1968 – Royal Bastards

 

1968 – Royal Bastards
No Profit Recordings – 2025
Rock, Stoner, Psych, Garage, Doom
Rated: ****

The amount of albums released on a daily basis is insane. Which means the prospect of being heard by the cabal, isn’t huge. There is so much to choose from and so little time. And on some level I hope that the HiVe and all those other sites somehow contribute a tiny bit to the possibility for great albums to get picked up. Even if perhaps a little later then on the day they were released. For Royal Bastards by 1968 was released by No Profit Recordings back in June. But it has gotten nowhere near the amount of attention it deserves. 

1968 is a stoner metal band from Cheshire, England, active since 2013. They made the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2017, thanks to all your votes, with their album Ballads of The Godless. After that we also mentioned Salvation, If You Need… on Stoner HiVe. But they have much more that deserve your attention. And their newest is called Royal Bastards, blends their grating riffs with melodic vocals, psychedelic elements and loads of genre-crossing influences… 

Standby opens the count with a voice snippet counting till the groove can crash down on you and the dynamic vocals whisk you away on the journey. The perfect opening track does a lot, and Standby does even more. The atmosphere is allowed to come into its own, extend and whirl around you as the vocals turn ever more frantic. Endgame balances those screams with clean melodies and some haunting key-work. Jawmelter, does what it is named for, raw and unpredictable, the rhythms all over the place and the vocals as manic as they come. Volatile is another word one can use for many of the 1968 songs. But bluesy Scorched Earth, the rich and melodic Softly Spoken and the epic closer Merlin with tis flute, keys and dramatic finale offer something grander, bolder and creative. Offering insights into the wild minds of the Royal Bastards... errrr... 1968 four…
 
And all that manages to creep out through your speakers, does not creep at all… It lunges out, grabs you by the throat and drags you through a kaleidoscopic minefield of riffs, roars, and raspy soul. It’s brash, it’s bizarre and it gives zero damns about fitting into any genre box. One minute your floating on a psychedelic cloud, the next you’re getting body-slammed by a doom riff the size of a steamboat. Indeed, 1968 aren’t blending styles, they’re colliding with them at relentless speed, and walking away from the wreckage with a mad man’s grin. It’s dirty. It’s glorious. It’s a fever dream that you want experience over and over…

(Written by JK)

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Omega Sun – Roadkill

 

Omega Sun – Roadkill
No Profit Recordings – 2023
Stoner, Fuzz, Doom
Rated: *****

We love Slovenia. Been there a couple of times. Climbed Triglav. Actually, saw it pop up on my Facebook as a memory today, coincidence, hell no! Danced with the mayor of Bovec at his famous potato festival. Visited Ljubljana, hang out, over at Metalkova, with the magnificent gentlemen of Carnaval and Jegulja. And then recently we saw all the broadcasts about all the horrible flooding and disasters. After which we also read that the good boys from Omega Sun decided to donate the proceeds from everything they sold on their Bandcamp site to help with the charities that deal with those affected by the floods. Which makes us feel even more ashamed about the fact that we only ever mentioned their 2013 Rehearsal Demo and have since been grooving incredibly hard to their 2017 album Opium For The Masses without so much as a peep about that damn fine album on  the HiVe. But after hitting that play button on the promo for their brand-new Roadkill album that will arrive on September 8th, we cannot let them down again. For the six tracks on the new Roadkill album are pure, unadulterated, atavistic stonerrock, sundried guitar tones and fuzzed out doom. This will take you back to the days of the legends and those parties smack dab in the middle of Palm Desert. And even though, for the most part, the rhythms and the overall speed is slower than that of Kyuss, the psychedelic edge we know from that legendary band is there and so is the voice of bassist and vocalist Igor Kukanja. Indeed, the vocals will remind you of John Garcia from time to time, or quite a lot of times. So, yes, there are definite sound offs to Kyuss, but that’s never a bad thing and in the case of Omega Sun, it is something that just comes naturally. Head on over to the Omega Sun bandcamp site, cause the opener of the album and first single The One, can already be heard and gives you the right kind of ear for what to expect for the entire album. Although, the following track Black Dust, makes all that desert sounding ruckus from The One dirtier and ominous, yet also elegant and full of grace. That first section of The One, slower, more determined to deliver the punch straight to the gut. Those vocals, expertly gliding, sliding across those highly defined guitar lines and that guitar slowly staring to take center stage as the song continues. Not so much building or creating tension, but so wonderfully free, flowing, fluent and it feels like the composition was meant to be a dance in honor of a deranged orchestra of wild nature and tempestuous control. Its essence seems to swirl and spiral, through an uproar of elegance and down tuned madness. And those two sides of the coin are audible on every one of the Roadkill tracks. Sheer excellence, and if there is anything not entirely perfect about all of them, it might only be that the master volume seems a tad low. But that yin and yang, something rough and something velvet, they have going on, will soothe you, the savage beast and all those that love stonerrock, desertrock and doom. Thet third Survive track is yet another perfect example of this. And then they end the Roadkill album with Doomer, the second single, soon to be released. Which, as you might expect, takes the maelstrom down towards the bottom of the bottomless pit, letting go of almost everything smooth and velvet they had going on before this. But then there is that guitar solo, coming to the rescue, lifting the composition back towards a bit of light and towards the beginning of the point of no return. Roadkill is one hell of an album and will surely floor you…

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

We felt a little jolt, some electricity, fire in the blood last weekend! Not sure why that was, but perhaps because of all that Quick Fire action! So, we decided not to wait too long and hit you all again with another blazing dosage of Heay Underground action! Another Quick Fire Friday, featuring singles, EP’s and albums, some older, some newer; and with just a handful of words to get your interest peaked and the blood pumping!  And we know… There is so much out there, so much good and heavy stuff, and we just simply cannot ever do it all justice. But here it is… Another Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday! And it burns hot like molten lava!

Trounce - The Goose and The Swan

Roadburn! The legendary festival in Tilburg, Netherlands. Been there so many times, I lost count. And we unfortunately missed it the last few years, which always pains my heart. Which means we missed Trounce and their gigantic earth shattering set there. But luckily the entire set was recorded and will be released soon as their debut album "The Seven Crowns + Live at Roadburn" somewhere in October on Hummus Records. Alternative metal to the extreme and extremely alternative, blast beats, noise, doom and soaring melodic moments. Check it out through the first single and live video from Roadburn called: The Goose and The Swan...

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Bear, Man Dangerous - American War

From Seattle, Washington comes the mysterious Bear, Man Dangerous project. American War is the new shoegaze, post punk single that slowly, like leaves falling down, spirals towards a doom future. Which seems entirely fitting giving the subject matter at hand. The noisy, messy, clouded composition eventually burning away and falling down like Icarus…  

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Kita - Tyhjiö

Progressive blackened doom and death sludge, from somewhere in what must be the radioactive wastelands of Finland. Cause this is insanely, swallowing, and festerously heavy! This is Kita and the first single Tyhjiö for their upcoming album with the same name, out soon on No Profit Recordings. Bleak, Finnish language guttural vocals, on top of filthy metal that growls and howls and tears the universe a new hole, a hole shaped like a huge, ugly, frightening mouth which actually turns out to be the all-devouring void of non-existence. Not meant for the feeble minds…

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Demons My Friends - Ghosts of You

Out on Gravitoyd Music, September 8th, it’s the new album Demons Seem To Gather by Demons My Friends. Ghosts of You is the first video and single for that upcoming album, and that smashing single has been out since yesterday! Grunge doom, with psychedelic stoner touches and something very addictive. It’s those soaring melodies we expect, or that alternative nineties take of the genres we mentioned above. And yes, we heard the rest of album as well, and we can safely state, this album will become a household favorite over here and probably everywhere in the Heavy Underground!

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Nepal Napalm – A Hate Supreme

Murcia, Spain is apparently home to Caribbean influenced, doom metal band that borrows as much from jazz as it does from sludge. We’re talking about Nepal Napalm and their debut full-sized album A Hate Supreme. This shit goes further than most dare, cause these guys dare to seek the edge and dance along it like a crazed jive colonel ready to explode. Recorded mostly live in one sitting, it burns through the energy and inspiration that seems border on that of that fabled John Coltrane album. And that title track, wowzah! This is the kind of experimentation that can lead to the discovery of a fabled elixir or a precious metal… Errr, Nepal Napalm makes precious metal!

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Redeye Caravan – The Circus

Back in 2020, we mentioned Redeye Caravan’s Nostrum Remedium. And now the Greek dark country, gothic Americana band is back with a new EP called: Snake Oil Lullabies. Love the title! And The Circus is the lead single and lyric video for that release. Freaking inspiring, darkness surrounds their account of the ‘show’. You feel the shadows dance around you as the ringmaster makes his gestures, and welcomes you. Not all four songs are as dangerous as The Circus, and that’s a good thing, otherwise you would not be able to sleep tonight. Under the full moon…

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Maven Hill - Magnetic

Out since October 2022, Magnetic, by French fourpiece Maven Hill! Of course Thierry “Pumpkin-T“ François mentioned it on a Peroration Post for the Doom Charts. But otherwise, the album has flown under many a radar, so it seems. Highly undeserved, cause the ten alternative rock tracks bend the ear towards metal, jazzy prog influences and funk breaks as easily as it goes full throttle on danceable energy. There’s something very Magnetic about this release!

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Red Eyed Hyena – Tried & True

We end this Quick Fire Friday with a an absolute bang! Formed in 2015, Red Eyed Hyena is a stoner band with blues and doom influences from Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine, and it’s damn good. The four know how to lay down a steady groove and will surely have you nodding along, and slowing down whenever the guitar flourishes deserve the spotlight, and you will listen breathlessly. You will soon feel like a cowboy (once on a bulldozer), riding around the prairie (or through a little frontier town) and watching the endless horizon slowly pass by. A cactus, and another cactus, a roadrunner, a hyena and a Weedeater cover? Sweet! Well, God Luck and Good Speed to Red Eyed Hyena!

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Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

It’s Friday, the final Friday of a month, which means a new Doom Charts is lurking just around the corner. Most of our time is therefor devoted to getting that all sorted out. But we still managed to wrangle out a little thing we call Quick Fire Friday! A dark, twisted, black and doom version of Quick Fire Friday this time around. And we know… All those releases, singles, ep’s, albums, they are worth way more of our time! But you know how it is… There is so much out there, so much good and heavy stuff, and we just simply cannot ever do it all justice. So here it is. Another Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday! And it burns hot like molten lava!

Ad Nihil – No Eternal Truth

Out on Addicted Label, Russian six piece Ad Nihil delivers yet another incredibly dark and twisted album called No Eternal Truth. Bleak and black metal, doom, sludge, noise and hardcore are only a minor part of the incredibly forlorn and hopeless sound, that the vocals grunt and the story tells. A story about the crisis of civilization and emergency for mankind, the total decay of everything…

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Tattered The Wall – Shedding Season

Out on Cursed Monk Records, Tokyo based trio Tattered The Wall are a guitar less, instrumental, sludge, industrial, junk band with bass, drums, and unholy amount of noise. Not meant for the fainthearted and not meant for easy listening, this will distort your vision and make you stop eating, hang upside down, and spin yourself into a silky cocoon. Hoping, you will emerge one day, a butterfly… But you will probably turn into a radiating bloat fly…

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Vuara – A Normal Man

More Cursed Monk Records and more blackened noise metal from Russia! Vuara brings you speeding hardcore doom sludge and pure chaos. Cassettes for A Normal Man are out via Trepanation Recordings, but the sound on the five tracks in anything but normal. But if extreme hardcore metal is your cup o tea, than yes, Vuara has a kettle for you to pour from. Scalding hot, boiling metal!

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Sky Pig – It Thrives In Darkness

Sky Pig, the name always makes me think of Animals by Pink Floyd, which saw a new version releases recently. But the Sacramento trio, delivering its full-sized debut It Thrives In Darkness on Forbidden Place Records have little to do with or time for the Floyd stuff. No, they deliver metal, of the doom and sludge variation, with some definite menacing post-metal and ominous psych influences interspersed. Scuzzy, fuzzy and filthy.

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Ommnus / My Pitbull Lucifer – Split album

No Profit Recordings is releasing a split album between Ommnus and My Pitbull Lucifer, both delivering five tracks. Well, MPL does six with an intro track, but let’s now dwell on that. But instead dive together with the astronaut on the amazing cover art, into the punk doom metal, the blackened sludge, the hardcore and speed metal, the alternative rock, the stonerrock and the weird mixture of all of those. It’s good, it’s awesome and it’s split right down the middle!

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Suns Of The Tundra – Murmuration

 

 

Suns Of The Tundra – Murmuration
No Profit Recordings / Bad Elephant Music – 2021 / 2019
Rock, Prog, Psych, Post
Rated: *****

Should we mention the history of this band? The beginnings under the name Peach? The bassist that used to be a part of that line-up and then joined Tool? The fact that three of the four are also part of The Osiris Club and it’s amazing The Green Chapel + Live At Roadburn release earlier this year? Or should we just start going overboard again with the accolades for their 2019 album Mumuration? Well, we are referring to the English foursome Suns Of The Tundra and the vinyl re-release of said album. An album so fine it will surely tune you in and turn you on once again. And it doesn’t matter if you have been listening to this album since November 2019 or if you are now coming to grips with it, it is one crazy good record. Seven tracks and forty-two minutes long, it will bring you all your need from progressive rock. It touches on postrock here and there, gives a few metallic spur kicks and meanders through the psychedelic landscape like the very best of the prog rock greats. Going into record with opening title-track; the whole composition, the rhythms, that bass, the vocals, all serve as the perfect and irresistible lure to pull you deeper into the album. After that the push and pull of every track will either propel you forward or drive you inwards. Often grandiose, the sound and concept remains highly accessible, but complex and carefully constructed. Suns Of The Tundra’s Murmuration is hyper melodic, inventive and extremely gifted, and when the Survive Just Fine track twists, turns, swoops and swirls across your mind; you will surely see the pure beauty in its shape-shifting sound…

(Written by JK)

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1968 – Salvation, If You Need…

 

 

1968 – Salvation, If You Need…
No Profit Recordings – 2021
Rock, Stoner, Hard, Blues, Garage, Metal, Grunge
Rated: ****

It felt like pure poetic justice to also review 1968 on the same day we mention ’68. Our mind drifted back to Ballads Of The Godless, that amazing album from 2018 which you all massively voted for when the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown rolled around that year. Making it reach Number 17. For all those crazies that voted back then, the new record Salvation, If You Need… will surely be right up your alley and will get your vote without a second thought! It is their second full-sized album and all of the ten tracks turned into the heavy and full volume rockers we loved on Ballads Of The Godless. Severely gritty, powerful and wild these tracks will race straight into your heart like a marauding gang of bikers running fast and loud on an early morning freeway, tense for action. You know the types, chain wearing, shades sporting, greasy Levis wearing long haired good old boys. And you will immediately join that motley gang, beards and bandana’s flapping and rocking out like the burst of dirty thunder that it is. And really, do we need to say more? It’s everything you love about Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix and all the heaviness in between. And when you pay homage by covering Guts, one of the best Budgie tracks, you are alright in my book and can have my vote any day! So if you’re looking for something good and heavy, for something heavy and good, if you are in desperate need to hear that motoring sound which we all love so much or are looking to be redeemed… Shit, here’s Salvation, If You Need…

(Written by JK)

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