Posted in Whathaveyou on October 13th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Montreal-based melodic progressive heavy rockers Sons of Arrakis have set a Jan. 22, 2027, release date for their third album, Volume III. Set to issue through Black Throne Productions, the record follows behind 2024’s Volume II (review here), which continued their forward growth and momentum and saw them tour Europe for the first and probably not the last time. The growth across their first two records, not really all that surprisingly, is evident in the first single from the new one, “Rise of Disaster,” which features guest vocals from Sandveiss‘ Luc Bourgeois.
You can hear that at the bottom of this post, and I’m sure there weill be more news ahead of the January release, further singles and such. Certainly the cover art is on-brand for the band’s stated Dune thematic, but note they cite Naomi Klein specifically as inspiring the lyrics. The PR wire brings more details on that and the record as a whole:
SONS OF ARRAKIS Releases “Rise of Disaster,” Announces New Album ‘Volume III’
Using the cinematic universe of Frank Herbert’s Dune as a creative foundation, Canada’s SONS OF ARRAKIS define their sound as melange rock / cinematic Sci-Fi rock. Blending raw, riff-driven rock with storytelling, atmosphere and evolving sonic landscapes, SONS OF ARRAKIS is preparing to release the full length Volume III on January 22, 2027, via Black Throne Productions. The new single “Rise of Disaster,” featuring guest vocals by Luc Bourgeois (SANDVEISS), provides a first glimpse of the forthcoming album.
“‘Rise of Disaster’ deals with war, manipulation and the way fear, suffering and collective trauma can be exploited by political and economic powers.” The band explain. “One of the major influences behind the lyrics was Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine and its examination of how moments of crisis can be used to impose new forms of control.
The recurring question ‘Whose side are you on?’ deliberately has no simple answer. It reflects the pressure to choose between competing narratives while the same cycle of violence, destruction and retaliation continues underneath them.”
Musically, “Rise of Disaster” evokes a dark soundscape. Urgent, heavy rhythms inject movement and momentum into the track’s verses while the melodic choruses provide a contrasting and uplifting quality. Returning to the gloom, “Rise of Disaster” ends with a chaotic instrumental finale.
Produced by SONS OF ARRAKIS, Volume III was recorded at Red Tube Studio & Home studios with Luc Boivin, Frederic Couture & Francis Duchesne. The album was mixed and mastered by Karl Daniel Liden. Album artwork and single covers are by artist Alexandre Goulet at Goulet Design.
Volume III will be available on vinyl, CD, cassette, and digital formats.
Volume III Track List: 1. Shaïtan – Tale of a Divided God (Part I) (2:00) 2. Rise of Disaster (4:27) 3. Throne of the Faithful (3:56) 4. Shaïtan – Tale of a Divided God (Part II) (2:02) 5. Rider of the Coriolis Stom (4:01) 6. Crimson Night (5:07) 7. The Disease (4:45) 8. Geminae Lunae ad Perigeum (6:33)
SONS OF ARRAKIS Is: Frederic Couture – Lead singer and rhythm guitar Francis Duchesne – Lead guitar, keyboards and percussions Vick Trigger – Bass Guitar Mathieu Racine – Drum
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 1st, 2026 by JJ Koczan
It’s not out until Oct. 2, but heads up on “Bash,” and the new Aunt Cynthia’s Cabin from which the single comes. The San Diego trio will release their self-titled sophomore LP on Dec 18 through Black Throne Productions, and it’s an awaited follow-up to their well-received 2020 debut, Misty Woman (review here), heralded by a sub-three-minute grooving fuzz roll, engaging in melody on an instrumental level and laced with slacker idolatry. Is it heavy? Yes. Is it laid back? Yes. Does that mean it’s boring? No.
Mostly, “Bash” makes me want to hear the rest of the record from which it comes, which I suppose is the job of a single. Misty Woman had a couple shorter tracks as well, but those were pieces of a two-part arc, so I don’t know if there’s a complement to “Bash” (perhaps “Crash?”) to follow or if it’s a standout in the tracklisting or what. I just don’t know yet. And since it’s not streaming yet, I can’t be like, “go hear it for yourself,” but the weighted grungegaze of the debut is definitely still relevant sound-wise, so if you haven’t heard that, by all means, do the prep work ahead of the self-titled.
The PR wire brought word of new doings:
Aunt Cynthia’s Cabin Announce First New Music Since 2020
On October 2, 2026 Aunt Cynthia’s Cabin return with “ Bash ” , the first single from their self-titled sophomore album, due December 18, 2026 through Black Throne Productions. The new material brings the band’s reverb-heavy guitars and desert-road songwriting back into focus after more than six years away from their debut album “Misty Woman”.
Pre-orders for both the new album and the third repress of “Misty Woman” will open alongside the single.
The band’s sound sits somewhere between the open-road guitar work of The Ventures, the heavier side of Dead Meadow and the blues-inspired approach of All Them Witches. Spring reverb, roomy drums and guitars that leave some air around the notes are central to ACC’s formula. The surf-inspired songs are built for long drives, empty roads and getting away from town for a while.
Aunt Cynthia’s Cabin was formed in 2017 by Brennan Justice, Anthony DeFreitas and Jeremy Luvaas. After releasing Misty Woman, the three members dispersed and did not see each other face to face for more than five years. The band returned in late 2025 with their first repressing of “ Misty Woman” through Black Throne Productions. The first repress sold out, leading to two additional vinyl runs and the first ever pressing of Mud Room #13 which included a previously unreleased bonus track “Narwhal”.
The new album was recorded and mixed by Brennan Justice at Camp Verde, Arizona, with mastering handled by JJ Golden. Its Southwestern setting is fitting for a band whose music has always been tied to California coastlines, desert roads, mountains and summer heat.
The band has already taken its music well outside Southern California. Their catalog has appeared in Shameless, Thrasher and Flip Skateboards projects, Vans-related events, several mountain-bike films and a placement in commercials for Indian Motorcycles.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 26th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Has it really been five years since Toronto riffrollers Low Orbit conjured the stellar mass of Crater Creator (review here)? I wouldn’t have guessed that much time had passed, but the band — who in the interim became a four-piece — have finished tracking the songs that will comprise their fourth full-length, set to release I don’t know when, through Black Throne Productions and Pink Tank Records, which is a shift since the last album was on Olde Magick (for the tape edition) and Pink Tank. They once again worked with genius-ass producer Ian Blurton (Biblical, Ian Blurton’s Future Now, etc.) in the studio, and as I understand it, they’re currently in the process of mixing the record.
The timing of the release won’t coincide, since it takes longer than a couple weeks to press up an album and get everything ready even in this age of digital wonders/horrors, but Low Orbit will return to Germany in September to take part in the Pink Tank Festival. They were last there in 2022, and performed at the same fest as part of that trip. The tour is in the company of German trio Submarine on Mars, and according to the band, whom I directly bothered ahead of putting this post up, the new album will be called Elliptic Void.
Here’s what they had to say about it, from social media:
Greetings Earthlings….mixing our 4th full length album is next up, and then off to Europe in just over a month.🚀👽 Big thanks to Michael Davidson for taking the awesome band photo.🚀👽Pink Tank Records Black Throne Productions
The departure of a core member, and end of a 30-plus year relationship in music and more sadly as friends shattered the band. Creating this album was extremely challenging and tested our resilience, commitment and desire to even move forward. This album reflects those difficult times and our search for the proverbial light we needed to move through. With new blood infused into the band the passion was reignited and the result was creating this new music which all four of us are extremely proud of.
It’s the third album we’ve recorded with Ian Blurton and there’s a reason for that. He knows the band and more importantly knows our sound. He’s the epitome of a “lifer” and his expertise coupled with his experience in the music business cannot be overstated. He engineered and produced this album, and took his production skills to the next level. His philosophy was simple, “we’re making an album here”.
We are heading back to Europe for the third time to take part in the Pink Tank Festival. Our new album will be co-released by Pink Tank Records and Black Throne Productions. Physical copies should be out early 2027.
Low Orbit & Submarine on Mars – Dead Planet Tour 2026 Sep 17 Bendorf, BenBar Beach Sep 18 Private Show Sep 19 Pink Tank Festival, Osterrönfeld Sep 21 Hannover, Chez Heinz Sep 22 Weimar, C‑Keller Sep 23 Dresden, Chemiefabrik Sep 24 Göttingen, Vinyl Reservat Sep 25 Halle, Hühnermanhattan Sep 26 Minden, Papagei
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 5th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
I like a bit of lore, and that’s what you get here, along with the megasludge wrought by top UK amphibious sludgers Froglord. The swampy crushers of riff are set to reissue 2021’s The Mystic Toad through Black Throne Productions, and they’ve got a string of UK dates lined up for July as they patiently wait for the rest of Europe to catch on. They’ll also be at Bloodstock and Stoomfest this summer, so not like they don’t have plenty to keep them busy.
But keep in mind as you peruse the below just how much the story is a part of what Froglord are offering. To wit, this entire press release that follows is about one song. One. Yeah, it’s got the tour dates and context and such, but still, one song. I will happily tell you it’s the best story I’ve read all day.
From the PR wire:
FROGLORD UNVEIL MYSTERY BONUS SINGLE AHEAD OF THE MYSTIC TOAD VINYL REPRESS
Something ancient is rising.
From the hidden wetlands of Bristol, Froglord return, not just as a band, but as a fully realised world of swamp doom, mythology, and environmental reckoning.
Since the dawn of time, whispers have spoken of an ancient amphibian entity, a being of deathray vision and ectoplasmic slime, lying dormant beneath the surface.
Froglord bring that prophecy to life.
Blending sludge soaked grooves, psychedelic doom, and towering walls of fuzz, the band have forged a singular identity through The Tale of The Froglord, an unfolding narrative of nature’s revenge against environmental collapse. Their sound is heavy, hypnotic, and deeply cinematic.
This is not just music. It is a mythos.
NEW RELEASE
Swamp doom collective Froglord return with a new chapter in their ever-expanding amphibious universe, revealing a mystery bonus single set to feature on the long-awaited vinyl repress of The Mystic Toad via Black Throne Productions.
The track will also be released as a standalone single on 3 June, marking the next mutation in the band’s evolving world of sludge-heavy grooves, psychedelic doom, and swamp-soaked mythology rooted in The Tale of The Froglord.
Emerging from Bristol’s underground, Froglord have built a distinctive identity through dense fuzz-drenched riffs and cinematic storytelling. Their sound exists as much as narrative as it does music, a living mythos where environmental collapse meets subterranean heaviness.
This latest release expands that universe further, while also tying into a wider creative collaboration with the team behind cult horror Frogman. Froglord contribute to the upcoming sequel Frogman Returns, following Dallas Kyle’s continued investigation into the amphibian cryptid of Loveland, Ohio. The band’s submerged, oppressive soundscapes sit naturally within the film’s found-footage tension, blurring the line between doom and cinematic unease.
The inclusion of the mystery track on The Mystic Toad repress re-centres one of the band’s most sought-after releases, deepening its place within the wider Froglord mythology.
LATEST RELEASE
Their latest release, Lower & Slower, strips everything back to its most oppressive form.
Recorded live in a single take, it reimagines key tracks from across their catalogue at funeral pace and subterranean tuning. The result is less an album, more a gravitational force.
Drawing influence from Conan, Monolord, and Weedeater, it reworks tracks including They Came From Saturn and Green Inferno, culminating in a colossal reinterpretation of Iron Man.
At its core lies their environmental message. Froglord support the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, donating 100% of digital proceeds and 50% of physical and merch sales from the release to wetland restoration efforts across the UK.
FILM PROJECTS
Froglord’s universe extends into film.
Frogman (Rotting Press, 2023) explores a dismissed cryptid encounter in Loveland, Ohio, first filmed in 1999. Two decades later, the truth resurfaces.
Froglord contributed the official track Frogman, alongside Amphibian Ascending, Swamp Boogie, and Frogspawn.
Its UK IMAX premiere at Bristol Aquarium became a live audiovisual ritual, with Froglord performing during the screening.
The story continues with Frogman Returns, with the band once again embedded in its soundtrack and mythology.
LIVE DATES
This July, Froglord take their swamp ritual on the road with Bat Sabbath (featuring members of Cancer Bats):
12/07 – Nottingham – Beta, Rock City 14/07 – Manchester – Rebellion 15/07 – Glasgow – Cathouse 16/07 – Sheffield – Corporation 17/07 – Birmingham – Castle & Falcon 18/07 – Bristol – Exchange 20/07 – Cardiff – Clwb Ifor Bach 21/07 – Brighton – Concorde 2 22/07 – Tunbridge Wells – The Forum 23/07 – London – Scala
FESTIVALS
08/08 – Bloodstock Festival (Sophie Lancaster Stage) 25/09 – Stoom Festival, London
With new material emerging, film collaborations expanding, and a packed live schedule ahead, Froglord continue to establish themselves as one of the UK underground’s most distinctive and imaginative voices in doom.
They are building a living world of swamp, sound, and story.
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 20th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
A vibrant and burly midtempo hook leaves little to question why Ol’ Time Moonshine might’ve selected “Poison” as the second single from their new album, Now I Bleed, which is set to release June 12 through Black Throne Productions. Dense tones and throaty vocals are familiar for the Toronto-based semi-Southern heavy rockers, but part of the appeal is the tightness of the songwriting, and indeed “Poison” hits in encouragingly direct fashion. The prior-issued single “She Moves” also has some carryover influence from Down to its riff, but is more about the momentum heading into its nodder of a chorus.
But what the two songs share — aside from dudeliness and groove — is a firm awareness of where the band are coming from in terms of style, and while that’s a factor as “She Moves” layers its solo lines or “Poison” seems to find another level of bass punch in its second half, the overarching impression is organic in the sense of the band being true to their sound rather than writing to one subgenre or another. That is a more mature position for them to be in, so it would make sense in terms of the arc of the last 13 years since their debut, but I haven’t heard the full album yet, so maybe I’m just talking out my ass — always possible — about the singles and how they might represent the rest of the work. I’m doing my best, you know.
The PR wire has links and the story and whatnot, and the audio is lower at the bottom of the post:
OL TIME MOONSHINE UNLEASH NEW SINGLE “POISON” & ANNOUNCE VINYL PRE-ORDERS AVAILABLE NOW THROUGH BLACK THRONE PRODUCTIONS
Ol Time Moonshine return with a vengeance on their latest single, “Poison” streaming now via Black Throne Productions. The new single is a dense, smoke choked slab of riff driven heaviness showing the band dig deeper into their blend of grit, groove, and southern-soaked distortion. “Poison” is now available on all major streaming platforms, with vinyl pre-orders for “Now I Bleed” launching in tandem with the single’s release.
“Poison” is a punishing and heavy track built on influences from Clutch, Danzig, and the Obsessed. The gnarled vocal is dragged through gravel and inspired from decades of heavy metal legends leaning hard into heavy metal abrasiveness with catchy hooks.
The band mentioned:
“Poison is the tale of a man in love with death. This one is track one, side A on “Now I Bleed”. It shows you what we’re about right out of the gate.”
To coincide with the release of “Poison” Ol Time Moonshine and Black Throne Productions are opening vinyl pre-orders for the upcoming record “Now I Bleed”.
Pre-Orders are now live exclusively through the Black Throne webshop and will begin shipping along with the album’s release coming on June 12 – which is available on digital, vinyl and CD format.
On the album, the band mentions:
“Now I Bleed” is a labour of love, and a lot of (literal) blood, sweat and tears went into recording this release. We feel it is our strongest release to date, and our producer, Scott Middleton, understood the assignment and did an incredible job of realizing our potential and the potential of the songs.”
The single follows closely behind their first from the album, “She Moves” which was released back on March 20 along with its music video, filmed at Black Throne Productions’ Toronto home-base, Bovine Sex Club during Ol Time Moonshine’s live premier of the single.
Record Mixed and Mastered by: Scott Middleton at Hiwattage Cottage Artwork Directions & Design by: Bill Kole Released by: Black Throne Productions
Ol Time Moonshine is: Bill Kole – vocals, lead guitar Chris Coleiro – guitar Adam Saitti – drums Jesse Mackowycz – bass, vocals
Montreal sludge rockers Seum release their third full-length, Parking Life, on April 23. Preorders are up through Black Throne Productions (LP) and Falling Apart Records (K7) now, and this week marks the arrival of the second single from the album, “Labrador,” for which a video featuring vocalist Gaspard, bassist Piotr and drummer Fred is premiering today below.
Parking Life has been billed, tongue firmly in cheek, as Seum ‘going pop.’ I have to think that humans who actually listen to pop music would be terrified by the opening title-track, or “Employee of the Month” or any of the quit-your-job-and-fuck-your-life fare on offer, be it “Labrador” or “666 Problems,” which brings in Vince Houde of Dopethrone for a pointedly nasty guest spot. But if you’ve followed the bass/drum trio at all over the last five or six years, you’ll likely notice Parking Life is their first outing to employ clean-sung vocals at all, and that only one of the eight tracks on the 26-minute album (yes, it’s short, but yes, it’s an album) is over four minutes long. On 2023’s Double Double (review here), just to compare, that number was four.
What you need to understand about it — this is true of the album across the board and certainly goes for the rousingly, encouragingly anticorporate “Labrador” too — is that Seum still don’t want for intensity. They brought plenty. The difference between Parking Life and Double Double or their 2021 debut, Winterized (review here), is that they let the listener in on more of the fun they’ve surely been having the whole time, while also taking advantage of a chance to become more dynamic in how thye present their material. The fuzzy strut after the initial verses of “Parking Life,” the bassy sway and the swagger after the cough at 1:40 signals the switch to screams, is a telling moment for the record as a whole, and sure enough, “Parking Life” not only lays out the theme of middle-age descent into mediocrity, but also the character the band bring to the songs, which is that much richer for being multifaceted.
A litany of samples — jingling keys at the start, Steve Buscemi shows up later, etc. — join the band for what’s still on balance something of an onslaught but nonetheless refined in context. “Employee of the Month” is a full-weight shove at first and rounds off with a nod that feels like something Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol might roll out, leaving room for Houde‘s vocal in “666 Problems” (which is like “99 Problems,” but with more problems) to meet any quota for viciousness that might’ve been had going in. It is duly punishing. “Labrador” follows, and as the video and the single art above portray, the chorus, “Cut your tie/Bite your master/Break your leash like a bad labrador,” is a defining hook for the record as a whole. A phone call to the ‘Midlife Crisis Solutions Hotline,’ and thereby being put on hold, in the interlude “Solutions” leads into “Right Swipe Blues,” which is kind of tucked away but might be the most directly vocally melodic inclusion on balance.
I’d have to break out the charts to be sure, but the way the penultimate “Sad Labbath” backs it with the most aggressive uptempo force Parking Life has on offer tells me the assertion is correct, and as such, “Right Swipe Blues” comes across as the furthest delve Seum make here, though the closing “Always on My Mind” follows a not-dissimilar-if-more-brooding course, introducing the screams to top a slowdown/riffout. One might think of a band like California’s -(16)-, who in recent years have also made the jump to incorporating a cleaner singing style not previously employed. It doesn’t change the personality of what Seum do entirely, and it’s not trying to, but it does suit and serve these songs and it gives the band another tool at their disposal generally, which only makes them more deadly. Also, they’re right. Fuck work. Quit your job.
For a tutorial on breaking your leash, “Labrador” follows here. Please enjoy:
2nd single of SEUM’s 3rd album “Parking Life” out on April 23rd 2026. Be there.
Directed by Florian Nermont in March 2026.
From the band:
“As we are reaching the middle of our lives, the temptation to settle down, forget our dreams and ambitions is high, this would be the safer choice!
Instead we decided ‘not to park here and doubled down on music by picking the Parking Life, travelling, playing shows for a hundred or one and exploring what doom’n bass music has to offer.
We also decided ‘not to park here’ musically by getting as far from our comfort zone as we could, adding clean vocals, melodies and treating each song of the album as a pop track.
We sing about loneliness, boredom, unfulfilling careers, addiction and broken hearts, topics all too common when you grow older, but we do it in a fun – no fucks given – way.”
Tracklisting: 1. Parking Life 2. Employee of the Month 3. 666 Problems (Feat. Vince Houde) 4. Labrador 5. Solutions 6. Right Swipe Blues 7. Sad Labbath 8. Always On My Mind
Posted in Reviews on March 17th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Day one down, time for day two of this Spring 2026 Quarterly Review. If you missed me saying so yesterday, this QR will run 70 releases total, so it finishes a week from today. If you didn’t find anything you got down with yesterday, I hope today’s your day. If not, maybe tomorrow. That’s kind of how this works.
You should note that some of this is 2025 releases. I’ll try to note that in the reviews when I can, but today leads off with Spidergawd’s latest and that’s six months old at this point. The older I get, the less of a shit I give for release dates. That’s a somewhat aspirational statement, I admit. I’ve always sucked at keeping up.
Quarterly Review #11-20:
Spidergawd, From Eight to Infinity
Reconfirming their place among top tier songwriters in heavy rock, Norway’s Spidergawd offer their eighth album with Thin Lizzy and Judas Priest and way more energy behind the delivery than ‘eighth album’ could ever hope to imply. From Eight to Eternity indeed is an eighth album running eight tracks (40 minutes; that’s eight times five, anyhow), and while charge is part of what they do, they’ve always been able to hone a sense of dynamic across a record and the latest is no different. As the world outside crumbles, Spidergawd offer escape to a better place and unshakable solidity of approach. Even the extra-vehemence of chug in “Confirmation” and the proto-thrashy twists in “200 Miles High” are brought into the fold rather than left to hang as anomalous, and there’s a gallop in “The Hunter” that’s pure NWOBHM, but Spidergawd remain a rock band even when they’re playing metal, which “The Ghost of Eirik Raude” says better than I could, and in “The Grand Slam,” the grander outreach of “Winter Song” and the shove of “One in a Million” they once more underscore how special the thing they do is. Do you understand what a gift Spidergawd are to heavy rock and roll? You might if you listen.
Originally issued through Nasoni Records in 2020, Aunt Cynthia’s Cabin‘s Misty Woman arrives via a Dec. 2025 Black Throne Productions reissue, and reasonably so. In the parlance of our times, it’s a vibe. The title-track is spacious and ’60s psych, with choice vocals and easy swing, and by then they’ve already been through the volatility of the jam in “Which One is the Jellyfish” and the plus-sized roll in “Kennel and the Dog,” so they’re well underway, with rawness and atmosphere both as part of their crux. That doesn’t abate in the two-part “Rider in the Desert Sun” or the hypnotic diversion “In the Valley,” willfully repetitive across its five minutes ahead of the longest track “There’s No Saving Cass,” which uses the negative space of the mix for a live feel before hitting into a classic-style fadeout into the interlude “Grains of Sand.” The closer “Black and Blue” is fuller in sound, but still echoing out, and the bonus track “Magic Touch” brings extra brightness to the crash and a satisfying swell of rawer distortion to its finish. Sleeper, maybe, because it’s already six years old, but with scope, and well earns the second look.
The Dallas outfit have said that “The Weight of All Matters” is a herald of their third record, but as it’s been more than 10 years since the band released their second album, 2015’s Divided States (review here), it seemed reasonable to approach the six-minute newcomer as a standalone, at least for the time being. The new song is perhaps more patient for the years between — though I wouldn’t presume to imply that to an entire album; they’ve always been able to change it up amid various 1990s influences, here grunge, there noise, filtered through their own tonal heft and melodic sensibility, the latter of which is a crucial factor in “The Weight of All Matters” as well, lending a progressive feel to the chorus and the brash swell in the second half. More likely than not, the single doesn’t speak for the entirety of the full-length to come, but it’s good to hear from Hawk vs. Dove again at all. They make it easy to look forward to more.
There are six dudes in Brisbane fuzz-psych rockers Silver Orbs and four of them sing, so yes, part of the impression the band’s late-’25 three-songer self-titled debut EP makes is in the vocals, particularly in opener “Manganangas,” but “Gannets” brings a more serene start with intertwining keyboard and guitar, though the rumble of bass and steady kick drum herald the volume kick that arrives soon enough, and “Gannets” is instrumental, so clearly sending a message that they’re not one-sided in their approach. “Kanto Katso” affirms this with a strikingly heavy intro of crashes and guitar attack, but its verses are more like psychedelic chants and the drums shift to the toms there, so they’re having fun making it weird, and that’s as it should be. I don’t know if “Kanto Katso” doesn’t return to that same directness of impact from its start or if one just acclimates to it, but a band setting such a vivid context for their own sound across the first three songs they’ve ever released isn’t something that happens every day, and Silver Orbs come across as ready to continue exploring. A thing to hope for.
Azerbaijani duo Xain unfurl a bit over six minutes of heavy post-grind extremity on Xaraba, the three included tracks pummeling one after another in succession, with perhaps the most brutal crush of all coming in centerpiece “Günahkar” where the overarching rush groove opens to a breakdown start-stop nod that speaks to their noted The Dilligner Escape Plan influence, but the shove and the context are all their own. I’m not sure if it’s live drums or not, as vocalist Toghrul Manafov and guitarist Elkhan Alshin (both founding members of death metallers Fatal Nation), but the toy piano offset in “Çürüyən ruhun ət qəfəsi” speaks to outside-genre impulses that can only continue to serve them well as they do here, and as unforgiving and unbridled as they are, the catharsis comes through strongly despite the language barrier. They should probably get a government grant to make more of this.
The ‘altar’ in question for Altar of Worship is Pagan Altar, and two of doom metal’s most doomed — Wakefield, UK’s Iron Void and NY’s Orodruin — give due homage to Terry Jones (R.I.P. 2015) and the classic sound he had a hand in developing as part of the band (who are still going, mind you). Each band offers one studio-tracked original — Iron Void lead off side A with “The Tolling Bell” (also the longest track; immediate points) and Orodruin answer back with “In This Place” at the start of side B — as well as a Pagan Altar cover and two live songs. Orodruin‘s take on “In the Wake of Armadeus” is a highlight, but so is Iron Void‘s “Highway Cavalier,” and it quickly becomes fortunate that the two bands aren’t so much in competition with each other — lest you had to pick one over the other — as they are working together remotely toward a common goal in celebrating one of doom’s many underheralded legends. It’s a tribute that wears its (dark, grim, sorrowful) heart on its sleeve.
Lead cut “Earthbound” gets pretty chunky toward its finish, but as Epimetheus roll on to pursue Conan-esque levels of heavy in “Coalesce” and bring “Drift Beyond” to a rumblenoise apex that the likes of Cities of Mars or Domkraft might proffer, the UK-based outfit know there’s more than one way to crush a skull. They are atmospheric without overproduction, and’90s rooted without sounding like either grunge, stoner rock, doom and meditative psychedelia directly while having aspects of all of them, and are dug into their own processes enough that the promo for the seven-song/48-minute Perseus 9 came with a document detailing the building and modding of their instruments, pedals and recording apparatus. If you think I’m complaining about that, you’re wrong. The care they put into crafting their sound can be heard in the centerpiece “Held No More,” which effectively summarizes the scope across nearly 10 minutes before the eight-minute title-track follows up with more cosmic chug and nod. “Calling” is duly feedback-coated for the shouts that complement its riff, and they close with the uptempo “Terraform” presumably so they can begin to repair the damage they caused all along their way. Perseus 9 is their debut, and there are things to be sorted in terms of their approach, but the potential here is no less broad than their creative reach. Heads up, this one’s a journey.
A well established penchant for the epic serves Indiana capital-‘h’ Heavy metal rockers Wolftooth on their fourth album and first for Ripple Music, Wizard’s Light, as they bring a strident NWOBHM feel to “Darkened Path,” “Sands of Redemption,” “Armor of Steel,” “Bloodline” and others throughout the 45-minute 10-track collection, but as sweeping and grand as even a rocker like “Wizard’s Light” ends up being, Wolftooth are never actually overblown. The longest inclusion here is the penultimate “Bloodline,” and it’s a ripper very much on-brand for the record and the band making it, but it’s also only five and a half minutes long. So while Wolftooth come on in grand fashion with the intro “Hymn of Belgarath” carrying into the hard snare and galloping chug of “Sightless Archer,” they never rest in one place long enough to lose the urgency of what they’re doing in sacrifice either to precision or class, though they offer no shortage of either of those. It’s not my thing, necessarily, but I’m just one person and the appeal here might as well be scored into the side of a mountain.
Translated as ‘the cursed’ from the original Hungarian, Babona‘s Az Átkozott is the short third full-length from the Miskolc-based solo-project of multi-instrumentalist Tamás Rózsa, and the prolific craftsman adds percussive nuance to “Soha” and goes out to the car in “Mahnurk,” seeming to tell a story complete with giggles and a big inhalation before “Csapágy” kicks in with a mellower intro ahead of the record’s most active pummel. From opener “Álomra hajtom a fejemet” onward, the mood is prevailingly dark, and the cawing crows of “ÍmeaT átka” (a second interlude) only reinforce the feeling. Still, even the start-stop ’90s crunch riffing of “Visszatérés” and the back and forth mellow/shove trades in “A szigetmonostori búcsú” harness a feeling of movement, and at maybe 25 minutes, Az Átkozott is a long way from the danger of overstaying its welcome. This is an exploration worth following if you’re not yet.
Belgian instrumentalists Motsus lean into riffy post-metal in a way that’s invariably going to lead to Pelican or Russian Circles comparisons on Atlas, but the push in “Driver,” which hits subsequent to “Intro (El Toro de Fuego)” at the album’s outset, isn’t shy about its underlying stonerism, and both “Duna” and “Exploder Pt. II” back this idea with plotted longform processions, the former rising from its Middle Eastern-style intro into a massive lumber while the latter climbs the cliff just to jump off and enjoy the downward tumble. They thrash for a bit in the two-minute “Short Notice,” but it’s in closer “Turboslak” that they pull all the sides together and find their very-loud-no-matter-what-volume-you’re-listening-at niche in the sphere, setting a low barrier to entry for the genre converted without playing so much to style as to lose sight of the ideals they’re chasing as they execute for such marked weight.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 13th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Already this year, Montreal Dune-themed progressive melodic heavy rockers Sons of Arrakis have hit the West and East Coasts of the US, playing Planet Desert Rock Weekend and (the last) Maryland Doom Fest both, and been to the UK for an appearance at StoomFest. They’ve got festivals as part of this upcoming on-the-continent European run as well, as they’ll hit Into the Void Leeuwarden in the Netherlands and Up in Smoke in Switzerland, both at the behest of Sound of Liberation, which booked the tour.
The ascendant Canucks have been and will be out in support of their 2024 sophomore LP, Volume II (review here), which was released by Black Throne Productions and which, if you’d like a refresher, is streaming in full at the bottom of this post. Yup, under the links. You got the idea.
Interesting to note: it probably isn’t the first time they’ve used it, but this is the first I’ve seen the band self-apply the tag “melange rock.” The word, suitably rooted in French, means a mixture or a somewhat slapdash assortment. As the comments point out, it’s also of course a Dune reference. It’s an okay bit of branding, if not necessarily encompassing or descriptive. It’s a thing they can call themselves, which I imagine answers a fair number of the “what do you call this sound” questions they’ve been receiving. The first two things I think of when I think of them “progressive” and “melodic,” so I went with that. Admittedly, way less catchy.
Dates came from this or that social media:
🌌 UPDATES! SHAI-HÜLÜD ODYSSEY 2025 – EUROPE 🌌
We’re beyond stoked to bring the Melange Rock to Europe this fall! Massive thanks to Sound of Liberation and our label at Black Throne Productions for making this run possible. 🙏🔥
From the Netherlands to Switzerland, with stops in Belgium and Germany, we’re bringing the spice to some of our favorite venues and festivals — see you on the road!
