fuzzed out slightly decayed sound!

Kadavar – Kadavar

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