Son Of Boar - The Hunt (Single Review)

Release Date: June 16th 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

The Hunt - Tracklisting

The Hunt

Members

 

Luke Oliver - Vocals

Gaz Bates - Bass

Adam Waddell - Guitar

Lyndon Birchall - Guitar

Luke Doran - Drums

Review

Stoner Metallers Son Of Boar have gone all mythical and progressive with their latest track The Hunt and have even included some of their famous friends to add their voices to this gloomy tale. You have the likes of Marty Harvey (Slomatics), Dan Flitcroft (Sergeant Thunderhoof), Kris Mclaughlin (Godthrymm, Green Sabre), Katie Gilchrest (Dark Crone, High Priestess) allowing The Hunt to perhaps to deliver a Doom Rock sound with elements of Folk and Fantasy themes holding everything together.

Son Of Boar have moved firmly into the Doom Metal arena with this track compared to their previous releases and it’s a sound that suits them down to the ground. The music is aggressive with sludgy guitars allowing the band to incorporate a classic Electric Wizard and CONAN based atmosphere with dense fog made up of Drone, Doom and Stoner Metal passages for a song that’s quite low-key but delivers the heavy grooves when it really matters.

The Hunt is a retelling of the infamous Bradford Boar tale but this song still remains grounded with Son Of Boar delivering one of their best songs to date. If this is the new musical direction that Son Of Boar are heading into for future releases then we’re in for an exciting ride as The Hunt is sublime. The track could have done with a couple more minutes to crank up the atmosphere that little bit more but apart from that minor compliant, Sons Of Boar have delivered on all fronts. 

Excellent stuff!!!

 

Words by Steve Howe

Links 

Facebook | BandCamp

Ganar Fvzz - Funeral Wounds (EP Review)

Release Date: June 14th 2026. Record Label: Skullism Recirds. Formats: DD

Funeral Wounds - Tracklisting

1.BURN THE BADGE 05:08

2.CULT SHIT 03:13

3.UNDER THE CURSE (Ft. Bagus Arya) 04:39

4.WE GONNA DIE 02:02

5.FUNERAL WOUNDS 07:35

Review

Funeral Wounds is the debut release from Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metallers Ganar Fvzz who take influence from the likes of Church Of Misery, Electric Wizard, BONGZILLA and WEEDEATER with a fast-paced violent FUZZ METAL energy being present throughout. This isn’t the most original music you’ll hear but if you’re a dedicated follower or practitioner of the LOW & SLOW and DISTORTED AMPLIFIER movement then you’ll find much to enjoy here.

There are some epic sludgy grooves that edges Ganar Fvzz to the likes of High On Fire in places which you can hear on the superb opening tracks of Burn The Badge and Cult Shit. The EP is quite forthright with the song titles and Doom Metal imagery that appears within the lyrics which is made even more threatening by the excellent lead vocals.

The vocals are quite harsh but very easy to understand. The seedy Sludge/Stoner Metal landscape soon goes fully into WEEDIAN territory where the music becomes heavier, aggressive and faster which allows everything to flow with a more dominant DOOM & GLOOM energy on the later stages of the record.

Funeral Wounds is quite a nasty record but it’s one with the usual Stoner Metal charm where the music is quite direct with a sludgy and fuzzed up metal attitude allowing the band to generate some epic riffs that fill the atmosphere with pure OCCULT based tension. The LOW & SLOW approach wins the day though especially on tracks Under The Curse, We Gonna Die and the sublime title track which allows the EP to end on a quite dramatic and droned out finish.

Funeral Wounds is a solid and highly satisfactory EP from the Indonesian Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal scene and I’m hoping to hear more great records from that part of the world especially if they’re musically and technically impressive as Ganar Fvzz.

 

Words by Steve Howe

Links 

BandCamp | Instagram

GREENLEAF announce North American Fall Tour 2026

More than twenty-five years since their inception, Scandinavian heavy rock legends GREENLEAF will be coming to North America for their first-ever live shows in the USA and Canada. This exciting road trip will be kicked off with a headline show at the inaugural Magnetic Eye Records label showcase at this year's Ripplefest Texas. This will be followed by nearly two weeks across the continent with the support of their label mates HOWLING GIANT and HIGH DESERT QUEEN. The Nordic foursome are ready to give longtime fans their own take on desert grooves and stoner riffs, and everything they've been waiting for from this legendary live outfit.

GREENLEAF comment: "It's been a long time but finally the wait is over", guitarist and band founder Tommi Holappa declares. "We are beyond excited to go on tour in the very country that gave us our childhood heroes: Snake Plissken, John Rambo, Paul Kersey, Major Alan Schaefer, and many more. Come out and join us on our first ever tour in the USA and Canada!"

GREENLEAF will be touring North America in support of the latest album "The Head & The Habit", which hit stores first on June 21, 2024.

GREENLEAF North American Fall Tour 2026:

20 SEP 2026 Austin, TX (US) Ripplefest Texas
21 SEP 2026 Houston, TX (US) The End
22 SEP 2026 New Orleans, LA (US) Broadside
23 SEP 2026 Atlanta, GA (US) The Earl
24 SEP 2026 Asheville, NC (US) Eulogy
25 SEP 2026 Lexington, KY (US) Al's Bar
26 SEP 2026 Chicago, IL (US) Reggies
27 SEP 2026 Milwaukee, WI (US) X-Ray Arcade
29 SEP 2026 Detroit, MI (US) Sanctuary
30 SEP 2026 Toronto, ON (CA) Monarch Tavern
01 OCT 2026 Montreal, QC (CA) Piranha Bar
02 OCT 2026 Braintree, MA (US) Widowmaker Brewing
03 OCT 2026 Brooklyn, NY (US) The Meadows

With their ninth full-length "The Head & The Habit", Swedish heavy rockers GREENLEAF have reached the pinnacle of a long evolution. The musical handwriting and well-honed mastery of guitarist Tommi Holappa, who has been a pioneer and pillar of the European stoner rock scene for more than 25 years, shines clearly through. This is perfectly complemented by the soulfulness, intuitive sense of melody, and depth of character that the vocals of classically-trained singer Arvid Hällagård bring to the sound of GREENLEAF.

Apart from world-class vocal lines and massive riffs with electric fuzz-power, GREENLEAF have put extra thought into the themes of "The Head & The Habit", which lift its lyrics far above much of the often cliché-ridden genre. As the album title implies, the new songs resemble symbolic short stories that revolve around emotional struggles and even mental illness. Written by the vocalist, the lyrics reflect real life experience as Hällagård works with people who suffer from problems with drug abuse and psychological health.

Heavy rock afficionados GREENLEAF were initially formed as an informal project by friends that were already playing in other bands including such notable names as DOZER, LOWRIDER, and DEMON CLEANER. The Swedes simply wanted an outlet for their mutual love of '70s-era hard rock and proto-metal while being free from the expectations and pressures of their main bands.

Despite intentions to keep GREENLEAF purely for pleasure, the undiluted joy of creating catchy songs led to everyone demanding for that material to be recorded. This eventually resulted in the release of a self-titled debut EP in 2000, which was quickly followed by first full-length "Revolution Rock" only a year later.

With guitarist and founder Tommi Holappa firmly at the helm, the sound of GREENLEAF remained remarkably consistent throughout the years and releases that followed, even through a variety of personnel changes.

Inspired by growing popularity and the success of "Secret Alphabets" (2003) and "Agents of Ahriman" (2007), they began to shift gears in 2010, moving from "the side project that refused to die" toward something closer to a band with the release of fourth album, 2012's "Nest of Vipers".

Having turned from an on and off fling to a full-time love affair, the years of rotating line-ups ended and GREENLEAF's newfound focus and stability was crowned by their fifth album "Trails & Passes" (2014), which featured new permanent vocalist Arvid Hällagård. This milestone also marked the beginning of a new phase of the band.

Their next two full-lengths, 2016's "Rise Above the Meadow" and 2018's "Hear the Rivers", won the band prime performing slots on European festival stages, while "Echoes from a Mass" (2021) reached the global streaming and European album charts – reflecting the quartet's ever-growing popularity.

Weaving together psychedelia, hard rock, and metallic blues in a warm, serpentine mélange that leaves behind none of the punishing immediacy of their earlier recordings, today's GREENLEAF merge road-tested tightness, swirling guitar-driven soundscapes, and captivating blues-laden vocals into one of the most reliably mesmerizing acts pushing the sonic horizons of desert rock to new frontiers.

With "The Head & The Habit", GREENLEAF combine an awareness of past triumphs with mature craftsmanship, showcasing their confidence in how to rock stronger, harder, and more to the point than ever before. The Swedes melt thunderous riff-magic, enrapturing and soul-heavy vocals, frenetic rhythms and driving attacks into a ear-catching, sparkling alloy of hard rocking anthems!

Line-up

Arvid Hällagård – vocals
Tommi Holappa – guitars
Sebastian Olsson – drums
Hans Fröhlich – bass

Links

www.facebook.com/greenleafrocks
www.instagram.com/greenleafband

Genghis Tron - Signal Fire (Album Review)

 

Release Date: June 12th 2026. Record Label: Relapse Records. Formats: CD/DD/Tape/Vinyl

Signal Fire - Tracklisting

1.I Am All 05:53

2.Signal Fire 01:53

3.Future Worship 04:34

4.Like Fotochrom 02:18

5.Tomorrow Mirage 07:08

6.Nothing Blooms in the Hollow 04:31

7.Without Form 02:11

8.Born Prey 04:37

9.A Love So Pure 04:29

10.New Gods 05:42

Members

 

Hamilton Jordan

Michael Sochynsky

Nick Yacyshyn

Tony Wolski

Kenny Szymanski

Review

Grind/Electronic/Mathcore Riffsters Genghis Tron return with their fourth album Signal Fire which blends the brutal sounds of their 2008 landmark album Board Up The House with the Post-Doom/Psych Metal sounds of their 2021 album Dream Weapon. This is the best of both worlds with Genghis Tron creating a brutal onslaught of grindcore beats with mathcore methodology matched against the Post-Doom, Shoegaze and Ambient Metal awareness they crafted on their last album. Everything has a sense of reason and purpose with Genghis Tron not afraid to inject some Doom-Pop awareness into the mix.

There is a sense of Video Game and Movie soundtracks based mechanics being the main sandbox that Genghis Tron builds their music upon. This allows the music to be quite uplifting and brutally violent at the same time with the band exploring harsh themes and realities whilst wrapping this lovingly in a mixture of Industrial Metal, Cybergrind and Psychedelic sounds that has served the band well over the last twenty years. There are echoes of Dead Mountain Mouth appearing on the most striking Post-Metal sounding elements on the record but Genghis Tron are always thinking outside of the box by always creating music they haven’t really played before. 

Every track contained here all have their own unique identity where you don’t know what to expect with Genghis Tron combining gloomy pop hooks and destructive Cybergrind melodies with the vocals ranging from brutal takedowns, harsh deliveries to shamanic speeches with a shoegaze factor appearing from time to time. This is perfect nihilistic pop music for the Extreme Metal community with the classic dominant Electronic Metal, Trippy Soundbytes, Ambient Beats, Doom Metal and Sludge Metal that allows Genghis Tron to be masters of their own musical craft.

The extra NEW WAVE dimension is another highlight that allows the band to branch out into other areas of music they’ve never played before which adds a sense of brutal realism to dictate the whole creative direction of the album. The forty three minutes runtime just flies by where the record feels outrageously longer but I mean that as a real compliment. I never wanted this album to end as this is jaw-dropping stuff from start to finish.

I’m sorry I haven’t done a song-by-song review but I’ve tried to do that but I’m always judging this album as one epic musical piece broken down by individual chapters but if I most pick some of my standout tracks then I would say these are my favourites: I Am All, Future Worship, Tomorrow Mirage, Burn Prey and New Gods. As these tracks feel like Genghis Tron reinventing themselves but also paying homage to the classic sounds of their own great musical legacy. 

The production values are exquisite which allows the violent grooves to fully standout and cause actual damage to the listener’s hearing at times. Signal Fire proves why Genghis Tron are one of the most inventive bands fully working in the scene today. They’re masters of their own craft and Signal Fire only solidifies that reputation which allows this record to be considered one of the most brilliantly entertaining, sonically violent and standout albums you’ll hear this year.

 

Words by Steve Howe

Links 

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Boarzoy - The Great Fires (Album Review)

Release Date: June 12th 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

The Great Fires - Tracklisting

1.Even in the Rain 05:44

2.A Hundred Pitchers of Honey 03:56

3.Wartime Softshoe 05:02

4.Agency (Is Necessary) 04:19

5.Bib and Bottle 02:45

6.Your New Hands 03:48

7.David 04:35

8.Something Beautiful 01:36

9.The Great Fires 06:12

Members

 

Riley Senne- Bass

Taylor Winterhalder- Drums

Rennie Boyd- Vocals

Jake Sklodowski- Guitars

Review

Groove/Sludge Metallers Boarzoy second album The Great Fire offers more complex and dazzling progressive melodies compared to their excellent debut album. There’s an intense eclectic creative energy to Boarzoy with the band employing different musical styles with influences such as Mastodon, The Mars Volta, The Melvins, Devin Townend, Lamb Of God and Machine Head which you can feel throughout the album.

There’s instances of Grunge, Doom and Stoner Metal based madness lurking in the background with Boarzoy aiming for bigger and better things with this album which they richly deserve.

The Great Fire sees Boarzoy power through a mix of progressive beat-downs and sludgy powerful beats that have a Punk Rock aesthetic with the scattered DIY approach the record ultimately thrives upon. There is a slight outlandish attitude appearing from the band on tracks such as Even In The Rain, A Hundred Pitchers Of Honey, Bib And Bottle, Your New Hands, David and The Great Fires being my favourite tracks on the album. Though, all the tracks have this intense and outrageous manic energy that leaves you fully satisfied. 

Boarzoy are sometimes very hard to describe with their music being quite schizophrenic in nature where they just sound like they have a “FUCK IT” kind of attitude where they play exactly what they want. However, there are massive amounts of great melodic sounds emerging when you least expect it. The jazzy grooves work best when the band play a standard style of Progressive Sludge Metal before Rennie Boyd’s superb vocals just thrust you back into their warped HEAVY METAL world.

The album fully relies on the outlandish sensibilities of Eighties and Nineties Heavy Metal where experimentation was perhaps that little bit different back during those days. However, here's a huge modern day sound that keeps everything grounded despite the crazed music being played throughout. You can even detect a sudden influence of the likes of QUEEN within some of the music and vocals used on the awesome third track Wartime Softshoe. 

The one thing you can call The Great Fires is ORIGINAL. You just don’t come across albums such as this as it feels like an all out assault on your senses. BOARZOY is the real deal if you like your music that is a little bit more AVANT-GARDE with the band always thinking outside the box. This record is an exhilarating mix of different Heavy Metal themes that will leave you completely speechless.

Mind-Blowing. End Of.

 

Words by Steve Howe

Links 

Official | Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

RUFF MAJIK DECLARES WAR ON A.I. WITH NEW ALBUM: “REEFER SADNESS (AND THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MODERN LIVING)”

Johannesburg, South Africa — In an era increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence, algorithmic playlists, and machine-generated slop, South African fuzz-punks Ruff Majik have announced their most ambitious and confrontational project to date.

Their next album will be titled:

REEFER SADNESS (AND THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MODERN LIVING)

And it will not be recorded in a studio.

It will be recorded live, in front of real people, with real mistakes.

Every cheer, every missed note, every burst of chaos and moment of unexpected magic will remain exactly where it belongs: in the music.

Most importantly, every person attending these performances will become part of the record itself. The band will also announce an international ‘support’ counterpart in the coming weeks.

The album will be captured across four performances during July 2026:

• 11 July — That Winter Fest, Sognage (Johannesburg)
• 12 July — Secret Location
• 17 July — That Winter Fest, District (Cape Town)
• 18 July — Aandklas (Stellenbosch)

Every moment exists once and can never be repeated.

Machines can imitate music, sure.

But they cannot create a room full of strangers singing together. They cannot create the feeling of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with a fellow reveller while a song falls apart and somehow becomes better because of it. They cannot be punk.

The band has issued a simple challenge to proponents of AI-generated music (Suno specifically it would seem, if their social media is to be considered):

Can your machine do this?

Can it fill a room?

Can it make people sweat?

Can it make people cry?

Can it make a crowd of strangers feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves?

Ruff Majik is willing to bet it fucking can’t, and awaits Suno’s response on further parameters for the wager.

REEFER SADNESS (AND THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MODERN LIVING) begins recording this July.

Ruff Majik is:

Johni Holiday – Vocals, guitar
Brendon Bez – Guitar
Jimmy Glass – Bass
Steven “Boz” Bosman – Drums

Photo credit Ruben Grobler-Bothma

Links:

Linktree | Bandcamp | Instagram | YouTube | Apple Music | Spotify

Thanks to Good Boy PR for the details.

KALAMATA - ZENOSYNE (Album Review)

Release Date: June 26th 2026. Record Label: Copper Feast Recordings / Made Of Stone Recordings. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

ZENOSYNE  - Tracklisting

1.THERE

2.IS

3.NO

4.COMING 

5.BACK

Members

 

Guitars - Peter Jaun

Bass - Niki Hosseinian-Sereshki

Drums - Olly Opitz

Review

Psychedelic Stoner Rockers KALAMATA return from a lengthy nine year absence to release their long awaited third album ZENOSYNE. I’m a huge fan and admirer of their previous two albums so I was very excited when I received this album to listen to. KALAMATA have redefined their music since their 2017 album with further emphasis on progression which puts their music into the land of Post-Rock and Post-Metal though still keeping their classic Stoner Rock instincts intact.

The album is split into five tracks under the banner of “THERE IS NO COMING BACK” which allows KALAMATA to create a different musical persona for the record. The sound is dense, heavy, thick and superbly melodic which shows the band exploring different musical avenues with some epic SONIC melodies and sludgy distortions coming from the stunning guitar work of Peter Jaun. Sometimes the band feels inspired by the likes of Karma To Burn, Yawning Man, Monkey3 and Earthless whilst for the heavier parts you can hear echoes of Russian Circles and Pelican which adds a whole level of atmospheric dominance.

Everything is wonderfully melodic and gloriously cinematic which allows the music to be described as “FULL BLOWN TECHNICOLOUR” which is down to the great use of Desert Rock, Ambient Rock and Spaced Out environments where it can be grounded and totally outrageous at the same time.

This also feels like KALAMATA’s most personal record to date with an emotionally engaging core developing on the majority of the tracks. My favourite tracks are THERE, NO and BACK which sees KALAMATA in a more reflective mood which not only challenges the listener but also sees the band playing some of the heaviest and most daring music of their career. The band do seem to have taken influence from classic soundtracks and different cultures for the making of this album as it can be quite trippy, surreal and totally left-field for an Instrumental Rock album.

The stunning rhythm section of Niki Hosseinian-Sereshki (Bass) and Olly Opitz (Drums) provide a clinical backdrop of grounded grooves for Peter to work his psychedelic guitars upon. Niki, Olly and Peter are quite forward thinking with how to deliver their music when weaving Post-Rock themes into the wider picture that ZENOSYNE fully represents. 

ZENOSYNE is an instrumental album that has it all which makes this such a brilliantly engaging and warm-hearted record. The journey has the same importance as the destination the record fully takes the listener upon. With a free spirited direction, ZENOSYNE does have some great “JAM” based moments where KALAMATA plays fast and loose with the rules of Instrumental Rock/Metal. 

The album has superbly realised production values which gives this a highly atmospheric and subversive sound especially when the Ambient sound effects linger in the background which leaves you on the edge of your seat thinking where this great album will take you next. 

KALAMATA may have been gone a long time but on the evidence with ZENOSYNE they’ve been sorely missed and will surely be wanting to make up for valuable lost time. They have delivered an outstanding album that will no doubt be considered one of the year’s best instrumental rock albums before the year is out.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Creative Eclipse PR and KALAMATA for the promo.

ZENOSYNE is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Copper Feast Records and Made Of Stone Recordings.

Links 

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram