Matt C. White - The Flood (Album Review)

Release Date: September 18th 2026. Record Label: White Locust Records. Rising. Format: DD

The Flood - Tracklist

Three Hunters

Evil Wheel

Away

The Flood

Cold Water

Ursa

Evil Wheel (Instrumental)

Cold Water (Instrumental)

Ursa (Instrumental)

Members

Matt C. White - Everything

Review

Multi Instrumentalist Matt C. White returns with their latest offering The Flood which is another moody offering into the world of Classic Rock and Psych Rock sensibilities. The record follows a similar structure to the 2025 album A Cosmic Year with subtle flashes of Psych, Stoner Rock, Space Rock and KrautRock that allows Matt to embrace his love affair with the different levels of Hard Rock. 

There’s some hazy Blues Rock creative energy that’s heard throughout the album with Matt showing some musical influences by the likes of The Black Keys, Hawkwind, The Sword and Brant Bjork. The Proto-Metal and Classic Hard Rock delivery works exceptionally well from the start of the superb opening tracks of Three Hunters, Evil Wheel and Away. There’s a gloomy Garage Rock presence which moves into a slightly distorted Space Rock backdrop with small instances of Gloom & Doom holding everything back.

The music is quite warped but with a great style of melodic rock forming within the freakish Progressive beats that align the musical landscape. Matt’s vocals have an outsider delivery to them with his vocal range bringing Seventies Hard Rock themes to a more modern day setting. The instrumental sounds are constantly evolving into a heavier style of Cosmic Doom and Stoner Rock landscape. 

This feels like THE SWORD (early era) jamming with MC5 and The Black Keys where there are riffs galore waiting to be found within the standout tracks of Away, Cold Water and Ursa. The Flood works best when Matt explores the Cosmic and Psychedelic themes of his music which transforms into some vibrant musical passages that superbly nail on the Post-Stoner and Post-Rock quality of the whole record. 

The Space Rock delivery is almost hopeful, content and brilliantly realistic when it goes for a more "exploratory" approach. The whole thing becomes laid back where Matt allows his SONIC EXPERIMENTATION skills do the heavy lifting especially within The Flood and Cold Water.

This is quite a short album lasting around twenty seven minutes of new material as the final three tracks are instrumental versions of Evil Wheel, Cold Water and Ursa. These are actually great versions to include as you begin to forge a more emotional connection to these tracks especially if you’re a fan of Instrumental Rock music. 

The Flood is mostly fuelled by Classic Rock structures with some slight detours into modern soundscapes which allows Matt C. White to deliver a worthy and outstanding follow up record to his acclaimed 2025 album A Cosmic Year. This record may not be as heavy as that album but it’s perhaps more vivid and dare I say more emotionally charged and superbly original. 

Matt C. White has taken his music into greater musical heights and has released a highly mature offering that gets the job done.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

 

Words by Steve Howe

The Flood is available to buy now on Digital Download via White Locust Records.

Links

www.mattcwhite.com
www.Instagram.com/Matt_C_White

https://open.spotify.com/artist/mattcwhite

https://mattcwhite.bandcamp.com/

Shovelhead - A Place Of Dead Roads (Album Review)

Release Date: September 12th 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Rising. Format: CD/DD

A Place Of Dead Roads - Tracklist

01. Witching Hour

02. Tempest

03. Dominion/Big Tex

04. Ghost in the Garden

05. Middle Man

06. White Stag Ghost

07. Bombers

Members

Jim LaPointe - Vocals, Guitar

Mike Scott - Drums

George Pierro - Bass

Review

Shovelhead may not be a name you’re familiar with but to a small and loyal dedicated following within the Stoner Rock/Metal underground community, these guys are almost legendary  especially around their hometown of New Jersey. This area is home to the likes of Stoner Rock/Metal legends Monster Magnet. SOLACE and The Atomic Bitchwax. Whilst Shovelhead didn’t reach the same towering heights of those legendary bands, their impact is just as meaningful.

The guys have returned with their first album “A Place Of Dead Roads” in nineteen years. I was a huge fan of their 2007 record The Crown & The Knife. The band helped form the style of Rock & Roll driven based Stoner Metal that’s so popular today and I’m pleased to say that almost two decades on that Shovelhead’s latest album makes them feel as important and vital as ever.

