Pale Wizard Records Announce Signing Of Psych Stoner Rockers MUSHROOM BEARD And Details Of Upcoming Debut Album

We’ve been keeping this one a secret for a while, but we’re delighted to finally announce the debut self titled album from Mushroom Beard! These guys have been great friends and supporters of ours for a long time, so we were naturally inclined to want to help them out with the release of their album. But holy smokes, we were absolutely blown away when we heard it!

If you like psychedelic, progressive, other-wordly concept albums, you’re going to absolutely fall in love with this! The album was mixed and mastered by Josh Gallop (Sergeant Thunderhoof, Phoxjaw, Urzah) and also features a guest vocal from Dan from the Hoof.

Support fantastic, underground British music and check this one out if you get a chance!!

PRE ORDER HERE

Band Bio

Hailing from Stoke-on-Trent, Mushroom Beard are a psychedelic stoner doom trio forging colossal riffs from fuzz, groove, and cosmic haze. Formed by three members of Quiet the Thief, the band marks a deliberate shift into heavier territory—slower, thicker, and unapologetically immersive.

Blending crushing doom with swirling psychedelic textures, Mushroom Beard create a dense sound built on down tuned guitars, thunderous low-end, and hypnotic rhythms. Their music draws listeners into a tripped-out atmosphere where melody and distortion collide.

In 2026, Mushroom Beard bring their fuzz-fuelled ritual to stages including Idlefest (Bradford) and Smoke on Trent VI, while preparing to unleash their self-titled debut album.

Album Overview

Mushroom Beard was born from a desire to explore heavier, slower, and more immersive sounds. The self-titled debut concept album is rooted in colossal riffs, psychedelic atmospheres, and a fascination with mythology, nature, transformation, and escapism.

Across six tracks, the band weave stories of ancient beings, cosmic journeys, woodland spirits, and strange encounters. The album balances crushing heaviness with moments of reflection and wonder, creating a listening experience that feels both primal and otherworldly.

The record also features a special guest appearance from Dan Flitcroft (Sergeant Thunderhoof), whose vocal performance, vocal melody and arrangement on Speech of Leaf and Beard adds another dimension to the album's woodland mysticism.

At its heart, Mushroom Beard is an invitation to get lost in the groove and emerge somewhere unexpected.

Track Listing

March of the Shroom Elephant
Elden Beard
Bringer
Speech of Leaf and Beard
Fungal Haze
Khala-Shai (Instrumental)

Songwriting Credits

All songs written by: Stig Chell, Gareth Harding, Norbert Hussey

SPECIAL GUEST

Dan Flitcroft (Sergeant Thunderhoof) - Guest vocals on: Speech of Leaf and Beard

Personnel

Stig Chell – Guitar, Vocals
Gareth Harding – Bass
Norbert Hussey – Drums

Production Credits

Recorded by: Paladin Studio’s, Stig Chell
Label: Pale Wizard
Mixed by: Josh Gallop (Pale Wizard)
Mastered by: Josh Gallop (Pale Wizard)
Album Artwork: Vic Silverchild
Video: March of the Shroom Elephant courtesy of Very Metal Art

Social Media & Contact

Facebook: Facebook
Instagram: Instagram
Bandcamp: Music | Mushroom Beard
Spotify: Spotify
Website: mushroombeard.com

Thanks to Pale Wizard Records for the details.

Sundowner - Australian Sludge-Metal Outfit Announce New Album Cesspool Release "Intoxication Blues" Visualizer Video

Adelaide sludge merchants Sundowner are back, and things haven’t gotten any prettier.

Three years after Lysergic Ritual dragged listeners through a feedback-soaked wasteland of nihilism and decay, the Australian quartet have announced their third full-length, Cesspool, due out October 15 via Melbourne’s Disdain Records.

The band are offering the first taste of the album with “Intoxication Blues”, a filthy, swaggering slab of NOLA-inspired sludge accompanied by a brand-new visualizer.

Built around poisoned blues riffs, suffocating grooves, walls of feedback and a thick layer of distortion, “Intoxication Blues” provides an appropriately nasty introduction to an album designed to soundtrack a world going up in flames.

Cesspool sees Sundowner take the caustic, slow-burning sludge that has defined them since their 2021 debut Guns, Knives and Tyre Irons and push it into even more punishing territory across ten new tracks.

The band explain: ‘"Cesspool’ continues on with our brand of sludge, further melding influences from the classic ’90s pioneers of the genre through our own lens out of Adelaide, South Australia.”

For Sundowner, that lineage has always been clear. The poisoned blues of Eyehategod, the ugliness of Iron Monkey and Buzzov-en, and the smoke-filled grooves of Weedeater remain embedded in their DNA. But Cesspool isn’t interested in simply recreating the past. Instead, those influences are fed through Sundowner’s own distinctly Australian strain of hostility.

The album also sees Sundowner reunite with the production team behind Lysergic Ritual. After handling virtually everything themselves during the band’s early years, Sundowner brought Jason Fuller of Goatsound Studios into the fold to mix their second album, with Dav Byrne of Iridium Audio handling mastering.

“We went with the same production team as our last album, but pushed everything further for a more punishing and abrasive sound.” Says the band.

Across its ten tracks, Cesspool doubles down on everything Sundowner do best: filthy blues, crushing grooves, abrasive riffs and pure sludge-soaked hostility. It’s heavier, nastier and more punishing, without straying from the band’s uncompromising roots.

Cesspool will be released October 15, 2026 via Disdain Records, pre-orders for the vinyl release are now available at this location. Digital copies are available here.

Sundowner Links:

https://sundownersludge.bandcamp.com
https://instagram.com/sundownersludge
https://facebook.com/sundownersludge

Disdain Records Links:

https://www.disdain-records.com
https://www.facebook.com/Disdainrecords
https://www.instagram.com/disdainrecords666

Thanks to Viral Propaganda PR for all of the details.

Heavy Psych Metallers EMPATH announces self-titled debut album and releases first single 'Lyca's Lost'

EMPATH - Photo by Martin Goltermann

Listen to EMPATH's debut single 'Lyca's Lost' HERE

The Copenhagen, Denmark based heavy rock band Empath makes their debut with the self-titled album set for a release on November 13th 2026 through Indisciplinarian. Empath finds its creative core in the songwriting duo of vocalist Morten Grønnegaard and guitarist Jacob Krogholt who share a past in the metal band Rising. But with the new constellation completed on the debut album by bass player KB Larsen (Volbeat, Anti Ritual), and drummer Jeppe Munk Aakeson (Knytnæve, Iota), a new unique artistic path has been carved out.

Today, Empath shares the first single of the album with the psychedelic heavy rock anthem ‘Lyca’s Lost’ - a song that touches on the alienation between generations imagined in the sci-fi theme of parallel worlds and different dimensions.

‘Empath’ is produced by KB Larsen and Empath, mastered by Brad Boatright and has artwork from lead singer Morten Grønnegaard. The album will be released on vinyl in two editions with 100 transparent blue copies and 100 black copies as well as all digital formats. All editions and formats can be pre-ordered and pre-saved HERE.

Also, Empath announces their debut show at A Colossal Kind of X-mas at Hotel Cecil in Copenhagen on December 11th alongside a string of prominent heavy Danish artists - tickets can be purchased HERE.

‘Empath’ consists of eight songs of great variety shaping an album that carries itself with focused musical narrative throughout its 38 minutes. Musically, EMPATH has its roots in heavy, progressive and psychedelic rock and metal of the 70’s and 80’s. A contemporary, organic production serves the intricate and melodic song material well and with the addition of synths reminiscent of old sci-fi soundtracks, the band delivers a heavy, rich and atmospheric sound, thus carrying the virtuous torch of their musical heroes into the future.

Thematically ‘Empath’ deals with the nature of man, the consequences of our ambition and dreams, as laid bare in our present capitalistic society with escalating climate change, inequality, isolation and conflict on the horizon. Inspired by sci-fi literature from the last century and experimental poetry works from the romantic era, the lyrics of Morten Grønnegaard dig into various ideas that gripped writers and thinkers such as Arthur C. Clarke, William Blake and Thomas De Quincey. Even though the subjects often dwelled into the fever dreams and far away futures of humankind, they resonate very well with where and what we are as humans today.

EMPATH - Empath - Album artwork by Morten Grønnegaard

Track list:

1. New Dawn
2. Lyca’s Lost
3. Sisters of Sorrow
4. Deceiver
5. Childhood’s End
6. Solace
7. The Tower
8. Only The Dead

Online:

www.facebook.com/empathdk
www.instagram.com/empathdk 

Thanks to INDISCIPLINARIAN for all of the details

Exclusive Album Premiere Of Doom/Psych/Stoner Rockers PARANOID REVERB Stunning New Album RED RIVER BLACK ROOTS

Following the announcement of their signing with Octopus Rising / Argonauta Records and the release of their first new single "Red River", Greek heavy psych / stoner rock outfit Paranoid Reverb will now release their second full length album Red River Black Roots.

The album will be released on September 18, 2026 via Octopus Rising / Argonauta Records on CD and digital. 

Thanks to the cool folks over at Grand Sounds Promotion and Argonauta Records, you can listen to this great album in full with this exclusive premiere.

Following their 2020 debut Billion Drops, Red River Black Roots marks a more deliberate and mature phase for Paranoid Reverb. The album expands their heavy psych / stoner rock foundations through denser rhythmic structures, darker tonal shades and atmospheric layers, while retaining the raw, performance-driven energy of their live sound.

Recorded in April 2025 at Shellac Recording Studios in Thessaloniki and completed the following month at producer Paris Parasidis' studio, the album places dynamics and authenticity at its core. Organic percussion, metallic objects and ambient textures become part of a sound that moves between heavy eruptions and hypnotic passages, creating a distinctly live-oriented feel without sacrificing weight or atmosphere.

Thematically, Red River Black Roots explores pressure, introspection, renewal and the tension between decay and transformation. Its title reflects this journey: the "river" represents a descent into chaos, while the "roots" suggest a return to origin. Together, they form the central metaphor connecting the album's narrative and sonic progression.

With new vocalist Manos Gotsis and a renewed creative direction, Paranoid Reverb enter this new chapter with their most focused and personal work to date.

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

Red River Black Roots will be released on September 18, 2026 via Octopus Rising / Argonauta Records on CD and digital.

For more info:

​https://www.facebook.com/ParanoidReverb​
​https://www.facebook.com/ArgonautaRecords​

Thanks to Grand Sounds Promotion for the details.

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

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Exclusive Album Premiere Of Doom/Stoner Metallers TERRA BLACK Stunning New Album MIRAGE

Following their acclaimed debut and recent signing to Bonebag Records, Gothenburg occult rock collective Terra Black return with their new album, Mirage.

Written and recorded over the course of three years, Mirage is Terra Black's most ambitious and immersive work to date. Travelling from roots buried deep beneath the earth, through the ruins of forgotten civilizations and into the silence of space, the album explores shifting states of existence where reality, memory and illusion become increasingly difficult to separate.

Recorded live by the band in Gothenburg, Mirage captures the raw immediacy of Terra Black's performances. Rather than polishing away imperfections, the band embraced natural room ambience and microphone bleed, allowing the recording to retain an honest, organic character that mirrors the weight and intensity of the music itself.

Drawing from atmospheric doom, occult rock and stoner traditions, Terra Black combines towering riffs with haunting vocals, powerful choral arrangements and primal darkness. Inspired by nature, mythology, ancient beliefs and the mysterious corners of human imagination, the album moves effortlessly between the familiar and the unknowable. Like the illusion from which it takes its name, the album constantly shifts perspective, inviting listeners ever deeper into its enigmatic world.

Since forming in 2020, Terra Black have steadily built a reputation for immersive songwriting and commanding live performances. With Mirage, the band expands both its sonic scope and artistic vision, delivering its most confident and fully realised work to date.

We're truly excited to premiere their outstanding new album in full thanks to the amazing folks over at Sheltered Life PR.

Thanks to Sheltered Life PR for the details.

Mirage is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Bonebag Records.

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Spotify | Instagram | Apple Music

An Interview With Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Metallers TERRA BLACK

Doom/Stoner Metallers TERRA BLACK release their spellbinding new album this Friday and we're excited to host the exclusive album premiere which you can listen to in full from this link.

The record is a great mix of Psych, Doom, Stoner, and Cosmic based sounds that's quite different to their acclaimed debut album All Descend. This record allows TERRA BLACK to move their music into great Spaced Out heights whilst keeping an epic Occult Rock groove that has massive amounts of distorted psychedelic momentum to truly standout from the crowd.

I caught up with the band to discuss the evolution of their music and the making of the new album.

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

We’re great, thank you for having us.

For those not in the know, can you give us a brief history of how the band came together and where you are today?

The band was formed in 2020 by Ezgi, Denice, and Sophie. We released our first single in early 2021, shortly after Isak joined the band. We spent the following years playing live, mostly around our hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden, and later released a second single.

After that, we reached a point where we felt the need to take full control of our music and the way it was recorded. So, instead of handing the process over to someone else, we started setting up microphones, getting our gear together, and figuring it out ourselves. That process eventually became our first full length album, All Descend.

We’ve also had some great gigs along the way, including appearances at metal festivals such as Gefle Metal Festival and House of Metal. It was at House of Metal in Umeå where we met Max Malmer from Bone Bag Records, the record label we’re now signed to.

How would you describe your own sound?

The short version is stoner/doom. However, we find it hard putting our music into one specific label, since what is Terra Black is the mix of crushing, bass-heavy doom riffs with clean, delicate vocals, creating an eerie contrast. The lyrics can move from grotesque and unsettling to poetic and beautiful, and that tension between heaviness, fragility, darkness, and beauty is a big part of what makes it feel like Terra Black.

Your new album is Mirage and we’re premiering (premiere link) it today at Outlaws of the Sun. What can people expect from the album, particularly as it’s quite different from your previous album?

Heaviness without aggression, drone riffs and mystique. But it also depends on the listeners’ state of mind. We think you can expect to be immersed in something quite interesting if you’re open to it and get a different experience depending on the surroundings. Our new album consists of songs that, of course, can be enjoyed separately, but it’s constructed in a way to really draw you in and keep you on a journey throughout the album.

There is a strong sense of atmosphere and a kind of journey running through it too, with heavy cosmic interludes alongside your occult, doom, psych and stoner rock passages. Can you tell us more about the concept behind the album and how that developed?

The concept with something of a timeline or a journey gradually became clear while writing the songs and getting a sense of the overall mood. Compared to our debut album, All Descend, this new one felt a lot darker and less philosophical, rather down to earth and quite visceral.

The Gathering was set to be the opening track pretty much right away, and that’s where the journey starts. It is inspired by the old Norse blót, a ritual offering meant to reach the forces beyond the human world. The serpent connects different realms: life and death, above and below, the known and the unknown. It also reflects the darkness within us: fear, mortality and everything beyond our control. The song is about confronting these things rather than escaping them. The blót becomes a surrender to fate and to the ancient forces beneath existence.

Although it can also be interpreted as something destructive springing into existence, that causes the world to suffer and eventually kills everything that we see as life. But is there something else, outside the limits of physical existence, waiting to be discovered?

While the theme of the album is obviously apocalyptic, not made less clear with tracks like Maze and Ruins, it really is about the personal experience and what it does to the listener. We wanted to make something immersive that awakens something real, whether it’s fear, hope or an existential crisis.

Was this a hard album to write and record for?

We wrote and recorded the songs during a period of about three years, so the album was certainly a slow burner. This approach gave us a lot of time to listen to the mixes, think about the album as a whole and really work together without any pressure or deadline (our Google Drive folder for the album is named “Album 2024”, didn’t really work out too well).

To us, this was probably an essential component in creating something more complex with a thematic thread and not “just” a collection of songs. So, the brief answer would be yes; we would even go so far as to say that the recording style influenced what songs we wrote.

Recording live, in our opinion, gives the songs so much more life, even if it means accepting a few unfixable mishaps. Doing it in such a small space will introduce a lot of microphone bleed and, in our case, some quite nasty boominess. Even so, the tracks came out balanced, we think, but foremost, it has that live feel to it. The vocals were added in post, though. There are a few cases of guitar dubbing, but the production was kept as sparse as possible, not to take anything away from that live session.

What is the creative process within the band? Do you write the music together, or do certain people within the band take the lead?

The way we create music hasn’t changed. We’re a considerate group with different musical backgrounds and sometimes different preferences, but we always tend to find a good middle ground through open discussion. It’s certainly a collective effort and it will continue like that.

We really do like contrasts and, in a way, contradictions. Some lyrics could be seen as almost disgusting (looking at you, Spawn of Lyssa) and others much more poetic and beautiful. We don’t really think about the balance between these elements when writing songs; rather, the riff gets a pass if it “feels Terra Black”, and that’s a bit hard to pinpoint.

Looking at Mirage alongside All Descend, how do you feel your sound has developed, and do you have a sense of where Terra Black might go next?

