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

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Eyrth

Dead Witches

Electric Mary

Flotsam and Jetsam

Jupiter

O’ what a beautiful sun out there! Is the winter truly over? Already? We can only hope so! Well, it’s been another full week and another week of highly different listening habits on certain days. And a few of those bands we listened to we shall keep out of the Top 5, simply because they have no merit for the crazies who might be checking this post out. Or should we mention Dream Theater and their technical prowess or that we had to rediscover Cocteau Twins, thanks to Reek Of STOOM? Nah, let’s leave’m off the list and just mention the Five HiVe relevant artists and their respective artists… Right? Well, here goes… Cold atmospheric doom metal straight from outskirts of Riga, Latvia. The album is called Fracture and the band Eyrth and turns out to be one hell of a sonic wrecking ball! Mark Greening (former Electric Wizard, also of Ramesses, With The Dead) and vocalist Virginia Monti (Psychedelic Witchcraft) joined forces to found the heaviest occult psych superbeast to see the light this year: Dead Witches! The Final Exorcism is their first release (through Heavy Psych Sounds) and offers exactly the kind of slow dragging occult sounding psychedelic doom one would expect from these heavy weights. A surprise? No, but damn freakin good anyway! Electric Mary hails from Australia and releases their new album Mother through Listenable Records. No Aussie pub rock, but sweet sounding hardrock with that fine bluesy edge. This is intense classic stuff with a modern feel. No way to not immediately fall in love with the new Electric Mary! Was uncertain if we should keep Flotsam and Jetsam on the list, but we should, we just should. Cause their new album The End of Chaos is just one hell of a kick in the nuts! Out on AFM Records the heavy metal with it’s thrash and speedy influences is pure quality. Iosomnia by Finnish trio Jupiter takes us back to everything the Stoner HiVe loves! Heavy psychedelic, doomy stoner and progressive touches! It’s one hell of an adventure! And one you should all experience! At least once! So check it out! Check’m all out!

With The Dead – Love From With The Dead

With The Dead – Love From With The Dead

Rise Above – 2017

Rock, Doom, Metal

Rated: ****

November 2015 saw the release of the debut self-titled effort by With The Dead. The Lee Dorrian-fronted group came out swinging and everyone seemed to cheer them on. The band now continues without Mark Greening from Electric Wizard, still features guitarist Tim Bagshaw of Ramesses. But also, bassist Leo Smee (formerly a bandmate of Dorrian‘s in Cathedral) and ex-Bolt Thrower drummer Alex Thomas and return with follow-up Love From With The Dead. Eight tracks, heavier, darker and more evil than before. The first release was evil and dark, with this definite love for occult sounding doom. Well, Love From With The Dead adds to this a level of devastation and soul crushing gloom. Sludgy in nature, the drag and push you towards the edge of a massive quagmire. “This last couple of years have been quite soul-destroying. There's been a lot of personal shit going on, and during this entire process so much fucking bad shit has happened in my personal life and other people's personal lives. Everything you hear on this LP; the angst is very real. I've never felt so disillusioned with life and the world around me.” Dorrian states in an interview. This is definitely audible on the record. There does not seem to any glimmer of hope anywhere. Slow, heavy, raw and grating, a righteous avalanche of destructive doom!

(Written by JK)

Rise Above Records

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Number 19

Number 19

“I could be hit by a Sara Lee truck tomorrow. Which is not a bad way of going: 'Richard Simmons Found in a Freeway in Pound Cake and Fudge, With a Smile on His Face.' Let's face it. We don't know anything.” ~ Richard Simmons

As mentioned before, we have 24 bands in the Top 20 countdown of 2015. Which means that the numbers 20, 19, 18 and 17 would not have made it if there hadn’t been a couple of bands with the exact same amount of points. So the album that’s on Number 19 would not have made it. Which would probably have come to a surprise to many of you. Cause this trio are championed by a leader who was part of a legendary outfit and the two lieutenants as well. They made the Number one position of the Doom Chart and will be loved unconditionally by fans of Cathedral and Electric Wizard and ofcourse by many more. Ponderous metal mixed with thunderous rock and a multitude of dark and dusty tones and extremely malevolent sounding riffs. It is the sound of yore and of intense, powerful compulsion. Exorcism and resurrection and the birth of something wild and wonderful… Two points above Witchskull we find…

With The Dead – With The Dead

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With The Dead – With The Dead

With The Dead – With The Dead

Rise Above – 2015

Rock, Metal, Doom

Rated: ***

Back in 2013, when Lee Dorrian blew out the candles over Cathedral, it was only a question of time before he would re-surface in a new project. A musician like Dorrian can never sit still for too long, even though he professed his wish to focus most of his attention on his Rise Above Label. So when the rumors started circulating about a possible collaboration between dear old Dorrian and Tim Bagshaw and Mark Greening from Electric Wizard the excitement became a tangible buzz throughout the dark music caverns. On the self-titled debut-album of With The Dead we receive, completely in line with all expectations, ponderous metal mixed with thunderous rock and a multitude of dark and dusty tones and extremely malevolent sounding riffs. It is without a doubt a definite successor to all Cathedral ever was and Electric Wizard had slowly lost, at least for a lot of many Wizard fans. It is the sound of yore and of intense, powerful compulsion. Exorcism and resurrection and the birth of something wild and wonderful…

(Written by JK)

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