Introduce Yourselves: FOREST HORSE

What Is the Name of Your Band?

Forest Horse

What Is the genre of music you play?

Stoner, doom, sludge

Can you give a brief history of the band of how it came together and where it is today?

Forest Horse is a solo project peddling sludgy, psychedelic doom from the swamps of West Michigan. It began in 2022 with the release of Keep Awake, which draped layers of doom and noise over a sprawling post-rock frame. Four years later, forged by personal upheavals and an ever-darkening world, Botany exchanges the shoegaze tendencies of the past for heavy, fuzzed-out riffs and dirty blues passages that examine strange flora, extraterrestrial murmurings, fruitless resistance, and inevitable decay.

What can people expect from your music?

Fuzzy, sludgy noise that you can groove to. Some screaming about plants and aliens.

What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?

Botany – out everywhere on October 28, 2026.

Where can people find you on Social Media?

https://foresthorse.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/foresthorsemusic

Thanks to Forest Horse for the details. 

Introduce Yourselves: Nominal Anomaly

What Is the Name of Your Band?

The band is Nominal Anomaly, a single individual passion project

What Is the genre of music you play?

The genre is difficult to pinpoint. Best I could offer is Grunge Metal, as their is some of that old 90's song structure with blues / rock influence. Some songs blend more into Punk Metal. I'm a conglomeration of the 90's mostly.

Can you give a brief history of the band of how it came together and where it is today?

A buddy and myself had a band of 2 back in the late 90's early 2000s called Ark of Kaos. Never made much more than a demo tape, and ended there as people do. I quit drinking about 3 years ago, got bored with the typical drinking hobbies, and picked the guitar back up after a near 20 year hiatus. Started recording about a year later, and releasing music soon thereafter. Early 2026, released the first full album Swamp after several EP's and singles. Currently working on next year's album. Mostly just studio stuff, but a long term dream would be to play live with a band.

What can people expect from your music?

I try to write the songs with catchy rhythms, grooves, or melodies. It's fun in a metal type of way. The lyrical content is a bit here and there, building an odd background of weird lore, but mostly metaphoric to point at reality and be critical or bring emphasis to something. Swamp itself was built during a time of transition personally, so leans deeper into mental health

What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?

The album Swamp. BTW, Oblique, Therapy are a couple tracks from Swamp as a personal favorite

Where can people find you on Social Media?

www.nominalanomaly.com
https://www.facebook.com/NominalAnomaly
Nominalanomaly.bsky.social
https://www.instagram.com/thenominalanomaly/
https://mastodon.social/@NominalAnomaly

Introduce Yourselves: ROTTERDAM

What Is the Name of Your Band?

Rotterdam

What Is the genre of music you play?

We play a mix of Doom, Stoner Metal, Grunge and alternative

Can you give a brief history of the band of how it came together and where it is today? 

Formed in 2020 by lifelong friends Brenden Massa (vocals, bass) and Wyatt Slanec (guitar). The lineup was later rounded out by drummer Ian Poole, formerly of the viral Deathcore band Defiler. 

After pouring the highs and lows of the past few years into their music, the band headed to Earthtone Studios in Sacramento, CA, to record with engineer Patrick Hill (King Woman, Oromet). 

The result — Falling In Vertigo — was released in March 2026.

What can people expect from your music?

People can expect a journey of light and heavy sound, melodies and emotions from beginning to end

What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?

Our debut album- Falling In Vertigo

Where can people find you on Social Media?

LinkTree

Introduce Yourselves: The Almost Dead

What Is the Name of Your Band?

The Almost Dead based in Paris, France

What Is the genre of music you play?

Heavy Stoner

Can you give a brief history of the band of how it came together and where it is today?

The Almost Dead was formed in April 2024 with four experienced members from the French hard rock/metal scene.

The band spent its first year composing the initial tracks for its repertoire. The result was the release of a 3-track demo in January 2025.

In June 2025, The Almost Dead played their first concert and then returned to the studio to compose and record new tracks.

A self-produced 5-track EP was released in December 2025.

The year 2026 is dedicated to concerts promoting this EP.

What can people expect from your music?

The heavy rock of the late 1960's and early 1970's is the starting point for our stoner-oriented musical project, with strong influences from psychedelic rock and doom metal.

What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?

First EP named Almost Dead released in December 2025 and available on Bandcamp.

https://thealmostdead1.bandcamp.com/album/almost-dead-ep

Where can people find you on Social Media?

https://linktr.ee/thealmostdeadband

Introduce Yourselves: McMurdo Sound Agreement

What Is the Name of Your Band?

We are McMurdo Sound Agreement

What Is the genre of music you play?

We play hard rock/ stoner metal. Inspired by the stoner metal scene of the early 00s, we take the influences of band like Clutch, Fu Manchu and Unida and use them to forge our own identity. We love blending super heavy riffs with cool melodies and weird chord progressions.

Can you give a brief history of the band of how it came together and where it is today?

Sean (Guitar) and Lindsey (Drums) have been playing together in bands across the Northeast of England since 2010. The idea with McMurdo was that we wanted to really focus on creating concept albums with a cool overarching narrative, which we tell through the lyrics and artwork. We gig around the region but we’re predominately a studio-based outfit and we’ve just released our first album Second Spine.

What can people expect from your music?

We wanted to create a sound that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Small Stone records compilation from the 2000s, and I think we succeeded. Super heavy fuzziness balanced with strong melody and massive choruses.

What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?

Our new album Second Spine came out a couple of weeks ago, and we’re super proud of it. We self-produced and released this, it really has been a labour of love.

Bandcamp: https://mcmurdosoundagreement.bandcamp.com/album/second-spine
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/second-spine/1891856065
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1RlCWnJqXdLjLXUfNaymHZ?si=ZKCSyp1cSa-H5GGEi_I45g

Where can people find you on Social Media?

https://www.instagram.com/mcmurdosoundagreement

Introduce Yourselves: STONE WIZARDS

What Is the Name of Your Band?

STONE WIZARDS

What Is the genre of music you play?

PROGRESSIVE STONER METAL

Can you give a brief history of the band of how it came together and where it is today?

Formed in July 2019 in Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina, Brazil, Stone Wizards was born from the shared passion of three musicians for heavy and progressive music. With the initial goal of creating a dense, captivating, and distinctive sound, the band quickly established its unique sonic identity in the national metal scene, uniting the brutality of heavy metal with the complex and innovative elements of progressive rock.

What can people expect from your music?

Stone Wizards represents a fusion between two distinct musical universes: the heaviness of stoner metal and the structural sophistication of progressive rock. This sonic encounter creates a unique musical experience that captivates both audiences who appreciate heavy and accessible riffs and those who seek compositional complexity and innovation.

What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?

Our latest single, OCEANS, is available on spotify : 

ttps://open.spotify.com/intl-pt/track/36z3juObpIuAxnj7wwgmVQ?si=133df72b80d942b6. 

It's part of our future album that will be released in the second half of 2026 !

Where can people find you on Social Media?

https://www.instagram.com/stonewizards
https://www.youtube.com/stonewizards
https://epkbuilder.com/site/stone-wizards

Introduce Yourselves - Tickle The Sage

What is the name of your band?

Tickle the Sage

What is the genre of music that you play?

Psychedelic Rock / Heavy Psych / Space Rock

Can you give a brief history of the band of how it came together and where it is today?

Tickle the Sage started with Alex Nikolov and Ivan Petkov. We’ve known each other since childhood. After high school we lost contact for a few years, then reconnected in 2020 and started playing music together again. 

At first, the band was mostly about jamming. We played a lot outdoors in parks and open urban spaces around Sofia, Bulgaria, and organized small gigs where other artists could join in - musicians, dancers, poi and fire performers. We were already writing ideas, but nothing was fixed yet. 

After a while, we decided to focus more seriously on songwriting and shaping those ideas into full songs. We’ve always been interested in analyzing music - what makes a song immersive, what kind of feelings and imagery it creates - and we wanted to explore that through our own writing. 

In 2024, Sivin Sivov (drums) and Simeon Bayatov (bass) joined the band. Since then, we’ve been writing together as a full lineup and playing more regularly, including many gigs and festivals around Bulgaria. 

We love underground culture and the DIY approach. At some point we even got solar generators and started organizing forest gigs in the mountains, inspired by generator parties. We do everything ourselves and remain fully independent - we record, produce, create our own artwork and visualizers (every song has either a visualizer or a video clip), film and edit our videos, and handle our own merch.

This is important to us because we want to build our own world around the band, not only through the music, but through everything we create. 

We’ve just released our first studio album, Journey. We’re currently working on new material and plan to release more singles during 2026. We’re also preparing an Eastern European tour, with the aim of doing a wider European tour in 2027.

What can people expect from your music?

Music that moves and changes. 

The songs develop over time, with different parts and moods. Some sections are heavy, others are calmer, but there’s always motion. We pay special attention to groove and melody and want the music to make you move, regardless of musical background. It’s also very atmospheric and immersive. When we play, we often feel like we’re stepping into another space, and that’s the experience we’re aiming to create. 

The album Journey works as a whole, but each track can also stand on its own. 

What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?

Our debut album Journey. We released it in November 2025. 

It has seven tracks. Four songs have visualizers and two have full video clips. Everything is self-produced.

Where can people find you on Social Media?

Spotify
YouTube
Instagram
Facebook
Bandcamp

Tickle the Sage 1st album

Ticke the Sage LIVE Album Promo

Journey on YouTube:

1. Are You Asleep (Official Video) 

2. Freeman’s Will (Official Visualizer) 

3. Tickle the Sage (Official Video) 

4. The Maze (Official Visualizer) 

5. Space Drift (Official Visualizer) 

6. Stranger (Official Visualizer) 

7. Journey – To be released on YouTube

Introduce Yourselves: Bloodmoon Rite

What is the name of your band?

Bloodmoon Rite

What is the genre of music that you play?

Heavy metal/Epic doom metal.

I would say more heavy metal than doom metal, but a huge part of inspiration comes from doom, and especially epic doom. Such bands as Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus. Another big influence is Black Sabbath, mainly the Dio era and Heaven & Hell. That said, I like early Sabbath as well.

Can you give a brief history of the band of how it came together and where it is today?

Bloodmoon Rite is a one-man project led by Denis Shipilov — singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist. It’s me.

Before Bloodmoon Rite, I played in many bands and genres. There was a blues period, then I was making instrumental music and probably would have continued. But a couple of years ago I started to sing myself. I was honestly just tired of instrumental music and was searching for a singer to join the band. That didn’t work out, so one day I decided to try singing myself. I made a couple of tracks with my own vocals and realized I didn’t really need bandmates anymore.

What can people expect from your music?

Fat sound, massive drums and fuzzy guitars. Immersive soundscapes and the atmosphere of ancient rites. For those who like to dig deeper, there is a whole Bloodmoon Rite universe filled with ancient manuscripts and prophecies. Composition-wise, it’s traditional metal, but I use modern mixing practices (as of 2026) to make the sound really big. At the same time, it doesn’t sound like modern metal.

What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?

At the moment there is only one single available, and I hope the best release hasn’t been released yet. There is also something called the Prophecy of the Ninth Seal. According to it, the first single, “Omen”, is the entrance to the Bloodmoon Rite universe, so it’s best to start there.

Where can people find you on social media?

Bandcamp: https://bloodmoonrite.bandcamp.com/album/omen
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BloodmoonRite
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1to64cs7Q5hYNyfqfnmUCL
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bloodmoonrite/

What is the Prophecy of the Ninth Seal?

I tried to encode Bloodmoon Rite future plans as ancient prophecy, so the Prophecy of the Ninth Seal is it. It’s important as a project roadmap but if we talk about lore, it is not the central part of the lore there are more important artefacts of the Bloodmoon Rite universe than the Prophecy.

What will happen when the Prophecy will be revealed?

We’ll see. It will definitely be the end of a chapter, but not the end of the Bloodmoon Rite story.

What’s your plans for 2026?

Release of 4 singles more and start of the long play recording.

Introduce Yourselves: SUN EMPRESS

What is the name of your band?

Sun Empress

What is the genre of music you play?

Sludge metal, progressive stoner with psychedelic influences

A brief history of the band

Sun Empress is the Swedish duo Henrik Wikner (Vargsol, Caterpillar Ghost, The Distance Between Us) and Christian Fransson (Mon) who started making music together remotely in 2023 as a side project, connected through their common love of slow and explosive heavy music. As the songs grew and morphed from riffs and ideas into a cohesive whole, more effort and time was poured into it as the project solidified into their debut 2025 release, Still Life.

What can people expect from your music?

An uncompromising outlook on life, both the good and bad. A very focused musical endeavour that moves from the gnarly sound of a single locust to the explosive sensation of being stampeded by a herd of elephants. 

What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?

Still Life is the first release from the hard-hitting outfit from Gothenburg, Sweden. Moving through the realms of the slow paced heavy musical universe of bands like Yob and Kongh, Sun Empress adds psychedelic and progressive colours to a pitch black canvas. Add to this a distinct sense of melody and an expressive vocal style and Sun Empress sets out on a musical exploration.

Where can people find you on social media?

https://linktr.ee/sunempressband

https://sunempress.bandcamp.com/album/still-life

http://instagram.com/sunempressband

https://www.youtube.com/@sunempressband

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61583085683603

Introduce Yourselves: P+A+G+E+S

What is the name of your band?

The name of our band is, P+A+G+E+S, and it’s pronounced, “pages”. From 2014 - 2023, we used to call ourselves Morning Pages after the mind-clearing writing exercise by Julia Cameron from her book, The Artist’s Way. We mimicked the idea of catharsis and the improvisation of the writing method with a post-rock and soundscaping approach to visuals that we created internally and projected during live shows. We were (and still are) very inspired by Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

The ‘+’ in between the band name’s letters resemble an equation. It’s esoteric and spellwork in that it’s a metaphorical symbol so the name becomes imbued with meaning. It represents balance or equilibrium through equality and inclusivity for the marginalized. The Pages in tarot represents new beginnings and catalysts for personal growth. In 2017, we pivoted to a heavier sound to represent our views and, in 2024, we simplified our name to P+A+G+E+S as part of solidifying our statement. We support women, LGBTQI+, BIPOC, human rights and animal rights. 

What is the genre of music that you play?

We play atmospheric noise, doom, drone, sludge punk and post-metal.

Can you give a brief history of the band of how it came together and where it is today?

We are based in Cape Town, South Africa. Helo samo (the guitarist, vocalist and sample maker) and Frank Lunar (the bassist) came together in 2013 as an ambient duo. Caitlin Mkhasibe (the drummer) joined in 2014. Up until 2016, we had gone through various additional band members and, from 2017, the three of us became the stable members since then. Up until 2019, we were very underground in our approach. From 2019, we became intentional with how we put our current music out to the public and started planning to release our debut full length studio album, No More Can Be Done.

We are fully independent, remain very punk and DIY in our ethos as we’re all artists and do a lot of the band’s creative direction, copy, photography, illustration, design, videos and editing, social media, props and costumes. For this debut release, we’re extremely fortunate to be able to work with our good friend, Simon Ratcliffe of Sound and Motion Studios to record the album; the lovely folks that helped us create the Shine On music video, Louise Coetzer and Oscar O’Ryan; Rouleaux van der Merwe of Permanent Record, who organized the vinyl pressing and Warren Gibson of Plug Music Agency is helping us promote the album.

What can people expect from your music?

People can expect to hear low, raw, emotionally charged music with distorted, low tuned instruments and sparse vocal lines. The sound resembles the overlapping themes of existential dread, geopolitical and environmental despair caused by greedy, colonial imperialists while searching for light and resilience to fight back.

What is the best release that folks should check out from your band?

No More Can Be Done is our debut album and it was released on October 25th 2025.

We recorded it with Simon Ratcliffe and Carl Roberts at Sound and Motion Studios in Cape Town. It was a phenomenal experience as the studio’s team do a lot of work for film and TV, which meant Simon understood the atmospheric element of our album. He brought out the best in us and was one of the first people to believe in our vision for the album. The old church in which the studio is located is beautiful and really inspiring.

Do you have any live shows coming up?

We have a few upcoming live shows in Cape Town:

We will be the opening band at Madman Mayhem at District on November 28th 2025. This event is organized by FOUL PLAY and Planet Karavan (Rico Niezen). This will be our first public show as P+A+G+E+S.

On February 7th 2026, we will have our album launch at the Masque Theatre in Muizenberg. In the same month, we will record a Spinal Session at Spinal Tap Bar in Observatory, where we will work with Carl Nienaber to create a special beer on tap, which will be available for the public screening at his bar.

On April 4th 2026, we will play a doom-themed show at District again, opening for  bands, Constellatia and Vast Vale.

Where can people find you on Social Media?

People can find our music videos and recorded live sets on YouTube: @PAGES_DOOM

Our music is only available to stream and purchase on Bandcamp: pagesdoom.bandcamp.com

We are on Instagram as @pages_doom

Thanks Plug Music Agency for all of the details.