Luna and the Aether - Metanoia (Album Review)

Release Date: July 31st 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

Metanoia - Tracklist

1.Mirage 04:48

2.Back To Bliss 06:42

3.Magnolia 05:51

4.Haven 03:52

5.Sojourn 05:32

6.Fermenting 05:46

7.Godsend 06:50

Lineup

Vocals and Guitar - Martina Steffert-Cubillana
Bass - Evan Oijordsbakken
Drums - David van Eerden

Review

Metanoia is the debut album from Alternative/Gothic/Doom Rockers Luna and the Aether who show a whole style of cinematic world-building with this record. As this album has really strong characterizations throughout the whole thing with the band creating their own great style of DOOM & GLOOM music with a great use of Shoegaze, Stoner Rock and Post-Rock sounds being played from the very start. The band have a similar style of musical delivery by the likes of HUM, Slow Crush, Windhand and Faetooth but with a haunting Nineties based Alt Rock presence that comes mostly through the exquisite vocals of vocalist Martina Steffert-Cubillana.

Martina’s vocals have an emotionally charged aspect to them but also one full of innocence at the same time which fully sells the whole Shoegaze or Doomgaze aspect that the band ultimately achieve. The Gothic sound is quite grounded and allows Luna and the Aether to develop into heavier areas of dense music with a level of poetic imagery behind everything. The music is cautiously slow to deliver the heavy grooves but knows when to do this for maximum effect and the levels can be beautifully deafening as well. 

There is great use of classic Grunge sensibility within the deepest and heaviest themes on Metanoia which comes across quite powerful on tracks such as Mirage, Back To Bliss, Magnolia, Fermenting and Godsend though the whole record is exquisite to listen to. Luna and the Aether also deliver some great work in expanding their distorted environment on other parts of the record that gives everything so much destructive volume and when this is paired up against Martina’s soulful vocals then be prepared for this album to tug at your heart strings. 

I’m not ashamed to admit that this record really got to me which made me think of long lost family and friends that even became quite therapeutic for me which I can only thank Luna and the Aether for.  It’s perhaps the second half of the record where Luna and the Aether really come into their own by combining slightly operatic themes with a grounded Doom Rock and Post-Rock approach that should appeal to fans of Windhand and Chelsea Wolfe. The instrumental delivery can be quite “Sludge Rock” obsessive which gives another whole musical delivery for Luna and the Aether to impress listeners with.

Luna and The Aether hail from New Zealand and I’m a huge fan of their Hard Rock/Heavy Metal scene especially with the mighty BEASTWARS coming from that great country. This band offer a different style of music from the non-stop great Sludge/Stoner Metal bands that have arrived from New Zealand, though Luna and the Aether have delivered a record that has huge potential to launch them onto greater things within the global Heavy Rock scene. 

Metanoia is an absolute must have record and this may perhaps introduce you to your new favourite band.

Words by Steve Howe

Links 

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Wailin Storms - The Arsonist (Album Review)

Release Date: July 10th 2026. Record Label: Season Of Mist. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

The Arsonist - Tracklisting

1. Dead End (4:48)

2. Heart of Mine (5:13)

3. You Never Answered (4:53)

4. The Arsonist (4:52)

5. Never Rest (4:59)

6. Saved (4:24)

7. Patient Night (3:22)

8. The Wind (6:01)

9. It's All Dark Now Where Your Eyes Used to Be (6:30)

Members

Justin Storms - Lead vocals, rhythm guitar

Ben Melton - Lead guitar, backup vocals, Rhodes organ, piano

Steve Stanczyk - Bass

Mark Oates - Drums

Review

Wailin Storms return with their fifth album The Arsonist that once again features their potent mix of Doom, Gothic, Southern Rock, Alt Rock and Americana that’s doused in a heavy dose of Blues Rock that’s held together by a Swamp Rock narrative. There’s always been an air of mystery behind Wailin Storms records which taps into the darkest corners of the Doom Rock and Southern Rock scenes. Lead vocalist / rhythm guitarist Justin Storms is the main creative force here with his grounded and gothic lyrics being one of the main highlights of the record.

There are shades of Nick Cave, Jeff Buckley, Black Sabbath, Alice In Chains and even DANZIG which shows the broad musical landscape the band have projected within their impressive discography. The Arsonist is quite subdued and is alarmingly heavy when the need arises but it’s a different kind of HEAVY ROCK with a stripped back style being semi-acoustic in places which develops very early on tracks such as Dead End, Heart Of Mine and You Never Answered. These songs are cautiously slow and bleakly pessimistic at the best times but the thundering melodies and post-doom surroundings allows Wailin Storms to portray a mellow and blues rock environment which never lets a ray of sunshine or uplifting grooves to appear. 

The Arsonist can be too unforgiving for its own good but it shows you the depths of Occult Rock and Gothic Doom that the band are willing to thrust upon the listener. There’s some great use of psychedelic instrumental passages and drone rock appearing within the later stages of the record with an aggressive sideline of moody Grunge melodies. The other members of the band Ben Melton (Lead guitar, backup vocals, Rhodes organ, piano), Steve Stanczyk (Bass) and Mark Oates (Drums) all play to their musical strengths by putting in phenomenal performances throughout. This record sounds and feels like a real team effort even when Justin’s vocals and majestic persona takes centre stage for large parts of the record.

Another great aspect of the record is the stripped back production values that have a lovely analogue feeling which gives the whole thing a crisp, clean and moody atmosphere from beginning to end. This allows the Post-Punk themes of the record to fully shine through on the second half of the album, even impressing me the most. 

Other great tracks on The Arsonist include: The Arsonist, Never Rest, Saved, The Wind and It’s All Dark Now Where Your Eyes Used To Be. There’s a haunting romantic aspect that does start to form here which feels like there’s a massive EARTH influence appearing when you least expect it but the bleak and sometimes nihilistic lyrics allows Wailin Storms to form their own definitive musical legacy. 

The band are five albums into their career at this point and are really starting to gain a reputation as one of America’s best Gothic Rock bands currently out there as they explore different musical themes that’s so brilliantly original and emotionally striking with each passing record. The Arsonist is a towering achievement that’s deeply unflinching vision with Wailin Storms leaving you emotionally satisfied with an intense and gut wrenching musical experience. There’s no other way I can describe this album and that’s where I’m going to end this review.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Season Of Mist ffor the promo.

The Arsonist is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Season Of Mist.

Links 

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EYE - THE NEW BAND FROM MWWB SINGER-SONGWRITER/MUSICIAN JESSICA BALL - SHARE VIDEO FOR ‘IN YOUR NIGHT

Photo by Ren Faulkner

EYE – the new band from Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard (MWWB) singer-songwriter/musician Jessica Ball – recently announced the arrival of their eagerly awaited debut album, 'Dark Light’ set for release on 26th April via New Heavy Sounds (Shooting Daggers, MWWB, Blacklab).

‘Dark Light’ is an intensely atmospheric fusion of emotionally charged songcraft and inspired sonic energy. The clue is in the album's paradoxical title. Chilling and even bleak melodies with arrangements daringly and deliberately stripped down and minimal. Revealing a kinship with sonic bed-fellows Mazzy Star, Chelsea Wolfe or even Portishead, which can be heard on first single ‘In Your Night’. Jessica comments,

"Our first release 'In Your Night' represents Eye musically, conceptually and lyrically and I'm proud for this to be the first song that everyone hears from us... Light and dark, night and day, quiet and loud is the running theme throughout this song and album as a whole. Whether you're up close to a song, or listening to the album as a whole, these themes will be ever present throughout. We're playing around with these two extremes sonically and what these represent emotionally and mentally. I feel that nothing takes you on a journey more effectively than a good build up, or something happening unexpectedly, much like real life. We are just the eye that witnesses it all."

Watch the video for ‘In Your Night’ - 

Jess adds, "These songs have been many years in the making... Some of these ideas were crafted before MWWB, this is something I've always wanted to do. Over the last couple of years, I’ve spent some time on finishing and crafting these ideas and pieces of music into songs. Some were snippets of lyrics from my early twenties which reflect on what seems like a different person. I think it’s quite poetic how it’s all come together now.

I was also encouraged after finding musicians who understood the vision and style I was trying to achieve, and of course my experience of being in MWWB. I’m a guitarist above all, and I loved reconnecting with guitar again. It feels like all my influences and favourite styles have come together in this album. Shoegaze, doom, folk, dream pop... It’s a real mix bag but as a whole, it represents many different stages of my life and tells a story.

The album ultimately is quite introspective yet lyrically loose enough to be open to interpretation – I’ve always been a fan of songs that seem to perfectly slot into the situation I’m experiencing and not too specific to one person's experience... I think that comes across in this album.”

Jessica relocated from Wrexham to join her new partner, veteran Welsh musician Gid Goundrey (Gulp, Ghostlawns, Martin Carr), in Cardiff just as the pandemic era dawned. Confined to their small Grangetown flat, they quite naturally began making music together.

Having earned acclaim and a fervent fan following for her role in MWWB, Ball took the opportunity to compose songs that were all her own – nuanced, lyrical, and hypnotically distinctive.

Triggered in part by the existential dread looming outside as well as the sudden ill health of her dear friend, MWWB guitarist Paul “Dave” Davies, then fighting for life after a Covid-related stroke.

With Goundrey on drums (for the first time in his musical career) and joined by keyboardist Jonny, Eye experimented with sounds to match Ball’s melodic songs, traversing a diverse spectrum of dark folk, dreampop, IDM and psychedelic doom, to create sometimes heavy and foreboding drones, alongside spare but still richly textured sonics.

Songs like “The Other Sees”, “Respair”, "See Yourself" are chameleonic and commanding, wielding snaky, chiming guitar back to back with fuzzed out riffs. Vocal melodies may be sweet but melancholic, amidst tightly contrasted spatial dimensions, and Ball’s signature vocals are at the forefront, sometimes soaring but also with a heart of darkness. Of the two ‘heavier’ numbers “In Your Night,” slowly builds to a brooding fuzz-groove like a down-tuned Yo La Tengo until a huge space-doom riffs carries you home while with "See Yourself" the contrast from folk delicacy to tripped out sub-bass fuzz riffage is astounding.

So, whilst not strictly speaking ‘Doom’ or ‘Metal’ fans of Jessica’s previous work with MWWB will not be disappointed. Along with producer Chris Fielding (MWWB, Conan) EYE have produced something otherworldly, which is at times heavy and epic, yet still deeply intimate and dark. A striking debut.

‘Dark Light’ is due to drop on 26th April 2024, and as with all New Heavy Sounds releases, will come in a deluxe limited vinyl edition. Green/Purple half and half effect vinyl, with full download included as well as limited edition CD and at all digital platforms.

Pre-order now:

Bandcamp: https://eye-uk.bandcamp.com/album/dark-light
Cargo: https://cargorecordsdirect.co.uk/products/eye-dark-light
Digital: https://lnk.to/iw6VA6

Follow EYE online:

https://www.facebook.com/eyeeyeeyemusic
https://eye-uk.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/_e_y_e_b_a_n_d

Thanks to For The Lost PR for all of the details.

Patriarchs In Black - My Veneration (Album Review)

Release Date: October 06th 2023. Record Label: MDD Records. Formats: CD/DD

My Veneration - Tracklisting

01. Dead Or Dying

02. Show Them Your Power

03. Lust For Lies

04. Veneration

05. Non Defectum

06. My Veneration

07. Dead And Gone

08. Crooked Smile

09. Heaven Burn

10. Hallowed Be Her Name

11. Digital Lies

12. I Stole Your Love

13. Hole In The Sky

Members

Johnny Kelly - drums

Dan Lorenzo - guitars

Guest Musicians

Karl Agell - vocals

John Kosco - vocals

Mark Sunshine - vocals

Rob Traynor - vocals

DMC - vocals

Gianni Pontillo - vocals

Kelly Abe - vocals

Bobby Jensen - vocals

Ronny Araya - bass

Eric J. Morgan - bass

Anthony Vitti - bass

Dave Neabore - bass

John "JD" DeServio - bass

Emma Smoler - violin

Jonathan Eng - violin

Paul Walter - keys

Scott Mueller - organ

Eddie Heedles - guitar solo

Danny Kelly - guitar solo

Jerry Babcock - back vocals

Review

My Veneration is the new album from Doom/Stoner Rockers Patriarchs In Black with the main creative duo of Dan Lorenzo (Hades and Cassius King) Johnny Kelly (Danzig, Type O Negative and Quiet Riot) return soon after their last album Reach For The Stars released back in 2022. This time round Patriarchs In Black offer a more Hard Rock and Heavy Metal based sound with the Doom/Stoner Metal groundwork allowing My Veneration to be a much richer and rewarding experience. The album contains what feels like a neverending amount of classic Hard Rock riffage with Doomed Out Sludgy guitars throughout. Patriarchs In Black have invited what feels like a world class  supply of guest musicians on this album who lend their vocal talents, bass guitars and wicked sounding guitar solos. You can see the impressive roster of guest musicians who appear on this album above.

The record is both classic sounding and modern at the same time. If you love the excess of the 1980's Hard Rock and Heavy Metal scene but with the modern day Doom/Stoner Metal flow then Patriarchs In Black have you covered on all bases. I would normally do a song-by-song review but this time I'm reviewing the album as one whole listening experience with my own personal highlights of the album. Patriarchs In Black have created a gloomy and gothic offering that is perhaps down to Johnny Kelly's time spent with Doom and Gloom legends Type O Negative. However, there is a sense of demented THRASH based fun on other parts of the album with this being a more warped style of Hard Rock, Classic Doom and full-on Stoner Metal.

There's also moments of 90's Grunge attitude and Alt-Metal edginess with a free-flowing creative attitude that allows My Veneration to have a fearsome and aggressive quality especially with the range of different themes and guest musicians that appear on the album. You'll be surprised to hear that Patriarchs In Black play moments of Neurosis style Sludge/Post-Metal but with a seedy grungy sound on some of the standout moments of the album. 

Can you call this album an Experimental album? I suppose you could with the wonderful sounding violins that appear most impressively within Veneration which has some HIP-HOP/RAP based vocals. It's not Nu Metal but Patriarchs In Black exploring different areas of music such as Hard Rock, Heavy Metal and Classical Music for a sense of non-stop WTF creative moments that come thick and fast on My Veneration.

Standout tracks to check out: Dead Or Dying, Lust For Lies, Veneration, My Veneration, Hallowed Be Her Name, Digital Lies and Hole In The Sky.

The tracks listed above are the ones I found the most technically impressive and brilliantly insane from a creative standpoint but also one with the finest and craziest grooves. There's thirteen tracks on this album with Patriarchs In Black covering almost every niche of sound under the Hard Rock/Heavy Metal banner. The musical influences you can hear on this album are vast and constantly impressive which Patriarchs In Black could have easily lost their way. However, it's to the band's credit that they've released an excessive, exuberant and over-the-top album that sees Patriarchs In Black become closer to Faith No More, Soundgarden and The Melvins when the album has finished but still retaining the albums own unique vision and heavy sound.

Patriarchs In Black are masters of their own creative domain and this will no doubt entertain the sheer hell who listens to the album.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to MDD Records for the promo.

My Veneration is available to buy on CD/DD now via MDD Records.

Links

BandCamp | Instagram

EMBR - 1823 (Album Review)

Release date: July 17th 2020. Label: New Heavy Sounds Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

1823 – Tracklisting

1.Prurient
2.Where I've Been
3.Stranger 

4.Powder
5.Eyes Like Knives
6.Your Burden
7.Vines

Members

Eric - Drums
Crystal - Vox
Alan - Bass
Mark - Guitar

Review

1823 is the debut full length album from EMBR. A band that I have featured previously on the blog over the years and it’s great to see the band deliver on their early potential they showed on their previous releases with this huge sounding album. 1823 is named because as Eric received a kidney transplant when writing the album. The following info will explain everything:

Drummer Eric Bigelow received a kidney transplant in the middle of writing the album. The kidney was from a deceased donor. All Eric and Crystal Bigelow (singer and Eric’s wife) know about the donor is that they were female and between the ages of 18-23.

The album is dedicated to the donor and the surgeons at Vanderbilt hospital in Nashville TN.

1823 features seven songs with EMBR embracing their Doom Metal identity but adding flashes of Gothic Rock, Sludge Rock, Stoner Metal, Psych Rock and even Grunge. So they have all bases covered within the musical spectrum and they have a damn good time in making some top-notch noise and grooves of their own.

The album is quite dark in places with the heavy guitars and lush twisted vocals from Crystal that add an eerie atmosphere from start to finish. The lyrics may take a little bit of time to fully become accustomed to but when everything clicks into place EMBR soar to new musical heights with Progressive and Doom based sounds leading the way.

EMBR are quite a different band from their earlier EP’s. As the music is heavier and way more progressive with the band playing some cool riffs that wouldn’t go amiss from a Mastodon or Torche record.

ongs such as: Prurient, Stranger, Powder and Eyes Like Knives -are my favourite songs on the album with the band being more focused on playing the heaviest sounds of the album and Crystal is just on dynamite form with her multitude and different style of vocals she performs on this album. And the music ain’t half bad either.

1823 is an album with real attitude and a determined focus that you don’t really hear with a debut album but EMBR pull this off with style and some epic doomed out riffs that will leave a lasting impression.

This is a superb debut album and EMBR richly deserve all the plaudits coming their way.

Words by Steve Howe

1823 is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via New Heavy Sounds.

Links:

Official | Facebook | BandCamp