Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week…

  

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week…

10 Code
Monje
Jahbulong
Psychlona
Babel Trio
Qilin
Horizon
Whitegorrino
Windhand
Buffalo Tombs

The Number One album of 2013

The Number One album of 2013

Before we start the Countdown of 2019 we look back at those past 10 years of Stoner HiVe. We know it is now the eleventh edition of the Countdown. But we celebrate 10 years! 10 years of heavy riffs, romps and stomps! 10 years of heavy magic! That all started back in 2009 when the blog started, just so we would have a vehicle to count down the best 20 albums of 2009. The edition of 2013 had 61 lists to tally which of course made the outcome even more valid then when we started back in 2009. That list, deduced out of the lists sent in by 61 heavy music fiends,  started with American Sharks – American Sharks on Number 20. It featured Windhand and their Soma album on Number 3 and the amazing Earth Rocker album by Clutch on Number 2. For the entire Top 20, visit the Countdown So Far post on Stoner HiVe… But what album ended up on the Number One position back in 2013... Well, that’s when we wrote:

“In a last ditch effort, after Clutch held the Number 1 position for days on end, this one surpassed it during the final two days. It now has the Gold Medal firm in its grasp. With eight points more. It is of course the album that was highly anticipated for quite some time. One that was meant to be released earlier; but due to legal issues which arose (thanks to the one that did not partake) after their initial successful reunion run (minus one), they had to change name and lots of bass players that were also there in the very beginning decided to call it quits at that point. For the band that started it all, the band that forever will be known as the godfathers of stoner and the flag carriers of the desert sound was brought to life in 2010 thanks to the vocalist. After which the original drummer joined and plans for the future were brewing at the start of 2011. As mentioned before the project grinded to halt due to multiple legal complications and fans feared the worst. But all good things take time and will always come to pass. For it was definitely worth the wait. The album is a throwback to the good ol’ days; and that lo desert sound that we all love so dearly. But with a more loose, bluesy and perhaps even jazzy sound; you can hear the boys matured and discovered their inner soul and recognized its beauty. The vocalist sounds better than ever, the grooves are there, the riffs are damn fine and the drummer is so magnificent that he alone would have deserved a top spot this year. All that’s left to do is to poor another beer, put on the album and dream away under the starry sky as the fireworks explode above… Peace…”

Some albums wither away with time and some age like fine wine… And we were honored to have Madman Tony Maim revisit the album and scream out his words of wisdom… “Is there an opposite of rose tinted glasses? Shit tinted glasses? Because I remember thinking what is all the fuss about when this came out. Kyuss had imploded and John Garcia had started touring as “Kyuss Lives!” Various lawsuits later they changed their name to Vista Chino and released “Peace”. I thought “meh”. 7 years later I think “woah fuck” what have I missed! Comparisons were inevitable but this is a band who have a past but are also finding their own identity. It’s got a driving groove running through everything which lifts all the songs up. Fuzzed solos are stabbed through the intertwined twin vocals with wild abandon. There is a freedom to the compositions which hint at jams. This is still a great album.”

Vista Chino – Peace

(For the rest of the Top 20 of 2013, that very first one, visit the Countdown So Far post on the blog...)

Number 7

Number 7

On the second day of Christmas we move forwards towards Number 7 with a jump of almost twenty points once again. Leaving Weedpecker’s album III on Number 8 with a melancholy and woe dressed up as a hangover. But we shall return there. For sure. Just like we will keep returning to most of the albums we have already passed on this Top 20 Countdown. We thank all of you who voted once again, cause without you this thing would not be possible. We love doing this and we hope it shows. We also love the next album that we are going to visit now. The band has made the Countdown before. They reached Number 13 back in 2015 and Number 3 back in 2013. It’s a bit heavier than those albums, a bit muddier, a bit swampier, a bit grungier, but just as enchanting. They lure you in with seemingly effortless song structures and easy to ear doom; but once in their clutches they mesmerize you with melted edges of fuzz and eerie psychedelics. And there are those vocals, ethereal and it makes you see eternity… On Number 7 we find…   

Windhand – Eternal Return

Stoner HiVe's Top 10 artists listened to last month...