The record is powered by a classic style of “TURBO CHARGED” grooves with some great Garage Rock melodies with a burgeoning seedy Psychedelic attitude. Shovelhead don’t apply modern studio and recording techniques into their music. This is good old fashioned Stoner Rock/Metal music how it’s meant to sound and and superbly played. The end result is raw, uncompromising, gritty and highly unpredictable that allows Shovelhead to play with a fearless attitude which is applied throughout the whole album.

There are some moments of Grunge and Progressive momentums contained within the lengthier tracks of the album (Tempest, Dominion/Big Tex, Middle Man and White Stag Ghost) but there’s a multitude of different styles of Heavy Rock that’s being applied by Shovelhead that makes you just appreciate the fact how these guys are still around after thirty years making great music.

There’s a WILD MAN OF ROCK swagger that’s applied by Shovelhead to the fastest and heaviest parts of the record. There’s an out of control “JAM BASED” quality that you can hear within the fuzziest and sleaziest sounds of the album. The vocals by Jim LaPointe appear only when they’re fully needed which gives real weight to the whole record.

Only Jim LaPointe and Mike Scott remain from the original lineup with George Pierro replacing original bassist Sha Zaidi. George Pierro brings his own heavy bass sound to the part which is quite different to Sha Zaidi’s but still fully fantastic and fully becoming part of the Shovelhead creative framework.

A Place Of Dead Roads is quite a loose record and opts for a riff-centric / jam based delivery which has always been a staple of Shovelhead ever since their formative years. However, everything works as it should with the band delivering an intense musical performance that upcoming Stoner Rock bands should study and appreciate having great bands such as Shovelhead on how to create, write and perform a classic sounding Stoner Rock track.

As I stated previously, the production values are very raw and highly unapologetic but it’s one of the main strengths that allows A Place Of Dead Roads to fully stand out from the crowd. Shovelhead have released a first rate “COMEBACK” record that I’m hoping gives the band further appreciation from the whole Stoner Rock/Metal community. As this is as good as it gets.

If you miss the early days of MONSTER MAGNET when they had intense New Jersey destructive sound running through their veins that they may have lost over the years then you really need to check out SHOVELHEAD right now. As these guys are seriously becoming better musicians and more an essential band in their later years.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Mettle Media PR for the details.

Links

https://shovelheadnj.bandcamp.com/
https://linktr.ee/ShovelheadNJ
https://www.youtube.com/@theoriginalShovelhead
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2pIndavttdvGqKlHdVQp3L
https://intothevoidmerchco.com/collections/shovelhead
https://www.facebook.com/people/Shovelhead/100061003818946/
https://www.instagram.com/shovelheadnj

FU MANCHU to headline SOL SONIC RIDE Wiesbaden 2027 celebrating 30 years of their cult-LP "THE ACTION IS GO"!

SOL SONIC RIDE returns to Schlachthof Wiesbaden with a thunderous third edition on Saturday, June 26th 2027! The first half of the lineup has just been released, lead by the Californian desert rock gods FU MANCHU celebrating the 30 years of their legendary record THE ACTION IS GO with a special set dedicated to the LP, playing most of the record plus a selection of their heaviest evergreens!

This is pure gold already, but there’s more to lose your head about waiting till next June with the German stoner masters ROTOR, who are known for blasting the tightest sets in the scene, the heavy hitters KRAKE from Berlin, the all-female heavy psychedelic four-piece LURCH from Austria, the grungey psych-rockers YEAST MACHINE from Tübingen as well as LEBENSHILFE (ex Noisy Valet) from Aschaffenburg with their dull-psychedelic comedown rock and many more to follow!

With the blind bird tickets already sold-out, you still have the chance to safe some in the early bird phase for a limited time – so get your tickets early and witness this heavily-stacked lineup and FU MANCHU’s trip back to the 90s, celebrating their cult LP. More bands and great other news follow in the upcoming weeks!

See you in Wiesbaden on June 26th at Schlachthof!

Your Sound of Liberation Crew

TICKETS & INFO



MORE INFORMATION ON OUR 2027 LINEUP:

FU MANCHU

The California desert rock legends FU MANCHU have been scene favorites for decades, blending desert rock, stoner, hardcore as well as punk influences into their absolutely heavy and unmistakable sound, feeding the soundtrack of the west coast skateboarding scene. At SOL SONIC RIDE Wiesbaden they’re play a special set celebrating the 30th anniversary of their legendary album THE ACTION IS GO dedicated to the record alongside a selection of their heaviest bangers!

ROTOR

The German stoner masters from Berlin are known for their heavy mix of stoner, psychedelic, and progressive rock. Since forming in the late 1990s, they’ve built a reputation for powerful, groove-driven instrumentals and intense live performances, always in line of casually and unpretentiously blasting the tightest set on any lineup.

KRAKE

The heavy hitters from Berlin push a deep growl of distortion through the crowd that shackles you up tightly like a six-armed kraken, yet, somehow you want more and more of it!

LURCH

It hums, steams and howls through your ear canals when Lurch are on stage. They make psych for metal fans, funky garage punk with a doom flavor, a bit heavy, a bit cheeky and always a bit in your face. They have fun and so will you!

YEAST MACHINE

Dirty, gritty stoner grunge with beats that get under your skin and hooks that stick in your head.

LEBENSHILFE

Dull-psychedelic comedown rock with droning grooves and walls of abrasive guitars with familiar faces from the Aschaffenburg underground (Electric Jugs, Dead Taste, Shocktroopers). They’ve been formerly known as NOISY VALET.

More Bands and great additonal news are coming in the next weeks!

The Blind-Bird Tickets are already sold-out, so hurry up and safe some on the limited Early-Birds – as long as they last!

TICKETS & INFO

Thanks to Sound Of Liberation for the details.

Paranoid Reverb - Red River Black Roots (Album Review)

Release Date: September 18th 2026. Record Label: Octopus Rising. Format: CD/DD

Red River Black Roots - Tracklist

Acantha – 06:19

0315 – 04:30

Da Capo – 06:07

F.U. – 05:01

Red River – 04:51

Come Undone – 06:19

QuickSand – 07:15

Review

Psych Stoner Rockers Paranoid Reverb return in stunning fashion with their second album Red River Black Roots which builds upon the highly atmospheric grooves created on their acclaimed 2020 debut album. The record has a grittier and spaced out attitude with a massive wall of sound developing very early on within the album. Paranoid Reverb have a similar cosmic style of music next to the likes of ELDER, Weedpecker, King Buffalo and Howling Giant. Though, you hear classic Stoner Rock/Metal sounds influenced by the likes of KYUSS, Truckfighters and FU MANCHU.

There’s many different levels of Heavy Rock appearing with some cool switches to Doom and Sludge melodies. The whole thing has a gloomy progressive power that allows Paranoid Reverb venture into that classic Heavy Metal realm with some mighty guitar shredding appearing out of nowhere.

Perhaps it’s not as grounded as their debut album but there is a thrilling sense of musical adventure bursting out of the seams on tracks such as: Ancatha, 0315 and Da Capo which combines moody atmospherics with aggressive psychedelic landscapes. The vocals move from areas of Alt Rock, Grunge and Stoner Rock themes with a delicate Blues Rock touch that appear in the quieter and most emotionally charged parts of the album.

Paranoid Reverb even manage to find the time to perform a subtle moody Blues Rock environment where everything played a delicate slow-to-mid pace but they sprinkle some distorted Psychedelic Doom measures within the ice-cold atmosphere. The band really start to impress more when they start thinking outside the Heavy Psychedelic sandbox and deliver some gritty soundscapes within the second half of the album.

Everything becomes quite gloomy when a theatrical Post-Rock and Ambient soundscape appears in the background with Paranoid Reverb offering a more refined style of music.

Red River Black Roots fully becomes a more dangerous and aggressive record to listen to when Paranoid Reverb fully embrace that Sludge Rock vibe within their music that dominates the second half of the album on tracks such as F.U., Come Undone and Quicksand. The great mix of raw sounding Stoner Rock passages melts away at the Psychedelic landscape with a stripped back swagger that forms a heavy Cosmic Doom delivery. 

The lyrics aren’t as outlandish as you expect with Paranoid Reverb keeping everything real and never overthinking things. This allows the album to move along at a great pace with the whole album never overstaying itss welcome. Some parts can be brash with the raw-sounding production values but this is one of the albums main strengths with the record having a true honest feel to it all.

Red River Black Roots is an expertly produced record with Paranoid Reverb firing on all cylinders and delivering a superbly entertaining album from start to finish.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Grand Sounds Promotion for the promo.

Red River Black Roots is available to buy now on CD/Digital Download via Octopus Rising (Argonauta Records).

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Doom/Sludge Heavyweights Sea Bastard Prepare To Release Cyclopean on Road To Masochist. Release New Song/Video For PROPHET FOR THE PEOPLE

Formed in 2011 by four musicians with a wealth of previous experience on the scene, Sea Bastard made rapid early progress. Their self-titled debut album appeared in 2012 and the follow up, Scabrous, was hot on its heels in 2013. The sheer weight and baleful intent of their malicious blend of suppurating sludge and decimating doom also saw them invited to tour with the likes of Witchsorrow and Primitive Man, as well as being selected to appear at high profile festivals like Desertfest, Damnation and Temples. 

However, after split releases with Keeper (2015) and Primitive Man (2016), Sea Bastard retreated into hibernation while the band members focussed on other projects dear to their decaying hearts. It took the request of a friend, diagnosed with a terminal illness, to reunite them in 2021 – something no one could refuse – and make them set sail on their polluted, poisoned waters once more. And now, after five long years, they are ready to invite us on another journey into their kingdom of torpid madness, with their third harrowing album…Cyclopean.

Nerve-shredding howls of feedback usher us into the subterranean rumble of Cyclopean’s first track, ‘Dark Altar’. You are carried onwards upon a thick, primal ocean of cloying darkness, the relentless earthshaking bass and gnarled, grizzled guitars bleeding your life from you like overzealous medieval physicians. Your desire to move, to think or even breath are all lost in the soporific, congealing tides. But Sea Bastard’s vast, sprawling tracks all cover a multitude of territories in their wanderings and an eruption of rage and spiralling chaos awaits, a razor’s edge of fear slicing into the dreamless slumber. 

Then, emerging from the residue of shadows, comes ’Entombed With The Pharaoh’, full of cavernous, malignant menace; the bass weaving threads of exotic atmosphere between the head-caving riffs and lich-like vocals. Nightmares lurk in this cunningly constructed maze-like mausoleum, even as it settles into a dark, rotten and mesmeric groove…and escape from the pyramid leads only to the arms of the ‘Prophet Of The People’, a song with an imperious swagger and untouchable, unquestionable power. It slides into a morass of wickedness, irresistible and heavier than God, dragging you down beneath the surface, where, far from the light a new sonic realm unfurls – bleak, broken and bereft of hope. 

Finally, crawling from an unnerving sense of emptiness, the formless beast of aggression and terror that is ‘Nameless Purgatory’…a last chapter that offers no return to the light, no respite from agony and confusion. Ungraspable, unknowable it stretches out before you like the plains of Hell and drags you, doomed and damned, past the limits of your endurance. Sea Bastard did not return to play around. This is doom and sludge operating in the farthest badlands of the genres and will leave you hollowed out and shellshocked.

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Paul 'Win' Winstanley (Code, Grave Lines, King Leviathan etc), every note of Cyclopean is imbued with an impossible, unbearable weight; while the artwork of guitarist Oliver 'Irongiant ' Hill channels all the madness and soul crushing desolation that informs this torturous work. Set to be released by Road To Masochist on October 30th, on Double Black 12" vinyl and CD, Cyclopean is the heaviest album you will hear this year, in many different ways. There is no coming back from this.

Line-up:

Steve Patton – Bass
Ian 'Monty' Montgomery - Vocals
Oliver 'Irongiant ' Hill – Guitars
George Leaver – Drums

Genre: Doom/Sludge Metal

For fans of: Primitive Man | Dead Existence | Dragged Into Sunlight | Rwake

Further Information:

https://www.facebook.com/seabastarddoom
https://www.instagram.com/seabastarddoom/
https://www.youtube.com/seabastarddoom
https://seabastard.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5bKWZ1zPK1bXb7j64jN02w

Thanks to Imperative PR for the details.

