Greetings my friends and have we got a treat today, for you and me both. To hear them tell it, Norway’s The Devil and the Almighty Blues won’t be releasing their next album — the awaited follow-up to 2019’s Tre (review here) for about another year. That’s the bad news. The good news is they’re starting their ‘Tour of the Seasons’ this week in Prague ahead of a corresponding Fall run through festivals in the company of countrymen spaceheads Skyjoggers. The even better news is they’re releasing a single April 22 to mark the occasion, and premiering it today here right now holy crap that’s awesome.

And if you, like me, enjoy a long single, something that can set an atmosphere, take its time, and really give you a sense of where the band are at, as opposed to a generic ‘thing is happening’ teaser — those are fun too sometimes, but it’s a more frustrating kind of fun — then the 10-minute “Lied To” will almost certainly be the thing. With an open-spaced verse and a swampy riff like Creedence Clearwater Revival protesting the Vietnam War except it’s everything, old soul and old tone and the lyrical hook of the title line put through a range of subjects — I, you, we, they, have all been lied to; true, invariably — lead into a lonelier chorus (lyrically) to remind that “No one’s there when you hit the wall,” and so on through a build fostered by a groove so slick you can only really call it a signature element of the band, because very much that’s what it is.

Subtly, “Lied To” is a build. As noted, The Devil and the Almighty Blues aren’t in any rush to get where they’re going, but that doesn’t mean the song is stagnant, just that it develops organically over its time. It’s not 10 minutes long because they have a verse and a chorus and then spend eight minutes jamming, is what I’m saying. A deceptively loose swing is a longstanding characteristic of the five-piece’s style, and it’s a vintage-heavy-era-rooted take that’s part of what lets them be a heavy blues rock band without being the chestbeating dudebro caricature that so, so much of blues-based anything is, and they keep it classy as the fuzz enters past the end of the chorus on the other side of the seven-minute mark to carry into the evocative breadth of the solo section and instrumental finish. It’s the payoff of the build, but even there The Devil and the Almighty Blues don’t lose the plot.

That is as it should be, both for a band who’ve been around somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 years and one who’ve established such a niche approach to genre. “Lied To” is the first of three intended singles to be issued between now and the end of the year, to be followed by the album, presumably titled some variation on the idea of ‘four’ given their past sequencing of LPs, which will be their label debut for Ripple Music.

Just a quick note about the tours before I turn you over to the song. I’ve been fortunate enough to see The Devil and the Almighty Blues a few times over the last years, most recently at the end of January at Planet Desert Rock Weekend in Las Vegas (review here), and I know that if you’re not in an area where a tour is going, it can seem like an abstract thing. What I’ll tell you is that even if neither of these tours is hitting where you are in Europe, or if you’re in Australia or the US or Japan, China, South America or Africa or Antarctica, the same applies: see this band when and if the opportunity presents itself. It’s not a thing you will regret, because the soul that’s put into their music so vividly across “Lied To” is no less resonant in-person. If you can make being there happen, you should. That’s all I want to say.

Have to figure another single will arrive to coincide with the Fall tour. I’ll keep an eye out but probably won’t be premiering it when the time comes (I’d do a series for sure, but somehow that seems like not the best route for the band do go, promotion-wise; gotta spread these things around), and I hope you’ll agree after making your way through “Lied To” that indeed the next one is something to anticipate.

Please enjoy:

The Devil and the Almighty Blues, “Lied To” single premiere

THE DEVIL AND THE ALMIGHTY BLUES – LIED TO

Lurking at the darker edges of heavy blues, The Devil And The Almighty Blues return with a new single, “Lied To”.

After years of relentless touring across Europe, the band now unveils new material. The release marks the first of three singles arriving throughout 2026, leading up to a new album set for spring 2027.

“Lied To” is released on April 22, the day before the band kicks off their upcoming European tour in Prague. This is the first leg of their “Tour Of The Seasons”, spanning both spring and autumn 2026.

It is unmistakably The Devil And The Almighty Blues, yet it also marks the beginning of a new phase. Built on a slow, driving groove, the track pairs a strong, melodic chorus with the almighty heavy foundation. With the addition of guitarist Markus Berntzen, the band brings in a fresh dynamic, pushing and stretching their heavy blues foundation into new territory.

EUROPE 2026 – “TOUR OF THE SEASONS”

23.04 – Prague, CZ – Sub Zero
24.04 – Berlin, DE – Neue Zukunft
25.04 – Copenhagen, DK – Spillestedet Stengade
26.04 – Aalborg, DK – 1000Fryd (w/ Bogwife)
27.04 – Hamburg, DE – Knust
28.04 – Wuppertal, DE – Live Club Barmen
29.04 – Münster, DE – Rare Guitar Bar
30.04 – Eindhoven, NL – Effenaar
01.05 – Deventer, NL – Burgerweeshuis (w/ Shalalees)
02.05 – Izegem, BE – De Leest (Headbanger’s Ball Fest)
03.05 – Aachen, DE – Musikbunker
04.05 – Neunkirchen, DE – Stummsche Reithalle
05.05 – Stuttgart, DE – Goldmark’s
06.05 – Wiesbaden, DE – Schlachthof (w/ The Delayed)
07.05 – Jena, DE – KuBa (w/ Jara)
08.05 – Dresden, DE – Beatpol
09.05 – Siegen, DE – Vortex Surfer Musikclub

26.09 – Leeuwarden, NL – Into The Void Festival
01.10 – Paris, FR – Backstage by The Mill (w/ Skyjoggers)
02.10 – Lille, FR – La Bulle Café (w/ Skyjoggers)
03.10 – Karlsruhe, DE – Alter Schlachthof (PsyKA Festival Vol. 6)
04.10 – Pratteln, CH – Z7 (Up In Smoke Festival)
05.10 – Cologne, DE – Club Volta (w/ Skyjoggers)
06.10 – Bielefeld, DE – Forum (w/ Skyjoggers)
07.10 – Hannover, DE – Café Glocksee (w/ Skyjoggers)
08.10 – Leipzig, DE – Hellraiser (w/ Skyjoggers)
09.10 – Erlangen, DE – E-Werk (w/ Skyjoggers)
10.10 – Munich, DE – Backstage (Keep It Low Festival)
– Booking by Sound Of Liberation

Following this first single, future releases will be issued through Ripple Music, purveyors of psych, doom, stoner and heavy rock. The band is proud to join the Ripple family, and excited for what this new chapter will bring.

Artwork by Subterranean Prints.

The Devil and the Almighty Blues merch store

The Devil and the Almighty Blues on Bandcamp

The Devil and the Almighty Blues on Instagram

The Devil and the Almighty Blues on Facebook

Ripple Music website

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music on Instagram

Ripple Music on Facebook

French heavy post-metallic psych-gaze rockers Occult Hand Order release their second album, Meaningless Monuments, through Totem Cat Records this Friday, April 17. The Lyon-based troupe made their self-titled debut in 2019, followed with an EP in 2021, and with these five songs cast their niche in atmospheric sprawl and impact. Opening with the longest of the inclusions (immediate points) in the 10-minute “Błędów” — named for Central Europe’s largest desert, in Poland — the album follows a thread of complex craft through the subsequent “Brno,” quiet and melodic almost to a point of minimalism until it turns around and crushes like YOB, shifting into and out of a pretty part to a last round of crush from there. The tradeoffs aren’t quite so stark as that sentence makes it seem, in “Brno” or “Błędów” or anything that follows — flow is in ready supply — but very quickly, Meaningless Monuments immerses the listener in its sense of journey and one experiences their dynamic in this feeling of going from place to place. I’ll allow that the songs having placenames for titles might be a factor there, but it’s in the music just the same.

Side B begins with the centerpiece “Mollerussa” (in Spain), which pairs quiet Isis fluidity with the stately flattening tonality of modern Author and Punisher, with a bit of Angelo Badalamenti Twin Peaks-style in the post-midpoint bass inherited from the opener. They call it ‘cinematic,’ and fair enough for a bit of drama, but more than that, Meaningless Monuments feels constructed out of marble for how solidified it is in its purposes, and ‘cinematic’ to my mind implies something soundtrackier and more ambient, and lush as they are, Occult Hand Order‘s songs are just that: songs. But the patience behind “Błędów,” “Mollerussa” and the album as a whole — side B’s “Mollerussa,” “Novo Mesto” (in Slovenia) and “Gerlach” (maybe Slovakia?) are shorter but still pointed in their atmospherics — is a key to what lets the band build the album’s world, skillfully and subtly laying out the tone and mood in “Błędów” and moving outward from there through “Brno” on side A.

“Mollerussa” ends with feedback and residual bass, and the drums that start “Novo Mesto” pick up directly as the shortest piece on the record begins, the guitar cutting out to allow space for the arrival of the vocal melody. It’s not long before the full tonal brunt is unveiled, layers of shouts worked in behind the melodic vocals, buried but there enough to do more than hint at aggression. The second cycle through, they depart into a speedier section before a last-minute roller crescendo finishes cold and lets the chug at the outset of “Gerlach” have its say. And before the closer’s six-plus minutes are done, Occult Hand Order have reinterpreted the gamut not as verse/chorus trades, but a swell in volume that let’s go into a vocals-and-drone midsection as a serene setup for the onslaught that soon enough follows, galloping on the drums like in “Novo Mesto,” but hitting with greater impact and a wash of a finish whose leftover echoes and feedback provide Meaningless Monuments‘ last stretch.

Taking its title from the lyrics of “Gerlach” — “Here’s what we need/The stones we carved for them/Left in ruins/Meaningless monuments” — the album moves through melancholic viewpoints and is largely vague in verbiage, and that speaks to the impressionist impulse of Occult Hand Order‘s creativity; the idea that not everything is going to be explained clearly. This does more to create mystique than one might first anticipate, and part of that is the clarity of vision that defines each one of these songs and the entirety they comprise. The album streams in full on the player below, followed by more info from the PR wire and tour dates.

As always, I hope you enjoy:

Formed in the French city of Lyon in 2018, heavy psychedelic trio Occult Hand Order marry the crushing weight of doom, post-rock and ethereal soundscapes, all lifted by soaring vocal harmonies that conjure arcane rituals and otherworldly mysticism.

After a striking self-titled debut in 2019, the band teamed up with the aptly named Interstellar Smoke Records to unleash The Chained, The Burned, The Wounded. The EP was hailed by critics, and the roar from the underground blasted open the doors to Europe’s finest stages, where the trio now stands, locked in and levitating. They’re now ready to propel their unique soundscapes into outer space again, with the release of their sophomore album Meaningless Monuments on Totem Cat Records this spring.

With Meaningless Monuments, the band delves into themes of apocalypse, inner collapse and the search for meaning. Darker, slower and more cinematic, the record unfolds through long, hypnotic structures where massive riffs meet meditative, atmospheric passages. The mystical trio truly delivers a mind-elevating rock ritual — a journey through inner ruins, a quest for what remains when everything falls apart.

Tracklisting:
1. Błędów
2. Brno
3. Mollerussa
4. Novo Mesto
5. Gerlach

European spring shows
17.04 – Lyon (FR) Marché Gare – RELEASE PARTY
18.04 – La Fare les Oliviers (FR) L’Humus
19.04 – Bologna (IT) Freakout Club
21.04 – Ljubljana (SL) Channel Zero
22.04 – Milano (IT) Cascina Torchiera
23.04 – Vevey (CH) Le Bout Du Monde
24.04 – Köln -(DE) Valhalla
26.04 – Groningen (NL) Cafe Witte de Wolfe
29.04 – Le Mans (FR) Lezard Bar
30.04 – Paris (FR) Le Cirque Electrique
01.05 – Les Brouzils (FR) Chez Hervé
02.05 – Rennes (FR) Uzine Bar
28.05 – St Imier (FR) Toxoplasmose Fest
29.05 – Nice (FR) Altherax Music
26.06 – Manigod (FR) Namass Pamouss
28.06 – Bourlon (FR) Rock In Bourlon Fest
02.08 – St Maurice de Gourdans (FR) Sylak Open Air

Occult Hand Order Linktr.ee

Occult Hand Order on Bandcamp

Occult Hand Order on Instagram

Occult Hand Order on Facebook

Totem Cat Records store

Totem Cat Records on Instagram

Totem Cat Records on Facebook

Massachusetts doom-folk/folk-doom solo outfit Buzzard will release the oldschool-7″-style two-songer The Bombings Will Continue Until There’s Peace b/w Cinderella’s Midnight Surprise this Friday. Consistently productive, the band identity helmed by DIY multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Christopher Taylor Elliott continues to bask in your-radicalized-English-teacher resistance-poetic righteousness, as Elliott/Buzzard did for much of 2025, with the two full-lengths Satiricus Doomicus Americus (review here) and Mean Bone (review here) preceding the late-in-the-year-arriving EP Everything is Not Going to Be Alright (review here), the latter of which codified a politically-themed catharsis for our times in doom-casted, richly melodic and still Americana-rooted metal.

The last several months have found Elliott contributing tracks to charity compilations and releasing the collaborative track “Man of Stated Age (Normal Habitus Version)” working with Hidden Since the Foundation of the World from the Netherlands, and hopefully more such collabs follow, and I hear there’s an album (it seems like maybe there’s always an album) in the works, but at the end of March, the two-songer Take the Tyrant Down (Acoustic Mix) b/w Hunchback, Vicar, and Wizard was released, revisiting a cut from the late-’25 EP and sneaking in a highlight twice-Mellotronned B-side. It’s from this model that The Bombings Will Continue Until There’s Peace b/w Cinderella’s Midnight Surprise moves forward, pairing a timely political A-side with an arguably also socially conscious but more narratively framed complement.

There’s no dip in the established and at this point expected pointedness and depth of Elliott‘s lyrics as in “The Bombings Will Continue Until There’s Peace,” where lines like “The orphan and the widow will be dancing in the streets,” and “A fleet of F1 fighter jets promises relief” reflect the absurdity of peace-through-war policymaking with a protest song’s satirical bent. He’s not wrong, and being pointedly antifascist while living under fascism is probably lower risk when you’re a self-releasing solo artist tucked away in the comparative progressive haven of the Bay State than if you’re freedom fighting on the streets of Minneapolis (you know, the things you find yourself saying sometimes…) in a civil war that only really stopped if you don’t consider the aligned interests of cops and the KKK, neither is it entirely without risk.

Heavy and marked by harpsichord sounds, “The Bombings Will Continue Until There’s Peace” brings a chugging verse structure and releases that tension in a lush melodic chorus, wherein “It’s ‘Kumbaya’ all around/If we could only see us now,” that becomes the manifestation of the kind of peace that can only result from killing everybody. The Star Trek fan in me has an episode reference to make. I’ll refrain. The self-harmonizing in the chorus is a point where Elliott‘s growth in the form is demonstrated. Having launched Buzzard with the mostly-acoustic declarative 2024 full-length Doom Folk (review here), his sound has grown into a statelier doom, an emergent heaviness of tone speaking specifically to a heavy underground audience. This let “The Lunatic Lighthouse Keeper” on the last EP become a swirling doom epic, but Buzzard‘s sound is malleable and “The Bombings Will Continue Until There’s Peace” sounds like it was still written on acoustic guitar.

To complement, in “Cinderella’s Midnight Surprise” the title character is more or less sold off to wedlock by her father and all ends in tragedy, but I don’t want to spoil story particulars for anyone who wants to actually dig into it, so I won’t. The Mellotron brings consistency of atmosphere coming off of “The Bombings Will Continue Until There’s Peace,” and the arrangement all around reminds a bit of Mean Bone or even “Hunchback, Vicar and Wizard” in its electric/acoustic blend, programmed drums arriving late in the procession to help move into the story’s denouement. I don’t know when it was written or recorded, but it feels of a kin to Buzzard‘s aesthetic in a way that puts to light just how established that aesthetic is for a project that’s two years and a month removed from its initial public offering.

Elliott provided insight into where “The Bombings Will Continue Until There’s Peace” came from. It’s where you thought.

Please enjoy:

Buzzard on “The Bombings Will Continue Until There’s Peace”:

The song is based on a spittle-flecked Truth Social Post by the deranged POS POTUS.

Preorder link: https://buzzarddoomfolk.bandcamp.com/album/the-bombings-will-continue-until-theres-peace-b-w-cinderellas-midnight-surprise

Buzzard, Take the Tyrant Down (Acoustic Mix) b/w Hunchback, Vicar, and Wizard (2026)

Buzzard on Bandcamp

Buzzard on Instagram

Buzzard on Facebook

North Carolina’s We Follow the Earth will release their third full-length, Foamdrinker, on May 12. The latest single, “Aeons,” is premiering on the player below. I haven’t heard the full outing yet, but “Aeons” is the second song to come from it and it runs in immediate contrast to the first, which was later cut “Sirens.” That song is a nine-minute atmosludge nodder, like Isis and Crowbar agreeing on a thing, with a long quiet break and as chugged-out a finish as one would hope. “Aeons” is shorter at just under four minutes, faster, more straightforwardly structured, and more immediate.

It’s a rocker, in other words. There’s less post-metal to it but the drums keep a sense of atmosphere, distant but with the snare cutting through and what might be layered-in percussion complementing tom fills. In the past, We Follow the Earth have tapped into a swath of influences from YOB to Electric Wizard to the raw lumber of their 2023 debut, Lightbearer, but “Aeons” and “Sirens” feel more purposeful in what they’re doing and not so much in the sense of they were written and forced to be a thing but that We Follow the Earth seem to have a sense of where the song is going even when they want to keep the listener on their toes. “Aeons” has a triplet-gallop crescendo that gives way to a quick speedup, and the last push ends with one more shout to emphasize the point.

This is probably the part where I might otherwise tell you how these two apparent extremes of approach mesh in context with teh rest of what surrounds them on the album. Fine, except I haven’t heard the album, so I don’t know. That’s right, folks, it’s a teaser — on the internet. Can you believe it? The fact is neither of We Follow the Earth‘s previous LPs lead one to believe these are the limits of their range at this stage, so I won’t pretend like all the other songs have to operate in a place between these two, because I think that’s probably not the case. Even just on these singles, the band are more nuanced than that for how the use production alone, never mind the actual shape of the tracks, stylistic shifts, and so on.

Below, the PR wire offers some background on the album concept and the credits for its making. If you’re curious to hear “Sirens” after checking out the “Foamdrinker” premiere, that video and audio are both down by the links near the bottom. Wherever you’re headed next, safe travels, thanks for reading, and please enjoy:

We Follow the Earth, “Aeons” track premiere

We Follow the Earth is a sludgy doom band that will occasionally lean into a post metal sound. Located in Winston Salem, North Carolina, the core of their sound is built on slow, crushing riffs, ever present soul shaking bass, and aggressive, strained screams. Started as a solo project for Matthew Crotts, with his brother, Robert Crotts, offering to write the concept story and lyrics for the debut album “Lightbearer” in 2023. Shortly after releasing the debut album, writing started for the 2nd concept album “Extinct”, which was recorded/engineered by Jamie King and released in March 2024.

This new album, “Foamdrinker”, takes the listener on a journey through a world that is, for unknown reasons, stuck in a perpetual winter. Facing extinction, our characters are willing to go to any lengths to survive, but dangers beyond the ice lurk in the depths of the ocean and within ourselves. The struggle to overcome these challenges that we are presented with, both the external and the internal superstitions about how we think the world should work from the crux of this story. How we balance selfless acts against selfish ones can save or doom the world.

Tracklisting:
1. Foamdrinker
2. Maelstrom
3. Aeons
4. Black Lamp
5. On Violent Waves
6. Sirens
7. The Still Blue
8. Weight of the Stars

Album credits:
Robert Crotts – Story/Lyric writer
Engineered by Jacob Beeson
Mastered by Esben Willems (Studio Berserk)

We Follow the Earth:
Matthew Crotts – Vocals, guitar
Josh Burton – Guitar
Jason “Buddha” Myers – Bass
Matthew Pickard – Drums

We Follow the Earth, “Sirens” official video

We Follow the Earth, Foamdrinker (2026)

We Follow the Earth on Bandcamp

We Follow the Earth on Instagram

We Follow the Earth on Facebook

Today marks the release of ☉, which one might read as Sun, by Hungarian instrumentalists 🜍, otherwise known as Sulfur. The five-song outing emerges from under the umbrella of Psychedelic Source Records, and is a strikingly heavy release for the Páty-based collective/label, whose subdivisions in the past have resulted in a variety of sounds, from the folkish When River Flows Reverse to the expansive meditations of :nepaal noted below, and well beyond with an ongoing series of mostly improvised jams likewise fluid in intention and personnel around central organizer Ambrus Bence (surnames first in Hungarian) and a few other regular cast members — here that’s bassist Schneider Vili (Band in the Pit) and metal-rooted drummer Bíró Marci (Cannibalized, Cancerous Aggression, etc.) — many of whom also have their own projects on the spreading brances of one of earth’s most tripped-out family trees in post-rock, jams, heavy psychedelia, and vibrant experimentation.

As regards other fare in the Psychedelic Source oeuvre — I guess we could call it a ‘universe’ in the franchise sense — 🜍 are a somewhat darker delve. The opening “φρικτὸν ὕδωρ” is a huge, lumbering roll, with the bass massive in its rumble as the crash cymbal cuts through in live-recorded fashion. The entire release is instrumental, but this is common for the collective, and with the longer-form explorations — the shortest song is closer “Mahāpralaya” at 7:31 (the timestamps are below, I’m just putting this one here to make the point) — unfolding across each track, the listener gets both a weighted delve and a sense of breadth, as shown by the lead guitar in “φρικτὸν ὕδωρ” or the chaos-noisy midsection of “Caduceus,” which is on the other side of the near-12-minute “Tar,” which is something of a world unto itself.

The second cut on the 45-minute outing, “Tar” doesn’t fade in but kind of feels like that anyway, beginning with the drums on a slow, somewhat downer march. Guitar strum joins almost immediately and the build takes shape. It’s jammy, but a richer darkpsych, and so almost post-metallic in its patience. No worries though, because “Tar” soon acquires gravitational heft of its own — stop me if you’ve heard this before, but ‘dat bass’ — and becomes a full-on stoner-doom plod, which it sort of plays around for the duration but largely holds to. That’s one way to know that the jams were working when Ambrus, Bíró and Schneider were in the studio, as there don’t seem to be a ton of edits or part-jumps one might expect if fleshing out a riff wasn’t working. There are changes as the guitar works into and out of a given lead in “Caduceus,” cosmic and mournful, explosions of crash around, but neither that nor “Tar” before it make a radical turn once they get going, and with the depth of immersion they elicit, they don’t need to.

Ultra-hypnotic, surprisingly-heavy semi-meditative, grey-swirl, nod-plus-roll fluid psych jams? I’m here for it. The amazing thing about ☉ is 🜍 might never be a band again — arguably all the more worth appreciating what the album accomplishes, then — but as “Ritual Silence” crashes in extra-sludgy and noisy, it’s a reminder just how standout 🜍 is in the blend of psychedelic jamming and heavier, more doomed tonality. They’re not the first stoner-doom jammers in the world by any means, but they’re not bong metal, either, even in “Ritual Silence,” and I don’t think that’s what they’re going for, since throughout ☉ they’re still able to affect a mood and atmosphere. The irony of “Ritual Silence” is all the cacophony, pulsing impact, low end noise and guitar shred, and fair enough.

I don’t know the order in which the songs were made, or happened, or however you want to phrase it for material that’s for sure at least partially improvised, but despite being at the end of the record, “Mahāpralaya” sounds like an initial jam, like the band getting their feet under them, drum fills behind warming-up amplifier noise and jazzier flourish before they might settle into a groove like “Tar” or “φρικτὸν ὕδωρ.” The finale grows into something of a push as it moves into its second half, feeling open despite the tension of a faster tempo, and is brought down with not a ton of ceremony in a graceful fade.

As Ambrus explains below, the collaboration for 🜍 was a long time coming, so I’m not being glib when I say one doesn’t know if they’ll ever do anything else, but whether you follow Psychedelic Source (which is advised) or not, ☉‘s sound is distinct in the surroundings of the collective’s catalog and in the wilds of heavy psychedelia more broadly, and ends up with character in more than just the name of the project and record.

More info in blue, album premieres on the YouTube player below. Thanks for reading and please enjoy:

🜍, ☉ album premiere

https://psychedelicsourcerecords.bandcamp.com/album/-

about the release: With Marci Biro, we know each other about 15 years ago, when he organized hardcore punk gigs in the rehearsal room where I lived and worked in Budapest. He was a fast, rolling grind drummer and didn’t change much since. I always planned to play together with him, but he was in about 15 bands, so we never managed a collab until about few years later, when we recorded :nepaal – Protoaeolianism and the Sunset Sessions. When I got the “a51 zeta pulse fuzz” pedal, I thought I’d call him. I thought the perfect pairing is Vili of Band in the Pit with whom I planned a heavy-doomy trio jam happening a long time ago. Project mastered with a tape machine by Ákos Debreczi. This is born as “🜍-☉”. Biro Marci, Ambrus Bence, Schneider Vili.

Tracklisting:
1. φρικτὸν ὕδωρ (horrible water) (8:49)
2. Tar (11:52)
3. Caduceus (8:37)
4. Ritual Silence (8:47)
5. Mahāpralaya (7:31)

Psychedelic Source Records on Bandcamp

Psychedelic Source Records on Spotify

Tomorrow, March 25, Philadelphia heavy rockers New Dawn Fades release their debut full-length, Lores. It’s been three years since the band made its debut with the 2023 EP, Forever (review here), and a few things have changed in that time. Most crucially, they’re a band now. Guitarist/vocalist George “GFA” Chamberlin recorded Forever as a solo-project, whereas the tidy eight songs/38 minutes of Lores see the band realized as a four-piece with Corey Pettingill (Blackhand, ex-Wasted Theory) also on guitar, Algar (also Green Meteor) and drummer Steve Roche (Saetia, Off Minor; he also mixed the album) [editor’s note: I spent five earth minutes tracking down everyone’s other bands before seeing them listed in the PR wire info below, so I’m leaving it. No shit, I Googled Algar. I put in the work.] assembled for the the cause of straight-ahead, semi-Southern-style heavy riffs delivered with classic ’90s-style push.

Pepper Keenan‘s work in Corrosion of Conformity and to a slightly lesser extent Down remains a defining influence. As “Villains Come to Light” gets the proceedings underway with due charge and impact-of-chug, the album speaks to ’90s metal in a riff that feels extrapolated from Megadeth‘s “Symphony of Destruction,” opening to more of a rolling chorus, but telling in terms of the context of where New Dawn Fades are coming from. Chamberlin pushes his voice and his voice holds up without sounding like a hey-whoa-momma dudely put-on, and as “Meet Me at Sundown” unfolds its slower intro, the groove feels like it’s on lock because it is. Start-stop chugs, chug-chug, cha-chug, make way for the chorus and a later ripper solo, while a redux of “True Till Death” — one of two cuts on the album that came from the EP — results in one of New Dawn Fades‘ catchiest moments and a declaration of purpose that feels like it’s celebrating the heavy underground from whence it comes (which has been supportive of the band since they wre a concept) as much as its own allegiance to it. One is wary of authenticity, and I won’t claim to know what ‘truth’ is, period, but the song’s a rocker and you get the point.

Interestingly, “True Till Death” and the other carryover track, side B’s “This Night” (shortened from “This Night Has Closed My Eyes”) are the two longest pieces on Lores. Not by a ton, but one wonders if maybe that speaks to a tightening of the songwriting process over the last few years, or some change in process manifest in light of there presumably being three other people in the room when the songs were coming together. It’s not a huge difference — seconds, not minutes — but the only other song over five minutes long is closer “New Evil,” which basks in a nodding largesse with a slowdown that feels very intentionally placed, if not intentionally written, for the end of the record. That’s not to say at the side-A-capping “Souls” doesn’t have its own plus-sized tonality to show off, which it most certainly does, as well as an edge of feedback to add noise to the outreach. It boogies until slamming into its own wall of sound in a way that feels physically cathartic, prefacing “New Evil,” while the subsequent “Dead Vultures” mirrors “Villains Come to Light” at the start with a kick of energy and catchy, tight execution. Consideration has obviously been given to an overarching flow and structure to the album, much as to each of the songs that make it up. They knew what they were doing on the EP, so that’s not a surprise, necessarily, but still admirable, particularly on a first long-player.

“Dead Vultures” and the Downier “Leave My Loneliness Unbroken” are, in contrast, the two shortest pieces, on Lores, and as effectively as they hit back to back at the start of side B, it’s that much easier to hear growth in New Dawn Fades‘ sound since the EP, but there’s so much going on between building the lineup etc. that it’s hard to say definitively the band will go in one direction or another, which, honestly, I likely wouldn’t try to anyway. Still, for an act on such solid footing stylistically and who so clearly have that early-to-mid-1990s era of heavy music so ingrained, the songs on Lores seem to herald a revelry that’s not retro but that knows where it’s coming from and where it’s headed. Given the strength of craft throughout, the listener is all the more inclined to trust and follow along, and for establishing the band thusly in the mind of its audience, it’s hard to see the mission of Lores as anything but successful.

New Dawn Fades have a few other projects in the works, about which you can read below, courtesy of the PR wire. Lores premieres in full on the player immediately following. Please enjoy:

Preorder link: https://newdawnfadesforever.bandcamp.com/album/lores

New Dawn Fades is a heavy rock band from Philadelphia, blending doom, grunge, and metal influences from bands like Soundgarden, Corrosion of Conformity, Down, Black Sabbath, High on Fire, Queens of the Stone Age, and Mercyful Fate. The band features vocalist and guitarist GFA (Ritual Earth, Halo of Snakes), guitarist Corey Pettingill (Blackhand), bassist Algar (Green Meteor), and drummer Steve Roche (Saetia, Off Minor). Together, they deliver music that’s both heavy and dynamic, combining crushing riffs, strong grooves, raw energy, and melodic vocals with memorable hooks.

Across LORES, New Dawn Fades balances musical intensity with meaningful, thematic lyrics, creating a record that hits hard sonically while resonating emotionally. The album will be available on most major streaming platforms and as a 12-inch colored vinyl, with singles and live show announcements leading up to its release. The band also contributed a new track titled “Electric Midnight” to the BE HERE vinyl compilation, a DIY release featuring 12 bands from the Philadelphia and New Jersey area, due out in summer 2026. In March, New Dawn Fades returns to the studio to record four new songs for a future chapter of the best-selling Ripple Music Turned to Stone 12″ split series, promising even more heavy, hard-hitting music in the near future.

Tracklist:
Side One
1. Villains Come to Light
2. Meet Me at Sundown
3. True Till Death
4. Souls

Side Two
1. Dead Vultures
2. Leave My Loneliness Unbroken
3. This Night
4. New Evil

NEW DAWN FADES is:
GFA – Vocals, Guitars
Corey Pettingill – Guitars
Algar – Bass
Steve Roche – Drums

New Dawn Fades website

New Dawn Fades on Bandcamp

New Dawn Fades on Instagram

New Dawn Fades on Facebook

Bordeaux, France, heavy psych pushers Red Sun Atacama release their third album, Summerchild, tomorrow, March 13, through Mrs Red Sound. They begin with a clarion of feedback before the rush of “Passenger” starts, brash, urgent, fuzzed and spacious. The message of movement is clear: get up and go if you want any hope of keeping up. As the trio of bassist/vocalist Clément Márquez, guitarist Vincent Hospital and drummer Robin Caillon follow 2022’s Darwin (review here), energy is a priority. That’s fair enough, both coming of that record and considering the band’s approach in general, but they’ve never been short on dynamic and they aren’t in these eight songs/40 minutes either, as the intro to “Weightless” (which in fact offers plenty of heft tonally) touches on some progressive shimmer, prefacing the mellow, near-dub finish given to the proceedings in closing track “Sundown,” brief but purposeful in its atmospherics.

So it’s not unipolar by any means, but if you take it on balance, Summerchild is a strong shove. The screams in “Passenger” and here and there elsewhere give an Oliveri-in-QOTSA impression, but neither are Red Sun Atacama solely aligning themselves to desert rock. Instead, they boogie in “Conveyer” before and after the break in its second half, and thicken the low-end fuzz density in “Weightless” (there’s a bit of float later on, don’t worry) to back the initial thrust of “Passenger” across a side A that’s vibrant and caps with “Commotions” and its drum-gallop that in another context I’d probably liken to High on Fire. Not exactly taking their foot off the gas, or so it seems until the big slowdown at the end of “Weightless,” which seems to meet all the tumult prior — that’s from the listener’s point of view; the band are plenty comfortable working uptempo — like a brick wall of groove to be slammed into. Righteously.

“Graze the Sun” soon enough takes off on the next careen, starting side B with consistency in terms of intent and efficiency, leading to a break and gradual build centered around guitar resonant enough to make me wonder if the song wasn’t titled in honor of Dutch outfit Sungrazer. Whether or not it is, when “Graze the Sun” takes off following that build, it’s in Red Sun Atacama‘s own fashion, and the subsequent title-track continues the thread, with a more terrestrial riff beneath the always-echoing vocals and a semi-return to the desert bolstered by both a ready-shreddy solo and a grooving slowdown at the finish. And if you were gonna twist my arm and force me to pick a highlight, it might be the eight-minute “Ragdoll,” penultimate to “Sundown,” for the manner in which it ties it all together, finds room for intensity and breadth, and, right into its last fadeout, refuses to be anything other than a good time.

Taken in its entirety — and since the whole album is premiering below, yes, that’s how I hope you’ll enjoy it if you’re so inclined as to listen — Summerchild is a reminder that a given record doesn’t have to be slow and ambient to have texture or build a world. In addition to mellowing out generally, “Sundown” also reorients Márquez‘s voice to a less-effects-based delivery, and thereby lets it convey a different kind of emotionalism; using the last moment in order to add to the scope without taking away from “Ragdoll” or anything before it. But the reason it fits is because even at their most tempestuous, Red Sun Atacama remain cognizant of space, of atmosphere, and of the psychedelic aspects of their sound. This gives Summerchild its balance, and is purely a result of their being in command of their songwriting.

As noted, all of Summerchild can be found on the player below in its entirety, and whether you’ve followed the band for their decade-plus or they’re new to you, the barriers to entry are minimal and there’s nothing that’s going to pull you out of it once you’re in, so by all means, partake.

Thanks for reading if you did. PR wire info follows in blue:

Red Sun Atacama on Summerchild:

Summerchild is a journey through the struggle of coping with inner ghosts. Each track is a different state of mind, with different ways of escaping, drifting, resisting, or clawing forward against personal demons. Some tactics hold for a time, others collapse spectacularly, but each one belongs to the same scorched path.

The album offers no clean answers or resolutions, just snapshots of life, like chapters in an unfinished quest for peace. At its heart, Summerchild is all about staying alive: fractured, failing, but still finding a way to ascend.

Album preorder: https://marsredsky.bigcartel.com/products?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search=summerchild

Born in 2014, Bordeaux-based trio RED SUN ATACAMA combine desert rock psychedelia and punk fury. Volcanic and wild, Chilean Atacama Desert mesmerizes the band as much as it inspires them. Their sound is driven by its beyond compare magnetism. Spread through the impetuous fuzz of legends Fu Manchu, Nebula or Mondo Generator, Red Sun Atacama praise the burning sound of the desert and the Holy Groove with irresistible slashing riffs!

Their self-released debut EP ‘Part 1’ came out in 2015, a few years before the band unleashed a bubbling first album entitled ‘Licancabur’ in 2018 via More Fuzz Records. The record definitely established the trio’s unique, raw and insolent style.

In 2022, Red Sun Atacama signed to Mrs Red Sound (French heavy psych trio Mars Red Sky’s own imprint) for the release of their sophomore studio album ‘Darwin’, the same year. Shaped by an overflowing desert rock, stoner and punk energy, and inspired by the Andean magic, ‘Darwin’ received many praises from the specialised press and got the band spotted by booking agencies 3C and Bullet Seed.

On stage, Red Sun Atacama fully manage to share the same hypnotic outburst as on their recordings. They already performed in various European countries alongside international heavyweights such as Uncle Acid And The Dead Beats, Mars Red Sky, Planet of Zeus, Slift. In 2024, they played DesertFest Antwerp (Belgium), Hellfest (France) and toured Europe in support from Dopelord (courtesy of Doomstar Bookings).

Red Sun Atacama’s upcoming album ‘Summerchild’ arrives on March 13th 2026 through Mrs Red Sound.

TRACK LISTING ‘SUMMERCHILD’

1. Passenger
2. ⁠Conveyor
3. Weightless
4. Commotions
5. Graze The Sun
6. Summerchild
7. Ragdoll
8. ⁠Sundown

LINE-UP
Clément Márquez: bass, vocals.
Vincent Hospital: guitar.
Robin Caillon: drums.

Red Sun Atacama, “Commotions” official video

Red Sun Atacama, “Summerchild” official video

Red Sun Atacama on Bandcamp

Red Sun Atacama on Instagram

Red Sun Atacama on Facebook

Mrs Red Sound website

Mrs Red Sound on Bandcamp

Mrs Red Sound on Instagram

Mrs Red Sound on Facebook

Here’s the deal as best as I understand it. Philadelphia two-piece Deathbird Earth are releasing their debut album, Objective Consciousness, on April 3 through SRA Records. Pretty straightforward, right? Yeah, until you get to the fact that before they put out that record, they’ve got two separate collaborative LPs coming out this Friday, March 12, working with guitarist Nick Millevoi and Planet Y, which is the two-piece of Pete Wilder and Yanni Papadopoulos (the latter of instrumentalist legends Stinking Lizaveta). Got all that? Good. Because then you get into the music, and the picture isn’t going to get any less complex or willfully weird from there.

The two collaborative albums are self-titled, so it’s Deathbird Earth + Nick Millevoi and Deathbird Earth + Planet Y both out this week ahead of Deathbird Earth‘s standalone debut next month. The first of the collabs, alphabetically, Deathbird Earth + Nick Millevoi is comprised of six songs and runs 39 minutes, opening with the longest track (immediate points) with “Four” checking in at 11:42 of big nod, keyboard flourish, hypnotic guitar and rolling drums. It’s definitely psychedelic, and it’s definitely heavy, but it’s more Xiu Xiu than Earthless in terms of the feeling that anything might happen at any given point. The improv gets a little angular in the second half, but it may be that the beginning had a plan and they departed from it — the ‘main riff’ comes back with more synthy texture to close in “Five” — and the spontaneity becomes part of the persona, extending to the willingness of the band to think beyond their own configuration.

Which I think is how we got here, and just to be clear, by “weird” I mean deeply creative, forward-thinking, and well enough outside even the heavy underground’s genre-worshiping mainstream to wear its oddball presentation on the sleeve of its aural wizard robe. Even down to presenting the songs as numbers out of order — which they do on both releases — feels purposeful to disorient or knock the listener out of some comfort zone and thus put them in better position to appreciate the John–Carpenter-meets-Twin–Peaks drumless drone and wandering guitar of “One” or the subsequent wash that permeates “Three,” all the more satisfying because the synth and drum beat kind of make it sound like the music over a montage in an ’80s action movie. Like you’re watching Over the Top and here comes the psychblast you didn’t know you needed but very much did. Also one hundred percent willing to believe they made it up on the spot.

Deathbird Earth + Nick Millevoi‘s side B starts with the likewise extended “Two,” which brings lower distortion to its 9:40 run for a more melancholy mood, and just like on side A — see there is a plan, even if happens after the fact — the following cut, “Six,” holds back on drums (there are still cymbals) in order to let the guitar and synth texture out for five minutes before “Five” caps with the already-noted, somewhat-sneaky bit of semi-recognizable symmetry. Glitchier in its keyboardery but also pushing more toward an organic cosmic techno than the partially-guitar-based Millevoi collaboration (yes there’s guitar here too, it’s a question of balance between the elements), Deathbird Earth + Planet Y is shorter at four tracks (two per side) and 38 minutes, but it shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s the more ‘out there’ of the two. Bookended by “One” (12:04) and “Four” (15:00), the latter of which closes with perhaps the most straightforward riff on either of the two outings, like its companion, it is not an undertaking for the square of heart.

Maybe it’s the keyboardier-sounding layers, or the drum-machine peeking through to enhance the repetition later in “Four,” or the way “Three” explores itself into a jam, but Deathbird Earth + Planet Y feels distinct in its spaciousness, and is its own kind of entrancing. “Two,” preceding “Four” at the start of side B, brings a harpsichordy central figure and builds up around that, indicative somewhat of process in its jump-in-and-go mentality but also unfolding as a thought-out arrangement might, one synthesizer establishing the line, another joining, the drums coming in a little while later as the the first notes on guitar arrive and the keyboard sweeps back into the forward position of the mix. Maybe a bit of Grails influence? There’s a cinematic aspect, but soon enough “Four” takes hold with its two-movement grandeur, spending its first seven-plus minutes subtly building around its initial keyboard line (there’s theremin in there around the halfway point; it’s real) before the fuzz takes over, a shaking tambourine joins the fray, and they finish minded for movement before it devolves into residual noise.

And the fact that they kept that noise, that they let it go and finish with a wisp-out instead of just fading when the riff was done, is further indicative of the purpose here, extending to Deathbird Earth + Nick Millevoi as well as Deathbird Earth + Planet Y in its drive toward presenting the material as it happened. That’s not to say there’s no editing being done — these processions have been carved out of longer explorations, but there isn’t so much cut and paste as to take away from the improvisational vibe — but musical ideology comes through more than post-production, and the commonalities and divergences between the two albums speak to each other without feeling like a series or a schtick. As Deathbird Earth make ready to unfurl Objective Consciousness, they’ve already found a way to be inspiring in their experimentation and far-out-of-the-box approach.

Let’s say — hypothetically — you’ve read all of the above and you’re like, “you know, I feel prepared to take on one or maybe even both of these records.” Great. Here’s what to know before you go. Keep your mind active and open. Take bliss as it comes because it won’t always be there. Know that even if there isn’t intended direction, procession happens from one place to another in each piece, so don’t be surprise if and when you end up someplace other than where you started. All of this applies to life in general as much as listening to weirdo experimental psych, so if you want to write any of that down or whatnot, feel free.

That said, there’s copious info and preorder links under the players for both records below. And if you do dive into one or both of these LPs, happy trails, I hope you enjoy:

Deathbird Earth + Nick Millevoi, Deathbird Earth + Nick Millevoi album premiere

Deathbird Earth + Planet Y, Deathbird Earth + Planet Y album premiere

Deathbird Earth – Collaborations w/ Planet-Y & Nick Millevoi

Collaboration LPs out March 12th: “Deathbird Earth + Planet-Y” & “Deathbird Earth + Nick Millevoi”

Debut album “Objective Consciousness” out April 3rd on SRA Records pre-order: https://srarecords.com/shop/sra/deathbird-earth-objective-consciousness/

Deathbird Earth + Nick Millevoi:

Says BJ, “I have known Nick for a long time. Our old bands played together often and whenever we needed someone to fill in at a show or on tour Nick was always there. He’s a phenomenal guitarist known for his ability to improvise. I saw him play a set last year at PhilaMOCA with Steve Montenegro and a glitchy drum machine where he built up this big sound from a very small thing and it was impressive. I wanted to take some of that idea and bring it to our album. Of course once we got going we kept going with parts flowing out of us quickly. The closest we got to planning something out was saying “let’s do that again but shorter” (ONE vs SIX) and “we should do something like Hawkwind” (THREE). I had a great time working with Nick and was very happy that we had so much extra material that we could make a full album out of it on its own.”

Dave adds, “Unlike BJ, I had never met Nick before the session where we recorded these tracks. Similarly, improvising an entire album’s worth of material and having it be good enough to release it into the world was a new experience for me. I’m always excited to do something different than things I have done in a past life and as a result this album was a very rewarding personal experience.”

Deathbird Earth + Nick Millevoi
Out March 12th, 2026
LP & cassette
SRA Records pre-order: https://srarecords.com/shop/sra/deathbird-earth-nick-millevoi-collaborative-album/
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by BJ at Red Planet
Recorded October 29th, 2025
Artwork by Alex Smith

Nick Millevoi – Guitar
BJ – Bass, drone flute, synthesizers
Dave – Drums, synthesizers

Deathbird Earth + Planet-Y:

On the collaboration with Planet-Y, Pete Wilder (EDO) explains, “When Planet Y agreed to collaborate with Deathbird Earth, I was not sure how it would go. It was all going to be improv, with no net and no advance directive. As soon as the session began, it was clear that Deathbird Earth’s driving, heavy grooves and vintage keyboards were going to mesh with Planet-Y’s vintage deep space, sonic exploration.

“But as the session progressed, and the mutual musical footing took hold, some gold began to form. Dave’s heavy anchor of drums combined with Bruce’s pile-driving, overdriven bass was like witnessing an asteroid bursting through the Earth’s atmosphere, unleashing volcanic eruptions and thunder. With Deathbird Earth bringing the ground-shaking rumbling of a cataclysm, and Planet-Y bearing witness from deep space, it somehow all works – creating some fascinating surprises, and a great deep listening experience.”

Deathbird Earth + Planet-Y
Out March 12th, 2026
LP & cassette
SRA Records pre-order: https://srarecords.com/shop/sra/deathbird-earth-planet-y-collaborative-album/
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by BJ at Red Planet
Recorded November 1st, 2025
Artwork by Alex Smith

Planet-Y:
Pete Wilder – Guitar, theremin
Yanni Papadopoulos – Drum machine, Casio DG-20

Deathbird Earth:
BJ – Bass, synthesizers
Dave – Drums, synthesizers

Deathbird Earth on Bandcamp

Deathbird Earth on Instagram

Deathbird Earth on Facebook

SRA Records website

SRA Records on Bandcamp

SRA Records on Instagram

SRA Records on Facebook