GREENLEAF announce new European live dates for November 2025

GREENLEAF have released a string of European shows for November 2025 that will lead the Swedish heavy rockers mostly to Romanic language areas this time round. After warming up for their tour at home at the Broken Dreams in Borlänge, Sweden on November 8, 2025, the official musical proceeding will kick off at the Feierwerk in Munich, Germany on November 21. GREENLEAF will continue to detonate stages via multiple concerts in Switzerland, France, and Spain until the final curtain falls at the Grillen in Colmar, France on November 30.

GREENLEAF will tour in support of their critically acclaimed full-length "The Head & The Habit" (2024). Please see below for all currently confirmed shows and detailed information about "The Head & The Habit".

GREENLEAF comment: "As somebody correctly observed, a ticket to one of these shows is a necessary asset in your everyday survival kit", frontman Arvid Hällagård writes on behalf of the band. "Come on out without doubt. Seal the deal, let's create a happy meal!"

You can buy GREENLEAF's latest album "The Head & The Habit"  from the link below:

https://spkr.store/collections/greenleaf

GREENLEAF Live

08 NOV 2025 Borlänge (SE) Broken Dreams
21 NOV 2025 München (DE) Feierwerk
22 NOV 2025 Aarau (CH) Kiff
23 NOV 2025 Lyon (FR) Rock’n Eat
24 NOV 2025 Toulouse (FR) Rex
25 NOV 2025 Barcelona (ES) Upload
26 NOV 2025 Madrid (ES) Bolte
28 NOV 2025 Marseille (FR) Molotov
29 NOV 2025 Martigny (CH) Caves du Manoir
30 NOV 2025 Colmar (FR) Grillen

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Thanks to Magnetic Eye Records for the details.

An Interview With Psych/Prog/Classic Rockers MOUNDRAG

Heavy Psych/Prog Rockers MOUNDRAG released their stunning and beautifully different new album DEUX where they explore the different areas of Seventies Psych Rock, Prog Rock, Hard Rock, Proto-Doom and Classic Rock. 

What makes the band standout is them being an Organ and Drums duo formed by Camille and Colin Goellaen Duvivier. With Camille on organ and Colin on drums though both sharing vocals for quite a highly original and brilliantly organic sound of their own making.

I was asked to do an interview with the band where I jumped at the chance. As they're great musicians forging their own identity within the world of Heavy Rock.

Here's what MOUNDRAG had to say.

Hi guys. Thanks for doing the interview. How are things with you today?

Hey, thanks for having us! Things are going great — we just launched the album and began the tour with two release parties in Brittany. It was amazing! We can’t wait to start the EU tour!

For folks not in the know, can you give a brief history of how the band came together and where it is today?

We’re brothers, and we’ve always listened to music at home because our parents are musicians. When we were teenagers, our Irish uncle bought us Made in Japan, and we’ve been playing rock ’n’ roll ever since! The band started in 2019, and now we’ve never felt more fired up — we’re ready to rock the world!

How would you describe your own sound?

We play the kind of music we want to hear — it’s proggy and sometimes heavy. We like to describe ourselves as a hard prog heavy psych band, haha.

Congrats on your excellent new album Deux. Love the album. What can people expect to hear from this album?

Thank you very much, it’s an honour! People can expect a lot of references to ’70s bands. They can lose themselves in the album and discover our homage to the classics. You’ll also hear some crazy drum playing, plenty of vocal melodies, and heavy organ riffs.

Completely enjoy the mix of Prog, Psych, Hard Rock, Doom, Sci-Fi and Fantasy set against a classic Rock & Roll setting. This still allows this to be quite a different record to your previous album. Was that your plan to create something different to what has came previously.?

On the previous album, our main idea was to do something very classic rock/classic prog, with a full 20-minute song on one side. For Deux, we wanted to change things up a bit — to create more songs than before, while keeping some long tracks and adding atmospheric transitions between them. It ended up being nine tracks full of different genre references.

When we finished the first album, we decided to move in the same direction but make it both brighter and gloomier. We’re human, so both we and our music are constantly evolving — and we always want to reach the unexplored. I think that’s why Deux feels different.

You’re quite unusual for playing your music through an Organ / Drums setup though still be being brilliantly heavy in places. How did that decision come about to play with that unfamiliar setup.

We started that setup because of our first band, Smooth Motion (which is still going — we’re actually working on a new album right now!). It’s a four-piece band with drums, organ, bass, and guitar. When the guitarist and singer left for a six-month trip around the world in 2018, we decided to create this rock brothers duo so we could keep playing together and experiment with new songs without guitar or bass. At that time, we weren’t singers at all — we learned little by little, and we’re still learning, ha ha!

Did you ever have any pressure to add guitars to the mix. Is this something you might add further down the line or in the near future.

Never, mate! The goal of the Moundrag project is to play rock without guitars — ever! On the album, we added some bass, piano, and percussion, but a guitar? Pfff, no way! We already have one band with a guitar player and another with three guitarists — that’s enough! (Check out Komodrag and the Mounodor, a fusion between us and Komodor — it’s like a Lynyrd/Allman/Purple band!)

What is the new album about and did your real-life experiences help make this record.

This album has a lot of themes about the human condition. Sometimes people are dying inside because they’re living a nightmare (Morning Epitaph, Black Flames, Limbo). Other times, they want to change the world (The Caveman, Changes, Take Me To The Stars).

I think we’re singing about our lives — or at least fragments of them. Most of the songs are a bit pessimistic about the world that surrounds us. We like to scream our bad vibes, our fears, and our sadness.

What bands and artists influenced you when recording this album.

A lot of new artists! That's our playslist for DEUX:

Birth Of Joy, Deep Purple, Genesis, ELP, Atomic Rooster, Temples, Uriah Heep, Kadavar, Motorpsycho...

What formats is the album being released upon?

The vinyls and CDs are already available!

You've teamed up with the awesome record labels to release the album (Spinda Records and Stolen Body Records). How did that come about.

They’re fantastic people, and they have some amazing bands! They loved the album right away — they were the first ones to show interest, so we wanted to work hand in hand with them. Support indie labels — they’re doing a great job!

What is the creative process or setup within the band? Do you all write the music together or do certain people within the band do that?

All the songs were composed in the basement at our parents’ home — it’s the place where we’ve always written everything down. The two of us handle the music, but some of the lyrics are written separately. When we run into issues with song structure or lyrics, we like to work with Goudzou for the music and AA Da Snake, the poet.

Who designed the excellent album cover. Really brings to light what the whole album is about. And reminds me of the legendary artwork of bands such as YES and ASIA by the amazing Roger Dean.

We were devastated while creating the album because we had no idea what the cover would be. But one morning, Justyna — a young surrealist Polish artist — reached out to us on Instagram, looking to collaborate with bands. We instantly fell in love with her art; it reminded us of those classic prog-rock covers. We’d always dreamed of having artwork like this cause we are huge fans of Roger Dean, and we’re so proud of how it turned out!

Can you advise if you’ve played or currently playing in other bands so folks can check out your other musical projects?

Please check our fellows Komodrag and the Mounodor and Smooth Motion, forever our brothers.

What is the current state of the local French Rock/Metal scene? Do you perform gigs on a regular basis and do you have a local scene that you're actively involved with?

The French rock scene is very active and massive! We’re right in the middle of it, with bands like Komodor, Howard, Grandma’s Ashes, Gravecult, Executor, Howlin’ Jaws, Decasia, and Red Sun Atacama and all the friends we've just forget here ha ha. 

France might not be the easiest country for rock, but we’re fighting the best we can to shine a light on this scene!

Will you be performing any gigs to promote this album locally or further afield.

The tour has already begun in France, and we’ll be reaching Spain and Portugal in February, and the London Desertfest in May. We hope to play even more shows after that!

Before you go, do you have any words of wisdom for your new and potential fans out there.

We fought through dark days while creating this album. Sometimes we wanted to give up, but we never lowered our arms.

Keep on listening our music or any music in general, buying the records and going to the shows! The scene is nothing without you, so come see us live and keep on fighting, believe in your dreams.

Words by Steve Howe and MOUNDRAG

Thanks to Purple Sage PR for arranging the interview and to MOUNDRAG for doing this interview.

DEUX is available to buy now on CD, Digital and Vinyl from the links below:

Buying from Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar? Please go to Spinda Records
Buying from UK? - Please go to Stolen Body Records
Buying from USA? Please go to Echodelick Records

Links

Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram

Cattlemass - Alpha 1128 (Album Review)

Release Date: October 24th 2025. Record Label: Seeing Red Records. Formats: DD/Vinyl

Alpha 1128 - Tracklisting

1.Chant of Cthulhu 08:18

2.Eternal Beast 05:36

3.The Wizard 07:05

4.Intermission 02:43

5.Nachthexen 05:20

6.Replicant 06:14 

7.Infecticide 07:31 

8.Exit Oblivion 05:41

Member

Chris Price · Vocals & Guitar

Wes Styles · Bass

Kyle Abbott · Drums

Review

Alpha 1128 is the debut album from Sonic Doomsters Cattlemass who offer a grittier take on the standard Cosmic Doom sound with the band influenced by the likes of UFOMAMMUT, Monolord, Slomatics and SLEEP. However, there are moments contained on the album inspired by the likes of KING BUFFALO and HOWLING GIANT especially within the mellow parts of the album and sometimes within the vocals.

Though, for the most part Cattlemass explore the Sludge Rock atmospherics of their music to maximum levels of DISTORTED heaviness and fuzzed up aggression which fully comes to life within the stunning opening track Chant Of Cthulhu.

Cattlemass can be quite obsessed by the DOOMED OUT surroundings of glitchy sounds and down-tuned experimentation but it’s brilliantly brought to life with the PARANOIA and LOVECRAFT inspired lyrics contained within the opening track. The band use the whole eleven minutes of Chant Of Cthulhu to their great advantage that has wonderful areas of Science Fiction folklore and imagery being developed throughout the whole album.

The second track Eternal Beast is where the KING BUFFALO and HOWLING GIANT influence I mentioned before within the vocals and subtle intricate flashes of Post-Stoner melodies that’s buried under the rubble of heavy fuzzy Doom/Sludge Metal grooves. The sound is quite violent and superbly psychedelic at the same time. Perhaps the perfect balance of COSMIC DOOM with the right level of Space Rock imagery being projected into the minds of whoever is listening.

 I loved the constant switching to dark rock movements to wonderfully soulful Psych Stoner Rock landscapes. Cattlemass are a band who want to deafen folks with full on Spaced Out Doom and then soften that aspect with uplifting Psych Rock movements before injecting a truly destructive ATMOSPHERIC theme appearing within their lyrics. This is a great creative choice and perhaps clever tactic to play with people’s emotions throughout the album.

Third track The Wizard doubles down  with the LOVECRAFTIAN influence with sludgy levels of Drone and Fuzz reign supreme for the early parts of the track. Haunting and frightening vocals perfectly set the scene for Cattlemass to welcome the upcoming Halloween / Winter season with superb COSMIC and FUZZ METAL grooves even when played at a cold and calculating slow-to-mid pace. One of the chilling and standout tracks on the whole album with flashes of intricate Stoner Metal instrumental solos appearing from time-to-time. This track feels like it’s influenced by Seventies / Eighties Horror films with some of the lyrics written for the album.

Fourth track Intermission is an Ambient/Psych/Space Rock number paying homage to the likes of Brian Eno, GOBLIN and John Carpenter. The song is quite solitary and cold natured at times. This does slow the album dead in its tracks but it does show a very cool and different side to Cattlemass where they explore the film and video game soundtrack genre with surprising results.

Cattlemass returns to normal business of Distorted Cosmic Heaviness on the second half of the album with the music becoming even more daring within the lyrics contained within the tracks. The music is off-set by different areas of Post-Doom, Space Rock, Psych Rock and other Cosmic territories with a thrilling modern distorted aspect allowing the music having a grounded street level aspect whilst being SCIENCE FICTION obsessed for the most part.

Other standout tracks include: Nachthexen, Replicant and Infecticide. As these were the tracks where I originally thought I had all figures but Cattlemass ventured into the opposite direction with trippy feedback loops replacing Psytchedelic entities with Alpha 1128 being quite subversive in the least expected of places. 

Alpha 1128 is a brilliantly complex musical adventure into the Doom/Stoner Metal psyche which will surprise you in many ways that you won’t expect. This is quite a multi-layered record where I recommend multiple listens to fully appreciate the whole trippy COSMIC journey.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Alpha 1128 is available to buy now on DD/Vinyl via Seeing Red Records US and Seeing Red Records (Rest Of World)

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Dead Otter - The Sentinel (Album Review)

Release Date: October 31st 2025. Record Label: Riot Season Records / Echodelick. Formats: DD/Vinyl

The Sentinel - Tracklisting

1.Space Shadows 

2.Ezquerra

3.Ibises

4.Fact or Fiction

5.The Sentinel

6.Assault & Battery (Hawkwind Cover)

Member

John Riddell - Guitar

Omar Aborida - Guitar

Scott Falconer - Drums

Gavin Riddell - Bass

Review

Psych/Space/Stoner Rock collective Dead Otter release their first new album in over seven years with The Sentinel. I thought the band had split up ages ago but here we are with Dead Otter offering a collection of tracks that merge Post-Rock, Ambient, Desert Rock, Shoegaze and Space Rock exploration with the heavy offset of Stoner Rock passages holding everything together.

For the most part, this an supremely confident style of Instrumental music with Dead Otter creating lush and soulful interplanetary soundscapes to build their musical foundations upon. Taking cues from the likes of Yawning Man, Earthless, Hawkwind and ROTOR where they blend classic sounding Space Rock mysticism with modern day Psych/Stoner Rock styles of extended jam based music. The deft touches of Psychedelic and Cosmic energy is mostly subdued for the most part but Dead Otter aren’t afraid to add a cautionary style of destructive HEAVY ROCK into the mix which could be classed as Aggressive Post-Rock.

The opening track of Space Shadows runs for a mammoth eleven minutes with Dead Otter exploring multiple levels of Desert Rock grooves and subtle flashes of Experimental sounds keeping everything grounded. The music is played at a superb pace where it’s not too slow and not too quick either where the listener can soak up these trippy and addictive sounds at their own leisure. Even with this being instrumental you can fully understand the narrative and overall story of the whole album.

Second track Ezquerra allows Dead Otter the perfect opportunity to add different sounds, glitches and psychedelic beats to the mix. This has a more hardened attitude compared to the opening track with Dead Otter almost fully playing Scorched Desert Rock music with a twinge of Stoner Metal casually trying to break out and try to gain full creative control. This is one of the heaviest, funkiest and freakiest tracks on the album with the band playing an aggressive style of melody. With a Prog Rock/Metal energy developing from within, the band once again inject different areas of Cosmic/Psych Rock when it fully counts. You consider this track the most “HEAD BANGING” number on the whole album but still keeping with the overall mission statement of the record at the same time.

Third track Ibises returns to the uplifting sounds of the opening track Space Shadows but delves into Shoegaze territory which once again sees Dead Otter have a chameleon-like affect to their music and paying homage to Russian Circles at times. It’s not the heaviest track on the album but it showcases how Dead Otter aren’t afraid to play a more tranquil style of music while forfeiting their HEAVY ROCK attitude. This is a daring decision to undertake but the band pulls this off with huge credibility. 

The next two tracks of Track Fact Or Fiction and The Sentinel sees the band offer listeners the best of both worlds with them playing areas of fully fledged HEAVY ROCK and the more subdued Ambient Post-Rock style. There’s movements of Drone and Noise lurking in the background with flashes of euphoric Desert Rock basically setting the scene for moments on contemporary TANTRIC melodies to fully emerge. Both tracks combined run for a mouth watering twenty two minutes that are perhaps the most standout sounds on the whole album. As Dead Otter once again fully explore their SPACE ROCK potential to the MAX with soulful strands of Post-Rock and the aggressive Stoner Rock surroundings that transports the album into different levels of heavy rock soundscapes.

The final track is an excellent cover of the Hawkwind classic Assault & Battery from their seminal 1975 album Warrior On The Edge Of Time. The original ran for over five minutes but Dead Otter’s take runs for over eight minutes. The band do experiment with subtle flashes of Psych Rock distortion but the cover is mostly the same and I admire Dead Otter’s talent and commitment for delivering a slightly different take whilst staying true to the original.

The Sentinel is a wonderful, meditative and highly rewarding journey where Dead Otter fully explores the sonic sensibilities of the Psych, Space and Stoner Rock sound. 

Welcome back guys. You’ve sorely been missed. 

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Dead Otter for the promo.

The Sentinel is available to buy now on DD/Vinyl via Riot Season Records and Echodelick.

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Stoner and Doom festival HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FEST Belgium & Netherlands reveal full lineups for winter 2026 edition; tickets on sale now!

European stoner, doom and psych mini-festival series Heavy Psych Sounds Fest reveals the full lineups for their upcoming Belgian and Dutch editions, to take place on February 27th and 28th in Brussels and Deventer.

In cooperation with La Source, Tumult, Metadrone & Skull and Poppy Agency, Heavy Psych Sounds Fest makes its triumphant return to Belgium and the Netherlands, bringing its mini-festival series to the stages of La Source in Brussels (BE) and Burgerwheeshuis in Deventer (NL).

Brace yourselves for a monumental weekend of RIFFS, as the festival will host the cataclysmic caveman doom of UK's mighty Conan alongside the ground-shaking rock'n'roll of Sweden's Greenleaf*, with walls trembling upon the smoke-filled rumblings of weed metal legends Belzebong!

These formidable headliners are joined by Greece's stoner rock forefathers Nighstalker and Polish heavy psych patrons Weedpecker. Sonic proceedings will carry on at full force with the gritty proto-metal storm of Electric Citizen, Giöbia's timeless cosmic rock, Lord Elephant's hefty instrumental trips, Oreyeon's stoner and alt-heavy goodness, all reinforced by the raw desert rock power of Monsternaut and the low-end grooves of Sons of Node*, forging a bill that promises an unforgettable weekend! *only in Netherlands

Heavy Psych Sounds Fest Belgium & Netherlands

February 27-28th - Brussels @ La Source
February 27-28th - Deventer @ Burgerweeshuis

Get your tickets 

About Heavy Psych Sounds Records

Headquartered in Rome, Italy, Heavy Psych Sounds is the home to some of the most revered artists of the international stoner, doom, sludge and heavy rock scenes such as Brant Bjork, Witchcraft, Conan, Nick Oliveri, Bongzilla, Nebula, Mondo Generator, Black Rainbows, Acid Mammoth, Duel and many more.

The underground cult label is not only a place for all heavy rock record collectors, but also an essential part of the live scene with its mini-festival series gathering heavy music fans worldwide. The festival has hosted some of the biggest names in the scene, presenting an electric blend of HPS bands alongside top-tier acts from the heavy scene, such as High On Fire, Red Fang, Elder, Monolord, 1000mods, Messa and more have set the festival's stage ablaze.

Heavy Psych Sounds links

Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram

P+A+G+E+S - No More Can Be Done (Album Review)

Release Date: October 25th 2025. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD/Vinyl

No More Can Be Done - Tracklisting

1.The Passage 15:09

2.Ascension 04:40

3.Devastation Junkie (Bonus Track) 06:00

4.Shine On 06:22 

5.Moribund 08:27

Member

Caitlin Mkhasibe - drums

Frank Lunar - bass

helo samo - guitar, vocals, sampling and textural noise.

Review

No More Can Be Done is the debut album from South African Drone/Doom/Noise/Post-Metal collective P+A+G+E+S and it’s quite a bleak, captivating and uncompromising affair with the band drawing upon a wide range of influences to conjure a dark musical odyssey which is quite violent for the best of times. There’s elements of Post-Rock and Ambient surroundings in places but P+A+G+E+S mostly dwell in the Drone and Post-Black Metal environments where their dark musical melodies fully take shape. 

The twisted Noise/Drone Metal atmospherics feel fuelled by the stuff of nightmares and I can see influences such as NEUROSIS, SWANS, AUTHOR & PUNISHER, SUMAC and CONAN starting to emerge especially through the epic opening track The Passage. As P+A+G+E+S slowly drill into your sub conscience and find what scares you the most with long drawn out musical passages and distorted rhythms that’s buried under a ton of guttural noises and brutal vocals. The music is slow, brooding and darkly twisted with a slight Industrial Metal or Mechanical Doom energy starting to emerge. Things do appear faster with sublime samples and extended soundscapes for perhaps the most daring song on the whole album.

No More Can Be Done lasts for around thirty six minutes which is spread across five tracks and P+A+G+E+S do similar things or perhaps even greater damage on the shorter tracks. As they have less time to play with but P+A+G+E+S are always one step ahead of the listener by creating multiple dimensions of distorted DRONE and fucked up POST-METAL energy. This style of music overlaps with areas of Black Metal fury that’s grounded by thrilling Sludge Metal grooves which have real bite to them thanks to helo samo’s intense vocals and musical virtuoso playing on guitars, samples and textural noise. 

Though, Caitlin Mkhasibe on Drums and Frank Lunar on Bass play their part by creating harsh rhythms and violent structures that dominate the musical landscape on the other standout tracks of Devastation Junkie and Moribund. The music may be bleak and experimental for some but this is my first exposure of Post-Metal from the South African underground scene and I absolutely adore the violent chaos and carnage that P+A+G+E+S create out of nowhere. The record can be downright mean and abstract in places but it’s also an highly addictive and aggressive style of Post-Metal which isn’t afraid to show it’s heavy reliance on the Extreme side of Atmospheric Sludge. 

P+A+G+E+S do create deft touches of lovely sounding Ambient based Post-Rock interludes on the record mostly on second track Ascension which brings a loving RUSSIAN CIRCLES attitude into the mix. However,  these moments are often short before the band returns to their highly destructive sound.

The fourth track of Shine On is where P+A+G+E+S impressed me the most by creating a world of Shoegaze dynamics that's populated by areas of Sludge Metal, Noise, Psych, Post-Rock and an unforgiving attitude where everything is played with a stripped back energy that is mostly down to the excellent production values.

Overall, No More Can Be Done is a highly captivating, superbly intelligent and fearless record to emerge from the South African underground HEAVY METAL scene. Check this out if you dig your Post-Metal on the more violent side of life and you’ll be richly rewarded with a highly original record that deserves to be heard by the biggest audience possible.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Plug Music Agency for the promo.

No More Can Be Done can be bought now on DD/Vinyl

Links

Instagram | YouTube | BandCamp

Howling Giant - Crucible & Ruin (Album Review)

Release Date: October 31st 2025. Record Label: Magnetic Eye Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Crucible & Ruin - Tracklisting

01. Canyons

02. Hunter's Mark

03. Archon

04. Lesser Gods

05. Beholder I: Downfall

06. Archivist

07. Scepter and Scythe

08. Melchor's Bones

09. The Observatory

10. Beholder II: Labyrinth

Member

Tom Polzine – guitar, vocals

Zach Wheeler – drums, vocals

Sebastian Baltes – bass, vocals

Adrian Lee Zambrano – guitars, synthesizers

Guest musicians

Kim Wheeler – additional synths and EWI on 'The Observatory'

Adam Nohe – additional percussion on 'Beholder I: Downfall'

Review

It only feels like yesterday when I was reviewing Howling Giant’s last record Glass Future back in October 2023 but fast forward two years later the band have returned with Crucible & Ruin. This time round Howling Giant have delivered a more riff driven and psych driven affair which is perhaps to the addition of new member Adrian Lee Zambrano on Guitars and Synths. Adrian arrived late into the writing process but has added an extra level of tantalizing synths and space rock vibes with his intelligent melodies with the music being quite grounded at the same time.

This feels like a natural evolution from Glass Future with Howling Giant fully down and highly confident with their Psychedelic and Cosmic themes being more melodic. With flashes of Ambient Rock, Post-Rock, Folk and Americana pastures with the band’s winning appetite for catchy and aggressive Doom/Stoner Metal surroundings told through a real storytelling vibe appearing within the lyrics.

Howling Giant know when to unleash a torrent of Sludge Rock sounds against their more warm natured Space Rock movements. The record is constantly changing the Psych Stoner Rock landscape with epic flashes of Progressive based sounds which becomes highly aggressive, vivid, full of life and even quite adventurous on tracks such as Canyons, Hunter’s Mark, Archon and Beholder 1: Downfall. The vocals all provided by Tom, Zach and Sebastian on different stages of the record all have their own main strengths that allows each member to fully command the limelight which is one of the main strengths of the album.

As with previous Howling Giant releases, there’s a great use of various soundbytes and sound effects along the way which can be quite DOOM & GLOOM obsessive at the best of times. This gives Crucible & Ruin an unsettling feeling on the later stages of the record even after a EUPHORIC and UPLIFTING musical number has appeared to perfectly capture the listener’s imagination.

The second half of the album sees Howling Giant proclaim their place as one of Psychedelic Stoner Metal biggest, brightest and best musical outfits to join the likes of KING BUFFALO and ELDER with a great style of cinematic vision that is once again blended against a real grounded energy on the other outstanding tracks on the album such as: Archivist, Scepter and Scythe and the haunting final track of Beholder II: Labyrinth. 

Howling Giant are master storytellers where they tell highly original and beautifully realized stories within each individual track that appears on the album. Crucible & Ruin has it all and once again sees Howling Giant releasing one of the best Psychedelic Stoner Metal records of the year. This is bound to be the record which launches Howling Giant onto bigger and better things. The Stoner Rock community already knew Howling Giant were destined for greatness now it’s time for the mainstream rock community to finally be shown the way.

Epic. End Of.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Magnetic Eye Records and All Noir PR for the promo.

Crucible & Ruin is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Majestic Eye Records.

Links

https://www.facebook.com/howlinggiant
https://www.instagram.com/howlinggiant
https://www.facebook.com/MagneticEyeRecords
https://www.instagram.com/magneticeyerecords