Stoner HiVe's

Top 10 artists listened to last month...

Jon Spencer

We Hunt Buffalo

Mojo Bozo’s Electric Circus

The Howling Muffs

Mudhoney

Stonefield

Sundrifter

Superseed

Hypnos

Windhand

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

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Superseed

Windhand

Satan’s Satyrs

Spirit Division

Sundrifter

And once again a day late. But we all know the deal. Work, life, shit, whatever it might be, gets in the way. But here it is anyway, those Five Most Listened to Albums of Last Week. Superseed’s self-titled debut is a fast-paced heavy rock race through grunge, punk and garage. It’s rowdy and it’s raw and most of all it feels like a freaky fun cannonball! Eternal Return, the new Windhand, out on Relapse Records will definitely end up high on many a last once again. And rightfully so. A bit heavier, a bit swampier, a bit grungier; but every bit as enchanting! Loving it! Satan’s Satyrs released The Lucky Ones through Bad Omen Records. Punky, Sleazy, Groovy, Glamy and Fuzzy. Check’m out and feel the pure energy and tasty weirdness. Dance with them! Back on rotation once again is Forgotten Planet by Spirit Division. Sometimes you just need to visit those alien worlds and bask in the glory of the bronzed sound there. Yes, Spirit Division knows how to transport your soul! Sundrifter and their Visitations album came out early this year. But after returning from Portugal we were definitely in the mood to some sun-soaked desert tinted stoner and groovy fuzz. And the vinyl will be out soon on Small Stone Records. The limited clear vinyl edition is almost gone. So, if ya dig it, you’d better hurry and get yer greasy hands on it! Check’m out! Check’m all out! 

Number 13

Number 13

“Mr. Cohn was a champion of the bakery. His cakes, cookies and pastries were only rivalled by his own hearty tartes. Those were the real treats. Do not think that I am very much impressed by that fact, but it meant a lot to him and to the people cueing up for his sweetness. I was just the drunk lying in front of his store.” ~ James Maynard Keenan

As we pass Rotor on Number 14, we jump five points and find yet again two outfits occupying the same spot. Both of which ofcourse made the Doom Charts and one of these two bands made it all the way to the third position on the Stoner HiVe top 20 countdown of 2013. The Spanish five-piece, “captivates you entirely with heavy psychedelic jams, pure desert stonerrock, doom and sometimes even with a folk or pop vibe. Six epic songs to take you on a journey through time and space and with an acoustic guitar outro to bring you back to earth.” As the good Doktor420 said back in May. The Richmond, Virginian quintet once again mesmerize with that languid and husky voice that floats atop the sluggish doom riffs. They’ve turned their doom syrup into something even more swampy and wooly. Offset against the more concise songs and less lengthy compositions, it turns the entire record into a highly psychedelic wall of repetition. Less oppressive and less deceitful than the 2013 album, this flower truly opens up for the listener… The two albums on NUMBER 13 are!!!

Windhand – Grief’s Infernal Flower &

Arenna – Given to Emptiness

Windhand

Grief's Infernal Flower

Arenna

Arenna Bandcamp

Given to Emptiness

Doom Chart for November 2015

Doom Chart

“Do you see the story? Do you see anything? It seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream–making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is the very essence of dreams…” (Joseph Conrad)

Welcome to Doom Charts, representing some of the finest bloggers, radio and podcasters and album reviewers from the doom-stoner underground around the globe. Each month, our critics submit their picks for the best new doom-sludge metal and stoner-psychedelic rock albums. The results are compiled and tabulated into the chart below. This is a one-stop shop for the best new albums in the world.

It’s November. This time around, the honor of tallying and editing the Doom Chart edition was all mine. And I reckon I was the first to see the big surprise as well. Sure, a lot of us would have guessed who would make the Number One spot this month. But could we predict the band that would end up on Number Two? I sure as hell didn’t. And after seeing the votes come in, I immediately clicked my way to their bandcamp site and was amazing as well by their full-sized debut album. What a record! So go on over to the Doom Chart and be amazed yourself!

Spoiler alert for Number 3

And once again we are mesmerized by that languid and husky voice that floats on top of those sluggish doom riffs. They’ve turned their doom syrup into something even more swampy and wooly. Offset against the more concise songs and less lengthy compositions, it turns the entire record into a highly psychedelic wall of repetition. Less oppressive and less deceitful than Soma, Grief’s Infernal Flower truly opens up for the listener. Yes, It’s Windhand and it’s epic!

Doom Chart for November 2015

Windhand – Grief’s Infernal Flower

Windhand – Grief’s Infernal Flower

PIAS/Relapse – 2015

Rock, Doom, Metal, Stoner, Psych, Sludge

Rated: ****

All those years ago, back in 2013, their album Soma made it to the Number 3 position of the Stoner HiVe top 20 countdown, voted for by so many of you lovely freaks out there. Lead vocalist Dorthia Cottrell released a mighty fine solo record earlier this year, and now Windhand returns with Grief’s Infernal Flower. And once again we are mesmerized by that languid and husky voice that floats on top of those sluggish doom riffs. They’ve turned their doom syrup into something even more swampy and wooly. Offset against the more concise songs and less lengthy compositions, it turns the entire record into a highly psychedelic wall of repetition. Less oppressive and less deceitful than Soma, Grief’s Infernal Flower truly opens up for the listener. Especially on those cold full moon nights. And then, when the moonlight hits the right petal, you’ll be able to hear it… Sparrow… An acoustic offering that flutters and will have your heart take flight…

(Written by JK)

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Number 3

Number 3

“The brand 3 Horses refers directly to the origin of the Breda brewery. As long ago as 1446 the “Burghers” of Breda were granted the privilege of brewing their own beer, a right normally reserved to one of the ancient guilds. Slightly grainy and a crisp aroma come from this clear pale golden color brew with a small white head. A taste of club soda and dirty water come from this relatively light bodied brew. With an almost tin taste and a bitter aftertaste it sours the throat like you’re drinking liquid bronze...”

 

We reach the Bronze medal after climbing one more point. After this we reach the two albums that were voted for way ahead of the rest. But first we are treated to Number 3. There’s heavy, heavy and heavy and then there’s this piece of doom metal extravaganza. With a damn fast new release after their earlier one released in March 2012 these freaks are keeping a sweet speedy pace; which is not something they do with their music. A steady syrupy march towards the inevitable cliff; but there seems to be no end and the slow trek becomes cumbersome, repetitive and full of chronic deceit like you’re on a stroll with Sisyphus. And that’s exactly where their strength lies. Length, repetition, endurance and oppressive structuring…

Windhand – Soma

 

 

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Mudfest – III

Mudfest - III

It’s time to head south and drown ourselves in mud this weekend. For it’s time for the third edition of Mudfest! Once again held in Perron55 in Venlo, Netherlands the two-day festival features a truckload of heavy goodness. Starting with three bands on the free of charge night on Friday; and continuing the next day with no less than eleven formations for only twenty-five Euros. Stonerfront Nijmegen, Downfall of Gaia and Abrahma open on Friday. And the Saturday features: Acid Deathtrip, Wangunst, Rorcal, Mantra Machine, Pilgrim, Throw Me In The Crater, Pendejo, Gigatron2000, Atlantis, Windhand and Toner Low. Holy freakin hell; what a line-up. So let’s all head over to Venlo and drink good beer among good people!

Mudfest

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Perron55