Frayle - Heretics & Lullabies

 

Frayle - Heretics & Lullabies
Napalm Records – 2025
Metal, Doom, Gothic, Pop
Rated: ***

The sighing girl of the doom metal scene is back with a new album called Heretics & Lullabies. And on it Frayle seems able to make an even grander connection between their gothic touched doom metal and all sort of pop influences. This will bring their dark and hypnotic sound to an even wider audience. Released through Napalm Records, this is the third full-length album by vocalist Gwyn Strang and guitarist Sean Bilovecky. And on it, they sound even tighter and more confident then before, comfortably embracing those pop sensibilities and atmospheric melody. 

They have always thrived on contrast, massive, sludgy riffs rubbing shoulders with Strang’s ethereal sighing voice. And on Heretics & Lullabies it is the very definition of the album. Compact songs, with melodic arcs and surprisingly accessible compositions that still seem to be able to hold on to the band’s dark essence. Walking Wounded opens the ball and is definitely heavy but seems to linger more on hauntingly beautiful. The cover version of Lana Del Ray’s Summertime Sadness seems entirely logical for this album and illustrates perfectly how Frayle blends all that pop melancholy with the weight of doom. 

The minor moments of interplay between Strang’s delicate vocals and the male growls, delivered by Jason Popson (ex-Mushroomhead and many more) adds a welcome touch of variety and power. And when gothic romanticism comes into play, songs like Glass Blown Heart and Souvenirs of Your Betrayal come closer to a haunted dream sequence than a traditional metal record. Frayle definitely proves that doom metal does not have to be oppressive, it can also move with grace and melodicism. And somewhere on the tightrope of heavy and beauty, Frayle is destined to craft a sound that is both inviting and unsettling. Frayle proves that doom metal doesn’t have to be oppressive. For Frayle’s  Heretics & Lullabies is graceful, melodic, and even pop infused. And even though we keep repeating ourselves, the band does not, they strike a rare balance between heaviness and beauty, crafting a sound that is both inviting and unsettling. Let’s hope they can keep crossing those wires for a long time to come… 

(Written by JK)

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Candlemass – Sweet Evil Sun

 

 

Candlemass – Sweet Evil Sun
Napalm Records – 2022
Metal, Doom
Rated: ****

The official release was some ten days ago, but the new Sweet Evil Sun by legendary Candlemass has been spinning over here for quite a few weeks now. They are legends, not just because they’ve been around for ages, but because they blew us all away with their debut album Epicus Doomicus Metallicus back in 1986. And sure, we’ve been enjoying many great albums by many different incarnations of Candlemass ever since. But since the return of the original Epicus Doomicus Metallicus vocalist Johan Langquist back in 2019, we can honestly say we’ve been listening to the Candlemass we dig most. The Door To Doom and the ‘left-over’ album The Pendulum immediately seemed to grab me and apparently a lot of you as well more and more. The new album Sweet Evil Sun will surely do the same. We’re here to enjoy the Candlemass of old, that traditional doom metal, with its sluggish rhythm, its laborious riffs, the occasional tempo shift and the rumbling bass. Colorful, shiny solos and that ragged voice of Langquist. Added vocals on When Death Sighs, from Avatarium vocalist Jennie-Ann Smith, gives that track the perfect element for Langquist to bounce off. But most of the tracks go back to the roots, the roots of that epic and grandiose doom metal that Leif Edling once planted. Classic Candlemass delivers another classic.

(Written by JK)

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Black Mirrors - Hateful Hate, I'll Kill You

 

 

Black Mirrors - Hateful Hate, I'll Kill You

You marked it in your calendar as well right? November four! The release date for the new Black Mirrors album Tomorrow Will Be Without Us on Napalm Records. I have, in huge letters, cause I still spin the shit out of Funky Queen from 2017 and Look Into The Black Mirror from 2018. And I’ve been digging the new single and video for Hateful Hate I’ll Kill You… How about you?

"The energy of ‘Hateful Hate I’ll Kill You’ video is pretty close to what you can expect from a live show of Black Mirrors. Furthermore, we focused on what’s behind the lyrics. The colors, mainly yellow and red, were used as a symbol of the burning of our forest, our planet. One of the outfits Marcella’s wearing is a nod to the last mass extinction to warn us of the 6th mass extinction we are currently living in. At the end, she even changes into a tree to embody the return to nature."

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Bomber – Nocturnal Creatures

 

 

Bomber – Nocturnal Creatures
Napalm Records – 2022
Rock, Hard, Metal, Seventies, Classic
Rated: ***

The 2017 EP Arrival heralded the… errr… Arrival of Swedish fourpiece Bomber. Four tracks that wore the love for seventies metal and eighties hardrock, and the other way around, on its sleeve and those feelings of affection and adoration are, we are happy to hear, abundantly present on their new album Nocturnal Creatures as well! Four demo tracks of this new record was all it took for Napalm Records to hear and sign these crazies; before the album was finished or a proper first meeting had been possible. The four Swedes show great fervour, ingenuity, and enthusiasm for all that heavy metal nostalgia from earlier decades. And even if those echoes from the past might sometimes call to close to home; it is done so incredibly well that there is simply no denying the fact that you are listening to four metal masters. Slowly the music, compositions and arrangements on Nocturnal Creatures move more towards the eighties and ever more towards the grandiose metal of that era; and the four come out on top, giving the metal heads longing for the over the top gestures; guitar work, drum fills and vocal choruses another album to love. Another band to adore! A Bomber patch will be loud, proud, beautiful and necessary for every battle jacket…

(Written by JK)

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Monster Magnet – A Better Dystopia

 

 

Monster Magnet – A Better Dystopia
Napalm Records – 2021
Rock, Metal, Stoner, Space
Rated: ****

There’ve been two cover albums released recently that have been spinning ever since at the HiVe HQ. One is the Cloud Covered album by the awesome Clouds Taste Satanic, an album we will definitely mention in the very near future. O’ and we noticed Hugo just posted a write-up on his awesome Orange Maze blog, so head on over and grab an earful over there! The other one, is of course the new album A Better Dystopia by the legendary Monster Magnet. Even though we already assumed it would probably be a good one; there was a moment there that we felt a small pang of disappointment. We just really would have loved new Monster Magnet material. As we do every day. Every day. But that momentary feeling was incinerated by the thirteen amazing versions brought to you by Dave Wyndorf and his cronies. It’s loud, its filthy and it’s awesome. The thirteen tracks are all pulled out of the oubliette cesspit of psych, acid and proto-metal and indeed, not all of them are that well known. Most famous might be the Born To Go track from Hawkwind, and that one turns into one of the most fantastic tracks every to grace you ears. With a release to intense it will definitely bring you every sort of satisfaction! And after that intense closer Welcome To The Void leaves you all alone out there, at the bottom of the rabbit hole, where you will be waiting for the next Monster Magnet rocket ship to blast through the infinite space, the fourth dimension or the twilight zone with. You will realize that this is the kind of cover album the world needs right now, rough, raw and nuclear!

(Written by JK)

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The Vintage Caravan – Monuments

 

 

The Vintage Caravan – Monuments
Napalm Records – 2021
Rock, Hardrock, Seventies, Prog, Psych, Blues
Rated: *****

Oh, how they have grown! How that sweet seventies inspired rock sound of the Iceland trio The Vintage Caravan has exploded and turned into a majestic wave of musicality. Testament to it all is the new record Monuments. Eleven wild tracks that feel just as proggy as all that goodness that came out of the seventies and just as hard and heavy. And even a slow song, like a late seventies, early eighties ballad, called This One’s For You that reminds in its melody of ‘As The World Falls Down’ by Bowie immediately convinces and takes you with it on its emotional journey. It speaks of the loss of Óskar Logi Ágústsson’s brother and is indeed a highly passionate song. Which is followed by one of the more ominous tracks on the record called Forgotten. A ballsy track that starts out like a heavy trucking, speeding hardrocker and with it’s 8.11 is one of the true cathedrals on Monuments. It has every aspect of The Vintage Caravan in it and it sounds so rounded, so well composed and well-produced, it’s almost scary. The way they also dared to dive more into the personal side of song-writing also shows the amount of growth the power-trio has gone through. Cause the 8 minute, 15 second closing track Clarity is once again a sensitive effort that move into gigantic territory with its choir, when it comes to grand gestures. But don’t think its all heavy on the emotional side; there’s also enough hard rocking riffs, intense drums and wild bass work to enjoy! Just check out Sharp Teeth, Said And Done or Dark Times. Well, I’ve seen them live so many times I lost count; and I definitely can’t wait to see this new material performed live once again! And if it is one of the first shows we will see after the pandemic, things might get a bit too emotional… Once again…

(Written by JK)

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Hällas – Conundrum

Hällas – Conundrum

Napalm Records – 2020

Rock, Seventies, Prog, Hard, Psych

Rated: ****

There are those moments when you just want to swim around in that lovely pool of seventies prog. You just want to dive deep into those swirling sounds that seem to go on forever and almost make you drown. But of course much of that pool of old bands, old albums and old songs are fairly well known. Luckily there’s Hällas! On their new album Conundrum the Swedes go even more prog than before. Continuing their trip to extract the retro seventies elements out of that hardrock and psychedelic adventure they started somewhere around 2011. More room for keys and synths and less for straight riffs, more eighties elements and less heaviness. It’s actually more of a leisurely stroll or swim, since we were talking about pools here, through the natural progrock from the seventies, those folk inspired albums from bands like Rush. They sound completely comfortable with their route chosen and the intended goal. A multi-dimensional futuristic sounding retro album. And like a righteous paradox, all of that seems to work beautifully and not at all describe what you will go through when you listen to the album. But then again, sometimes it does. Quite the Conundrum…

(Written by JK)

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Mammoth Mammoth – Kreuzung

Mammoth Mammoth – Kreuzung

Napalm Records – 2019

Rock, Hard, Pub, Speed, Stoner

Rated: ****

Sure, you can move from Australia to Germany and continue the band making it all bigger and better and bolder and rougher and tougher. There have been artists before you that did the very same thing. And for the guys from Mammoth Mammoth it was the absolute right thing! The sound is high speed, double energy pub rock, hard rock and stoner. Every song on Kreuzung is a bullseye on its own and all of them pound and hammer and sledge their way into your heart and in a direct line to the bar. It's a speedball to the main nerve! This is the speedrock we all need when we are feeling low and the night is young, this is drink music for the rock ‘n roll spirit for the last in the bar and the lost in the gutter. Missing Motörhead? Check out Mammoth Mammoth! Need more AC/DC? Check out Mammoth Mammoth! Indeed, hard rocking excellence that fumes and grooves and revs you up the right way!

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Monster Magnet

Starcrawler

Electric Huldra

Borrachero

Sixes

Yes, the new Monster Magnet album will be released by Napalm Records soon and Mindfucker is a real smash ‘n grab! Much more pointy, punchy and consice! But with a whole lot of soul and groove, it might be proto punk but it’s pure Monster Magnet. Gearing up for an interview with Dave Wyndorf later today, so yeah, Mindfucker was on repeat! And will be for quite some time! Starcrawler! Out on Rough Trade. The new hyped savior of grunge definitely delivers something good. Definitely LA styled, but filled with biting riffs, high octane energy and ramshackle crackles. Electric Huldra has been riding high everywhere and rightfully so! The Roadburner EP contains five stoner truckers and they are all equally wild! Borrachero! VinceS told me to check it out! So we did! And we are glad we listened to this crazy cat! The five tracks on their self-titled debut is heavy and grungy, but psychedelic and awesomely fuzzy! Last up is the Mephistopheles album by Sixes! Out on no less than four labels, Black Bow Recordings, Poisoned Mind Records, Forbidden Place Records and Medusa Crush Recordings. Yep, four. Californian doom and blackened sludge that lumbers sickly and drags itself around like a beast on the verge of death. Heavy is not just a word for them, heavy is every facet of every song! Go check’m out! Check’m all out!