The sound has gotten a lot darker, heavier and quite a bit more sinister. It does feel like we’ve found our musical space with Mirage, although All Descend was a clear step towards this place. Something so practical as better gear has also made a huge difference. Being able to blast the room with (literally) glass-shattering guitar tones does influence how you perceive the music.

It’s hard to say where we’re heading, but judging by the new songs starting to form, it won’t stray far from what you hear on Mirage. With Terra Black, we hope we’re heading towards a place where music could be an even bigger part of our lives, since that’s what we live for.

Words by Steve Howe and TERRA BLACK

Thanks to Sheltered Life PR for the promo.

Mirage is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Bonebag Records.

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Spotify | Instagram | Apple Music

The Well - ...And Flames Ran Like Living Animals (Album Review)

Release Date: September 14th 2026. Record Label: Spaceflight Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

...And Flames Ran Like Living Animals - Tracklist

1.Season Of The Flame 05:09

2.Love Cult (Xmas) 04:28

3.Between The Bodies 04:51

4.Mother Leeds 06:03

5.New Hallelujah For The Damned 03:54

6.Love Look This Way 04:52

7.Mystery Babylon 04:33

8.Dillinger's Requiem 01:07

9.Other Girls 04:33

Members

Ian Graham – Guitar and Vocals

Lisa Alley – Bass and Vocals

Jason Sullivan – Drums

Review

Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Metallers The Well make a magnificent return with their new album ...And Flames Ran Like Living Animals which is their first record in six years. The band have always been known for their non-linear and cerebral approach to creating music and this record is no different but also perhaps being their most conventional in quite some time. The lyrics and vocals are wickedly subversive, touching upon both social and philosophical themes which gives the whole experience a trippy existence compared to their previous records.

The Well add a Space Rock objective to their music which allows the whole thing to be quite forward thinking but never losing focus of this grounded melodic rhythm the project within the opening stages of the excellent opening track Season Of The Flame. The music is made of different progressive sound structures with areas of Doom, Sludge, Stoner, Psych, Grunge and Alt Metal that is quite familiar but breathtakingly original at times. 

...And Flames Ran Like Living Animals never allows The Well to play it safe with some fuzz drenched guitars allowing Lisa Alley (Bass) and Jason Sullivan (Drums) to provide some deeply rich COSMIC instrumental passages for Ian Graham (Guitar) to provide a level of intense Sludge Rock surroundings.

The Well comment on the true important things going on in the world though also highlighting are too busy consumed with mundane things such as pop culture and social media that’s told within their superbly intelligent lyrics they’ve written for the album. Sometimes the record feels like a damning indictment of humanity in today’s modern age and I wholeheartedly agree with the message being projected here. Though, I could be looking way too much into things and coming up with a completely different message that the record actually holds.

Anyway, back to business. This record sees The Well create a wealth of different Psychedelic melodies and aggressive Sludge/Stoner Metal sounds that have a gloomy Occult and Proto-Metal pretence appearing. It’s quite hard to describe but it’s a method of music The Well have applied into their music on previous records. There’s some great musical influences that can be heard like BORIS, The Melvins and The Smashing Pumpkins but this is still The Well showing what they do so well.

The best parts of the record appear when The Well operate with a less is more approach and straightforward riff based delivery where the music becomes more restrained and fully contained. The mood is quite uplifting in parts before The Well once more explodes into a loud wall of pure Psychedelic noise. Sludgy rhythms dominate the musical landscape with fractured and disjointed Stoner Metal surroundings working superbly well with the great vocals delivered by Ian Graham and Lisa Alley.

Other standout tracks on the album are: Between The Bodies, Love Look This Way, Mystery Babylon and Other Girls. 

The later stages of ...And Flames Ran Like Living Animals sees The Well experimenting with surreal Ambient themes and sludgy Post-Rock soundscapes. There’s also a tough vocal exterior that appears out of nowhere which gives The Well a highly confrontational style which ultimately succeeds on every level that allows the album to end in quite a highly convincing fashion and leave you begging for more great music when everything is said and done.

...And Flames Ran Like Living Animals is a record that demands multiple listens to understand the whole message The Well have created with this album. The production values are off the scale with this being the best record The Well have produced to date. It can be quite challenging to listen to at times but the sheer volume of amazing grooves throughout make the whole journey worthwhile.

This is an incredible record and no doubt that will be lauded as one of the most essential records to own this year alone.

Words by Steve Howe

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram