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If you are looking for new Stoner Rock, Doom, Heavy Psych or Sludge Metal bands, then you have come to the right place.
Heavy Planet has been providing free promotion to independent and unsigned bands since 2008. Find your next favorite band at Heavy Planet.
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Monday, August 31, 2015
Song of the Day-Red Mountains-"Six Hands"
"Six Hands" is off of the upcoming debut full-length "Down With the Sun" due out tomorrow. The album is sure to please those with an appetite for psyche-tinged desert rock with monstrous riffing and stellar vocals. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Song of the Day-The Medusa-"Crooked Smile"
"Crooked Smile" is a bit of a teaser. The newly formed band is the brainchild of former/founding Alabama Thunderpussy frontman, Johnny Throckmorton. He is joined by former Immortal Avenger axeman, Tommy Gunn, and Mensrea shredder, Nathan Krishna. The group is rounded out by bassist Crystal Cleghorn, and drummer Robley Ball. The band hopes to release an EP or 7-inch in the Fall (2015).
The band is making their first live appearance on Saturday, September 5th, in their hometown of Richmond, VA at Wonderland with local riffers Dirt Merchant and The Tall Boys.
For more information, please check out the following link: Facebook
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Song of the Day-SardoniS-"Battering-Ram"
"Battering-Ram" is the second single taken off of the upcoming album "III" out September 11th, 2015 on Belgian record label Consouling Sounds. The song is a skull-crushing fuzzfest that rattles and rumbles with penetrating doom and furious intensity. Love the ultra-violent cartoon video which coincides with the song. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Consouling Sounds
Friday, August 28, 2015
Quick Hit-Artifact-"2015 Demo"
Artifact is a four-piece band from Portland, Oregon. The band has just released their 3-song demo and it totally caught my ear, mainly because it sounds like something from days gone by. In these three songs, the band has managed to incorporate elements of seventies prog-metal with early eighties NWOBHM. Three glorious little nuggets of melodic retro-metal. Other than the vocal being a little too forward in the mix, the band has managed to capture that truly vintage sound. You won't find too much information on this band other than Bandcamp and here, but they are worth checking out. Especially the track "Winds of Doom" which I have provided below. Very nice demo fellas!
LP Review: 'High Country' by The Sword
Almost a decade since their revered debut ‘Age Of Winters’ (2006), The Sword return with their fifth record ‘High Country’. And if you’re like me and have followed the band’s sonic evolution over the years, their latest offering feels less like progression and more like full-blown reinvention. Throughout their career, The Sword have fed their brand of stoner rock to the masses, acting like a gateway to any number of stoner acts covered on this very site. But forget whatever preconceptions you have about this band. It doesn’t apply here. This is The Sword boldly stepping out from the shadows of their former selves.
Still ever-present are vocalist’s John Cronise signature melodies and mythological lyrics, but instead of being low in the mix as on previous records, here they shine through with confidence. With ‘Empty Temples’ Cronise is reminiscent of Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott, and there are more harmonies on show throughout the record than ever before, giving ‘High Country’ a genuine classic rock feel. Halfway in, the band's experimental horizons impress with synthesizers on the spaced-out interludes of ‘Agartha’, and ’Seriously Mysterious’. Perhaps the biggest departure from previous material are the guitar sounds... Cleaner and brighter, they’ve also moved up from drop C delivering a more vintage sound, akin to fellow Texan's ZZ Top.
Highlights include the slinky meandering southern groove of ‘Mist & Shadows’ (probably the track most similar to their back catalogue), foot-tapper and album opener ‘Empty Temples’ and the thrashy headbanger ’Suffer No Fools’.
With ‘High Country’ The Sword have embraced their classic rock influences with both hands, and shed their stoner-doom skin almost entirely. Whilst the more narrow-minded of fans may need a few spins to get onboard with ‘High Country’, The Sword effortlessly remind us of the roots of heavy music and we thank them for it.
Have a listen to ‘High Country’ below and let me know what you think...
Check out the band's Website | Facebook
Song of the Day-Starchild-"The Futurist"
"The Futurist" is taken off of the re-issue of Starchild's self-titled release. All of Starchild's albums are now available through Twin Earth Records. Doom-laden grooves with a total Ozzy influenced vocal going on. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Bandcamp | Twin Earth
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Song of the Day-Mountain Rag-"Moonlighting Man"
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Song of the Day-Dope Smoker-"Devil's Bridge"
"Devil's Bridge" is taken off of the latest full-length "Vol. 4" available for "name your price" on their Bandcamp page. Inhale the fuzz and catch a tasty wave! For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp
Labels:
Devils Bridge,
doom,
Dope Smoker,
fuzz,
Heavy Planet,
Song of the Day
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Song of the Day-Casino Warrior-"Centaur"
Monday, August 24, 2015
Song of the Day-Cavern-"Outsiders"
"Outsiders" is taken off the new release from Cavern out tomorrow on Grimoire Records. This is the band's third release and their first all-instrumental effort. The album is sure to please fans of Russian Circles, Baroness and Mastodon. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Song of the Day-Blackwater-"Throne of Skulls"
"Throne of Skulls" is taken off of the latest release "Beyond the Swamp" by Blackwater. Very cool band out of Cleveland obsessed with Black Sabbath and murky swamps. They do a pretty rad cover of Sabbath's "Killing Yourself To Live" as well. For more information, please check out the following links: Bandcamp
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Song of the Day"-Funeral Horse-"Underneath All That Ever Was"
Friday, August 21, 2015
Song of the Day-Skraeckoedlan-"Mothra"
"Mothra" is taken off of the latest release "Sagor". Calculated Stoner Metal devastation at it's finest. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Website
Labels:
Heavy Planet,
Mothra,
Sagor,
Skraeckoedlan,
Song of the Day
Thursday, August 20, 2015
EP Review: ‘Cold’ by OHHMS
Covered with bruises must be the arms of the quintet that make up OHHMS, from continuous pinching injuries sustained during their first 12 months of existence. All part of the plan, no doubt. Having been picked up by Holy Roar Records after hearing their demo, to releasing their debut EP ‘Bloom’ in 2014, festival appearances at Temples, Arc Tan Gent, Fear and Hevy, plus shows with Conan, Earthmass and Slabdragger, they’ve also found time to record their follow-up EP ‘Cold’.
Describing themselves as "Progressive. Doom. Slow. Noise. Animal. Rights.” ‘Cold’ delivers two meandering beast-like tracks of heavy progressive doom over 30-odd minutes. First up is ‘The Anchor’, which highlights the band’s boundless creativity, opening with a slow atmospheric intro with bold work from vocalist Paul Waller, to an expansive heavy middle section with guitars and drums in unison, through to a fuzzed-out closing in homage to 70’s psychedelia. ‘You can’t sink us’ is the roar, and on this evidence I’m not one to argue.
Right... onto track 2. ‘Dawn of the Swarm’ picks up from where ‘The Anchor’ ends. From a dream-like Pink Floydian intro, the track builds to an instrumented assault of riffs and vocals, to suddenly disperse leaving you feeling like you’ve been pushed off a cliff... Only to feel saved, bashed about a bit and redeemed before the track ends. Once again OHHMS are bending conventions with their prog-like mentality packaged in a shiny doom wrapper.
‘Cold' is like a sonic wormhole, you never know where you're going to arrive at next. And that's what’s captivating. OHHMS are on a mission to expand your mind and keep you guessing every step of the way. And their song-craft and creativity will ensure they continue to carve their own path, and separate themselves from their often one-dimensional peers.
Check out ‘Cold’ below:
Triple Thursday: Fuzziebär, Out Of The Earth, 4 Ciénegas
Fuzziebär – Lach- und Krachgeschichten
Brunswick, Germany, has delivered some MIGHTY devastating heavy-ass fuzz/stoner riffs and destruction in the form of Fuzziebär with their debut record Lach- und Krachgeschichten (which translates as “Laughter and Noise Stories”). Potential mis-pronounciations aside, this record is devastating and a whole load of fun on equal levels.
With the key aim being to play the heaviest fuzz/stoner/doom/psych riffs possible, the German trio deliver almighty blows to the senses. Opening with ‘Funny Ass Joke’, Lach- und Krachgeschichten is brutal from the outset, combining charging doom riffs with layers of fuzz thrown directly at your face, it’s joyous in its attitude of messing you up: what is better than pounding riffs after all? With vocals sang in their national tongue (I don’t speak German) the tone and attitude of the band still pours through the music, making you a part of their sound, even if you may not relate to the lyrics. Take a track like ‘Oszillation’ for instance; you might not understand a single word singer Ingo sings/yells down the microphone, but it doesn’t for a second stop you pounding your head like there was no tomorrow with the guitar playing taking you at one point down a psychedelic path, before the next throwing you directly under the wheels of a stoner motorcade once again.
The record falls into the “epic” category, not only due to it’s length (somewhere around the 70 minute mark), but also for it’s experimentation in styles, with the album’s length allowing the band to manoeuvre through garage rock (‘Links Baby’), psychedelia (‘Medizin’), high energy fuzz (‘Katapult’), frenetic stoner (‘Vomit’), with continuous elements of doom and voice sampling throughout, it’s an extremely impressive debut record, especially as it was all recorded DIY style in one take per track. Fuzziebär want to take your on one fucked up ride. Are you game?
Out Of The Earth - Out Of The Earth
The Greek trio have produced a well rounded, heavy rocking, stoner jamming, danceable, debut record that combines stoner elements with touches of grunge (especially in the Chris Cornell-esqe vocals of Thanos Vlachos), and a blues hard-rock swagger that oozes sheer sex appeal from the booming speakers (listen to ‘Sinewave’ and tell us that you don’t get a metaphorical boner!) The stoner rock pounding of ‘Need’ gets the record off to a throbbing start as the trio show that they can master great songwriting ability while at the same time rocking the fuck out. It’s the song structures that make this band stand out most of all from the crowd, yes they have fantastic vocals, tight talented musicianship, but most of all, they have actual bona-fide songs that wrap Out Of The Earth into an album you can take your time over, with repeated listens from start to finish, allowing you to envelop all the time signatures, guitar shredding, lyrics, husky tones, and groove laden bass lines, and appreciate every ounce of it.
Sandwiched between Clutch and The Heavy Eyes, Out Of The Earth have everything you could possibly want from a stoner rock band, and all the things you didn’t know you needed. Records this good don’t come along that often, so make sure you savour it while you can.
4 Ciénegas - Cuatro Ciénegas
In all seriousness though, is there anything these guys can’t do? After impressive releases in their respective bands, Cuatro Ciénegas threatens to overtake all of those achievements. Blasting out of the gates, the record starts at full pelt, gains momentum, and collapses under its own wait after just 30 minutes. Opening track ‘Hiena’ builds its stoner layers into crushing waves of fuzzy joy, thick with menacing head bangs, gut punching drumming, all the while maintaining a psychedelic stoner backdrop, firmly rooted in the band’s core make-up.
As the record progresses with the likes of ‘Dobsonfly’ violently beating your ass to the wall with gigantic riffs and fuzzed out tones, ‘Ergot’ exploring a doomier approach to their instrumentation, and ‘Salem Trials’ and ‘Claviceps’ are just simple stoner/fuzz masterpieces, you soon become very aware that 4 Ciénegas have brought their A game to the table on their debut full-length record! All they ask of you is to inhale the fuzz, and let it destroy you. VIVA 4 CIÉNEGAS!!!!
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