King Cruel - Sky Eater (EP Review)

Release Date: December 05th 2025. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD/Vinyl

Sky Eater - Tracklisting

Haunting Time

Diamond Darya

Sky Eater

Review

Psych Doom/Stoner Metallers King Cruel return with their latest EP - Sky Eater and one that follows their 2023 debut EP Creeper. That EP allowed King Cruel to play a stylish mix of Doom, Psych, Stoner, Proto-Metal and Occult Rock themes. The band still play that sound within Sky Eater but they’ve added an unforgiving style of Grunge and Post-Stoner grittiness to their music which I can hear within the excellent opening track of Haunting Time. This is where the band develops a highly melodic sense with emotionally engaging lyrics to match.

The vocals are delivered with a sense of gloomy optimism and eternal dread which keeps in with the Post-Doom and Occult Rock aspect of their previous EP Creeper. The musical landscapes are quite progressive and leans quite heavily into some intense moments of flashy Hard Rock solos along the way.

Second track Diamond Darya is a stirring mix of Eighties Hard Rock excess with a burgeoning modern Psych Rock and Stoner Metal with King Cruel offering bombastic lyrics and over the top themes that still feel remarkably grounded thanks to the excellent vocals and superb musical solos that each band member provides. The Post-Stoner attitude fully takes over towards the end of the song with King Cruel offering some of the standout melodies within the whole EP.

The final track Sky Eater is where King Cruel makes everything count with a classic Grunge attitude forming behind the scenes and you can hear influences as diverse as Alice In Chains, Soundgarden and Velvet Revolver with the sound still being quite DOOM & GLOOM obsessive in the best possible way. This allows King Cruel to fully develop their own intriguing style of music where the RIFF IS KING.

My only complaint is that I would have enjoyed another track to finish off the EP as it’s quite short, running around thirteen minutes in length. However, it’s always best to leave the audience wanting more and King Cruel has succeeded on every level with Sky Eater. I'm hoping King Cruel has more great music to impress us with in the near future as Sky Eater is an absolute joy to listen to from start to finish.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Links

LinkTree | BandCamp | Instagram 

Vast Pyre - II: Bleak (Album Review)

Release Date: November 28th 2025. Record Label: Argonauta Records (Octopus Rising). Formats: Cassette/CD/DD/Vinyl.

II: Bleak - Tracklisting

1.Begotten

2.Tenebrosity's Path

3.Beneath the Surface

4.The Untold

5.Perdition Fatal

Lineup

Ch. Wallstein – Vocals/Drums

A. Först – Guitar

Review

Psych Doom/Stoner Metallers Vast Pyre return with their second full length album II: Bleak that harnesses the same crushing Doomed Out power from the likes of YOB, MONOLORD and SHRINEBUILDER with a sense of aggressive murkiness emitting from all corners. The record continues the same destructive path as their 2024 debut album which established the band as a force to be reckoned with. There is a haunting DOOM & GLOOM attitude emerging within the opening track of Begotten with Vast Pyre slowly establishing a well placed Progressive attitude with a stripped back energy appearing within the darkest corners of the song.

With a hard-hitting and slow-to-mid pace melody transmitting a distorted AMPLIFIER FEEDBACK flow that soon transforms into an element of COSMIC DOOM and full on sludge metal dominated areas of Space Rock just for good measure. The song becomes faster and with razor sharp precision appearing within the Psychedelic landscapes that become more Post-Metal obsessive along the way with a haunting YOB-esque music delivery appearing towards the very end of the track.

Second track Tenebrosity's Path continues with the Sonic and Cosmic Doom trajectory with flashes of psychedelic imagery appearing amongst the down-tuned instrumental passages that have a more dangerous aura behind them. The sound is quite abstract with moments of heavy reverb leaning right into the mix that allows Vast Pyre to demonstrate a highly destructive style that is pure classic DOOM METAL theatre in places with a vivid Electric Wizard influence appearing but still very much part of the underground scene. The mood moves from fast-paced to Sludge Rock rhythms to an unsettling modern aesthetic style of LOW & SLOW instrumental passages.

