Titanosaur - A Thousand Suns (Album Review)

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

A Thousand Suns - Tracklist

1.My Destroyer
2.This Hell
3.Holding On To The Light
4.I Remain
5.The Coming
6.A Thousand Suns
7.Colossus
8.Fire In the Hole
9.Static
10.Fires Blazing
11. Hell Bound

Members

All lyrics and music by Geoff Saavedra, except "Fire In The Hole" lyrics by Kerri Rasmussen

All vocals and instruments played by Geoff Saavedra, except "Fire In The Hole" vocals by Kerri Rasmussen.

Review

A Thousand Suns is the seventh full length album from Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal collective Titanosaur which is the creative project from Geoff Saavedra. Geoff has experienced a few tough years recently as he underwent a heart transplant back in 2024. Now, Geoff is on the road to recovery where he’s released his heaviest and most emotionally involved record yet. The end result is a glorious and unapologetic mix of Doom, Sludge, Stoner, Psych, Grunge and Punk with a destructive quality which fully taps into the some cosmic gloomy themes along the way.

Geoff’s vocals and lyrical insight are sharp as ever with a fast-paced narrative forming from the very start as this record has a classic Heavy Metal identity which is mostly used through the production side of things. You can hear influences such as High On Fire, Motorhead, Monster Magnet, Pantera and Metallica. The sludgy grooves come right at you at an astonishing pace which gives Titanosaur a violent riff-fuelled energy which is delivered with such ferocity where you may need a few breaks along the way.

The songs follow a similar structure to each other but you know what you’re getting as Titanosaur feels like they’re exorcising a few personal demons they’ve experienced over the last few years but also with Geoff celebrating and highlighting that he's still around to tell the tale. Despite the rough and ready exterior of the Sludge/Stoner Metal melodies, the album does have some emotionally charged lyrics hidden deep within its muscular delivery on tracks such as: My Destroyer, This Hell, Holding On To The Light and A Thousand Suns being the standout tracks on the first half of the album.

Titanosaur moves between the multiple eras of Classic Hard Rock and modern day Heavy Metal with real precision where the different DOOM & GLOOM atmospherics opens the album into different layers of real heaviness. The record works best when Titanosaur aims for a simpler musical style which forces a heavier Sludge/Stoner Metal to appear which becomes one of the albums main strengths especially on the second half of the album.

A Thousand Suns also has some deft experimental movements which Geoff has spliced throughout the album which allows for a more spaced out environment to develop for some real groove laden “HEAD BANGING” moments.

Other great tracks to check out are: Colossus, Fire In The Hole, Static and Fires Blazing.

Titanosaur once again truly delivers the goods with another superb record that proves why they're one of the most essential “solo” acts we currently have in the underground scene right now.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Chat Pile - Who Loves The Sun (Album Review)

Release Date: September 04th 2026. Record Label: The Flenser. Format: CD/DD/Tape/Vinyl

Who Loves The Sun - Tracklist

1.Creature
2.Deep Blue
3.Same Rules
4.PEN I S MALL
5.Shrine
6.Intruder
7.Christabel ‘26
8.Influence
9.Family Funeral
10.October All The Time

Members

Ray B. - Vocals
L. Manhole - Guitar
Stin - Bass
Drums - Cap’n Ron

Review

Noise/Sludge Metallers Chat Pile return with their highly anticipated third album Who Loves The Sun which once again highlights why they’re one of the most unpredictable, original and most important bands to emerge from the Heavy Metal scene in years. This record shows once again how the band incorporates new elements of music into their ever-growing sound such as Alt Rock, Indie Rock, Shoegaze and Trip-Hop.

Chat Pile demonstrates why they’re so highly thought of with ten tracks that captures the raw essence of the Sludge Metal scene with a grimy and seedy attitude most bands cannot capture. The moody Noise Rock theatrics keeps everything grounded and allows Chat Pile to reinvent themselves yet again with a mixture of Industrial Metal and Post-Punk beats which has a mighty Eighties Rock presence especially within the lyrics and the more somber parts of the record. There’s a great style of vicious melody and rhythm developing which is more focused compared to their previous two albums.

Who Loves The Sun even has brilliantly refined commercial aspects which can easily launch these guys further into the mainstream. The despairing Noise Rock quality reminds me of The Jesus Lizard jamming with the likes of The Melvins and Kowloon Walled City but with Chat Pile keeping their own unflinching approach with bleak lyrics holding everything together. The shift in minimalist Post-Rock, Post-Punk and Sludge Metal is quite refreshing with a subtle Grunge and Psychedelic flavour emerging which adds a real chameleon like effect to the whole journey.

The “Doom & Gloom” essence is stripped apart and rebuilt within the band’s image which they incorporate into almost every track with a filth ridden attitude that can be quite buoyant and gleefully upbeat at times. The raw sounding production values allows Chat Pile to play at their own destructive slow-to-mid paced grooves with a level of sheer heaviness only appearing when it’s really needed.

The first half of the album allows Chat Pile to explore a decaying style of Grunge, Noise and Alt Rock with songs Creature, Same Rules and PEN I S MALL adding a heap of Blackened Sludge themes for a subversive experience. This allows the lead vocals to demonstrate a politically charged energy that really does hammer the points home that Chat Pile are providing this album.

Chat Pile are fully committed to exploring different areas of music for this record on other tracks such as Shrine, Intruder, Family Funeral and October All The Time which have some of the most rewarding moments on the album. The whole mood is constantly engaging with intense progressive musical passages being quite hypnotic and brilliantly surreal. 

Who Loves The Sun isn’t an easy album to listen to but it’s one that offers a must have experience where Chat Pile doesn't even offer any easy answers or solutions. As they leave this up to the listener’s own conclusions. What is guaranteed is another masterful record from Chat Pile that once again cements their status as one of the most important Heavy Rock bands in the world currently playing today. 

This is an absolute masterpiece and is a record everyone needs to own right now!!!

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Rarely Unable PR for the promo.

Who Loves The Sun is available to buy now on CD, Digital, Tape and Vinyl.

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

BLACK SPACE RIDERS – New Album "Die 8" to be released on November 13th, 2026 / First single and pre-order online!

Four years after their last masterpiece „We Have Been Here Before“, BLACK SPACE RIDERS are finally back with their highly anticipated eighth studio album, "Die 8", arriving on November 13th.

Following the painful departure of founding member and second guitarist SLI, the band reinforced their lineup from within their closest circle: Their long-time audio engineer π, deeply connected to the band and already responsible for the recording and mix of the predecessor, stepped in as an additional guitarist, strengthening the sonic unit on the new album.

Recorded, mixed, and mastered in π's own recording studio, the new work — simply titled "Die 8" — bundles a fresh, untamed energy. It presents itself as a brilliant, eclectic bastard bursting with playfulness, ingenuity, and attention to detail. Molding the best of many genres and different decades into a sonic universe entirely their own, the band creates a soundscape that is psychedelic, heavy, danceable, sometimes tender, sometimes harsh — but always deeply atmospheric, urgent, fluid, and accessible.

Conceptually, the eighth album serves as the cartography of a creeping decay. It delivers the protocols of a relay station at the outermost edge — be it in a distant galaxy or within the digital and social networks of our here and now.

The band comments:

"In eleven frequencies, we navigate through a world where the boundaries between the human mind and algorithmic control are eroding. We encounter the noise of the masses, the arrogance of power, and the leaden silence of isolation. Yet amidst the dystopia, an echo stirs: a ritualistic resistance, a mantra against the cold, an attempt to preserve one's own dignity in the dust of history. 

It's a play with the final eight minutes of light before the sun — or civilization — burns out on the horizon. Beyond the vast expanse, the end of time awaits: a rapturous, unstoppable uprising in lockstep, followed by the bitter realization of our own systemic inertia. But right there, where chronology finally breaks down and we look doom dead in the eye, the unexpected happens: The '8' bends into a horizontal infinity. Because the end of humanity is not the end of everything. The station sinks, everything dissolves into infinite energy — and a new cycle begins."

Open your eyes! What do you see?

Starting today, the video for the first single "Party Is Over (The Last Curfew)" is officially live:

The song fuses dark goth influences, post-punk, and heavy rock into a harsh soundscape with almost theatrical undertones. Set against the symbolic backdrop of a bell tower, a cynical doomsday scenario unfolds. "Party Is Over" functions as a critical commentary on a society that stubbornly ignores its own tipping point.

"Die 8" is available for pre-order starting now: LINK (Linktree)

BLACK SPACE RIDERS Online:

Linktree BSR online

Thanks to Anger Management PR for the details.

Scuzz n' fuzz garage doomers LáGoon announce new album Forget What You Heard, out September 18th

Coming September 18th, get your skate, scuzz, and stoner rock fix with new album Forget What You Heard, serving up seven tracks of riffs and attitude.

You'll likely recognize the names of most of these songs if you've been listening to us since the beginning. Over the years of playing these songs live, and with the addition of Kenny on bass, these songs have changed so much that we felt it was only right to re-record and re-release them in their final form. So Forget What You Heard in the past, this is how LáGoon really sounds.

LáGoon is a heavy riffing trio from Portland, Oregon that blends elements of punk, garage rock, doom, and stoner rock. They have released a large catalog of music, but are best known for their high energy shows.

The band has toured extensively and played with a number of notable bands including Nebula, Matt Pike vs the Automaton, Duel, Wo Fat, Mos Generator, and Sasquatch to name a few.

Doomed and Stoned best describes the band as “…an odd duck, with the head of The Stooges, the fuzzed up body of Dead Moon, the feet of The Gun Club, the soul of Electric Wizard and the guts of Nirvana”.

As always, the band's next plans include playing live as much as possible. They're also already working on new music for LáGoon and their other garagegaze project, OOPSY DAZEY.

The new album Forget What You Heard drops September 18th on vinyl via Interstellar Smoke Records and cassette via Evil Noise Recordings. Dig it.

LáGoon - Forget What You Heard

Album out September 18th, 2026
Digital, Vinyl (via Interstellar Smoke Records), and Cassette (via Evil Noise Recordings)
Portland, Oregon, US
FFO: Fu Manchu • FUZZ • Rudimentary Peni
Artwork by @skater.tattoo

LáGoon is:

Brady Maurer - Drums
Kenny Coombs - Bass
Anthony Gaglia - Guitar/Vocals

Tracklist:

1. Kill The Messenger (3:55)
2. You Tried (You Failed) (3:52)
3. Draculove (2:48)
4. Father Of Death (4:06)
5. Wheel Bite (4:11)
6. Skate Fast, Play Loud (3:01)
7. Smoke And Flesh (2:57)

Links:

Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Linktree

Thanks to Good Boy PR for the details.

Earthlore - Within The Earth (Album Review)

Release Date: August 28th 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Format: DD

Within The Earth- Tracklist

1.Within The Earth 04:55

2.All 04:32

3.Epitaph 01:27

4.Tempest Skies 04:28

5.Blinding Star 07:00

6.Centuries 06:12

7.In Spring 05:12

 

Members

Drew Pelrine: Rhythm Guitar / Vocals / Bass / Synths

Gabe Haydar: Lead Guitar

Troy Welling: Drums

Review

Psych/Doom/Stoner Metallers Earthlore’s second album Within The Earth shares some common themes with the likes of Elder, King Buffalo and Howling Giant but they add a Grunge attitude into their music which allows the sound to become more dominated by Sludge Rock and Post-Metal themes. Earthlore has some Mastodon / Baroness levels of heaviness that emerges from behind the scenes that gives the whole album an aggressive Fuzz Rock drive with a sublime creative outlook developing.

The opening two songs Within The Earth and All sees Earthlore combine Spaced Out Synths with their grounded Sludge Rock/Stoner Metal based melodies having quite a distorted area of heaviness with flashes of Ambient Rock making an appearance. The vocals from Drew Pelrine have the hallmarks of being delivered from the classic Grunge era with Earthlore developing a faster and aggressive style of music.

Within The Earth does allow Earthlore to play different  styles of Doomed Out Stoner Metal with each track having their own individual themes especially on All, Terminal Skies, Blinding Star and Centuries. The music feels superbly real despite the constant shift into Cosmic Doom with a grounded logic being applied to Earthlore’s great use of Progressive music throughout the album.

There are some Post-Doom, Post-Stoner and Post-Rock instrumental passages that slows the mood way down but this allows Earthlore to show what great musicians they actually are. Though, the band go all in with their intense progressive attack within the standout tracks of Terminal Skies and Blinding Star that offers some violent Heavy Metal movements and down-tuned sludgy instrumental passages which still remains to be wonderfully melodic from start to finish.

The album is superbly produced and allows Earthlore to create their own great style of Doom/Stoner Metal that’s bursting with epic strands of Psych, Sludge and Space Rock music allowing the listener to become fully part of this outstanding cinematic journey.

Within The Earth is a must have album and is most definitely be a worthwhile addition to anyone’s record collection if you’re a true believer / follower of the Doom/Stoner Metal scene.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Good Boy PR for the promo.

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

30,000 Monkies - Super Rebound (Album Review)

Release Date: September 18th 2026. Record Label: FVN KULT RECORDS. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Super Rebound - Tracklist

1.THE GUMS

2.PRISM BREAK 

3.[HORNS WAILING]

4.MOUNTAINESQUE 4

5.UNSOUND HERO

6.[SIREN SINGING]

7.SUPER REBOUND 

8.SWERVER

9.[BELLS RINGING, TALE MELTING]

 

Members

Ruben Savelkoul (Guitar, Vocals, Programming)

Michiel De Naegel (Guitar, Vocals)

Cyril Beerten (Bass, Vocals)

Mattias Jonniaux (Drums)

Review

Doom/Sludge/Noise/Sonic Terrorists 30,000 Monkies return with their sixth album Super Rebound and it’s equally weird and brilliantly fucked as their previous albums. However, this is the band’s most heaviest, creative, riff-centric and dare I say hopefully optimistic despite the harsh and bleak savagery the band put the listener through. Taking the classic Post-Metal template used by the likes of NEUROSIS, ISIS and CULT OF LUNA before applying an experimental vibe that reminds of BORIS and THE MELVINS. 

The added use of Psych Metal, Industrial Metal, Punk Metal and Stoner Metal make drastic appearances throughout the album where 30,000 Monkies not only come to terms with their own musical legacy but also redefining and reinventing everything for the better. This album does have a warped schizophrenic vision but there’s a gloomy sense of rhythm and melody holding everything together with the bombastic vocals being sung violently but with real purpose. 

You can see the band applying a nightmarish delivery to their music but it’s superbly real and grounded even with 30,000 Monkies applying a scattered approach to the overlapping areas of music being played like their lives dependent on it. The Blackened Sludge melodies does remind me of KVELERTAK on certain parts of the album with 30,000 Monkikes developing a non-stop array of grooves, riffs and musical hooks to entice the listener with. 

30,000 Monkies perhaps over do things with the SONIC passages and feedback loops where the music could have a great “LESS IS MORE” delivery but I would be lying to myself if I don’t own up to the fact that the album works best when the band unleash a torrent of fucked up grooves that venture into the Experimental Metal spectrum. 

Super Rebound does feel too long at times but it’s never boring with 30,000 Monkies creating a non-stop symphony of chaotic violence on tracks such as The Gums, Prism Break, Mountainesque 4, Unsound Hero, Super Rebound and [Bells Ringing, Tales Melting]. You will probably need a few listens to fully understand the message that 30,000 Monkies are trying to deliver with Super Rebound. However, it’s worth doing this as I missed quite a lot during my first listen of the album. That’s mostly down to how many different areas of music that 30,000 continues to develop throughout the album.

The whole experience is wonderfully offbeat to the very end but 30,000 Monkies never lose sight on how to have fun with the record even if they’re confronting their own musical legacy and creative mortality within the main themes of Super Rebound. The multi-faceted approach of the album is absolutely groundbreaking in the grand scheme of things as you don’t experience this style of Doom, Sludge and Post-metal very often.

This was a very hard album to review where I must have written about five different versions before settling on this one. I apologise to everyone if I didn’t manage to capture the unique presence of this album but that’s what to expect for such a true original that allows 30,000 Monkies to be one of the most daring and highly original bands within the underground Doom/Sludge Metal scene today.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Viral Propaganda PR for the promo.

Super Rebound is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via FVN KULT RECORDS.

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Instrumental Doom/Drone/Sludge Collective VOID SINKER Announce New EP - PITCH BLACK SUN

Void Sinker is proud to present the newest release of 2026.

A terrible omen hangs over us: a pitch-black sun radiating the earth with its restless heat. Seeking shelter in the shade is futile; its might reaches even where it cannot see you.

Recorded at home during this cursed summer heat—which grows increasingly oppressive—the EP was crafted to capture the sense of suffocation and faintness felt beneath the scorching sun of a season that is becoming ever more unbearable for humankind.

Are we perhaps destined to live by night? Only time will tell...

Release date: 09/04/2026

Format: Digital (Bandcamp)

https://voidsinker.bandcamp.com/music

Links 

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram