Sabbath City stadium-doom trio MARGARITA WITCH CULT to release self-titled album on Heavy Psych Sounds; stream first single now!

Birmingham's heavy metal power trio MARGARITA WITCH CULT launch the frantic first single taken from their forthcoming self-titled debut, to be released this April 21st on Heavy Psych Sounds. Fire up with "Death Lurks At Every Turn" now!

"Riff-lovers everywhere gather around because heavy riff disciples Margarita Witch Cult are here to become your torchbearers of unholy din." - GigRadar

"Margarita Death Cult aren't just an awesome band name, they're an awesome metal band." - New Noise

Born from the murky industrial depths of Birmingham, UK, MARGARITA WITCH CULT’s self-titled debut studio album is a tour-de-force in classic metal, hard rock, doom, and mind-melting psych, a timeless, merciless beast — one that will chew you up and spit you out, yet somehow keep you crawling back for more! A total must-have for fans of dark and boogie-laden heavy à la Green Lung, Orange Goblin, Orchid.

 

💀 Listen to "Death Lurks At every Turn" via Distorted Sound Magazine 💀

About the new single, the band comments: "‘Death Lurks at Every Turn’ is a hair-raising thrasher- breakneck snare rolls, snarling vocals, feral guitar solos and pile-driving bass all collide in beautifully chaotic fashion in this relentless rager from the Birmingham band’s upcoming debut studio LP. Part thrash havoc, part doom-laden grunge; pure pandemonium. This 2-minute aural assault is an unfiltered, unrelenting reminder of the inevitable-  a gut-punch with pure, demented precision."

Debut album "Margarita Witch Cult"
Out April 21st on Heavy Psych Sounds - Preorder

TRACKLIST:

01. Diabolical Influence
2. Death Lurks At Every Turn
3. The Witchfinder Comes
4. Be My Witch
5. Annihilation
6. Theme From Cyclops
7. Lord of the Flies
8. Aradia
9. Sacrifice

About the album: A thunderous drum fill propels you into opener ‘Diabolical Influence’ - a lurching behemoth of a tune that makes easy bedfellows of crushing stoner riffs, Latin incantations, and a simply humongous chorus. The pace quickens with the frantic ‘Death Lurks at Every Turn’ - a hair-raising thrasher of breakneck snare rolls and unruly guitar solos. ‘The Witchfinder Comes’ only furthers the sense of foreboding, as tales of torture and pleas for exile fall on the ever-deafening ears of the listener. ‘Be My Witch’ comes in hot and heavy as a grungy ode to the forbidden, and the blistering ‘Annihilation’ concludes side A with speed-freak ferocity.

The more adventurous and immersive side B is kick-started with ‘Theme From Cyclops’ – the deft chops of all 3 members being undeniable as we gallop into the ambitious, face-melting journey that is ‘Lord Of The Flies’-a belting doom groover that culminates in a classic guitar & bass dual to rival even the most virtuosic of axe-wielders. As we near the end of our perilous sonic expedition, ‘Aradia’ serves up an instrumental serving of pure downtuned filth, with sleazy swagger and tasteful shredding that give extra provenance to its author's deep bag of tricks. The killer blow comes in the shape of the simply savage ‘Sacrifice’ - an unholy exhibition of undeniable force. The duality of the track makes for an experience that leaves our sweet listener reeling- the bludgeoning weight of its monstrous main riff giving way to razor-sharp verses and a tripped-out, mind-bending psych jam- only to come crashing back to crushing reality as the final, fatal notes ring out.

MARGARITA WITCH CULT is
Scott Vincent - Vocals & Guitar
George Casual - Drums
Jim Thing - Bass

MARGARITA WITCH CULT links
Facebook⎜Bandcamp⎜Instagram⎪Spotify

HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS links
Website⎜Facebook⎜Bandcamp⎜Instagram⎜Youtube

Norwegian stonercore unit HÅNDGEMENG shares fierce new single "The Astronomer"; debut album "Ultraritual" out March 10th on Ripple Music!

Norwegian stonercore geniuses HÅNDGEMENG unleash a rip-roaring first single taken from their debut album "Ultraritual", to be released on March 10th through Ripple Music. Get at full force by the insane grooves of "The Astronomer" now!

"If you're looking for a particularly spacey brand of hardcore, then you need more Håndgemeng in your life." - Metal Injection

This is high-octane doom'n'roll straight from the Norwegian tundra. A little bit of classic rock inspired by the riff masters of the 70s brewed together with the band's hardcore roots and the fuzzed-laden wizardry of modern stoner doom... Out of the cauldron rises HÅNDGEMENG. Riff after riff, banger after banger, Håndgemeng will take you from the depths of hell to the farthest reaches of space in a blink of an eye. Fasten your seatbelts!

Embrace the stonercore fury of "The Astronomer"

HÅNDGEMENG was formed in Oslo in 2017 by brothers Martin and Filip Wennberg on vocals and bass, Charlie Ytterli on guitar and Ola Holseth on drums. They had played together in various hardcore and punk bands in the early days, but the puzzle pieces didn’t come together until Håndgemeng was formed and the riffs got slower, and the amps got louder. In 2019 they released their first EP “Motorcycle Death Cult” followed by the “Grim Riffer” EP. Playing shows constantly, they became a band to take notice of in the Oslo underground scene. After parting ways with bassist Filip, longtime friend Kim Grannes took over as groovemeister in the band.

Just when they started making their debut album, society collapsed, and the world went into a global lockdown. Coincidence? We think not… Still, from that darkness, the band wrote and recorded "Ultraritual", eight songs that will take you on a forceful, hard-hitting and definitely spacey heavy rock journey over millions of years, that should enthuse fans of Mantar, Kvelertak or Domkraft. 

"Ultraritual" will be issued in various colored vinyl formats, black vinyl, CD and digital on March 10th through Ripple Music. 

New album "Ultraritual"
Out March 10th on Ripple Music
US preorder - European preorder - Bandcamp

TRACKLIST:

1. The Astronomer
2. Cro-Magnon Vs Neanderthal
3. Visions In Fire
4. Temple Of Toke
5. Ultraritual
6. Tales From The Thundra
7. Occulation Of Mars

HÅNDGEMENG is:

Martin Wennberg aka Hellvis Presley - chants and rituals
Charlie Ytterli aka Abuse Springsteen - riffs and mischief
Kim Grannes aka Jeans Simmons - bass lines and coke lines
Ola Holseth aka Motörola - pots and pans

HÅNDGEMENG links

Facebook⎪Bandcamp⎪Instagram⎪Spotify

RIPPLE MUSIC links

Website⎪Facebook⎪Bandcamp⎪Instagram

Exclusive Album Premiere Of SIGNO ROJO New Album THERE WAS A HOLE HERE

Newly signed to Sweden’s leading heavy rock peddlers, Majestic Mountain Records, Karlshamn sludge quartet, Signo Rojo, return this autumn with their brand-new studio album, There Was a Hole Here.

You can hear the awesome new album below thanks to the amazing folks at Majestic Mountain Records.

Formed back in 2009, with over a decade of incredible material bank and earning significant underground interest, ‘There was a hole here’ is the latest release album. It's packing huge contagious choruses, vocal harmonies and plenty of melodic stomp! There Was a Hole Here will mark a significant shift toward bigger and brighter things for Signo Rojo. Produced by the band themselves, mixed by Johan Blomström and mastered by Jack Endino (Mudhoney, Nirvana, Tad and more),

There Was A Hole Here will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Majestic Mountain Records from January 27th 2023.

Link to video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re6eWF7gP9I

Web:

https://signorojo.com/

Social media

https://www.facebook.com/signorojo
https://www.instagram.com/signorojo/

Bio:

Country of origin:Sweden
Location:Blekinge
Formed in:2009

Pre-order links

https://signorojo.bandcamp.com/album/there-was-a-hole-here
https://majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com/product/signo-rojo

Boone North Carolina Doom Metal trio MEAN GREEN release debut S/T album!

Fresh out of the recording studio Mean Green are ready to share their debut self titled album with the world on March 24th, 2023.

Mean Green’s self-titled first release is a full length album consisting of songs written in their first year of the band's forming. Inspired by the likes of early Black Sabbath, Sleep, and Weedeater. Mean Green wrote this album to convey a stripped down and bare bones look at sludge, stoner, and doom metal. Relying heavily on tone and a slow moving freight train like tempo for most of their songs, they bring their own twist on common themes and ideas of the genre. With crushing guitar tone, wall shaking low end, bludgeoning percussion, and growling vocals this album is a first look into the roots and inspiration of Mean Green.

Mean Green is a 3-piece stoner doom band formed in early 2022 by Jacob Helms, Alex Wierback, and James Matthews who enjoy playing metal music as loud as possible and at a slower pace than most people are used to. Armed with much larger guitar and bass rigs than necessary for smaller venues, their tone and energy are a force to be reckoned with in the western North Carolina music community. From the start they knew they did not want to be just another cover band in their small college town of Boone North Carolina, they began writing their own music.

Each of them are experienced working musicians and have connections in the local music scene. They decided to go an unconventional route and immediately went on tour when they had enough original music to fill out a set. This allowed them to make more connections and friends in the growing metal scene around North Carolina. With the help of other bands and promoters they met along the way, they began performing in well known venues in Atlanta, Asheville, Raleigh and Johnson City spreading their take on doom metal to new cities. Their live performances bring an energy that is on par with stoner doom legends. Their slower songs would put people into fuzzed out trances while the fast paced songs are mosh worthy. This combination left something for everyone to enjoy whether it was a crushing doom breakdown or a mid tempo driving riff to groove to.

With no music officially released the band solely relied on word of mouth and self promotion for getting fans to their shows. They found with every show they play people want to hear more of them. Without an album for fans to listen to, they quickly got into the studio to record their debut in August of 2022 and planning their first release on March 24th, 2023. Mean Green is continually gaining traction in their musical career and is not going to stop anytime soon.

Mean Green S/T track list:

Law
Crow
Mean Green
Fiend
Last Bullet
Grease Monkey
The Deal

Mean Green is:

Jake Helms (Guitar, Vocals)
Alex Wierback (Bass)
James Matthews (Drums)

Links

Official | Instagram | BandCamp 

Lord Mountain - The Oath (Album Review)

Release Date: January 20th 2023. Record Label: King Volume Records/Kozmik Artifactz. Formats: DD/Vinyl

The Oath: Tracklistin

1.Well of Fates 05:22

2.The Giant 05:51

3.Beyond the Frozen Sea 00:50

4.The Last Crossing 04:37

5.Chasm of Time 03:20

6.The Sacrifice 04:41

7.Serpent Temple 05:53

8.The Oath 05:31

Members

Jesse Swanson - Guitars and Vocals

Sean Serrano - Guitars

Andy Chism - Bass

Pat Moore - Drums

Review

I don’t feature Traditional Doom Metal bands enough on the blog. I maybe more of a modern day Doom Metal fun but I do love to hear some Traditional Doom Metal from time to time. So I was mighty impressed by Doom Metallers Lord Mountain debut album The Oath. An album that fuses classic 70’s and 80’s Doom Metal, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Throw in a healthy obsession with 80's based Fantasy and Adventure folklore then Lord Mountain has the recipe for Doom Metal success.

Using similar themes and sounds from bands such as Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Saint Vitus and Pagan Altar. The Mountain shine throughout the album with their music that is quite powerful with the band showing a fine talent of writing highly melodic music that has classic “OLD SCHOOL” feeling down to a fine art. 

Opening song Well Of Fates is quite fantastical with the lyrics and Jesse’s vocal delivery used for this track. The song has an aggressive fast-paced nature with the gloomy 80’s Hard Rock feeling. The instrumental work does change to a slower style of music that Black Sabbath excelled at. Maybe, a bit too out there for some with the fantasy elements fully taking over the dynamic of the song and perhaps the whole album. There’s a lot of cool extended riffs and guitar jams on this track with Lord Mountain being true to their creative selves.

Second song The Giant is another epic journey into the Traditional Doom Metal world with a slight Classic Heavy Metal mentality heard within the epic grooves. Everything else is pure Fantasy Doom Metal with Jesse’s vocals having a slight DIO quality to them. The instrumental work is excellent and rightfully intense in all the right places when Lord Mountain goes slightly off the range to play some excellent and OTT guitar solos . Shades of Psychedelic Rock appear here and there which allows this to be one of the standout tracks on the album. 

Third song Beyond The Frozen Sea is a fifty second musical interlude with a gloomy instrumental solitary guitar that has a world weary and solitary feeling to it.

Lord Mountain gets back to business with the fourth track The Last Crossing which has a more contemporary feeling with the lyrics compared to the other tracks on the album. The music is swift and straight to the point with Lord Mountain excelling yet again merging the different strands of 70’s and 80’s Doom Metal for a more classic style of Hard Rock/Metal. 

The Oath has a sublime style of nostalgia on the album which shines through the most on the second half of the album on tracks such as Chasm Of Time, The Sacrifice and the stunning title track The Oath. The grooves are LOUD, POWERFUL and PLENTIFUL with Lord Mountain having a hell of time bringing a more modern feeling to certain parts of the album which is perhaps down to the superb production values that The Oath ultimately contains.

Lord Mountain has delivered the goods with The Oath and this ends up being one of the best Traditional Doom Metal albums I’ve come across in a long time. 

This is a fantastic ride from start to finish that is brimming with outstanding creative ideas that is helped along by awesome grooves along the way.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Todd at King Volume Records for the promo.

The Oath is available to buy now on DD/Vinyl via King Volume Records (USA) and Kozmik Artifactz

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Strider - Midnight Zen (Album Review)

Release Date: January 13th 2023. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

Midnight Zen: Tracklisting

1.Hive 03:50

2.Bystander Apathy 08:16

3.Dream with the Dreamer 05:26

4.Midnight Zen 10:25

5.Molly the Holy 06:07

Review

Midnight Zen is the debut album from Turkish Psych Stoner Rockers Strider. From first impressions you may think that Strider are influenced from the Californian Desert/Stoner Rock scene and bands such as KYUSS. However, look beyond that influence or sound and Strider takes deeper meaning and influences from other scenes such as Psych Rock, Post-Rock and even Doom Metal for a more adventurous style of music.

The first half of the album is mostly inspired by bands such as KYUSS, Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu but you also get the band bringing a Post-Stoner sensibility along the way which becomes their main style of music on the second half of the album. Taking cues from bands such as Elder, Weedpecker and King Buffalo allows Strider to create an album of two different halves to each other for a richer and warmer experience.

The opening two songs of Hive and Bystander Apathy sees a Californian Desert Rock mentality merging with a FUZZED UP Doom based attitude with the excellent opening track Hive being a fast-paced track that is straight up classic Stoner Metal riff worship. 

Things become more interesting with Bystander Apathy where Strider starts to bring areas of Heavy Doom into the mix with a SABBATHIAN attitude being heard within the FUZZY guitars. The mood is quite intense with a solid LIGHT vs DARK delivery with their music. The instrumental work is made of extended jams and progressive Stoner based passages with Strider showing glimpses of their true creative spirit which shines right through from this moment on.

The next two songs Dream With The Dreamer and Midnight Zen is where the album really flies into different Post-Stoner and Post-Rock territory with Strider being more bold with their music. The vocals are outstanding with an emotional approach with the music perhaps having a more laid back approach whilst still bringing moments of pure blissful heaviness that ELDER and KING BUFFALO are known for. So expect a more PROGRESSIVE and SPACED OUT part of the album that has a haunting reflecting emotional feel contained within both the vocals and lyrical content. 

Strider also excels injecting different styles of Psychedelic sounds into the mix that gives the album quite an organic and all too real sound even when the album’s heaviest grooves appear.

The final song Molly The Holy is my favourite track on the album. As it’s beautifully understated with the vocals and psychedelic atmospheric beats that appear within the first few moments of the track. Though, Strider still plays areas of Heavy Cosmic Rock with a sense of guitar reverb, feedback and distortion. The song benefits from excellent instrumental work and lyrical content that allows the vocals to take the listener on a cinematic journey.

Midnight Zen is the type of album that showcases all the best elements why I love the Psych Stoner Rock/Metal underground scene. This is an album that aims HIGH and succeeds on every level. This feels like Strider’s fourth or fifth album and not their debut. Strider are super-confident with everything they do on Midnight Zen and that also makes this such an irresistible album to own. 

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Raum Kingdom Release New Song And Video For MONARCH From. Upcoming New Album

Doom/Sludge Metallers Raum Kingdom will be releasing their brutally heavy and superbly exciting new album Monarch on January 27th 2023 via Argonauta Records

The band have just released their new song GATEKEEPER which you can hear and watch below.

The band say the following about the song:

"The song is about being a prisoner in life and no matter how hard you strive for freedom you always get sucked back in."

Lyrics:

So warm,

With nothing but us,

No choice,

But to look up,

Fall up,

Into nothingness,

No choice,

But to face it,

Being tied to a world,

That I want no part of,

Being nailed to this earth,

It makes me sick to my core,

If there only was a way,

To escape it all,

If there only was just one way to,

Fall, Fall,

Fly away, Fly away, Fly away, Fly away,

Fall, Fall,

Fly away, Fly away, Fly away, Fly away,

Fly away, Fly away..

 

Video description:

 

Official Video for 'Gatekeeper' created by 'Chariot Of Black Moth' from Raum Kingdoms' 2nd Album 'Monarch' released by Argonauta Records 27th of January 2023.

 

Credits:

 

Vocals - Dave Lee

Guitar - Andrew Colohan

Drums - Mark Gilchrist

Bass - Niall Gregory

 

Raum kingdom:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Raum.Kingdom.ie/

Bandcamp: https://raumkingdom.bandcamp.com/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4tCBRDQPkXdrIholkAQxHO

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raum_kingdom/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/raumkingdom

Argonauta Records:

Shop: https://www.argonautarecords.com/shop/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArgonautaRecords

 

Recorded and Mixing by Last Light Recordings:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lastlightrecordingsireland

 

Mastering Audiosiege:

https://audiosiege.com/index.html

Video Chariot of Black Moth:

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