Saint Lockjaw - KAROV (EP Review)

Release Date: July 21st 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

KAROV - Tracklist

1.GOSPEL OF BENZO AND GIN 04:29

2.CRABWALK 02:50

3.MOUTHFUL OF GRAVEL, FISTFUL OF GLASS 04:32

4.COLDSTROKE CONFESSIONAL 05:15

5.SAINT LOCKJAW (AT LEAST I'LL DIE GRINNING) 04:25

Review

KAROV is the debut EP from Doom/Stoner Metallers Saint Lockjaw which features a scorched earth style delivery with its seedier tone. The sound is helped along by a healthy dose of Desert Rock and Psych Metal sounds which aren’t overly produced with Saint Lockjaw playing a high volume of mammoth distortion and freakish guitar solos along the way. 

The EP is delivered from an instrumental rock/metal perspective with songs inspired by the likes of KYUSS, FU MANCHU and KARMA TO BURN. So this EP is mostly influenced by the Nineties Stoner Rock scene but with a modern Doom and Sludge Metal perspective that keeps things grounded and mighty fresh on tracks such as Crabwalk. “Mouthful Of Gravel, Fistful Of Glass” and Coldstroke Confessional. There are echoes of Classic Hard Rock being played against the Desert/Stoner Rock movements which also has a cool sounding and highly energetic attitude throughout.

This isn’t the most original EP you’ll hear but Saint Lockjaw knows what works and they play to their creative and technical strengths on this EP with that distorted Sludge Rock aspect becoming one of the standout themes of the whole record. There is a great balance of fast-paced grooves and slow-to-mid instrumental melodies which adds a classic Stoner Rock/Metal effect whilst a menacing Doomed Out flow should have you rocking out in no time at all.

KAROV gets the job done as Saint Lockjaw should hopefully gain some much needed attention within the Heavy Rock Underground Scene.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Links 

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

GRIN - Fuller (Single Review)

Release Date: July 24th 2026. Record Label: The Lasting Dose Records. Formats: DD

Fuller - Tracklist

Fuller

Lineup

S. Oberg – Bass Guitar

J. Oberg – Drums, Vocals

Review

Sludge/Doom/Stoner Metallers GRIN return with this cool heavy little new number called Fuller. This track features a heavier and distorted sound from GRIN that has a murkier Industrial presence compared to their acclaimed 2025 album Acid Gods. The song still keeps with GRIN’s trademark style of broken melodies and beat-up grooves that merge the heavier Stoner Metal themes with great precision.

There’s a slight Punk Rock sound that develops in the backgrounds with Sabine’s bass guitar having an experimental presence whilst Jan’s vocals and drumming having a more aggressive drive which makes for superb beautiful carnage when they fully join creative focus together. There’s some frantic instrumental sludgy solos forming along the way which shows quite a different Post-Metal dynamic that GRIN have applied before.

Even the sonic and psychedelic movements that appeared on GRIN’s previous releases have been kept to a bare minimum and only make an appearance towards the end of the song. It’s good to see GRIN trying new things with their music and with the promise of a new album in 2027 then we know the band are fully cooking on gas in delivering some finely tuned and pissed off Sludge Metal sounds of the highest order.

Words by Steve Howe

Links 

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Southern Sludgers Mean Green deliver new single "Wasteland" and announce sophomore album "Castle", out August 14th

Mean Green is a three-piece sludge outfit with all the subtlety of a rusted-out square body with glass packs - and the fortitude of a rabid opossum in heat. Armed with riffs as thick as a bowl of cold grits, the band blends crushing sludge, classic rock swagger, and raw Southern grime into a live show built to hit hard and leave a lasting mark.

Mean Green released their self-titled debut album to wide acclaim in 2023, and are proud to present their sophomore LP, “Castle”.

Fusing the crushing weight of High on Fire and Sleep with the gritty, blues-soaked swagger of ’70s rock acts like Foghat, Cactus, and Cream, Mean Green deliver the heavy goods on “Castle”.

Leading the charge is single "Wasteland", a ripper of a track where crushing tone and gravel-chewing vocals set the foundation for a dark, psychedelic journey. Notes guitarist and vocalist Jake Helms, “I wrote this when I was tripping on acid watching 2001 a space odyssey on a broken tv with no volume".

Get lost in the Wasteland on July 23rd and get stoked for the full album "Castle" out August 14th.

Second single "Employee Of The Month" drops Friday, July 31st.

Mean Green will also be headlining the Wicked Doom Festival August 29th in Worcester, Massachusetts alongside Sundrifter, Worshipper, Üga Büga, and more.

Mean Green - Wasteland (single)

Single out July 23rd
Album "Castle" out August 14th
Self-released (Digital, Vinyl)
Boone, North Carolina
Mastered by Steven Raets
FFO: Weedeater, Buzzoven, Toke, Telekinetic Yeti, Bongzilla

Castle album credits:

Jake Helms - Guitar, Vocals
Alex Wierback - Bass
James Matthews - Drums

Mean Green is:

Jake Helms - Guitar, Vocals
Cole Franklin - Bass
James Matthews - Drums

Tracklist:

1. Castle (3:45)
2. Sludge Puppy (4:33)
3. Employee Of The Month (6:23)
4. Wild Bill (4:30)
5. Slack Jaw (5:26)
6. Cyclone (5:01)
7. Wasteland (5:16)

Links:

Facebook | Instagram | BandCamp

Thanks to Good Boy PR for the details.

Swedish Sludge Metal Trio FIREBREATHER to release new album "Blood That I Spill Turns To Fire" on Heavy Psych Sounds, first track streaming!

Swedish sludge metallers FIREBREATHER have signed to Heavy Psych Sounds Records for the October 16th release of their new full-length "Blood That I Spill Turns to Fire", and premiere the title track via Doomed & Stoned today!

Check out new track Blood That I Spill Turns To Fire

Firebreather formed in Gothenburg in 2016, rooted in crushing, sludge-doused doom from the very beginning. Never wavering from that commitment across all three of their incendiary full-length releases, the trio has pursued weight with purpose, not as spectacle, nor as an exercise in excess, but as the only language broad enough to hold the emotional reach and sonic heft of their sound.

The music arrives in a way that writes itself with no distance between the words and the sound; they rise from the same cursed ground, and that honesty has become the band's defining force.
Firebreather is a band that never postures or asks to be admired for their heaviness- and to see them live is to experience exactly why. Their weight takes on another life entirely. The band’s towering tone and consuming grit don't fill a room so much as alter it. Volume presses against the body before the first lyric lands and riffs arrive like shifting earth. The drums don't drive the songs forward; they anchor them while the line between sound and physical force begins to disappear.

Years spent crossing Europe and North America have only sharpened that purpose, and a decade on with a fourth album on the way via the notorious Heavy Psych Sounds Records, Firebreather remains exactly where it belongs. Head down. Volume up.

New album "Blood That I Spill Turns to Fire"
Out October 16th on Heavy Psych Sounds (LP/CD/digital)

FIREBREATHER is

Mattias Nööjd - Vox/guitar
Jacob Madetoja - Bass
Joakim Olsson - Drums

FIREBREATHER links

Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram

HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS links

Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | Youtube

Thanks to Purple Sage PR for the details.

Gatsu - Hymns From The Abyss (EP Review)

Release Date: July 24th 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

Hymns From The Abyss - Tracklist

1.Hymns

2.Crimson Sun

3.Lost

4.Leaves

Review

Hymns From The Abyss is the debut EP from Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metallers Gatsu who come from New Orleans, Louisiana which plays a big part on how the band deliver their music. There is a great NOLA influence heard within Gatsu’s music but they strive to be different by adding areas of Psych, Grunge and Shoegaze which you can feel throughout this record.

The sound is quite sludge metal oriented with distorted movement with those elements of Grunge, Doom, Fuzz and Stoner Metal allowing Gatsu playing fractured and quite broken instrumental passages with a sudden Doomgaze appetite appearing within the excellent opening tracks of Hymns and Crimson Sun. The vocals are aggressive, emotional and quite commanding all at the same time with Gatsu employing an emotionally charged sense of Nineties Alt-Metal delivery especially with the hard-hitting lyrics. 

Gatsu develop and play their best work on the two epic tracks of Crimson Sun and Leaves which feels like Alice In Chains, Nirvana or Soundgarden being given a NOLA makeover but still allowing Gatsu to implement their own creative identity into the music. The overlapping areas of Amplifier Distortion and bleak Shoegaze passages are superbly soulful and beautifully heavy to listen to at the same time. 

There’s some small excursions into Drone based grooves but Gatsu are fully committed to developing that harsh Sludge/Stoner Metal landscape which will have you emotionally connected to their music in no time at all. There’s some exquisite Sludge/Stoner Metal riff- worship influenced by the likes of MONOLORD, YOB and ELDER but with that seedy NOLA aspect adding a distorted grime aspect that fully standout to make a lasting impression.

Hymns From The Abyss a stunning debut EP with Gatsu playing to their creative and musical strengths with superbly realized production values allowing this to be one of the best sounding debut EP’s I’ve heard from the underground scene in quite some time. 

If you’re in the mood for a Sludge/Stoner Metal record with extra aggression which joins the heavy distorted forces of Psych, NOLA and Doomgaze into a powerful force of nature then GATSU are the band for you.

Words by Steve Howe

Links 

LinkTree | BandCamp | Instagram

Hollow Drifter - Colours In Time (EP Review)

Release Date: July 10th 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

Colours In Time - Tracklist

1.Morning Fog 02:27

2.Seasons, Ages, Legends... 14:01

3.Cradlesong 01:48

Review

Colours In Time is the latest EP from Psych/Prog/Stoner Rockers Hollow Drifter which continues their emotionally charged journey into Seventies Psych Rock with flourishes of Cosmic and Spaced Out excursions. This EP has a more modern quality compared to their previous releases with a lush sounding Post-Stoner and Post-Doom quality appearing mostly within the shorter tracks which instantly draws you in especially with the excellent opening track of Morning Fog. This track feels like a subdued version of ELDER and KING BUFFALO with Hollow Drifter adding a haunting Folk-ish quality before the song suddenly fades out.

The centerpiece of Colours In Time has to be the outstanding fourteen minutes epic second track Seasons, Ages, Legends… which starts cautiously slowly but with a highly energetic Post-Rock confidence. The song is very stripped back with semi-acoustic optics allowing the band to build up a stirring psychedelic atmosphere with small amounts of Stoner and Space Rock passages to emerge behind the scenes. Hollow Drifter experiments with subtle storytelling vibes within the lyrics. T

he Seventies Rock melodies transform into a great mix Ambient Post-Rock, Proto-Rock and Post-Stoner grooves. The song is utterly captivating where I may have enjoyed some heavier themes to develop which Hollow Drifter have delivered on previous records but the second half is amazingly inventive especially when the Proto-Rock surroundings fully emerge along the way.

The final song Cradlesong is an Ambient and Psychedelic number with small intricate Stoner guitars being played against a simple delivery of classic sounds that allow Colours In Time to end naturally.

This isn’t the heaviest thing that Hollow Drifter have recorded but it’s a charming and superbly pleasant record that shows a different side to the band which they use to their own great advantage. I wish the EP was on slightly longer but it’s better leaving the audience wanting more and that’s what Hollow Drifter prove with this great record.

Words by Steve Howe

Links 

Official | Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

If These Trees Could Talk - The Hidden Hand (Album Review)

Release Date: July 10th 2026. Record Label: Metal Blade Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

The Hidden Hand - Tracklist

1 Archons

2 Moon Machine

3 Sea Of Glass

4 Blurry Creatures

5 Silence Between Mountains, Pt. 1

6 Silence Between Mountains, Pt. 2

7 Metanoia

8 Flim

9 Endlessly Connected

Lineup

Tom Fihe – bass guitar

Jeff Kalal – guitar

Cody Kelly – guitar

Mike Socrates – guitar

Zack Kelly – drums

Review

If These Trees Could Talk from Akron, OH, were on frequent rotation in my home with 'Red Forest' back in 2016 but then they fell off the radar. Don't know the reason why but with the exception of the single 'Trail of Whispering Giants' in 2024 the band released nothing in 10 years. Thankfully the long wait is over with the arrival of 'The Hidden Hand', and what an album it is! 

'Archons' is a short mystical yet mesmerizing opener which sets the tone perfectly for the entire album. It blends elegantly into 'Moon Machine' where the intense guitars soars above the slowish but crushing rhythm section. Drops back as vivid transcendent images are created...only to pick up again. After a beautiful delicate start 'Sea Of Glass' leads into some intense shredding only to fall back again. Eventually the band goes wide open taking it away. 'Blurry Creatures' builds up gradually turning screws tighter until a beautiful mid-section appears. Mellow and trippy it moves the song to amazing heights.

'Silence Between Mountains, Pt 1' is sparse, elegant and dreamy as it leads into 'Silence Between Mountains, Pt 2'. It follows along with Part 1 but with a hint of darker undertones. This helps to project the majestic traits of mountains. If These Trees Could Talk comes on strong with the guitars initially on 'Metanoia'. Drops back only to build up in that captivating way this band does it. 'Flim' is light, airy, positive and almost sacral in its approach and it's a highly uplifting composition at that. 'Endlessly Connected' picks up where 'Flim' left off but is even more elaborate.

Few bands can handle instrumental music the way If These Trees Could Talk do. It requires a high level of musicianship as well as compositional skills to create that style of music which reels you in and holds you captivated throughout. And this Akron quintet are masters at it as 'The Hidden Hand' is evidence of. Very good, indeed!

Words by Håkan Nyman

Links 

Facebook | BandCamp