Quick Hit: ATRAGON - "I, NECROMANCER."

Yesterday's post was from the far south reaches of the UK in Bournemouth. Today we fly with the raven due north for over 400 miles, shedding the robe of grunge garage fuzz along the way in order to don a cloak of dingy, heavy, black molasses soaked doom, alighting in Edinburgh, Scotland where the smoldering heat of Atragon envelope us in thick elixirs of darkness and portent.

The sophomore album from this Scottish quartet is quite simply massive. It's ambitious and fearless, delving deeply into murky and primal psychic veins of ebon metal ore. It's an all enveloping assault on the psyche of devotees of doom, borne of the dark sonic distortions of amplified axes and black batteries of bass drum, the jagged, frenetic chanting of shadow art practitioners, and the evil genius of psychic melody makers deeply entrenched into oily, obsidian enchantments.

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Doom Hit: GREEN DRUID - "Ashen Blood"

Steady, subterranean, and filthy clean, Green Druid duskily flows with the drone of a thousand rusty amps through the cracks and pores of forgotten, ancient crypts. This sophomore EP from the Denver quartet is a darkly addictive monster of shadow riffs and deep earthen tones of sacred blood. This is doom, and it is mighty.

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Riff Hit: ATTALLA - "GLACIAL RULE"

In June of 2014 Attalla released their self-titled first album which quickly garnered acclaim from consumer and critic alike. It was the type of album that, by the time you'd taken in all it's ragged riff glory you began craving the next release. It's taken nearly three years for them to issue a sophomore production, time, one must presume, they took in creating and mastering the contents of the doomrunner-up. It was time well and perfectly spent as "Glacial Rule" fairly detonates in controlled eruption on each track, delivering dense fuzz in dark doom licks, a more controlled assault, more measured in pace, than on the first album, deeper, thicker, but still melodic and hookish. It's perhaps evidence of growth that this foursome didn't rest on the laurels garnered by their initial release, but instead put in the time and work to craft something more, something still of themselves but delving into the gloom, down uncharted tunnels of thick atmosphere and impenetrable doom.

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Quick Hit: Långfinger - "Crossyears"

Smallstone Records has been a 'go-to' place for great fuzzy music since their inception back in 1995. There is north of 80 rock bands in the annals of Smallstone, many of them pioneers of underground stoner rock, including Sasquatch, Dozer, Lo-Pan, Gozu, and Wo Fat, as well as many up and coming finds that have chosen the venerable label to ply their fuzzy wares, such as the focus of today's Quick Hit, Långfinger.

Gritty, imaginative, hard, and loaded with heavy, pulse-pounding riffs of an old school style, "Crossyears" is a rock solid and laudable Smallstone debut for this Swedish threesome out of Göteborg, who already had two 10" and two 7" productions in their canon before making their way to the notoriety of Detroit's Smallstone Records. Their music crackles with burning, searing, unfiltered energy, engulfing the listener in thick metal smoke of a euphoric atmosphere, carried brilliantly throughout by perfectly matched rawk vocals.

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Quick Hit: JUKEBOX MONKEYS - "GREY SKIES RED PLANET"

Jukebox Monkey have created a wonderful mix of contradictions with "Grey Skies Red Planet", delivering a clean sound via a wonderfully nasty disposition, a southern rock style of frankness without any direct homage...in fact, in foregoing anyone else's sound or style they are somehow reminiscent in doses of almost everyone, a mean feat from this mean foursome of warrior isle brawlers, who in doing so have developed their own unique style that is an upfront, in your face,  stoner rock bruiser of a record, inexorable and steadfast in its mammoth assault of sound, ornery in its temperament, and euphoric in its deeply fuzzy experience.

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Quick Hit: MOANING CITIES - "Moaning Cities"

I think perhaps I need to place a permanent office in the midst of the fertile stoner/psych/doom/retro rock country of Belgium. Many of the bands and albums I've highlighted in the past few months have come from that rich rock n' roll province. Today we add one more to the burgeoning list with Moaning Cities, a quartet of interesting blueprint. Operating with both guitar and sitar, backed magnificently by a female rhythm section, Moaning Cities manage to pack plenty of bite and ferocity around ragged edges and furious riffs, co-mingling with otherwise smooth, milky psychedelic power sojourns.

Moaning Cities have been around for 5 years, and have managed to release 3 albums, the first of which is showcased here today. This is because the first album has a more ragged stoner vibe, as does the second album, "Pathways Through the Sail", while the latest release, "D. Klein" is more soporific and spell-binding. The matchless melodies and mammoth music of Moaning Cities can catch one occasionally reminiscing in brief spurts on the fine desert rock of Kyuss. There is nothing direct, no homage, just a recognition that what you are listening to combines power, heart, and musical athleticism, the very best of what rock has to offer.

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New Band To Burn One To: THE BIGGEST THING SINCE POWDERED MILK

Something a bit different today. The 'New Band To Burn One To' feature is meant to showcase bands that haven't gotten much attention and perhaps are just starting out in the underground world of the greatest music ever made. Today's band, The Biggest Thing Since Powdered Milk, doesn't have much of a presence online yet, but they do have the above delectable trio. This little bit, though, will likely make a sizeable impression when you give it a spin. These three island warriors have demonstrated a knack for making big, loud, and fun stoner rock music, combining the mammoth guitar that is the hallmark, of course, of stoner rock with a keen imagination for instant hooks and memorable melodies. They have more songs in the bag and are working their way toward an official album release, so, here is what they have so far, something mighty tasty when enjoyed with a large glass of ice cold powdered milk......or something...., and hopefully piquing your interest enough to keep you on the lookout for that eventual album sure to make a large splash when it arrives.

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QUICK HIT: SAUTRUS - "ANTHONY HILL"

Sautrus are a traditional 4 piece band consisting of one guitar, one bass, one drummer, and one vocalist. But that's where the traditional ends. They managed deserved notoriety in 2014 with the release of their second album "Reed", a magnificent blend of controlled stoner, doom, and psychedelic dynamite woven into their own signature sound. Now Sautrus are back with a new release, "Anthony Hill", and as with any follow up to success there is obvious pressure to match or surpass past accomplishments. Sautrus absolutely manages to deliver freshness with familiarity and boldness in this 7 track romp through soaring psychedelic brightness, subterranean doom rumblings, agile desert melodies, and stoner riffs of raw power, blending those traditional sounds into something lustrous, thick, and adamantian, every facet inducing carnal appetites for the syrupy black sweetness of their fuzzy machinations.

Hailing from Tricity of the Pomeranian region of northern Poland, Sautrus are perhaps on the brink of renown having now released three solid stoner/desert/doom/psychedelic rock albums of substantial heft, the latest of which is unsurpassed in quality, excitement, and potency.

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QUICK HIT: Child - "Blueside"

Take a trip today with Child. A trip that floats on psychedelic fabrics of deep Indigo Blues, propelled ever onward by the steadfast strength of Cerulean Blue guitar riffs, solos, and mind-calming runs, fortified by Azure Blue vocals of passion and clarity, bolstered by the primal rhythms of Beryl Blue drumwork and deep Navy Blue bass lines. The journey begins in Melbourne, Australia, running a path straight through the moist, hot climes of the Mississippi Delta and on into the bright, crisp air of the Mojave Desert before steering a course for a deep blue odyssey of worldwide deliverance.

This album is at once stirring and joyous, drawing obviously from a fount of blues rock masters, infusing a whiff of the dexterity borne of the deserts of the American West, all the while underpinning psychedelic melodies with gargantuan riffs of deep, low amplification.

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New Band To Burn One To: Magpie Toes - "Magpie Toes"

Retro Kick-Ass is the theme today with Hyvinkää, Finland's Magpie Toes who have released their initial foray into blues-rock fuzzery with their eponymous EP of  4 Hi-Fi tracks that beg to be played at ear-shattering decibels and enjoyed in joyous celebration. Their music evokes a time of bell bottom jeans and big hair, of tripping strangely and dancing freely, of love, laughter, and good times. The blues-rock influence of a bygone era of Rock N' Roll, and the bands that forged it, is obvious and heavy, expressed through massive guitar riffs, cool drum solos, and vocals of power and clarity, driven by clever melody and soul-stirring hooks. Emerging out from under all that homage, though, is a freshness, a newness, that can only come from keen imagination, musical dexterity, and a love for what remains possible and potent from the influences of past giants.

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RIFF RELIC: Mammoth Thunderpower - "I Am Thunder"

I don't know about you, but every now and then I like to go through my massive collection of great music and see if I can find something I haven't played in a long while, or perhaps discover an album I never had a chance to give a chance when it was first acquired. Today's focus is on a little jewel of an EP that's been sitting in my 'Doom Trunk' for five years waiting to be re-discovered.

Mammoth Thunderpower released the exceptional "I Am Thunder" EP in 2012 that delivered massive potential. The music is replete with stoner and doom tendencies, keeping things low, sometimes slow, sometimes at a more urgent tempo, but always in satisfying fashion with hooks that dig deep into musical cochlea, ripping a bloody hold that is eternal and yearning.

Nothing much has been heard of Mammoth Thunderpower since the release of "I Am Thunder". Word is, though, that after laying low for half a decade the band have managed to get together in the studio and begin the process of making new music. Stay tuned to Heavy Planet and we'll be sure to let you know when the time comes. In the meantime, travel back down dark memories to relish in the mastery of their powerful first album.

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Quick Hit: King Hiss - "Mastosaurus"

Yesterday's Quick Hit was a band from Belgium. While cruising through the land of chocolate, beer, and diamonds I stumbled across another fine act, King Hiss, who have been expertly wielding their 4 piece stoner/doom arsenal since 2011, conquering the metal scene both in studio, with 4 bulging albums and a two track acoustic segue, as well as in the live venues and festivals of Europe where they have made their reputation for delivering towering, stellar performances.

The music is an exceptional blend of stoner and doom sensibilities with some traditional metal thrashing thrown in to spice it all up. The songs are written with an ear for what's intriguing and memorable, while the vocalist lays waste with his well honed sonance in the vanguard of blistering solos, abundant riffs, and ravaging rhythms.

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Quick Hit: Fire Down Below - "Viper Vixen Goddess Saint"

The focus today is on Ghent, Belgium's Fire Down Below and their debut album "Viper Vixen Goddess Saint". There is everything to say about this album. It's an injection of intense musical exhilaration, evident from the opening riff of the first full song, "Through Dust and Smoke" and never wavering in intensity or satisfaction through to the aptly titled closer "The Mammoth". The melodies are the star here, songs written so beautifully, and delivered so expertly and heartfelt that it's an intoxicating opium rush of warmth and pleasure, paradoxically sharpening senses and expanding sensuality, opening dormant avenues of perception in efforts to experience every little nuance of riff and searing solo, of flourishes of stick on skin, of deep bass blitzes, and of every ingress of those brilliant and exquisite harmonizing vocals.

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QUICK HIT: Destroyer of Light - "Chamber of Horrors"

It's early, but a heads up is perfectly warranted for the beautifully rendered, dark and haunting, doomscape album, "Chamber of Horrors", by the Austin, Texas-based doom band Destroyer of Light. The album releases on July 14, so be sure to set a reminder. There is a placeholder song, "Prisoner of Eternity", from the album at bandcamp to give you a taste of what's to come.

The music is eerie yet exhilarating, transporting the listener through a vast kaleidoscope of dark delights, songs of black despair rescued by bright runs of gargantuan riffs, and an overarching battle between gloom and hope.  It's engaging, magnetic, and powerful.

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Album Review: Two Headed Beast - "Wizard Mountain"

The world of hard rock, of heavy metal, is wonderfully varied, so much in fact, there are distinct genre silos underneath the hard/heavy umbrella, many of them having filled up decades ago, going nearly dormant as ever newer ones are molded out of the settling dust of their predecessors. Perhaps the granddaddy genre has been the audacious, in your face sound of traditional heavy metal that grew out of progenitors such as Led Zeppelin, Blue Cheer, and Black Sabbath. That heavy metal sound was personified by bands such as Judas Priest, Megadeth, and Iron Maiden, to name a miniscule few. It was a sound that dominated the scene in the mid to late 70s and into the bulk of the 80s before sort of weirdly fusing into the over the top sounds of big hair bands. The excessiveness of big hair, though, prepped us for the wonderful grunge explosion as well as the almost unnoticed rumbling of stoner/desert rock of the 90s. Many other sounds have come, and gone. For anyone exploring for the first time any version of wondrous, amplified metal vibrations, old or new, there is an overabundance of choices. Gifted musicians can draw from an almost limitless supply of inspirational music, the possibilities are endless. This is what ran through my mind when I first heard "Wizard Mountain". Of course, I have no idea how Two Headed Beast may have arrived upon their signature sound, I just know I hear the wonderfully deep, heavy fuzz of stoner/doom rock in their vigorous riffs and searing solos, but, in the blink of a photon, I am ripped back to an earlier era as soon as those incredible vocals of Brian Allen kick in. "Wizard Mountain" quickly concentrates my focus, drawing me deep into its wicked melodies and triumphant chorus, down into the murky depths of low tuned and amplified energy, emboldened by the soaring, invigorating intonations of Allen's vocal time machine. The pairing of traditional metal vocals and bottom dark stoner/doom guitar is somehow brilliant, revitalizing, and emboldening. It's a physical reaction to a spiritual rendering, teleporting me to a time and place of power and potential.

Two Headed Beast hail from Portland, Oregon. Band members include John Hughes, Jason Dunn, Shawn Ferguson, Scott Speelman, and vocalist Brian Allen.

The initial track, "Valley of Skulls", immediately opens with the double whammy of deep, fuzzy guitar and powerfully rendered vocals that is the consistent and persistent hallmark of every track to follow. The tempo is dangerous, the magnitude bold, and the realization you're in for a unique and brilliant ride quickly sets in.

"Two Ton Sky" starts off with bare bones, building up to an all-out assault of power and force. The drumwork here is simply marvelous, pounding out a primal beat of mammoth proportions, propped up wonderfully by the bruising dance of bass and guitar, magnified again by those laser sharp vocals.

The eponymous title track, "Witch Mountain", is like a pugilist stalking his opponent, steadily moving forward step by step, delivering hammer blow after ruthless hammer blow until the sudden sound of silence signals the end.

"Apollyon the Destroyer" changes the pace, flowing down a psychedelic bridge of color and static before charging up a steeper trajectory of power and amperage. "Hail the Chief" is a frontal assault of bad attitude and snarl. "Boneyard" and "Blackball' pay homage to traditional metal in measured advances of ragged vocals and steady riffage.

This brings us to the unofficial closer, "Curse of the White Owl" where Two Headed Beast dust off their stoner rock foot pedals and crank up the fuzz in a magnificent display of hook and heat. The solos soar beyond the stratosphere, while the measured tempos of riff and stick are darkly subterranean. Allen's vocals are exquisite on this track, offering a sing along rendition in which no one can match his gifted ability, but will have fun in attempting to do so.

Two Headed Beast offer up a brief coda that is pinned to the tail end of the penultimate song in "Tail of the Owl", a fun little ditty of psychedelic conclusion.

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QUICK HIT: Kitchen Witch - "Kitchen Witch"

You're just standing there, innocently, expectantly, hoping to engage with the new discovery when Georgie and Simon begin a bisensual assault of straight stinging jabs to your ears......they use their instruments of choice, of course, vocals for Georgie, and bass guitar for Simon. The assault is powerful, coordinated, measured, and.......delightful! Soon enough the rest of Kitchen Witch join in, Conor on guitar and John on drums, and the odyssey has begun, a colorful trip of brilliance and ecstasy.

The bluesy rock sound of Kitchen Witch will quickly bludgeon any impending designs on productivity you may have had, snaking it's electrified tendrils in and around the primal center of your musical DNA before tightening it's amplified grip, supplanting any sense of awareness for an overabundant experience of joy and euphoria. Yeah. It's that powerful. So, lie back, let go, lick your lips, and luxuriate in the lush experience of Kitchen Witch's superior sound.

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QUICK HIT: OHHMS - "The Fool"

OHHMS are back pushing the envelope of normalcy with their incredibly unique brand of sludge covered punk doom that pays no direct homage to the progenitors of metal while delivering an unbridled deluge of amplified riffs and angst-riddled vocal dispatch, presenting a hard, dark milieu of bulging discovery.

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NEW BAND TO BURN ONE TO: KUJARA

Hailing from London, Kujara are a three piece delight of conglomerated brilliance. They have brought a big metal pot of thick, viscous rock stew to a bubbling, gurgling roil on their debut, the impressive "Three Days". The bill of materials for their music is an explosive amalgam from nearly every corner of the rock world, combining the best aspects of stoner fuzz delight, deep dark doom, progressive psychedelics, heartstrings of retro/blues rock, a haunting desert atmosphere, tight hooks, memorable melodies, expertly rendered and harmonized vocals, energy beams of blazing and powerful riffage, and through it all, through all that homage and recognition, a bright and exciting sound that is uniquely their own.

As with every new and exciting band that makes its way into the stoner rock milieu, the hope here is that Kujara will return soon enough with more brilliance and fun. Until such time this initial EP of sheer magnificence will certainly carry us along for quite some time.

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QUICK HIT: Cloud - "Indeterminate"

Cloud have been around for a short minute, releasing their first EP on bandcamp back in 2015. "Indeterminate" is their second release. It's savory. It's toothsome. It's intoxicating. I very much hope this Pittsburgh trio thrive and continue to manufacture psychedelic stoner/doom riffage just as they have done here and extend that minute into legend and legacy.

The perception sometimes is that instrumental music has to work that extra bit at developing enough creativity to engage and entertain those who experience their music due to the absence of vocals, and the structure vocals tend to supply in stanza and chorus. If that's the case, then mission accomplished, Cloud. There is no ramp up period on any track as each song manages to immediately connect to an atmosphere of intrigue and a depth of discovery. They do this by expertly and eloquently wielding their instruments of stoner brilliance, cranking up the fuzz factor in addictive riffs of low-tuned ecstasy and psychedelic progressivism.

Cloud have added a cunning deviation in the middle of the song selections by inserting the provocative song "Desert Weed" in which they've recruited the vocal inspiration of Mephistofeles' Gabriel Ravera, whose style, at least on this particular rendition, is a magnificent homage to the metal legend of Ozzy Osbourne.

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Quick Hit: Bathsheba - "Servus"

Resplendence and shadow could easily be the hallmarks of the exquisitely rendered "Servus" from Bathsheba, a Belgian quartet of low-tuned and penetrating boulder crushers, who take hallmarks of their inherent land to provide dark, haunting, atmospheric encounters from their native charcoal mountains intertwined with the brilliance and density of Antwerp's diamond industry. Shadows and light, power and finesse, subterranean depths and soaring heights, all are delivered with great appetite and ferocious prowess. Fronted by the elegant and ethereal vocals of Michelle Nocon, bolstered by the underlying vigor and brawn of bassist Raf Meukens and drummer Jelle Stevens, and masterfully propelled throughout by guitarist Dwight Goossens, the odyssey through coagulation and syrup of ebon is entrancing and euphoric.

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