Apodemus - Radar (Album Review)

Release Date: September 04th 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Format: DD

Radar - Tracklist

1.Ohm 00:44

2.Dynamic 07:19

3.Radar 10:50

4.Station 06:47

5.Wave / Valve 13:01

Review

Radar is the latest album from Heavy Psych Stoner Rockers Apodemus who have established themselves a loyal cult following within the underground scene due to the great records they’ve released over the years. Their music is a heavy mix of extended instrumental jams and superb freak outs that’s laced with some standout DOOM ROCK movements. The record is quite a fast-paced affair with Apodemus exploring a more adventurous and progressive style of Heavy Psychedelic music. 

Taking cues from the likes of Earthless, Yawning Man and Karma To Burn but with a glorious “HIP” rhythm from their own making. The drums are quite hard-hitting with the rest of the band shaping up the musical landscape. There’s a great use of Post-Rock dynamics with a subtle change in mood and melodies within the quieter and refined parts of the album. However, a heavy instrumental melody is never too far behind especially on the lengthier tracks of Dynamic, Radar and Wave / Valve. 

Apodemus adds themes of Doom Metal and Stoner Metal throughout the album which brings a fresh Space Rock perspective on the majority of the tracks. The scope of the record is quite straightforward but one that offers many different heavy levels of Instrumental Rock/Metal for listeners to immerse themselves in. 

Radar is quite an aggressive record with flashes of uplifting Ambient sounds hidden behind the thundering guitars and thumping rhythm section that appears quite dominantly on the standout tracks of Radar and Wave / Valve. The whole record is a beautifully orchestrated journey of highly exquisite musical passages that move across the Spaced Out spectrum of Heavy Psychedelic music.

There is some gloomy optimism and ambient methodology exploring into areas of deep sonic experimentation that can be quite meditative but Apodemus do keep close to the rules of classic Instrumental Stoner Rock/Metal that KARMA TO BURN mastered back in the day. 

Apodemus have delivered the goods with this album and it’s one that I can’t recommend highly enough. Check this out at your earliest opportunity!!!

 

Words by Steve Howe

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Megaton Communion - Three Of Cups (Album Review)

Release Date: September 11th 2026. Record Label: Black Doomba Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Three Of Cups - Tracklist

1.Evil Speak 03:43 video
2.Echoes in Time 04:52
3.Desert Centipede
4.Three of Cups
5.Depth
6.Embrace
7.The Hollow
8.Goddess
9.River Valley Queen

Members

Derrick – Guitar

Joe – Bass/Vocals

Ken Gosselin – Drums

Review

Desert Rock/Stoner Metallers Megaton Communion return with their second album Three Of Cups which allows the band to add a seedier and grungier style of music. The sound is still very distorted with a classic Nineties Hard Rock attitude that emerges very early on within the sublime opening track of Evil Speak. There is a great style of different influences appearing where you can hear musical vibes from the likes of Soundgarden, KYUSS, FU MANCHU and The Melvins. 

The whole sound has an aggressive layer of Fuzz Metal with some buoyant QOTSA and Truckfighters based Desert Rock swagger. Megaton Communion are in complete control creating their own great blend of gloomy sounds that become quite DOOM based with each passing song being played such as: Echoes Of Time and Desert Centipede. The band excel playing fast-paced music to the more doom rock orientated slow paced numbers which shows a wide range of different styles to appear.

Three Of Cups may be dominantly melodic but Megaton Communion allow themselves the time and freedom to go in a different musical direction where the sludgy instrumental sounds become more abrasive and refreshingly honest. The “DOOM & GLOOM” themes contained within the lyrics has a certain apocalyptical momentum especially towards the second half of the album.

Megaton Communion even added some TOOL-esque beatdowns and musical progressive beats to make this quite a mind expanding record still keeping with the grounded attitude that’s always been a great aspect of the band’s music. Perhaps not as riff heavy as their debut album but there’s more variety of great music that allows each band member to show their great musical skills from start to finish.

The stripped back production of the album is refreshingly clean and superbly real which allows  Megaton Communion to add real human emotion into their music and nothing is over played with Three Of Cups being superbly original in its own right.

Other standout tracks to check out are: Depth, Embrace, Goddess and the mighty final track River Valley Queen.

My final thoughts is that Megaton Communion have delivered a superbly addictive album that pays homage to the classic Nineties Hard Scene but adding a gritty modern day flavour into the mix that is the complete package if you’re a dedicated follower of THE MIGHTY RIFF!!!

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Metal Devastation PR for the promo.

Three Of Cups is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Black Doomba Records.

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram