Wasteland Haze - Tales From The Wasteland Chapter I: Lonestar (Album Review)

Release Date: April 17th 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD.

Tales From The Wasteland Chapter I - Lonestar - Tracklisting

Sunburn

Better To Fall Among Crows

Reincarnation

Pathfinder (The Great Hunt)

Handful Of Dust

Wstlnd Messiah

Members

Björn, Hendrik & Christian

Review

Tales From The Wasteland Chapter I: Lonestar is the latest release from Instrumental Desert Rock/Stoner Metallers Wasteland Haze who bring a scorched earth and highly apocalyptic feel to this record. The sound is quite vast with distorted elements of Doom, Sludge, Fuzz and Psych soundscapes which is moulded by a highly committed DRONED out attitude throughout the whole album. The band are fully committed to selling their progressive and highly outlandish vision which results in some truly tremendous instrumental Desert Rock/Stoner Metal passages that’s inspired by the likes of Karma To Burn, Earthless, KYUSS, FU MANCHU, Yawning Man and Monkey3. 

Wasteland Haze like to experiment with sonic tapestries and spaced out feedback loops where they even add areas of end of the world soundbytes into the mix. There’s a rough exterior bursting out from the seams especially within the production values as the whole album has a rough sound from start to finish which only sells to the whole creative illusion that Wasteland Haze brings into their dark world. There’s plenty of melodic and musical changes that’s laid down within the excellent two opening tracks of Sunburn and Better To Fall Among Crows. 

Wasteland Haze gets straight down to business in laying down the creative groundwork to build their slightly violent message of destruction upon. The music is quite fractured and broken up into individual pieces with an extraordinary “JAM BASED” sound merging with progressive landscapes and sinister Droned musical energy. Everything can be quite confusing at times with the band moving into different areas of music you don’t quite expect especially on the later stages of Better To Fall Among Crows with that warped message being played through the stunning tracks of Reincarnation, Pathfinder and Handful Of Dust. 

Tales From The Wasteland Chapter I: Lonestar fully goes into “SCORCHED DESERT” overdrive from the third track onwards with Wasteland Haze wisely acknowledging the listener will fully understand and be totally on board with their twisted musical experience. Long drawn out notes become commonplace and fractured pieces of Sludge Rock start to fully take control. The rhythm section of Wasteland Haze has a brutal determination especially with the powerful bass playing that feels like it’s punching holes in the actual planet or opening doorways into the astral realm. 

This album is a refreshing change of pace with Wasteland Haze taking many bold creative decisions along the way and this makes this record quite a highly original record with a unique voice of its own. There may be a lot of rough instrumental phases to go through but with the high volume of outstanding grooves, riffs and extended passages the band fully commit themselves to make this a truly superb record within its own right. The whole thing can be downright original especially within the later stages of the record where a destructive style of Post-Stoner, Post-Rock and Blues Rock themes appear.

Tales From The Wasteland Chapter I: Lonestar is a must have record. Add this one to your collection as soon as you can. You won’t be sorry!!!

Words by Steve Howe

Links 

LinkTree | Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

LungBurner - Dogma (Album Review)

Release Date: April 17th 2026. Record Label: Terminus Hate City. Formats: DD/Vinyl.

Dogma - Tracklisting

 Adamu - 5:02

 Rapture - 4:14

 The Sin of Defiance - 4:40

 (Bhajan) The Fall - 6:44

 Apostasy - 4:42

 Misery  - 6:31

 Pistus Sophia - 9.01

Members

Jens Anderberg — Guitar, Lead Vocals

Joseph Mills — Guitar, Backing Vocals

Joshua Broughton — Bass

Review

Doom/Stoner Metallers LungBurner make a welcome return after a two and half year absence with their latest album Dogma. With the record named after Dogma, you can expect an album that isn’t afraid to touch upon the psychological and spiritual themes of the worldwide belief systems. Some may say that’s a controversial subject to touch upon but that makes this record such a daring and bold experience with LungBurner adding a touch of Atmospheric Sludge Metal heaviness to the record. With the band drawing upon the likes of NEUROSIS, MASTODON, YOB and ISIS to build their conceptual ideas upon.

There’s quite a deft flow of different HEAVY METAL sounds emerging from the darkness such as Prog Metal, Thrash Metal and Southern Metal with LungBurner being quite hard to define at the best of times. The vocals are mostly told through the “HARSH GROWLS” structure though they’re quite easy to understand which allows the listener to either agree or disagree with the hard-hitting lyrics for the whole album.

LungBurner perfectly captures that classic style Nineties and Noughties Sludge/Stoner Metal melodies where everything really did feel quite fresh and brutally exciting back in the day. LungBurner still offer their own great style of musical progression with areas of Post-Rock, Ambient Metal and Distorted Amplified movements which leads the listener into some incredible “uplifting” instrumental solos that float between Post-Metal and Post-Doom surroundings. 

This is quite a different sounding LungBurner compared to their previous two albums with Jens Anderberg (Guitar / Lead Vocals) being the only original member left. He’s joined on his “fruitful” sonic journey by Joshua Broughton on Bass and Joseph Mills on Guitars & Vocals. Though, the old magic is still there with a more refined and grounded SONIC TAPESTRY being woven into LungBurner’s DNA on outstanding tracks such as: Adamu, Rapture and Bhajan (The Fall) from the first half of the album. There’s a wealth of different sounding Sludge Metal and Psychedelic Rock soundscapes with LungBurner even adapting a brooding style of Middle Eastern vibes along the way. 

Dogma does become more slow paced and spaced out within the second half of the album as LungBurner further explores the more thematic constructs of multiple belief systems. The whole sound does become slightly more vicious and brutal from the final stages of (Bhajan) The Fall which slowly manifests all the way through Apostasy, Misery and the stunning final epic track Pistus Sophia. The music has a more deeper and emotionally charged impact within the second half of the album with LungBurner venturing into heavier and extreme waters compared to the first half of Dogma.

Just be prepared for a journey of pure SONIC excess with that grounded Sludge, Thrash, Post-Metal and Doomed Out approach holding everything together. Dogma is a record that pulls no punches with its undeniably brutal vision. LungBurner may have left the “Stoner Metal” void completely with Dogma which is most definitely a great thing for the band. As they can explore darker themes and create more violent rhythms, soundscapes and grooves with their music.

This album may perhaps be the actual making of LungBurner where they can move forward and really build a name for themselves within the modern Doom/Sludge/Post-Metal scene. 

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to C Squared Music for the promo.

Dogma is available to buy now on DD/Vinyl via Terminus Hate City.

Links:

Bandcamp: https://lungburner.bandcamp.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lungburneratl
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lungburneratl
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@lungburneratl
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0WRBgLDbYMfLSrbb3tjNzK
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/lungburner/1724598173

German Progressive Stoner Metal unit PLAINDRIFTER returns with sophomore album "Gestalt" on Ripple Music this June 19th; first single streaming now!

German progressive stoner metallers PLAINDRIFTER sign to Ripple Music for the release of their sophomore album "Gestalt" this June 19th, and reveal a towering first track with "Moth Murmuration" today!

 Watch new lyric video for Moth Murmuration + listen to the single on all streaming services

With their 2021 debut Echo Therapy hailed as "a mind-blowing journey" by the Doom Charts and "music for the mind, body and soul" by UK website Outlaws of the Sun, it is clear that Plaindrifter have impressed critics and fans alike, as few newcomers do.

Now, the quartet returns with their forthcoming sophomore album and Ripple Music debut; Gestalt. Pushed by a deep sense of self-criticism and a fear of repeating themselves, Plaindrifter have expanded their signature blend of tempo and key changes with bold new elements, including keyboards by Philipp Seitzer and guest vocals from Ryan Garney (High Desert Queen) and Lena Schneider. The result is an immersive, forward-looking heavy journey born from patience, passion, that should caught the ear of fans of Elder, King Buffalo, Howling Giant and Lowrider. The album was produced, engineered and mixed by Robin Stirnberg, mastered by Dennis Köhne, with a stunning cover artwork by André Tinibel.

PLAINDRIFTER "Gestalt" - Out June 19th on Ripple Music (LP/CD/digital) - Pre-order

TRACKLIST:

1. Moth Murmuration
2. Eternal Season
3. Hyborian Age
4. Respite
5. In Anima
6. Debaser

Hailing from Germany's industrial heartland, the Ruhr Area, Plaindrifter formed in 2017 to forge a brand of heavy psych that refuses to stand still. Blending hypnotic riffs, expansive soundscapes, and the restless spirit of stoner, prog, and post-rock, their 2021 debut Echo Therapy carved out a name in the European underground, winning over listeners with raw heaviness and unexpected melodic depth.