Vast Pyre are a highly talented duo where they feel they have more members in their ranks which they use to their full advantage delivering a HUGE and DEVASTATING sound throughout the whole album and showcase a more cerebral sound within the excellent third track of Beneath The Surface. This is the shortest track on the album and allows Vast Pyre to bring in a Drone Metal attitude into the album which becomes part of the action for the remainder of the album. Matching this against a Post-Drone and Ambient Metal sound allows this to be one the heaviest and interesting tracks on the record. 

The final two tracks of The Untold and Perdition Final channels that Drone Metal and Ambient aspect again throughout the almost nineteen minutes runtime with Vast Pyre emerging from the ice cold Post-Doom surroundings of the previous track into a heavier, aggressive and destructive style of modern day Stoner Metal with waves of crushing Psychedelics. The warped vocals have a classical PROTO-DOOM delivery when matched against the long drawn out sonic passages that Vast Pyre harnesses and projects into the SPACE ROCK stratosphere with a real sense of urgency that develops with The Untold. 

The album leans heavily into the COSMIC HORROR arena for the second half which gives I!: Bleak a more challenging and highly destructive attitude you first initially anticipated. Vast Pyre have delivered an absolutely devastating Doom/Stoner Metal record that doesn’t shy away in delivering all the thrills, chills and spills you ever want from a first rate record such as this.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Vast Pyre and Grand Sounds Promotion for the promo.

II: Bleak is available to buy now on DD/Vinyl via Argonauta Records.

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

US Heavy Psych Goldsmiths INSOMNIAC announce US spring tour with Howling Giant

Atlanta-based transcendental doom unit INSOMNIAC just announced an extensive spring US tour in support of Nashville progressive metallers Howling Giant this spring. The band recently released their debut album "Om Moksha Ritam" on Blues Funeral Recordings.

"This record is pure beauty." Doom Charts
“Breathtaking and brilliantly surreal.” Outlaws Of The Sun
“This bridges the big epic rock riffage with hypnotic pulses.” Abysmal Hymns
"This isn’t an album you background. It’s a trip, a drift, a weight, and a lift all at once.” Witching Buzz
“An experience that is truly mandatory for all who consider themselves even the most casual fans of heavy psych.” Headbanger Reviews

Atlanta's Insomniac coalesce onto our plane like a third eye opening into the beyond. On their debut record "Om Moksha Ritam", they deliver a brooding, heavy, and psychedelic journey, both physical and abstract, towering and transcendent. Insomniac drifts between this world and the next, hovering at the periphery of consciousness. REZN, King Buffalo and Dead Meadow are names that arise if trying to fit them into familiar confines, though it’s clear that fitting within confines isn’t really what they do.

About the upcoming spring tour, Insomniac drummer Amos Rifkin comments: "After the early success of our debut record Om 'Moksha Ritam' and tours supporting it this fall, we're champing at the bit to hit the road again in the new year, and especially to be a part of the inaugural Mojave Experience festival in Joshua Tree. We're humbled and honored to support such a fantastic band like Howling Giant and can't wait to travel cross-country making beautiful music together!" 

Howling Giant & Insomniac Spring Tour 2026

3/11 - Birmingham, AL - Saturn
3/12 - New Orleans, LA - Siberia
3/13 - Austin, TX - HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT
3/14 - Tulsa, OK - Whittier Bar
3/16 - Taos, NM - Goathead Collective
3/17 - Santa Fe, NM - Desert Dogs
3/18 - Tempe, AZ - Yucca Tap Room
3/19 - Las Vegas, NV - The Griffin
3/20 - Yucca Valley, CA - MOJAVE EXPERIENCE ^
3/21 - Joshua Tree, CA - MOJAVE EXPERIENCE *
3/22 - Bakersfield, CA - Jerry's Pizza
3/24 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom Of The Hill
3/25 - Eureka, CA - Savage Henry
3/26 - Eugene, OR - John Henry's
3/27 - Portland, OR - High Water Mark
3/28 - Seattle, WA - The Funhouse
3/29 - Vancouver, BC - Astoria*
3/31 - Salt Lake City, UT - Aces High Saloon
4/1 - Denver, CO - HQ
4/2 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
4/3 - St Louis, MO - Platypus Bar
4/4 - Nashville, TN - TN Brew Works
* Howling Giant only // ^ Insomniac only

You’ve got it all wrong. The Insomniac isn’t unable to sleep, the Insomniac chooses to evade sleep. We all fall down at some point, but between the waking world and our dreams exists the surreal. In pursuit of that space between, some of history’s most prominent visionaries would hold a physical object, like a spoon or a ball, while sitting in a chair, and allow themselves to succumb to sleep. As they drifted off, the object would fall, and the sound would awaken them at the periphery of unconsciousness. Now more alert than ever, their work could begin.

Such is Insomniac. A band that exists between this world and the next. A bouncing ball on the sound and rhythm of the universe. An aural guide. Writing their songs in the frequency of the earth, the Atlanta-based quintet's sound casts light on the magic and strange beauty in the balance between unconsciousness and dreams. Their debut album “Om Moksha Ritam” is a concept album that guides the listener through an aural and spiritual journey across multiple extreme environments, testing their resolve, principles, and commitment to adhering to the path.

Debut album "Om Moksha Ritam" is available on Blues Funeral Recordings via their online store, Bandcamp and on all streaming services.


Insomniac links

Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram

Blues Funeral Recordings links

Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | Youtube

Thanks to Purple Sage PR for the details.

Doubtsower - The Past Melts Away With A Sneer (Album Review)

Release Date: November 28st 2025. Record Label: UBAii / Unbidden Audio: Formats: CD/Digital

The Past Melts Away with a Sneer - Tracklisting

The Past Melts Away with a Sneer

 

Lineup

All tracks written, performed, recorded, produced & mixed by Matt Strangis

Review

The Past Melts Away With A Sneer is the fourth full length album from one-man Blackened Doom/Sludge Metal collective Doubsower and this is my first experience with Matt Strangis’s highly disturbing and nihilistic creative alter ego. This record is full of gloomy visions and harsh sonic landscapes that moves within the areas of Industrial Metal, Funeral Doom, Post-Metal, Post-Rock and Horror Movie Soundtracks for an album that is highly unusual and brilliantly eclectic at the same time.

Doubtsower has gained a lot of great praise from the musical underground scene and it’s not hard to see why as Matt is very passionate about making music across the wider musical spectrum. As Matt plays bass in doom merchants "Pantheist", and also produces experimental electronic music under the alias "Kyam". The whole atmosphere is creepy with Doubtsower playing heavy amounts of warped FUNERAL DOOM soundscapes that’s wrapped around a ton of disturbing ELECTRONIC beats which does take time for the “REAL” metallic movements to appear. 

Matt teases and scares the hell out of the listener with expertly placed soundbytes and sound effects that amps up the tension. Doubtsower feels inspired by the highly controversial and deeply uncomfortable horror movies of European and Asian cinema. This record isn’t watered down by any means with the slow-paced Black Metal grooves merging into heavier slices of violent ELECTRONICA and INDUSTRIAL beats with extreme vocals to match. 

Though, Matt does show a keen sense of melody within the more restrained Post-Rock and Post-Metal passages that appear from momentarily within the album. The record’s main strength is it’s gloomy and highly unapologetic production style which has a real core DIY PUNK ethic running throughout and with the amazing Greg Chandler (from legendary funeral doom band Esoteric) handling mastering duties, this is one record that not only dares to be different within the realm of Funeral Doom but actually rewrites the rule book.

This is a singular forty nine minute track with Doubtsower showcasing one of the best extreme records to emerge from within the UK and WELSH underground metal scene in quite some time. The level of dedication and technical ability that Matt plays on this album is simply astonishing to listen to and to make me emotionally invested for an album such as this is no small feat.

Expect The Unexpected with The Past Melts Away With A Sneer as this is as close as to perfection you’ll ever hear in the world of Experimental Doom Metal.

Words by Steve Howe

The Past Melts Away With A Sneer will be available to buy digitally and CD via Unbidden Audio

Links

BandCamp | Instagram

Pale Horse Ritual - Diabolic Formation (Album Review)

Release Date: November 28th 2025. Record Label: Black Throne Productions: Formats: CD/DD/Tape/Vinyl

Diabolic Fprmation - Tracklisting

1. Deflowered (5:58)

2. Wickedness (5:03)

3. Holy Lies (5:46)

4. Save You (3:13)

5. Bloody Demon (5:02)

6. DED (6:50)

7. A Beautiful End (6:55)

 

Lineup

Paco (Bass/Vocals)

James Matheson (Lead Guitar)

Will Adams (Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals)

Jonah Santa-Barbara (Drums)

Guest Musicians:

Dom Valela- Keys, Vocals

Doom Valhalla- Italian Preacher

Review

Pale Horse Ritual feels like they have already truly arrived with their debut album Diabolic Formation which wastes no time in laying down the groundwork a stream of FUZZ DRIVEN and Heavy Psychedelic grooves that feels like a musical TIME CAPSULE was buried in the Seventies and being opened in today’s Sludge driven Doom/Stoner Metal world. The whole result is a record that moves from Fuzz, Psych, Grunge, Stoner Rock and Occult Doom Metal whilst allowing the band to add their own creative identity into the mix. 

The RIFFS are HUGE and bursting with genuine AMPLIFER DISTORTION which you’ll hear within the epic opening track of Deflowered which is an absolute banger especially with this being purely and instrumental track. The song leans heavily within the Sludge Rock aesthetic with moments of DOOMED OUT and DISTORTED clarity with a filthy SONIC influence building throughout that leaves little to the imagination within the HEAVY VOLUME department.

Second track Wickedness sees Pale Horse Ritual channel their OCCULT DOOM METAL heritage with echoes of Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Electric Wizard, Blue Cheer and Black Rainbows emerging. The feedback levels of FUZZ ain’t pretty and it isn’t subtle either but DAMN the band are absolute on FIRE spreading wild tales of the OCCULT that’s buried under an avalanche of gloomy rhythms and twisted sludgy guitars. There’s a deep love for Seventies Horror Films being shown here but it’s the epic PSYCHEDELIC visions that Pale Horse Ritual that offers quite a demonic and spaced out vibe perhaps closer to H.P. Lovecraft as well. 

Third track Holy Lies once again keeps with the OCCULT ROCK theme with Pale Horse Ritual playing a riffier, aggressive and slightly Post-Stoner take which still remains quite vibrant and beautifully filthy at the same time. The grooves are played at a well controlled slow-to-mid pace which allows the distorted atmosphere to gather momentum with Paco’s daring vocals dominating the musical and creative landscape. He’s superbly supported by Will Adams with his grizzled back-up vocals offering a slightly different take. The song really excels with Pale Horse Ritual moving into modern sounds with the Psychedelic Stoner Metal angle fully coming out on top.

Fourth track Save You is a wholly different song compared to the other tracks with Pale Horse Ritual playing a more soulful and dialled back number which is semi-acoustic for the early stages. However, the band delivers a winning Post-Stoner and Post-Doom style that sees a cautionary style of Grunge sounds to appear and even Shoegaze vibes which make this one of my favourite tracks on the whole album. The band still write hard-hitting themes that once again leave a sense of hope and despair at the same time.

The final three tracks of Bloody Demon, Ded and A Beautiful End are all seedy and twisted tales of Psychedelic Paranoia coming to life with the kick-ass PROTO DOOM METAL melodies transforming into other areas of modern day Doom/Stoner Metal whilst having outlandish fun with the FUZZED OUT surroundings that have a violent effect within the heaviest sounds of the whole album. Bloody Demon and A Beautiful End are two of the other standout tracks of the record that deserve your full and undivided attention as Pale Horse Ritual fully establish their own blend of GOTHIC and PSYCHEDELIC twisted bliss. 

Pale Horse Ritual have delivered an intense and brilliantly addictive wild ride with Diabolic Formation which should see the album claim a few ALBUM OF THE YEAR mentions before the year is out. It’s already grabbed a place on mine. This is a must have album. Plain and Simple.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to C Squared Music for the promo.

Diabolic Formation is available to buy now on CD/DD/Tape/Vinyl via Black Throne Productions.

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Maha Sohona - A Dark Place (Album Review)

Release Date: November 21st 2025. Record Label: Bonebag Records: Formats: Digital/Vinyl

A Dark Place - Tracklisting

Liquid Motion Medicine - 8:26
Visions - 9:32
Uddh- 4:09
Voyagers - 7:49
Ostera - 8:38
The Long Way Home - 10:33

Lineup

Johan Bernhardtson – Guitar, Vocals
Thomas Hedlund – Bass
Erik Andersson – Drums

Review

Swedish Prog/Doom/Stoner Metallers Maha Sohona return with their latest record A Dark Place that sees the band lean heavier and further into the Space Rock abyss of Post-Doom and Post-Grunge melodies. There’s a trippy and stripped back atmosphere that appears on the record with the band inspired by the likes of Alice In Chains, TOOL and ELDER with some wonderfully subversive distorted FUZZY guitars within the excellent opening track Liquid Motion Medicine.

The track does have distinctive classic Grunge energy running throughout its creative core with a storytelling narrative that moves closer to a Prog Metal narrative. There’s a sudden shift into areas of Cinematic Rock which brings a heavier Cosmic flavour to the record with lead vocalist Johan Bernhardtson providing delicate tones before unleashing an aggressive attitude as the song moves on. With a haunting Ambient and Psychedelic score developing throughout, Maha Sohona feel like a different band compared to their celebrated 2021 album Endless Searcher.

Second track Visions is another cautionary offering with Maha Sohona aligning themselves to a style of Shoegaze and Post-Rock whilst keeping themselves closely to the boundaries of Post-Doom, Grunge and Atmospheric Sludge which starts rather low-key and closely guarded. This all changes when the band changes musical direction and heads straight into Post-Metal rhythms that remind me of ISIS (The Band) in places. The song has a wicked and deceptive take of Alt-Metal with the TOOL progressive mannerisms being heard from time-to-time. Maha Sohona keep things grounded when they slow the mood right down and return to the more emotionally engaging style of Ambient Post-Rock which kicks into Progressive Stoner Metal overdrive for the catchiest, heaviest and technically impressive melodies heard on the whole album.

Third track Uddh is Maha Sohona on more conventional ground with a self contained track that is emotionally satisfying with the band moving into areas of melodic Post-Rock and keeping the level of HEAVY RAWK down to the bare minimum. This has a lovely flow and highly satisfying energy with Johan’s vocals perhaps leaning into the spectrum of Stadium Rock whilst keeping everything within a loving Post-Stoner attitude. The delicate flourishes of Ambient Rock and Doom-Pop landscapes shows a different side to Maha Sohona which they fully deserve credit for actually exploring on this album.

Fourth track Voyagers sees Maha Sohona return to the heavy SPACED OUT DOOM arena for a song with deeper purpose and meaning which adds a Sludgy destructive element that the band just run crazy with. Everything becomes more fractured and distorted as the song transforms into a Post-Grunge and Prog-Metal afterthought of different textures which allows the band to offer another wonderful cinematic journey where the RIFFS showcase why the Swedish Doom/Stoner Metal scene is one of the most dominant and creative scenes currently out there. 

I have to give credit to Maha Sohona’s triumphant rhythm section of Thomas Hedlund (Bass) and Erik Anderson (Drums) as they both put in beautiful understated musical performances but they really deliver when the heavy grooves demand a powerful rhythm section to build their sonic message upon. Johan’s guitars are full of DESTRUCTIVE INTENT for the most part but all three members really come together within the final two tracks of Ostera and The Long Way Home.

These two tracks show the bands original musical vision coming into their own when they blend Post-Metal mysticism with Post-Stoner romanticism which elevates their music into something quite therapeutic and emotionally healing especially within Ostera. You can hear other influences such as PELICAN and RUSSIAN CIRCLES emerging before Maha Sohona once again rely on their Progressive Doom and Stoner Metal surroundings. 

A Dark Place is a brilliantly realized musical adventure brought to life with true CINEMATIC themes that develops throughout for a record that’s quite downbeat in places but one that’s superbly uplifting before everything is said and done. Maha Sohona are one of the best kept secrets within the Swedish Underground Rock/Metal scene who will no doubt achieve greater recognition from the wider scene thanks to this incredible album.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Sheltered Life PR for the promo.

A Dark Place is available to buy now on DD/Vinyl via Bonebag Records

Links

Bandcamp | Spotify | Website | Instagram | Facebook

Stoner Doom Titans BELZEBONG to return with new album "The End Is High" on Heavy Psych Sounds; first track "420 Horsemen" streaming!

Poland's Stoner/Doom royalty BELZEBONG have signed to Heavy Psych Sounds Records for the release of their first album in nearly a decade, "The End Is High". Stream an intoxicating first excerpt ahead of its world release on February 20th, 2026.

Stream Belzebong's trippy new track "420 Horsemen"

The skies crack, the world coughs, and the smoke clears only to reveal the end. From the depths of the riff-choked void, Belzebong return with a new sermon for the final days: "The End Is High". Recorded and mixed by Satanic Audio at Sound of Records, this new chapter drags you deeper into your doom — where the incense burns green, and time moves slower than death itself. This is the soundtrack for the final procession. No salvation. No redemption. Bong. Fire. Death.

"On ‘The End Is High’, Belzebong conjure some of their dankest jams yet in full sonic fury (the recording captures it all beautifully). All of them bear the trademark Belzebong songcraft. The band has always had a knack of building on a few catchy ideas, building dire atmosphere around them, and doubling down on slow, powerful grooves," states Doomed & Stoned editors.

BELZEBONG "The End Is High" - Out February 20th on Heavy Psych Sounds (LP/CD/digital)

Poland’s loudest riff dealers Belzebong have been spreading their fuzz-drenched gospel of bong metal since 2008. With no vocals and no compromises, they summon crushing instrumentals soaked in doom, sludge, and psychedelic haze. Their hypnotic live shows and cult-like following have turned them into underground legends, delivering slow, sinister grooves straight from the green abyss.

With acclaimed albums like "Sonic Scapes & Weedy Grooves", "Greenferno" and "Light the Dankness", Belzebong have toured extensively across Europe and the U.S., leaving trails of blown minds and smoke-filled venues in their wake. Belzebong is not just a band: it’s a ritual of riff worship for those who live by the fuzz and die by the bong.

Belzebong upcoming shows

21.11 - Radebeul (Ger) Barnyard Club
22.11 - Jena (Ger) Kuba
23.11 - Prague (Cz) Modrá Vopice
25.11 - Brno (CZ) Kabinet Muz
26.11 - Bratislava (SK) Žalár
27.11 - Vienna (At) Arena
28.11 - Graz (At) Explosiv Club
29.11 - Salzburg (At) Dome Of Rock Festival
30.11 - Munich (Ger) Backstage
02.12 - Frankfurt (Ger) Ponyhof
03.12 - Paris (Fr) Backstage By The Mill
04.12 - Nantes (Fr) Le Ferrailleur
05.12 - Lille (Fr) Bulle Café
06.12 - Utrecht (NL) Db's
07.12 - Eindhoven (NL) Café The Jack
08.12 - Düsseldorf (Ger) Pitcher
10.12 - Münster (Ger) Rare Guitar
11.12 - Hamburg (Ger) Hafenklang
12.12 - Oldenburg (Ger) Cadillac
13.12 - Berlin (Ger) Wild At Heart

Belzebong lineup

Sheepy Dude - Bass
Alky Dude - Guitar
Cheesy Dude - Guitar
Hexy Dude - Drums

Belzebong links

Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram

Heavy Psych Sounds links

Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | Youtube

Thanks to Purple Sage PR for the details.

Drone Doom Voyagers OWLS OVER OAKS Sign to Argonauta Records

Argonauta Records is proud to welcome OWLS OVER OAKS to its roster. Emerging from the depths of Italy’s extreme underground, the trio delivers a formidable blend of extreme drone doom that expands the limits of darkness and despair.

Founded in 2022 by Valerio “Leynir” Possetto, former bassist of Enisum, OWLS OVER OAKS reached its definitive form in 2024 with the addition of two highly respected figures in the Italian extreme scene. Elisa “Aeretica” Iacopini, former vocalist of Amethista, and Roberto “Bob Rip” Ripollino, drummer also active with Nihili Locus and Nerocapra, joined the project to complete a vision that is as uncompromising as it is immersive.

Leynir acts as the sole composer and lyricist, shaping a sound that is crushing, hypnotic and entirely personal. The band’s debut album O.O.O., the first chapter of a planned trilogy, was recorded entirely in analog. It stands out for its radical use of dual bass lines, both performed by Leynir, and the complete absence of guitars. This choice magnifies the album’s monolithic weight. Structured in three long tracks for a total running time of about forty minutes, O.O.O. is conceived as a single apocalyptic litany, a slow descent into pain, perdition, and blindness, wrapped in a pitch black atmosphere inspired by the bleak world of Mad Max.

Their debut single Owls, mastered by James Plotkin, introduces this desolate world with overwhelming intensity and sets the tone for what is to come.

OWLS OVER OAKS craft a totalizing sonic experience where every note drips with darkness and every silence trembles with impending catastrophe.

Listen to the edit version of "Owls" here: https://song.link/owlsoveroaks_ow

INFO:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580855993123
https://www.instagram.com/owlsoveroaks/
https://www.facebook.com/ArgonautaRecords

Thanks to Grand Sounds Promotion for the details.

Winds Of Neptune - Winds Of Neptune (Album Review)

Release Date: November 21st 2025. Record Label: Small Stone Records: Formats: CD/Digital

Winds Of Neptune - Tracklisting

1.The Faun's Rhyme 

2.Gas Giant

3.La Cacciata

4.Temporal Mutant

5.U.S.L.

6.So Sayeth The Mouth of the Void

7.The Fitz

8.Queen of Sumatra

Lineup

Ross Westerbur: bass, vocals

Mike Alonso: drums

Kevin Roberts: guitar

Review

Winds Of Neptune is a Heavy Psych/Stoner Rock band from Detroit who are made up of three musicians from the local scene including Mike Alonso from the legendary Flogging Molly. The band play a great style of Heavy Psychedelic Stoner Rock that’s merged with huge elements of Classic Hard Rock, Space Rock, Blues Rock and Grunge. Imagine THIN LIZZY playing modern day Stoner Rock but still allowing their dominant Classic Hard Rock to shine through and that’s what you get with Winds Of Neptune stunning debut album. 

The first half of the album mostly concentrates on Classic Rock for the most part with Winds Of Neptune taking influence from the likes of Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, BUDGIE, Aerosmith and Deep Purple. Though, if you look beyond this classic rock influences, Winds Of Neptune harnesses a subtle modern day STONER energy which aligns them closely to the likes of WO-FAT, MOTHERSHIP and CLUTCH but still playing a great style of their own making. The music does offer brief amounts of Blues Rock surroundings with that legendary Seventies HARD ROCK sound allowing Winds Of Neptune to branch out into areas of Spaced Out Rock on the second half of the album.

The first half of the album moves along at a stunning fast-pace with Winds Of Neptune constructing a Prog Rock landscape that makes their music last for quite a long time in places and that’s no bad thing especially on tracks such as Gas Giant, La Cacciata and Temporal Mutant amping up the Psych Rock stakes to maximum levels of genuine excitement. There’s some hidden shifts into Sludge Rock melodies though it’s kept to a fair minimum as Winds Of Neptune are mostly about that Classic Hard Rock style. The vocals are excellent from Ross Westerbur who taps into the glorious heyday of Seventies Hard Rock and Nineties Old-School STONER ROCK dominance when the time calls for this. 

The dynamic guitars of Kevin Roberts brings a heavy PSYCHEDELIC and COSMIC flavour when Winds Of Jupiter just move into areas of dramatic Space Rock territory on the second half of the album. Mike Alonso is a whirlwind of nature on drums showcasing why he’s so highly regarded. Hell, all of the musicians are legends of the local Detroit scene and they all prove their worth here with first class musical performances.

As I said, the second half of the album becomes more spaced out with Winds Of Neptune becoming riff-loving ASTRONAUTS on tracks such as So Sayeth The Mouth of the Void, The Fitz and Queen of Sumatra where you can hear echoes of the likes of MONSTER MAGNET and FU MANCHU not too far off into the distance. The sound is brilliantly organic especially when unexpectedly they start relying on their Classic Rock roots for a fuller, richer and aggressive sound which veers into GRUNGE sensibilities along the way.

The record runs for over an hour in length but this album is ALL KILLER AND NO FILLER. It’s jam-packed full of outstanding landscapes and wicked instrumental solos that you’ll be listening to this album for a very long time to come. 

Winds Of Neptune is first class entertainment and hopefully this will allow the band to gain a loyal dedicated following within the global Stoner Rock scene. 

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Earsplit PR for the promo.

Winds Of Neptune is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Small Stone Records.

Links

https://windsofneptune.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/windsofneptune
https://www.facebook.com/windsofneptune
https://www.smallstone.com