Jake Lewis From Psych Doom/Stoner Rockers BURN RITUAL and GYPSYBYRD - Favourite Albums Of 2023

Jake Lewis the creative maestro behind Psych Stoner Rock acts such as Burn Ritual and Gypsybyrd picks his favourite albums of 2023. This is a great selection of albums from Jake that deserves your full attention.

Jake had a great year himself with Psych Doom/Stoner Rockers Burn Ritual releasing their new album Grave Watcher to great acclaim and it's not hard to see why.

Anyway check out Jake's favourite albums.

1. Acid King - Beyond Vision

What is there to say that anyone who has followed stoner rock or doom for awhile doesn’t already know … Acid King rules ! Always ! Another great effort from Lori and crew. Great riffs, super heavy with big jammy and atmospheric parts. Excellent !

2. Church of Misery - Born Under a Mad Sign

Another if you have been following doom or stoner for awhile bands. Church of Misery are legends in the genre. Still turning out bangers ! Rad grooves , fuzzy jams, and killer riffs. Total stoner boogie.

3. Green Lung - This Heathen Land

This is a fantastic record. Great to listen to with headphones. Very good production. Love the tone. Love the vocals. Big epic jams!

4. Slomatics - Strontium Fields

Heavy. Heavy as hell. Crushing. Epic. Atmospheric. Slomatics always bring the heavy!

5. Obituary- Dying of Everything

Death Metal legends still putting out quality music ! Love the old school guitar tone. Love the production. Raw, heavy, and classic.

6. Borracho- Blurring the lines of Reality

Heavy, fuzzy, and full of gnarly riffs. Excellent vocals. Great album!

Burn Ritual Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Gypsybyrd Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Burn Ritual - Grave Watcher (Album Review)

 

Release Date: November 10th 2023. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Grave Watcher - Tracklisting

1.Becoming The Beast 05:26

2.Waiting For The Sun 05:05

3.Embrace The Flames 04:41

4.Grave Watcher 04:20

5.Black Veil 05:31

6.Demons 04:50

7.When The Darkness Comes 07:04

Members

Jake Lewis - Everything

Review

Doom/Stoner Metal outfit Burn Ritual returns after a three year absence with their new album Grave Watcher with this hugely talented One Man Band digging deeper into the Doom Metal vortex with heavy levels of FUZZ. The album has quite a vibrant and vintage quality which taps into the Black Sabbath way of life with eerie levels of Psychedelic Doom and a sludgy atmosphere that will appeal to fans of Electric Wizard, COUGH and Uncle Acid.

Jake Lewis the man behind Burn Ritual has a more gloomy and destructive creative vision on this album which allows this record to be Burn Ritual’s more DOOMED out release. There’s a thrilling Stoner Metal sound that appears to be more Progressive and eclectic at the same time which you can hear and feel within the opening tracks of the album Becoming The Beast and Waiting For The Sun. A classic down-tuned and amplifier approach where Jake adds Psychedelic sounds and fuzz rock grooves which sees Burn Ritual play multiple guitar solos and extended jams along the way.

There’s an sinister Occult Rock theme heard within the lyrics and how Jake delivers his vocals on the album. Perhaps a bit OTT in places but never boring with the classic Seventies Proto-Doom vibes appearing within the slower parts of the album. The instrumental tone can be quite seedy, aggressive and sinister but there’s a melodic tone throughout especially when Jake plays a slower style of music that drifts eerily into Post-Doom or Post-Sludge territory. 

Grave Watcher impresses the most with the high amount of exciting riffs that’s played on the entire album. Jake doesn’t skimp in that department even when the music changes into a more progressive direction especially on the later stages of the album.

Other standout tracks include: Embrace The Flames, Grave Watcher, Demons and When The Darkness Comes. The record does become more consumed by the evil spirits of Doom Metal with a sublime Occult theme which allows Burn Ritual to adapt their creative virtues to a more mature setting and perhaps even into the realm of Horror based storytelling. 

Grave Watcher is violently addictive with adventurous DIY Production values which only adds to the seedy effect that the record ultimately holds and provides to Jake’s dedicated fan-base. 

Burn Ritual have once again delivered the goods with Grave Watcher which provides a groovy and riff-fuelled adventure that’s a pitch-perfect release with the Winter Solstice months currently upon us.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Jake Lewis for the promo.

Grave Watcher is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl.

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Burn Ritual - The Void (Album Review)

Release date: August 07th 2020. Label: Forbidden Place Records (CD & Cassette) / Kozmik Artifactz (Vinyl) Released. Format: CD/DD/Cassette/Vinyl

The Void – Tracklisting

1.Lust For The Dead 04:58
2.The Void 05:48
3.They Crawl 03:43
4.Bringer Of Evil 06:30
5.Mark Of The Witch 06:03
6.Tranquilized 03:42
7.The Conqueror 01:41
8.Evil Lie 06:08

Members

Jake Lewis - Everything

Review

Burn Ritual released their latest full length album The Void way back in August 2020. With this album being given the Vinyl Treatment thanks to the good folks over at Kozmik Artifactz. The album has already been released on CD and Cassette by Forbidden Place Records. I thought it was time to weave my critical eye over the album. This is the work of one man by the name of Jake Lewis and this has to rank as one of the best and most entertaining “One-Man Band” efforts I’ve heard in such a long time.

Don’t let that put you off. As this album is a top-level example of modern day Doom/Stoner Metal influenced by the likes of Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats and Black Sabbath. There is a cool sounding Occult feel to this album but Burn Ritual also has a healthy respect and admiration for other genres such as Psych Rock and Fuzz Rock despite the overall Dark Occult themes of the record.

The album moves effortlessly from one stirring track of EPIC modern day Doom Sounds to the next with an equally impressive vocal performance from Jake who nails down the slightly out of control persona that you need for an Occult Rock album such as this. The production is superb and buoyant from start to finish with everything sounding LOUD, CLEAR and CRISP.

The instrumental work shows you what a great musician Jake actually is with a keen ear and talent for writing trippy Psychedelic melodic grooves. This album sees Burn Ritual capture the classic 70’s gloomy energy of Black Sabbath with the more modern sinister themes from the first couple of Uncle Acid records. However, this allows Jake to show his love and appreciation for the Doom/Stoner Rock genre whilst adding his own ideas to the mix.

The album does become quite distorted in places but that only adds to the overall sense of dread that Jake has written for all of the lyrics contained within the full length of the record.

Burn Ritual made a mighty impression on the Outlaws Of The Sun crew back in 2018 when they released their debut album - Blood Of The River. Back then, Burn Ritual actually had 4 members in their ranks. Time has moved on since then but the delicate and passionate riffs heard on the album are still here but with more sinister intent and a more commanding presence.

Standout songs for myself on the album are: Lust For The Dead, The Void, They Crawl, Mark Of The Witch and Evil Lie.

If you want a good old fashioned Doom/Stoner Metal album that doesn’t shy away and starts changing things for a more Progressive sound then The Void is the album for you. This album is built for RIFFS and it has plenty of those COOL HEAVY SOUNDS for everyone to fully devour at their own demented leisure.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

You can buy The Void on CD/Cassette from Forbidden Place Records

You can buy The Void on Vinyl from Kozmik Artifactz

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Burn Ritual - Blood Of The Raven (Album Review)

Release date: October 01st 2018. Label: Cursed Monk Records. Format: CD/DD

Blood Of The Raven – Tracklisting

1.The Mirror

2.Blood of the Raven

3.Repent

4.Mountain of Smoke

5.The Creature Inside You

6.Follow Me

7.Cast Away

Members

Jake Lewis - vocals , lead guitar , keys

Brent Standifer- drums

Richard Perez - guitar

Chris Trezona - bass

Review

Greetings All,

I will admit that I am a sucker for a good doom record. With so many coming out these days, it is sometimes a bit tougher to find than one may think. Some doom records have a tendency to drift toward being overly repetitive and monotonous. So, it is with great pleasure that I gave a listen to the first full length album from Burn Ritual. The band hails from Texas and is the brainchild of main Ritualist Jake Lewis. Blood of the Raven follows the band’s impressive debut EP, Like Suffering, which was an all to brief slab of heavy doom that was performed almost entirely by Lewis. 

Blood of the Raven has Burn Ritual as a full band with Lewis at the helm handling the vocals, guitars, writing, recording, and artwork. An impressive feat to say the least. The seven tracks on Blood of the Raven are concise and rocking. The vocals have an Uncle Acid feel about them and the music is straight ahead, in no way tedious, and carries an old school doom vibe throughout.

The album opens with The Mirror that has the slow, traditional doom rock opening but the chugging riff carries the song into a rocking, more uptempo (but still doomy) jam. The title track Blood of the Raven follows with a super strong groove and a nice heavy riff. Another stellar track is Repent. This song continues with the wicked riffs, while being driven by some killer drumming and the emergence of a little synth work to keep things interesting. It isn’t too hard to figure out what the killer Mountain of Smoke is an homage to, but it is nonetheless another monstrous doom driven track.

The truly interesting The Creature Inside You follows. It is a bit of a departure from the rest of the album, as it is a slower, sombre bit of meditation with some pronounced maraca based percussion that gives you a couple moments to either chill or be creeped out, whichever is your persuasion. Follow Me comes driving in with a big, nasty, aggressive riff to drive things home before the closer comes in. Cast Away brings the heavy bass and a ton of feedback that leads to a big monster riff and an ultimately satisfying ending.

Blood of the Raven is a monstrously good record and with it Burn Ritual has emerged as one of the brightest newcomers to the doom genre. I’m not sure if you are supposed to be optimistic when it comes to doom rock, but I am truly look forward to what these guys have coming in the future. I am down with this ritual. Check them out and Dig on it! Highly Recommended.

Todd S - Instagram @alltheghoststhathauntyou

Words by Todd Stealey

Thanks to Cursed Monk Records for the promo. Blood Of The Raven will is available to buy on CD/DD via Cursed Monk Records from October 01^st 2018.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp