Forming The Void - Reverie
One of my personal favorites of last year and it reached the Number 6 spot of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020...
Out on Ripple Music this remains one hell of an album by the Louisiana quartet!
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Don't forget; the Countdown of 2021 will start on December 13!
So your votes will have to be in by December 12!
Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020
Top 30 Most Scrobbled Albums of 2020
Yes, we scrobble, we scrobble the shit out of a lot of stuff. And this list of scrobbles, is a list of scrobbles that does not include Youtube, Spotify or Bandcamp. Both of which we also use. Spotify very very little. And Bandcamp quite a lot. But this is a list of most scrobbled albums as scrobbled by a media player. This isn’t the amount of vinyl listened or cd’s played. Nor is it the amount of listening sessions while on the road to nowhere in particular or something very particular. Nope; this is a list of albums scrobbled while sitting fully clothed or stark naked behind a computer screen typing away and reaching auditory climax by all that heavy goodness scrobbled… The 30 Most Scrobbled Albums of the total number of 1,069 albums scrobbled this way in that foul year we call 2020…
1. Phe – Glooming Dawn
2. I Saw The Deep – Vimana
3. Black Rainbows – Cosmic Ritual Supertrip
4. An Evening With Knives – Sense Of Gravity
5. Elden – Nostromo
6. Doomed and Stoned in Hellas
7. Causa Sui – Szabodelico
8. Ritual Earth – MMXX
9. All Them Witches – Nothing As The Ideal
10. Psychlona – Venus Skytrip
12. Huntsmen – Mandala of Fear
13. Wolfhand – The Devil Arrives
14. Lord Loud – Timid Beast
15. Sound of Origin – The All Seeing Eye
16. Vessel – Vagabond Blues
17. Kadavar – Isolation Tapes
18. 10Code – Ride
19. Alain Johannes – Hum
20. Honeybone – Spheres
22. The Gones – Good Mourning
23. Tung – Bleak
24. 1000Mods – Youth of Dissent
25. Dool – Summerland
26. King Buffalo – Dead Star
27. Bonehawk – Iron Mountain
28. Puta Volcano – AMMA
29. Ruff Majik – The Devil’s Cattle
30. Stargo – Parasight
Doktor420’s – Personal Top 20
Last, but not least, the Guru himself. We feature Doktor420’s list of favorite albums of 2020 today. As you know, the Stoner HiVe Team Members are all involved with the Doom Charts as well. So most of the personal lists already appeared there. But we’re reposting them here once again. Just because we like to keep things nice and tidy and up with the tradition… But not in the case of the good Doktor, his list has not yet appeared on the Doom Charts. So, here it is! An alphabetical summation of his favorite fifty albums of 2020; where a few are highlighted in Orange, simply because they meant a tiny amount more to him!
Doktor420’s – Personal Top 20 (Err, Top 50!)
Absurd - The Sun Still Rises
All Them Witches – Nothing As The Ideal
Alligator Wine - Demons Of The Mind
Arbouretum - Let It All In
Arcadian Child - Protopsycho
Black Elephant - Seven Swords
Black Rainbows - Cosmic Ritual Supertrip
Cult Of Dom Keller - Ascend!
Dope Smoker - Zeroin
Elden - Nostromo
Elder - Omens
Elephant Tree - Habits
Falcon Haptics - Run to the Sky
Forming The Void - Reverie
Frayle - 1692
Geezer - Groovy
Giöbia - Plasmatic Idol
Hey Colossus - Dances / Curses
Honeybone - Spheres
IAH - III
Kadavar - The Isolation Tapes
Karkara - Nowhere Land
Kayleth - 2020 Back to Earth
Kind – Mental Nudge
King Buffalo - Dead Star
Kings Of Frog Island - VI
Kryptograf - Kryptograf
LáGoon - Maa Kali Trip
Lowrider - Refractions
Major Kong - Off the Scale
Motorpsycho - The All Is One
Mountain Tamer - Psychosis Ritual
Orange Goblin - Rough & Ready, Live & Loud
Orc - Orc
Power Plant - Cargo
Psychlona - Venus Skytrip
Puta Volcano - AMMA
Qilin - Petrichor
Re-Stoned - Thunders of the Deep
REZN - Chaotic Divine
Slift - Ummon
Sons Of Otis - Isolation
Stargo - Parasight
Stoned Karma - Blinded By The Sun
Sun Crow - Quest for Oblivion
Tia Carrera - Tried and True
Turtle Skull - Monoliths
Uffe Lorenzen - Magisk Realisme
Warlocks - The Chain
Yuri Gagarin - The Outskirts Of Reality
Tony Maim’s – Personal Top 20
The Stoner HiVe Team Members are all involved with the Doom Charts as well. So most of the personal lists already appeared there. But we’re reposting them here once again. Just because we like to keep things nice and tidy and up with the tradition… And here, on the HiVe we have a different one than Tony Madman Maim shared with the Doom Charts; cause the HiVe: "has more latitude with the genres..." And we thank all the freaks in the HiVe for that! And we’re proud to have a list by the Madman, cause he has been active on his own Black Insect Laughter blog, been even more active with all his musical outlets like Guitars On Drugs and has been fighting the battle against Covid on the forefront, the actual battleground… And doing all that and juggling a couple of shiny balls will make most everyone lose their minds…. But not the Madman! No, not the Madman!
Tony Maim’s – Personal Top 20
"These are in alphabetical order – each time I play one of these albums I am struck by how good it is – a number cannot represent how music has helped me get through this year. You may or may not know I work in a hospital which has been overrun by Covid since March. Taking a break and blasting sounds into my ears and just losing myself for a brief time in these sounds has been a lifeline."
Acid Mammoth - Under Acid Hoof
(Doomy stoner rock)
All Them Witches - Nothing As The Ideal
(Heavy psychedelic stoner blues)
Asbestos Worker – Dead End Town
(Punky noise rock)
Black Rainbows – Cosmic Ritual Supertrip
(Heavy psychedelic stoner rock)
Bleach birth – Control
(Hardcore post-punk)
Darkest birds – Hope
(Drone doom jazz)
Fall Of Troy – Mukiltearth
(Math rock post-punk)
Forming The Void – Reverie
(Heavy psychedelic stoner rock)
Idles – Ultra Mono
(Post-punk noise rock)
Kaskadeur – Uncanny Valley
(Post-rock math prog!)
Kassad – London Orbital
(Post-black metal)
Locean – Top Ten Zen Meditations
(Garage psychedelic punk)
Love Your Witch – Fucking Relentless
(Stoner thrash metal)
Lowrider – Refractions
(Desert stoner)
Mammock – Itch
(Post-hardcore noise rock)
Orgone – Mos/Fet
(Experimental psychedelic rock)
Rosy Finch – Scarlet
(Sludge stoner metal)
Sun Crow – Quest For Oblivion
(Proto-metal doom blues)
The Mighty Ur – Take It On The Chin
(Spoken word anarcho punk)
Woorms – Twitching, as Prey
(Noise rock sludge metal)
Reek of STOOM’s - Personal Top 20
Today Reek of STOOM! Tomorrow the world; or… The Howls from The Hollow! Cause Reek has not only been doing magic for Doomed And Stoned and the Doom Charts, he also has his very own podcast called The Howls from The Hollow! As you know, the Stoner HiVe Team Members are all involved with the Doom Charts. So most of the personal lists already appeared there. But we’re reposting them here once again. Just because we like to keep things nice and tidy and up with the tradition… And crazy Reek did something different this year! He put out his favorite album per month for the Doom Charts... But for Stoner HiVe, he did something extra special and dived back into those months and here’s his Dirty Dozen, the twelve albums that follow that list that he selected for the Doom Charts. Yes, you could claim they’re the second best albums of those months or as Reek states: “Every month brings something new: These were the albums that intrigued and excited me in 2020 but were just overshadowed by another release that month. Here's my alternative ‘Dirty Dozen’.”
Reek of STOOM’s - Personal Top 20 (errr, top 12)
January: ACID MAMMOTH - Under Acid Hoof
February: SLIFT - Ummon
March: THUNDERCHIEF - No Sufferance For Thy Fools
April: ORANSSI PAZUZU - Mestarin Kinsi
Mei: BLACK RAINBOWS - Cosmic Ritual Supertrip
Juni: NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM - Éons
Juli: BATTALIONS - Pure Humber Sludge
Augustus: TURTLE SKULL - Monoliths
September: GHOST SHIP RITUAL - Tenth Region of the Night
October: KADAVAR - The Isolation Tapes
November: WINDHAND - Levitation Sessions
December: OLDE CROW - Masquerade
Shasta Beast’s - Personal Top 20
It’s his birthday today! So we congratulate Shasta Beast! Best of wishes for the upcoming year and may it be a brilliant one. And we also congratulate him with his personal Top 20 today. Ofcourse, the Stoner HiVe Team Members are all involved with the Doom Charts as well. So most of the personal lists already appeared there. But we’re reposting them here once again. Just because we like to keep things nice and tidy; and up with the tradition…
Shasta Beast’s - Personal Top 20 (errr, Top 25)
I’ll shout it from the mountaintops, the artists previously known as Stonehenge are in a class of their own. Jazz, psych, stoner, and an alien X factor combine for a completely unique and out-there sound from top musicians.
2. PALE MARE – PALE MARE (EP II)
Ever since their first EP, I’ve been in anticipation of more barn-burning sludge from Pale Mare, and boy did they deliver. Filthy riffs that trample everything in their way, and some experimentation with atmospherics that’s a cherry on top.
3. RITO VERDUGO – POST-PRIMATUS
A short release I’ve had on repeat, spacey psychedelic stoner with tight, earworm grooves. These Peruvians bring the talent and have big things ahead.
4. FRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS – MONSTERS EATING PEOPLE EATING MONSTERS
Endless energy from these psych rock weirdos, MEPEM never lets up with snappy riffs and a driving beat that’s one long party, start to finish.
5. BAILJACK – SPRING
I was turned on to these guys by dumb luck in my last live show pre-covid, and just in time. 70s psychedelic blues with a bit of doom, and two unique, equally powerful guitarist-vocalists joined by a killer rhythm section. Top quality all-around.
6. KITCHEN WITCH – EARTH & ETHER
Amazing vocals and downright groovy, heavy vibes, Kitchen Witch bring the doom and bluesy bounce. Spooky, witchy energy abounds.
7. DRYLAND – DANCES WITH WAVES
Dryland’s debut has been a staple spin this year, an adrenaline pumping swords-and-sorcery stoner epic with some of the raddest riffs around. The vocals are a standout, and the new music video for The Sound A Sword Adores is a work of art.
8. MOUNTAIN TAMER – PSYCHOSIS RITUAL
These cats know how to multitask, both bludgeoning and delivering psych freakouts with this monster of an album. Every track will bulldoze right over you, and standout Scorched Earth lives up to its name.
9. SORGE – SORGE
One of the best debuts of the year, the doom is plenty epic and tripped out, but it’s the authentic atmosphere of dark, Eldritch mystery that gives me the shivers.
10. MIDNIGHT GALLOWS – ATTACK WARNING RED
Breakneck sludge attack with some high voltage stoner, this debut holds nothing back. The ungodly vocals are an unexpectedly perfect fit, upping the considerable heaviness another notch or five.
11. UUBBUURRUU – UUBBUURRUU
Endlessly boogie-able and high energy, the feel-good retro vibes were much needed and well spun this year. Just try to get Ice Head out of your ears.
12. DEAD – RAVING DROOLING
Gravelly, molasses thick sludge with explosive drums, DEAD’s latest in a long catalogue is a unique triumph. Catchy one moment and abrasive the next, the two piece behind the WeEmptyRooms label is relentlessly creative.
13. BIG OAF – BIG OAF
Even with ten months of 2020 to contend with, Big Oaf immediately rocketed to the top of the heap. Savage sludge that hits like a ton of bricks with filthy levels of distortion, and the ability to slog and sprint in equally devastating measure.
14. EARTHDIVER – LORD OF THE COSMOS
From the never disappointing Forbidden Place Records stormed this rip-roaring stoner epic, mixing sludgy doom with ferocious bursts of speed. Adrenaline pumping from beginning to end, and what an end it is with the epic “Crusader”.
15. WOORMS – TWITCHING, AS PREY
WOORMS deal in weird, caustic, lumbering sludge, and their follow up to last year’s “slake” twists the knife even further. This is freaky good with some curve balls up its sleeve.
16. DESERT STORM – OMENS
The UK sludge stalwarts returned with yet another solid gold record, experimenting with new vibes and elevating their crushing sound with a modern edge and dark atmospherics. The low end still quakes, the riffs still pummel, but the ever-evolving Desert Storm are never intent to rest on their laurels.
17. BEEHOOVER – LOW PERFORMER
I raved about this when it first came out and I still get chills with every spin. Totally unique sludge, Low Performer is brutal and touching at the same time. Powerfully affecting stuff.
18. PSYCHLONA – VENUS SKYTRIP
This one’s been all the rage in stoner rock and the hype is real. Bombastic riffage deals out full-toned groove after groove, with spacey atmosphere added in for good measure.
19. SKYPIG – HELL IS INSIDE YOU
Their debut EP hooked me and this year’s full length more than lived up to the early promise. Filthy sludge with massively weighted tone, Sky Pig brood and swirl with dark psychedelia.
20. DUNGEON WEED – MIND PALACE OF THE MUSHROOM GOD
A wild ride of crazed doom and sludge that dials the weird way up. Grimy in all the right ways with wild solos that cut through the murk, only to leave you stumbling right back in their laurels.
21. SERPENT WORSHIP – BLOOD & VENOM
A one-man machine of doom and gloom, each track is a dense epic of swampy tone and creepy psych. Come for some spooky western vibes and stay for the organ freakout.
22. KILLA BABES – WE ARE THE KILLA BABES
Straight up fun, these NWOBHM and glam-infused rock n rollers from Canada bring the good time vibes. Bring out the leather pants and fingerless gloves for this one.
23. GHOST FROG – ASTRAL ARCADE
Astral Arcade almost flew in under the radar too late, but thank Iommi it didn’t. A wacky psych rock masterpiece with everything from doom to poppy fuzz hooks with a splash of King Gizz vibes.
24. KING BUFFALO – DEAD STAR
No surprise these psych rock masters’ new album was another killer. Eerie, spacey, and one of their heaviest yet. Epic!
25. IZZY AND THE BLACK TREES – TRUST NO ONE
A diverse mix of styles from post-punk to fuzzy stoner, Izzy herself brings powerhouse vocals to an uplifting and emotional album.
JK’s – Personal Top 20
The Stoner HiVe Team Members are all involved with the Doom Charts as well. So most of the personal lists already appeared there. But we’re reposting them here once again. Just because we like to keep things nice and tidy; and up with the tradition…
Every year again since we started Stoner HiVe back in 2009 we are stumped, amazed and awed by the amount of majestic releases. Sure, we all curl up in our own little niche most of the time and go absolutely apeshit listening to all that heavy stuff. And that part of the music world alone is already incredible. And then think about the other genres out there and the amount that’s released in that part of the music world. I personally just hope that all you crazy music fiends out there keep on trying out the other stuff as well. Cause we can all get swamped in our own little niche of danceable stoner pop, blackened doom or grimy garage sludge. But there are so many amazing album being released on a monthly basis. It is stupendous, insane and absolutely stunning. Below follows a list of thirty albums that did a lot for me on many levels. But I can just as easily name twenty or fifty more that also did a lot for me. And that’s just the heavy stuff. Looking at the thirty I sent in; I’m thinking: ‘what the hell?!’ How can you leave off The Goners, with their Good Mourning album and that amazing opening track Are You Gone Yet? Or the new 1000Mods album? How about the amazing 10Code? ZOE? Big Scenic Nowhere? And we can list many albums more this way… Well, below our personal Top 20, err Top 30; we list another 30 or so albums that we enjoyed like crazy! And crazy we are! About all that heavy magic! And thanks to the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown I’ve dived deeper into all those albums as well; and all of them should be on my list as well! Man, we love’m all so much! Keep’m comin! Keep’m comin!
JK’s – Personal Top 20 (errr, Top 30)
1. Psychlona – Venus Skytrip
2. Honeybone – Spheres
3. I Saw The Deep – Vimana
4. Black Rainbows – Cosmic Ritual Supertrip
5. Kayleth – 2020 Back To Earth
6. Geezer – Groovy
7. Lowrider – Refractions
8. Elden – Nostromo
9. Slift – Ummon
10. Forming The Void – Reverie
11. Ritual Earth – MMXX
12. All Them Witches – Nothing As The Ideal
13. Motorpsycho – The All Is One
14. Elephant Tree – Habits
15. King Buffalo – Dead Planet
16. Alain Johannes – Hum
17. Wolfhand – The Devil Arrives
18. Vessel – Vagabond Blues
19. Molasses – Through The Hollow
20. Phe – Glooming Dawn
21. An Evening With Knives – Sense of Gravity
22. Desert Storm – Omens
23. Jegulja – Exit Sandman
24. Desert Colossus – Eyes And Tongues
25. Murcielago – Casualties
26. All Souls – Songs For The End Of The World
27. Sky Valley Mistress – Faithless Rituals
28. Black Elephant – Seven Swords
29. Wailin Storms – Rattle
30. Arcadian Child – Protopsycho
10Code – Ride
1000Mods – Youth of Dissent
Atlanta – Nugrybauti
Big Scenic Nowhere – Lavender Blues
Black Helium – The Wholly Other
Cobra Thief – Animal Oxygen
Dool – Summerland
Elder – Omens
Electric Hydra – Electric Hydra
Enigma Experience – Question Mark
Fuzzcrafter – C D
Fuzziebär – Grober Unfug
Gomer Pyle – Before I Die I
Hammada – Atmos
Honeybadger – Pleasure Delayer
Horizon – The White Planet Patrol
Huanastone – Huanastone
Humulus – The Deep
Huntsmen – Mandala of Fear
Karkara – Nowhere Land
Kitchen Witch – Earth and Ether
Laser Dracul – Hagridden
Major Kong – Off The Scale
Mammut – Ride The Fire
Mindcrawler – Lost Orbiter
Qilin – Petrichor
Red Desert – Horizon
Ruff Majik – The Devil’s Cattle
Sorcia - Sorcia
Stonus – Aphasia
Thammuz – Into The Great Unknown
The Goners – Good Mourning
Volcanova – Radical Waves
ZOE – Back Into The Light
The Bottom Dwellers 10 of 2020!
We used to be able to do a Red Lantern post about the albums from the year that passed. It entailed the album or albums that got voted for once; and only once and only on the 20th position of a sent in list. But that hasn’t been possible every year. Due to the fact that not every lists has 20 albums on it. Some have less some have more. And for some reason, every one of those lists sent in, with exactly 20 albums on it, had an album on that 20th position, which got voted for more times. So, since we wish to mention a few of those albums that had a very limited amount of votes, we invented the Bottom Dwellers post. Albums that ended up at the very bottom of the list. Which means they were still damn freaking good! Cause they got voted for! But perhaps a bit off center to the normal HiVe heaviness. Perhaps a bit more metal? Or pop? Or punk? But it still means they are featured on a small list of only 670 albums. And to think that among the HiVe Team Members alone have already listened to at least 3000 heavy albums! And we all know there are even more out there! More great records to be discovered! Which we shall continue to do! Damn, how we love this heavy stuff! Go check out the Bottom Dwellers 10 from 2020! Who knows, it might just feature your new favorite one!
Nothing Is Real – Desert Of Illusions
My Morning Jacket – The Waterfall II
Satánico Pandemonium – Culto Suicida
Love Your Witch – Fucking Relentless
Onwards and Upwards in 2021 !
As usual every year we give you the numbers 21 to 100 as voted by you guys and girls that found the time and energy to send in their list of favorite albums of 2020. No lists came in to late this year and the total list of albums featured no less than 670 albums. Below we feature the Number 21 to 100. With Fear by Valkyrie missing 14 points to make it into the Top 20 and Yawning Man’s Live At Giant Rock album missing 516 points to do the same thing. To be fair, below are the albums listed at Number 21 to 100 but a lot of those album gathered the same amount of votes. If we would really move to the 100th position down the list according to points we would end up with an extra list of 20 albums. Which would make Shaman Elephant and their amazing Wide Awake But Still Asleep album the 100th spot of the list. But we’re sticking with the list below. And marvel at the amount of amazing freaking heavy music release this year! Hell yeah!
Valkyrie – Fear
Turtle Skull – Monoliths
Hail The Void – Hail The Void
Causa Sui – Szabodelico
Familiars – All In Good Time
Lord Buffalo – Tohu Wa Bohu
IAH – III
Stargo – Parasight
Black Elephant – Seven Swords
Sleepwulf – Sleepwulf
Curse The Son – Excruciation
Vitskär Süden – Vitskär Süden
Kitchen Witch – Earth & Ether
Sun Of Grey – Outerworld
1000 Mods – Youth Of Dissent
Thammuz – Into The Great Unknown
Baardvader – Baardvader
Kadavar – The Isolation Tapes
Karkara – Nowhere Land
The Kings Of Frog Island – VI
Vinnum Sabbathi – Of Dimensions & Theories
Molassess – Through The Hollow
Bill Fisher – Mass Hypnosis And The Dark Triad
Hammada – Atmos
Laser Dracul – Hagridden
Temple Of The Fuzz Witch – Red Tide
Desert Colossus – Eyes And Tongues
Big Scenic Nowhere – Vision Beyond Horizon
Pale Divine – Consequence Of Timed
Scorched Oak – Withering Earth
Dixie Goat – There's No Light Without Darkness
Rosy Finch – Scarlet
Acid Mess – Sangre De Otros Mundos
The Spacelords – Spaceflowers
Cobra Thief – Animal Oxygen
Ritual Earth – Ritual Earth
Buffalo Fuzz – Volume II
Twin Wizard – Glacial Gods
The Sonic Dawn – Enter The Mirage
Geezer – Groovy
Kayleth – 2020 Back To Earth
Mountain Witch – Extinct Cults
Lykantropi – Tales To Be Told
Orgöne – Mos/Fet
Humulus – The Deep
Frozen Planet 1969 – Cold Hand Of A Gambling Man
Dead Lord – Surrender
Blues Pills – Holy Moly!
Cortez – Sell The Future
Slomosa – Slomosa
Hällas – Conundrum
Slow Phase – Slow Phase
Bone Church – Acid Communion
Gomer Pyle – Before I Die I
The Absurd – Sun Still Rises
Troll Teeth – Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing
Dungeon Weed – Mind Palace Of The Mushroom God
Horizon – The White Planet Patrol
Earthdiver – Lord Of The Cosmos
Mindcrawler – Lost Orbiter
High Priestess – Casting The Circle
Elden – Nostromo
Ruff Majik – The Devil's Cattle
Ethereal Sea – Forgotten Memories Of Tomorrow
Colour Haze – We Are
Starmonger – Revelations
Stonebirds – Collapse And Fail
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin Kynsi
Phe – Glooming Dawn
The Hypnagogics – Endless Nights
Stonus – Aphasia
The Heavy Eyes - Love Like Machines
Desert Storm – Omens
Brimstone Coven – The Woes Of A Mortal Earth
Electric Hydra – Electric Hydra
Howling Giant/Sergeant Thunderhoof – Turned To Stone Chapter 2
Wolftooth – Valhalla
Rider Negro – The Echo Of The Desert
Lágoon – Father Of Death
Yawning Man – Live At Giant Rock
Number 1
There can be only one… We climb almost two hundred points from the amazing Venus Skytrip album by Psychlona on the Number 2 position of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020 to reach the Gold Medal. The Number 1 of 2020! According to all the lists sent our way, all the votes cast, this is the best album of 2020. So we thank all of you once again for voting, for helping the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown become more valid with every passing year and we thank all the bands for delivering all those amazing albums! Twenty years ago this Swedish quartet delivered a landmark album and now the boys are back with a follow-up and yet another masterpiece! Atavistic stoner rock with a majestic groove; an ode to all that pure heavy rock goodness and that spacey delivery. It is not the work of a band trying to recapture the magic of that first album but just a band of brothers that are finally taking the next step of their journey. We can go on and on about all the albums that we heard during this insane year; we can profess our love for many of them; but this one delivered all of that condensed and turned their sound into quicksilver and made it move through all manner of energy and particles that simply became unbreakable adoration for all that we worship about this thing called stoner rock. It is a dream come true, an ode once again and even bigger that before! We bow before the four and beg them to keep taking a next step in their majestic journey; we give you the Number One album of 2020… The Gold Medal goes to:
Lowrider – Refractions
The Countdown so far...
Later on, after the clock strikes twelve and this insane year of 2020 finally ends, we will know what the best album of 2020 is according to 147 of you lovely freaks out there. Those music fiends who had the time and energy to send their list to us. We thank you once again, cause without you fellow freaks in the HiVe this could not be possible. And in spite of everything else, it has once again been a wonderful year for all sorts of heavy music, without any question. Amazing, stunning and incredible, the amount of great music being made around the globe. A huge bow for all those bands, artists and artieste!
And it seems the good stuff will keep on coming! Cause the pre-releases of January and February are a pretty darn stunning! As for 2020; 23 of the best albums made this year, made the Top 20 Countdown of 2020… But ofcourse you guys voted for many more great and magnificent albums. All of which deserve to be on all those personal lists. Cause they’re all awesome! And yes, we shall publish the Numbers 21 to a 100 in a few days. Probably on January 2nd… We will feature the personal lists of the HiVe team members; although most of those are already up on the Doom Charts page! And unfortunately, once again, there was NO album that holds The Red Lantarn this year. There was not one album that was voted for on the twentieth position of someone’s list and only once… But we shall mention a few of those bottom dwellers; cause who knows, it might just be your new favorite album! But before we tear up or start professing our love for this or that, let's run though the countdown one last time and prepare for fireworks, (if you're in a country where it is allowed) a truckload of champagne and the knowledge of who produced the Number 1 album of 2020 according to you voters out there! Thanks everyone and let's all make sure 2021 will become the best year ever! Or at least the best year 2021 can be! Heavy, loud and amazing!
1. …
2. Psychlona – Venus Skytrip
3. Elephant Tree – Habits
4. King Buffalo – Dead Planet
5. Kryptograf – Kryptograf
6. Forming The Void – Reverie
7. Bonehawk – Iron Mountain
8. Sun Crow – Quest For Oblivion
9. Slift – Ummon
10. All Them Witches – Nothing As The Ideal
11. Witchskull – A Driftwood Cross
12. Kind – Mental Nudge
13. REZN – Chaotic Divine
14. Motorpsycho – The All Is One
15. Black Rainbows – Cosmic Ritual Supertrip
16. Ritual King – Ritual King & Butterfly – Doorways Of Time
17. Arcadian Child – Protopsycho
18. Elder – Omens & Acid Mammoth – Under Acid Hoof & Uubbuurruu – Uubbuurruu
19. Mountain Tamer – Psychosis Ritual
20. Dopelord – Sign Of The Devil
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 3
We can’t believe we are already at the Number 3 position of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020. The Bronze Medal! And shit, we can’t believe this fucked up year is almost done as well! And that we can look forward into 2021 with some hope that the fucked up thing of 2020 will finally be done with. But before we get into that state of mind, you know, that state, we put on King Buffalo we found on Number 4 yesterday one last time (for now); so we can try and come to grips of jumping another big hundred and sixty points to reach Number 3. Yes, another hundred and sixty points higher than that amazing King Buffalo album… And here we find a band that reached the Number 14 position of the 2016 Top 20 Countdown with their previous album and obviously reached the first spot of the Doom Charts back in April with their new one. This English psychedelic stoner rock formation delivers their take on earthy and folky inspiration with a high dose of fuzz and equal amount of enchanting atmosphere. Some doomy energy here and a lot of progressive touches turns this album into a must-have classic with no effort at all. For the unbelievable amount of earth shaking riffs and thundering grooves seem to continue on like a tsunami of heaviness. You can’t remain the occasional user listening to this one; it will enlarge any form of habit or addiction you have to this kind of music; it will balloon and it will be majestic! So, once more, into the breach for the Bronze Medal. On Number 3 in 2020 we find!
Elephant Tree – Habits
Number 4
Can’t get enough of Kryptograf! Can you? That Number 5 album is such a wild ride! But we move on to Number 4 today and we do that with a jump of over a hundred and seventy points! Those jumps just keep getting bigger thanks to all the voters who loved the albums! Well, their 2018 album reached the fifth position of that years Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown and this years is once again an album that jumped to Number One of the March Doom Charts. It is doomy, it is metal, it is psychedelic, it is sludge and most of all it dares to fare into different territories, turning experimental into this precious adventure that one and all enjoys and wants to experience over and over again... It’s a trip, addictive by nature and always leaving the listener wanting more; a tapestry of intricate textures and of a multitude of colors, ever building and masters in delaying the inevitable, they are the kings, the captains that know exactly how much elongation is required to get you to the exact point of climax and then leaving you there for just a few minutes longer… Just think of the sex you could have with this album and you will know… Number 4 is:
King Buffalo – Dead Star