The band entered the studio in June 2025 with engineer Robin Stirnberg, but an unexpected setback forced them to relocate mid-session. Undeterred, Plaindrifter finished recording Gestalt in their rehearsal space. That resilience paid off quickly: through their friends in High Desert Queen (whose frontman Ryan Garney lends guest vocals to the track "In Anima"), the album's master found its way to Ripple Music's Todd Severin, who took the leap and instantly welcomed the band to the label's roster. Now looking ahead with optimism, the band invites listeners old and new to dive into their anticipated new album Gestalt, to be released in the summer of 2026.

Plaindrifter is

Marcel "Uwe" Kloß — Vocals and Drums
Nils Stecker — Guitar
André Tinibel — Bass

Plaindrifter links

Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram

Ripple Music links

Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram

Thanks to Purple Sage PR for the details.

Abrams - LOON (Album Review)

Release Date: April 17th 2026. Record Label: Blues Funeral Recordings. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

LOON - Tracklisting

1.Glass House 

2.White Walls 

3.Last Nail 

4.Said & Done

5.Waves

6.How Did I Lose My Mind?

7.A State of Mind

8.Home

9.Remains

10.Sirens

Members

Zachary Amster – guitar, vocals

Taylor Iversen – bass, vocals

Ryan DeWitt - drums

Graham Zander - guitar

Review

Sludge/Stoner Metallers Abrams take a step back from the Ambient and Psychedelic delivery they have forged with their last two albums where they start forging closer ties once again to the Post-Hardcore and Noise Rock movement they experimented with earlier in their musical career. The end result is their highly satisfactory latest record LOON which brings a turbo-charged and highly deceiving style of Sludge/Stoner Metal that has a constant influx of Noise, Psych, Doom and Alt Metal structures that moves the band into new areas of Progressive sounds along the way.

The first few songs of Glass House, White Walls and Last Nail are quite chaotic and jagged with Abrams adding a creative sense of music employed by the likes of CAVE IN, MUTOID MAN and BOTCH. Though, the soulful and uplifting psychedelic passages they brilliantly perfected on their acclaimed 2024 album Blue City continue to be heard at the most convenient time which allows the listener to fully immerse themselves into Abrams dark and gloriously riff-fuelled musical environment.

The bombastic atmospherics does have small doses of vibrant Post-Punk, Post-Rock and Post-Stoner energy with their engaging style of real-life lyrics, harmonies and glorious uplifting beats still having a volatile dimension to it all. The music is played at a very loud, fast and pissed off pace with raw sounding Punk Rock mechanics holding everything together. Sometimes LOON delivers a NIGHT and DAY message and creative energy compared to Blue City especially on tracks such as Said & Done, Waves and How Did I Love My Mind?

The vocals from Zachary Amster and Taylor Iverson compliment each other superbly well with the album allowing them to put their own identity within their music. Zach and Taylor both deliver dynamite musical performances on guitars and bass respectively with Ryan DeWitt (Guitar) and Graham Zander (Drums) also adding to the ferocious and pissed off delivery that LOON wonderfully contains.

LOON can be wholly unpredictable at the best of times with Abrams switching between modern day Stadium Rock anthems and pulsating Sludge Metal sounds that can be quite deafening even when the listener is rocking out and headbanging in full agreement. There’s also a real sense of cynicism and downbeat energy on the later stages of the album and that’s not hard to see why.

A lot has changed in the world since Abrams released their last record. The world is teetering on the brink of destruction more than ever before and Abrams perfectly captures those violent surroundings on the remaining tracks of A State Of Mind, Remains and Sirens that are my favourite moments of the whole experience.

Abrams could have easily delivered Blue City Part Two and I will admit I still prefer that record only slightly compared to LOON, however I admire their bold creative choices they’ve achieved with LOON. This is their heaviest, aggressive and most violent record to date and maybe Abrams may return to more uplifting Psychedelic pastures for future records. However, the time is now and Abrams once again prove why they’re one of the most essential and consistently forward thinking bands the Sludge/Stoner Metal scene currently needs right now.

This may take a few listens to fully appreciate and truly admire but it’s well worth the journey as LOON has it all and offers an uncompromising style of music you cannot ignore.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Purple Sage PR for the promo.

LOON is available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Blues Funeral Recordings: 

BFR website / Bandcamp / SPKR Shop

Links 

Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram

Naked Soldier - Echoes (EP Review)

Release Date: April 17th 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD.

Echoes - Tracklisting

1. Reduce Me (04:00)

2. Bit Crusher (04:14)

3. Fortune Teller (05:40)

4. El Bizarre (10:43)

Members

Patrik Caminada - Vocals 

Oliver Corrodi - Guitars, Production 

Noé Burger - Bass 

Janick Sidler – Drums

Review

Echoes is the latest EP from Stoner Rockers Naked Soldier and I remember being hugely impressed by their 2022 debut self-titled album with the band focusing upon a more Hard Rock style of Stoner Rock/Metal. There was a gritty undertone to Naked Soldier’s music which they merged with a swirling Desert Rock, Fuzz Rock and Psych Rock attitude. Echoes takes a slightly different transformation with the band adding a gloomy Post-Stoner and Post-Doom sound which has a cautious Hard Rock and Proto-Rock attitude. 

The four tracks held on Echoes runs for around twenty five minutes length with Naked Soldier employing similar musical techniques used by the likes of FU MANCHU, KYUSS, LOWRIDER, DOZER and TRUCKFIGHTERS. The stunning opening track of Reduce Me sets up the Desert Rock/Stoner Metal foundations that Naked Soldier expertly built upon which results in some long drawn out SONIC baked passages even within the short runtime of the first few tracks. There’s a hidden Classic Rock influence appearing within lead vocalist Patrik Caminada’s subversive vocals.

Naked Soldier slowly moves further into the Cosmic Rock and Space Rock abyss which fully comes into effect on tracks such as Bit Crusher and Fortune Teller with a sudden influx of Progressive landscapes fully taking over before the epic final track of El Bizarre finally appears. 

El Bizarre is the standout track here with Naked Soldier having a wild time conjuring up different musical dimensions that’s built upon the power of the legendary Californian Desert/Stoner Rock scene. The end result can be extremely outlandish and superbly brash but it works to Naked Soldier’s advantage at showcasing what great music they can conjure up when they focus upon play a more spaced out Jam Rock offering.

Echoes is a resounding success on every level which Naked Soldier should rightly be proud of. There’s more than enough hidden musical surprises to keep dedicated followers of the Desert Rock/Stoner Metal community superbly entertained for a very long time.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to The Metallist PR for the promo.

Echoes is available to buy digitally from all good digital stockists now.

Links 

LinkTree

ORGAN - Immobilism (Album Review)

Release Date: April 08th 2026. Record Label: Invisible Order Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Immobilism - Tracklisting

1.TENEBRISM 08:57

2.CONFESSOR 06:53

3.DEVOURING 06:18

4.DOGMA 08:03

5.INACCESSIBLE 09:04

Members

Alessandro Brun - Guitar

Alessandro Scriminich - Guitar

Alessandro De Pellegrin - Bass

Giulio Fabbro - Drums

Review

Immobilism is the third album from Instrumental Post-Metallers ORGAN where they demonstrate a wealth of intense Doom & Gloom surroundings that manifests into a bleak cinematic style of music drawing upon the likes of PELICAN, RUSSIAN CIRCLES, MASTODON and BONGRIPPER in the most of unexpected of places. With a brooding progressive sound that develops into stripped back soundscapes with small moments of Psychedelic and Kinetic musical energy transforms into a heavier and aggressive sound that comes fully into focus on the excellent opening track of Tenebrism.

There’s a sense of HORROR that you can feel throughout the album and some of the song titles give that impression that allows the listener to fully get accustomed to the dark musical surroundings that ORGAN brings to the party. The music is painfully slow and opaque at the best of the times but the droned out and distorted environment instantly takes hold with violent Ambient textures forming that allows ORGAN to experiment with a more “OUT OF THIS WORLD” sound that becomes quite “LOVECRAFTIAN” in places. The Post-Rock vibes transform into areas of Post-Doom and almost Post-Black Metal atmospherics especially on tracks such as Confessor, Devouring and Dogma delivering some of the most thought-provoking sounds on the whole album.

The album is painfully slow which allows the listener to fully take in the dark progressive themes, melodies and sudden shifts into vast areas of cerebral Post-Metal grooves that leave you questioning your own reality. ORGAN undergo a creative shift on the later stages of the record which allows brief pockets of Stoner Metal, Post-Hardcore and Noise Rock to suddenly appear that gives Immobilism a deeply unpredictable grounded energy. 

Immobilism works best when it merges twisted reality and nightmarish based soundscapes for a record that feels inspired by the films of David Cronenberg, David Lynch and Dario Argento with a free-flowing soundtrack narrative being one of the best aspects that I’ve taken away from the whole album. Every note is played superbly with ORGAN proving what great musicians they actually are especially compared to their outstanding 2018 album Eterno.

ORGAN have delivered a uniquely dark take on the realm of Instrumental Post-Metal that perhaps leaves many questions unanswered but you can’t deny the whole incredible audio and gloomy sonic experience the album fully delivers with real dramatic intent. 

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Links 

Facebook | BandCamp

Manali - Manali (Album Review)

Release Date: April 17th 2026. Record Label: Vinyltroll Records and Virkelighedsfjern. Formats: DD/Vinyl

MANALI - Tracklisting

1.In This Body - 11:48

2.Sinful - 07:47

3.Mary - 15:37

Members

Mikkel Hansen - Guitar

Sammy Jagdev - Bass

Pætter Wollesen - Synth/Vox

Tommy Skouboe - Drums

Review

Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metallers Manali self-titled debut album is one that fully met my initial expectations and instantly became part of daily musical ritual over the last month or so ever since I received a copy to review. The album is one that stands on its own creative merits with Manali actually doing something new and highly original with their own great style of Spaced Out Doom merged with instances of Psych, Sludge and Stoner Metal. 

With a sound inspired by the likes of UFOMAMMUT, Belzebong, Monolord and Slomatics, this album has quite a dark approach in how Manali explores their cosmic themes and trippy surroundings. The level of great detail applied to the areas of Drone, Ambient and Cosmic sounds have a rich identity of their own. The music can be quite warped with Manali taking their time bringing a standard sense of melody and musical composition to the album. 

The vocals from Pætter Wollesen only appear when they’re fully needed with Manali focusing upon the instrumental movements for most of this album. The world-weary synths and distorted melodies start to form at the very beginning with a violent psychedelic LOW & SLOW approach being Manali’s main weapon of choice to impress listeners with.

If you’re a fan of the classic UFOMAMMUT album EVE then Manali takes a similar approach with the band developing haunting apocalyptic sludgy excursions into droned out heaviness especially within the thrilling opening track In This Body. The whole record has a highly unapologetic and raw aesthetic that allows the music to be uncomfortably and organically real as possible with Manali pulling no punches in how they deliver their music. This allows the listener to be fully transported into Manali’s dark COSMIC world where’s a few unexpected hidden violent instrumental passages along the way. 

The other tracks Sinful and Mary allow Manali to develop heavier, violent and more cosmic inducing grooves that slowly take over your whole being, especially within Sinful. As they have less time to interact with the listener here and play a more direct style of Psychedelic Sludge/Stoner Metal. The Ambient Metal soundscapes remind of MONOLORD and SLOMATICS along the way but it’s the “less is more” approach with the vocals, progressive sounds and space rock passages that allows Sinful perhaps be my favourite track on the whole album.

Though the final track Mary contains the heaviest and aggressive sounds of the album though it doesn’t start that way. As Manali opens with a Post-Stoner and Post-Doom melody that soon transforms into something really poetic and beautifully real.  Manali keeps exploring and expanding this musical into other areas of Space Rock and Psychedelic landscapes. However, the band always allow themselves the perfect opportunity to add different levels of distorted measurement to the album which left me in quite a musical trance and blissful state of mind. The mood is quite violent and unpredictable at the best of times but there’s a brooding style of psychedelic energy that really impressed a great deal. 

Manali’s debut album really is a masterclass of modern day Spaced Out Heaviness that spoke huge volumes to me on a personal and emotional level. It’s hard to explain but when albums like this make an emotional connection to me then it’s these types of albums that I know I’ll be listening to over and over again in the years to come. 

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Audible PR for the promo.

Manali self-titled debut album is available to buy now on Digital Formats and Vinyl via Vinyltroll Records and Virkelighedsfjern.

Links 

https://linktr.ee/manaliband
https://www.facebook.com/Manalidoom/
https://www.instagram.com/manali.band/
https://manali-band.bandcamp.com/