Release Date: October 26th 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Format: DD
DSDM Demo - Tracklist
We Are The Endtimes 13:05
Members
Angry Fanny - Guitar/Vocals
MicHellhammer - Bass/Vocals
Tchang - Drums
Additional percussions by Chaton666.
Review
DSDM Demo is the debut release from Funeral Doom/Drone Metallers OSSIFIER is a highly atmospheric release that only features a singular track called We Are The Endtimes. The song runs for a massive thirteen minutes where OSSIFIER explores the Blackened Elements of the Funeral Doom scene with harsh instances of Sludge, Drone and Ambient Metal. There’s a violent Psychedelic energy lurking in the background with OSSIFIER channeling the likes of WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM and SUNN 0))).
The vocals move between clean chants and harsh growls which work superbly well together though sometimes they’re quite hard to understand which is probably the point of the whole record. The music is constantly violent and brutally heavy with slow-to-mid played Post-Metal soundscapes moving further into the Funeral Doom and Drone Metal vortex.
There’s small pockets of uplifting Atmospheric Doom that briefly appear with an aggressive mix of Ambient Metal and Post-Rock themes leading the way. This shows a different side to OSSIFIER at times where they’re quite content to allow a more forgiving style of music to appear but mostly it’s that violent destructive energy that gives the song it’s epic cinematic scope.
DSDM Demo is unforgivingly slow for the most part but it allows OSSIFIER to explore many different levels of Distorted Drone and Funeral Doom that becomes brilliantly dark and aggressively violent in the later stages of the song.
Helping OSSIFIER on their musical journey is the legendary talents of Sanford Parker who mixed and mastered the record. This allows OSSIFIER to have a heavier and cinematic scope to their music which left me wanting to hear more. As this song is superbly put together from every angle despite this being an actual demo. It sounds impressive from the start and will no doubt become a firm favourite within the underground Doom/Drone Metal scene.
This is an exquisite and bleakly unforgiving release that will hopefully allow OSSIFIER to release more great records in the near future as I’m desperate to hear more.
Release Date: October 31st 2026. Record Label: Various. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl
CULT - Tracklist
1.Born Again 01:53
2.Cult 04:56
3.The Summoning 05:39
4.Cyclops 02:21
5.Altar 06:44
6.Marrow 04:20
7.Vesexuff 02:18
8.Omen of Oblivion 08:18
Members
Mikael Rise - vocals and rhythm guitar
Dennis Larsen - drums
Jesper Kragh - lead and rhythm guitars
Leifur Nielsen - bass and backing vocals
Andreas Cadaver - rhythm and lead guitars
Review
Doom/Sludge Metallers Dread Witch return with their second album CULT which builds upon the foundations created within their celebrated 2023 debut album Tower Of The Severed Serpent. That record allowed Dread Witch to include a heavy style of extreme metal such as Death Metal and Thrash Metal into the mix whilst keeping a gloomy Occult Metal element into the overall sound.
CULT is perhaps more heavier and violent compared to their debut album with Dread Witch fully selling their fucked up OCCULT METAL imagery to the underground masses. The record is super DOOM METAL obsessive which makes it the perfect album to listen to within the upcoming gloomy winter months. Dread Witch develops a thrilling backdrop of COSMIC soundscapes and stripped back psychedelic passages that remind me of YOB and UFOMAMMUT.
The record lasts around thirty six minutes across eight tracks with the right amount of ferocious delivery being played within each of the tracks that sees Dread Witch perfectly balance the EXTREME and NON-EXTREME metallic parts of the whole record. The album can be quite down-tuned and violently intense at the best of times with the harsh vocals and guttural screams adding an uneasy atmosphere into the whole experience.
The music is a mixture of slow-to-mid paced grooves, fast-paced Thrash Metal beats and multiple breakdowns which adds an almost CRUST PUNK/METAL flow to the album. There are some great Prog Metal sounds and themes appearing out of nowhere that never feels out of place even when DREAD WITCH return to their Occult Metal roots.
Dread Witch have three members playing guitars and that’s what gives CULT such a great mix of highly atmospheric Doom/Sludge Metal sounds that always feel grounded and completely over the top which sees the album become quite cinematic on tracks such as Cult, The Summoning, Altar, Marrow and Omen Of Oblivion. It’s within these tracks you begin to experience Dread Witch delivering their most intense rhythms and musical passages on the whole album with an unstoppable Punk Rock attitude forming.
Dread Witch’s debut album feels quite pale in comparison when compared to CULT. This record is more fully fleshed out with stunning COSMIC musical passages allowing the band to explore musical themes and ideas that were only hinted briefly on their debut record. I’m still a huge fan of Tower Of The Severed Serpent but CULT is a different beast altogether where nothing feels off limits and DREAD WITCH are finally showing the world their true selves.
The production contained and explored within CULT is simply masterful with massive amounts of VOLUME being played from every corner possible. The song can be quite nuanced even within the heavier moments which allows Dread Witch to play to their absolute strengths from start to finish.
CULT is an absolute marvel of an album and should be considered one of the year’s best EXTREME records you’ll hear this year.
Words by Steve Howe
"CULT" is available to buy now on LP via DHU Records, CD via Bottomless Pit and digital via Gateway Music.
The Crooked Skulls are a heavy rock trio from New Jersey built around thick riffs, heavy grooves, and a straightforward approach to songwriting. Pulling from stoner rock, doom, and the heavier side of rock and roll, the band draws influence from Clutch, Corrosion of Conformity, Down, Crowbar, Black Sabbath, Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Motörhead, and Alice in Chains while continuing to develop a sound of their own.
Formed by guitarist/vocalist Pete Koretzky with bassist/vocalist Dave Van Auken and original drummer Chuck Snyder, The Crooked Skulls released their debut EP, Hivemind, in 2024, followed by their first full-length album, Midnight Sun, in March 2026. The album reached #30 on the Doom Charts and helped the band continue building its presence in the heavy underground.
Photo by JJ Koczan
Since forming, The Crooked Skulls have shared stages with bands including Valley of the Sun, WyndRider, Sun Voyager, Borracho, GUHTS, Clamfight, Thunderchief, and Precious Blood, playing throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Upcoming shows will see the band sharing bills with Crobot, Dark Chapel, and Insomniac as they continue expanding their regional presence.
Koretzky’s connection with Valley of the Sun also extends beyond the stage. He contributed additional guitar to “Where’s This Place?” from the band’s 2024 album Quintessence. The Crooked Skulls also connected with Fu Manchu guitarist Bob Balch, who contributed a guest guitar solo to “Iron Smile.”
Photo by Kelli Snyder
With Snyder relocating to Florida, drummer Bryan Heaney has joined Koretzky and Van Auken as The Crooked Skulls move into their next chapter. Heaney quickly settled into the band’s material and brings his own feel to the lineup while keeping the groove and chemistry at the center of the music.
Photo by JJ Koczan
The band is proud to announce a new 7-inch featuring “Ride Free” and “Pain Dealer.” The two songs follow Midnight Sun while showing different sides of where the band is heading. The 7-inch is intended as a bridge into 2027, keeping new music coming while the band continues playing regional shows, festivals, and other special appearances.
"Pain Dealer" features a guitar solo from Bob Balch, and the vinyl insert artwork is illustrated by Matt Pike.
Photo by JJ Koczan
The Crooked Skulls plan to begin working toward their next full-length album in 2027. Until then, the focus is on playing more shows, continuing to write, and taking opportunities as they come.
For The Crooked Skulls, the approach remains simple: write honest heavy music, play it loud, and keep moving forward.
Ride Free / Pain Dealer Details
The Crooked Skulls - Pain Dealer/Ride Free
7 inch out November 13th, 2026 Digital release November 27th Electric Desert Records New Jersey, United States FFO: Clutch • CoC • Down • Crowbar • Kyuss • Fu Manchu • Motörhead • Alice in Chains Cover art by @gasaedudes Vinyl insert artwork by Matt Pike
The Crooked Skulls is:
Pete Koretzky - Vocals, Guitar
Bryan Heaney - Drums Dave Van Auken - Vocals, Bass
Pain Dealer/Ride Free credits:
Pete Koretzky - Vocals, Guitar
Chuck Snyder - Drums Dave Van Auken - Vocals, Bass Bob Balch - Pain Dealer guitar solo
Mixing & mastering by Kent Stump @ Crystal Clear Sound
Droni Eye Omi announce new album, ‘Thwaites’ out on December 11th via Desert Records.
The drone duo return to journey with the listener to Antarctica to explore themes of the melting Thwaites Glacier.
Thwaites’ is the second studio album following the band’s heavy and spacey drone psychedelia of ‘Liminal Mass’ in 2025.
Brad Frye (Red Mesa) and Ronaldo Baca weave guitars to evoke a cold and watery vibe on ‘Thwaites’ for the lamenting of the “doomsday” glacier.
Simple sympathy, with a complexity that goes beyond what Droni Eye Omi is playing. So many harmonics and colors and orbits and accelerations and explosions…
One take. One moment. No overdubs.
TOTAL RUN TIME: 57:34
1. A Peaceful Drone for a Melting Earth 15:28
2. The Great Opening 19:24
3. Roaring Thwaites 12:31
4. Watery Graves 10:11
Droni Eye Omi is:
Ronaldo Baca - Electric Sustainiac Guitar
Brad Frye - Electric Baritone Guitar
Recorded at Bingo Studios in Albuquerque, NM on May 16th, 2025
Mixed and mastered by Ronaldo Baca at Orange Cat Studios
Bradford-based stoner/doom five-piece Son Of Boar return with their second studio album ‘The Hand That Reigns’, which arrives on November 20th 2026 via Pale Wizard Records.
Formed in 2018, Son Of Boar quickly became an integral part of the UK’s heavy underground scene, carving out a reputation as a formidable live act. Their powerful, groove-laden, riff-heavy sound has seen them share stages with the likes of Conjurer, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Desert Storm, Nebula, Conan and Fatso Jetson while appearances at Bloodstock, Riffolution, Ruination, Hard Rock Hell Fest, Hammerfest, SOPHIE Fest and Masters Of The Riff have firmly established the band within the UK heavy-music circuit.
Drawing influence from NOLA sludge pioneers Crowbar and DOWN, stoner-rock legends Kyuss, and UK heavyweights Black Sabbath and Paradise Lost, Son Of Boar combine slumberous riffs, harmonised twin guitars and vocalist Luke Oliver’s gravelly, roaring vocals. The band epitomise the ‘Grim North’ from which they emerged. Whether it is the green fields and rolling hills, or the harsh cold stone of their surroundings, Son Of Boar channel their landscape through groove, atmosphere and crushing heaviness, creating a soundtrack to their city and a reflection of the world that surrounds them.
Their self-titled debut album arrived in 2021, showcasing a band unwilling to be confined to a single corner of heavy music. The Hand That Reigns takes that approach further, pushing their sound into a darker, heavier and more aggressive territory.
Their forthcoming second studio album ‘The Hand That Reigns’, recorded at Corner House Studios in Yorkshire with Kurt Wood and mastered by Dave Draper (Ginger Wildheart) emerged during a period in which each member was collectively navigating difficult times. As riffs developed into songs, it became clear that those experiences were influencing the writing, and something darker was taking shape. Each track is infused with a personal honesty that moves fluidly from groove-metal to blasted desert rock and the deepest, darkest doom, showcasing the wide range to the band’s sound.
Watch the video for their new single IN THE EYES OF HATRED below:
Reflecting on the creation of the album, vocalist Luke Oliver says, “At the time of writing the album, everyone seemed to be going through a dark time. It quickly became apparent that this batch was darker, heavier, and more aggressive than the previous set. There was no conscious push towards that - we just wanted to write better songs. They came out with all the previous aspects of our sound amplified. We’ve always worked in a cauldron of influences, mixing groove-led desert sounds with grim, heavy riffs and moving tonally from dark to light and back again. On these songs, the heavy sections got heavier, the slow sections got slower, but at the same time the groove got deeper, while the melodies and atmosphere became more developed.”
Across The Hand That Reigns, Son Of Boar draw together the elements that have defined their sound while pushing each one further: groove-metal weight, psychedelic desert-rock passages, deep sludge and the slow pull of doom.
Lyrically the album explores themes of alienation, judgement, personal struggles and resilience, examining the barriers people encounter, the frustration and anger that can emerge from them, and the strength required to move beyond them.
“Lyrically the album covers themes of being an outcast in various forms. Drawing on inspiration from world events, personal experiences, documentaries, and life in a band, the songs talk to the barriers we hit in life, how people judge each other, and the frustration and anger that can come from that, but also about drawing on personal strength and inner belief to get past that and try to live a better life,” Oliver adds.
Ahead of the release of the album comes its final single ‘In The Eyes Of Hatred’, released today, October 30th 2026, a song for the ‘misfits’, the track serves as a call for unity and understanding in a divided world.
Discussing the single, the band state, “‘In The Eyes Of Hatred’ is a mix of stoner groove and heavy doom that makes our brand of northern fuzz. It is a call to arms for all the misfits and people who ever felt like they don't fit in, in a divided world it's a call for unity and understanding."
SON OF BOAR ARE:
Luke Oliver - Vocals Gareth Bates - Bass, Backing Vocals Adam Waddell - Guitar, Backing Vocals Lyndon Birchall - Guitar Luke Doran - Drums
Sludge Metallers SARAKSH debut album Abiram brings a highly volatile mix of Doom, Prog Metal, Post-Metal, Psych Metal and Tech Metal endeavors throughout. The record is quite forward thinking with SARAKSH employing different levels of EXTREME METAL within the familiar sounding Progressive Sludge Metal structures with some aggressive Death Metal and Crust Punk themes being played from the very start.
Opening track Scavenger allows SARAKSH to lay down the creative foundations of the whole album with an aggressive and violent attitude that draws upon the likes of CONVERGE, MASTODON, GOJIRA and even CHAT PILE with the band moving into different areas of the music. The vocals are quite challenging to listen to and fully appreciate with them moving between areas of clean vocals, harsh growls and death metal screams but at least everything is quite easy to understand.
The record does transform into different styles of modern day melodies with a frantic Post-Metal and Prog Metal attitude with some of the lyrical themes, musical complexities and vocal arrangements reminding me of Devin Townsend and Mike Patton which is no bad thing. However, SARAKSH keep themselves mostly contained within the Progressive Sludge Metal environment whilst experimenting with the wider Extreme Metal scene that both play so brilliantly alongside each other within the epic three part track opus: Confinement: Carving Me, Confinement: Circles and Confinement: Bottom Deep.
SARAKSH added some fantastic video game soundtrack mechanics into the mix of this album which does give Abiram a slightly fantastical quality which it fully earns by being quite outlandish, real and superbly grounded at the same time. There is a fearless Operatic and Prog Rock delivery that appears along the way that never feels forced with SARAKSH delivering intense fast-paced grooves that move across the whole Sludge Metal, Death Metal and Thrash Metal spectrum.
The later stages of the record take a more reflective attitude whilst keeping with its deeply methodical and experimental sound on tracks such as: They Came At Night, Forlorn and Mire. The dominant synths and keyboards are always a welcome addition and distraction as it moves the record to a heavier and clearer Psychedelic sound which is where my most favourite parts of the album appear.
Abiram is a surreal and nightmarish take on the modern Progressive Sludge Metal sound that dares to be different. There are too many great cinematic instrumental passages to mention but SARAKSH proves time and time again what a highly original band they truly are. This may take you a few listens to fully understand what the fuck is actually going on but it’s an album worth investing your time in as the rewards are HUGE.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to All Noir PR for the promo.
Abiram will be available to buy Digitally and Vinyl soon.
Sweden’s conjurers of fuzz, folklore and far-flung psychedelia venture deeper into their ever-expanding mythology with “Murder // Mountain,” the first single from Season of Slumber, out November 13 via Urskog Records. The track premieres today via Outlaws of the Sun.
Four purveyors of cosmic weirdness, hypnotic riffs and tales from the other side of the ordinary, Goatriders have spent nine years building a world with its own geography, peculiar inhabitants and gloriously crooked vernacular. Across their previous albums, wandering wizards, carrot mages, uncanny creatures and unlikely encounters have emerged from the band’s fevered imagination, taking shape in a heady brew of heavy fuzz, adventurous psychedelia and a knack for making the downright bizarre feel strangely compelling.
Goatriders are, at their essence, psychedelic fabulists. Their songs conjure occult visions, cosmic wanderings and unruly inhabitants, spinning a mythology that gathers new lore with every cloven step. Yet the Goativerse is more than a cast of outlandish characters and arcane adventures. Its magic takes hold through the interplay of four connected musicians who know precisely when to lock into a groove, when to let a riff run feral and when to drive a jam to the brink of dissolution. Beneath the fantastical tales lies a band with the instinct, chemistry and instrumental command to make the impossible feel flesh and blood. The absurdity has teeth; beneath the arcane pageantry, something raw and vital is always stirring and the mythology never gets in the way of a good noise.
The first taste of Season of Slumber comes in the shape of “Murder // Mountain,” a ten-minute-and-forty-one-second descent into psychedelic disorientation. A searing, riff-driven jam forms the track’s molten core, the guitars twisting above a rhythm section whose loose, instinctive interplay is anchored by the drums’ measured, almost metronomic pulse. The bass carves its own melodic path beneath the heavier excursions, while sitar, djembe and bells cut through the distortion with flashes of ancient ceremony. Rather than charging towards a conventional climax, Goatriders let the music find its own crooked route, building and releasing tension as it goes.
Johansson describes the song as “a real bad trip wrapped up in a ten minute envelope.” What could go wrong?
There are distant echoes of The Doors in its shadowy, incantatory atmosphere, while the guitar’s unbridled explorations carry a spark of Jimi Hendrix’s improvisational spirit. But Goatriders are following no one else’s map: “Murder // Mountain” draws the listener into a world where the ground shifts beneath your feet and the destination remains deliciously uncertain.
Ever a constant, Death stalks the trail in “Murder // Mountain,” keeping pace with those who wander it, waiting for the moment they finally surrender to its pull. Many follow the hippie dream like a procession towards the inevitable, mistaking free will for ultimate freedom. But this traveler has no intention of obediently joining the ranks.
He knows death is on his heels, and rather than bowing his head, he calls the bastard out. The mountain caves in on itself, leaving an abyss where heaven should be. Johansson’s words hang in the air, caught between ancient warning and open-ended revelation. That tension runs through the track as it does the entire album; cosmic visions with dirt beneath its nails, occult grandeur with a mischievous grin, and four musicians willing to follow an idea wherever it leads.
As the Swedish quartet returns with its third full-length, Season of Slumber, drawing the Goativerse into deeper shadow. The winding jams, molten fuzz and ritualistic intensity remain, but this time they venture into darker currents, where old certainties begin to buckle and the search for truth leads beyond the limits of
what we think we know.
It is the same wild imagination at work: fearless, freewheeling and forever nosing around the edges of the unknown, where stranger revelations are most certainly waiting. Following 2022’s The Traveler, Season of Slumber sheds the collective of the Carrot Wizards and brings the more solitary figure back into the fore. This tale is focused on the One Wizard.
Long confined to his tower, this ageing hierophant languishes in prophetic stagnation, guarding the accumulated wisdom of a lifetime while the world beyond his walls turns without him. His tower has become both sanctuary and sentence, its shelves heavy with the knowledge of ages, its windows opening onto a world he has all but forgotten how to read. Then the veil begins to lift. Ghosts of yonder stir, old visions take on unfamiliar shapes, and the truths by which he has lived begin to look less like answers than walls of his own making. The wizard stands at the threshold of a revelation his learning could never have prepared him for.
Across the album, witches, warlocks, devils and demons gather beneath the night sky, drawn towards a new temple of the sun, bearing offerings to the totem of noise. Yet amid the ceremony and incantation, a more dangerous possibility takes hold: that wisdom, hoarded and held beyond question, can harden into dogma; that a lifetime spent seeking truth can leave a person devoted to the very beliefs that keep it out of reach. For The One Wizard, no ancient text can furnish the answer, no incantation guarantees safe passage. To go further, he must risk the collapse of the world his knowledge has built around him, and look beyond its ruins allowing the new to take its place.
Goatriders leave these questions suspended in the smoke. The wizard’s passage becomes a meeting point between myth and lived experience, a tale of spiritual disquiet in which the pursuit of enlightenment can be every bit as disorientating as the darkness it promises to dispel.
Mixed and mastered by Joona Hassinen at Studio Underjord, “Murder // Mountain” captures that unruly spirit as old certainties crumble and the possibility of renewal flickers into view. The mountain is falling. The season of slumber is drawing to a close. Eternal vision awaits.
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