Pete's Top Ten of 2017

Let's do this shall we?

10. Hark - Maschinations It's a damn shame that these guys have just announced they're splitting up as they're one of the most technical and experimental with their riffing in the stoner genre. At least we have two excellent records to remember them by.

9.  Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper

You really need to spend some time with this record, not just because of the 83 minute running length of the one song here, but with its layers and emotional turmoil within. A wonderful tribute to a fallen friend.

8. Godhunter - Codex Narco

Heavy and beautiful Nine Inch Nails doing doom sounding album. This has been my nicest suprise of the year.

 7. Telekinetic Yeti - Abominable Two guys making this much noise in the stoner/doom scene is always something to behold. Fuzzy riffs upon slower fuzzy riffs make this an excellent debut release. 

6. OHHMS - The Fool If you get a chance to see these guys live, go do it! Much like their shows, this debut full-length is heavy, often chaotic, and often beautifully stripped back. A superb record. 

 5. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Feed The Rats I still enjoy telling people about this band, mainly for the name, but because their sound is an awesome mix of stoner psychedelic pounding. There's only three songs here, but with two of them hitting the 20 minute mark, you know they're something special. 

 4. Spaceslug - Time Travel Dilemma These Polish stoners are going from strength to strength with each release, exemplifying the claustrophobic riffs with the hazy vocals and heavy-ass song structures, I can't wait to hear what they come up with next. 

3. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World I really don't need to say anything about this. Go read every other End of Year list that any publication has put out and you will see this on there. The best band in the genre at present.

 2. REZN - Let It Burn I've had almost an entire year to listen to this record on repeat over and over, and the heaviness of it all never fails to floor me each time. A truly excellent record.

 1. Forming The Void - Relic This has been the standout record for me this year, by some way, with it's psychedelic tendencies, doom riffs, stoner wanderings, powerful vocals (that guy can sing!!)and one of the best Led Zeppelin covers i've heard. We've had our eye on Forming The Void for some time now, and hearing 'Relic' makes us feel like proud dads. 

That's it from me this year, as a whole we've been a bit on the quiet side at Heavy Planet HQ, but we've never stopped listening to everything we've been able to get our hands on, that flame will never die out. I hope each and every one of you have had a great year, and I hope that you do everything you can to make 2018 an even better one.

 Stay heavy.

 Pete x

LP Review: Feed The Rats by Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

Ever since catching these guys headline at the Cluny venue in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England, towards the end of last year, we’ve been waiting for this record to drop, and by god how mightily it crashes to earth; psychedelic stoner riffs, earthly pounding drums, and vocals at their rawest, Feed The Rats is a hell of a statement from Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs that we’ve had on repeat for a good month now (hence the delayed review).

Pigs(x7) are a band containing members of other North Eastern England bands such as the fantastic Blown Out, Ommadon, and Khunnt, and the musical dexterity is expressed vividly on opening track ‘Psychopomp’, a 15 minute headfuck of thrusting riffs and psychedelic nuances that keep you gripped to the songs’ core base of being a heavy-ass rock song. The pace never falters, dips, or stops for a breather as the drums pound from the first note to last, the guitar riffs are heavy and dream like, while the vocals of Matthew Baty constantly toe the line between a man possessed and about to lose his voice, to sheer anger.

After the mammoth opener, the band create the “normal” length ‘Sweet Relief’ which is pure heavy stoner majesty. Same pounding drums, heavy riffs, agonising vocals, condensed under five minutes, you know it’s a monstrous song when it tightens its grip on your windpipe until you start turning blue. Feed the Rats is only three tracks long, but with the 1st and 3rd tracks hitting over 30 minutes combined, it’s a fair amount, especially when the colossus of ‘Icon’ begins to slay away at your speakers, what little energy remains in you quickly gets burned up in the smoke haze filled waves of purple and green that spin towards you with every word and riff Pigs(x7) layer on top of the last. 

The band are all the good kinds of claustrophobic, the good kinds of sweaty sleaze, the highs from the drugs, the ringing from the burst ear drums, and the blood from your broken nose. Many people will have said this before of the band, and many will to come, but, yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!

(Oh, and that's some sweet ass artwork too! The vinyl comes as a die-cut and the coloured insert is inter-changeable with the figure on the front)

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