Posted in Whathaveyou on May 28th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
It’s beautiful, innit? A perfect mesh of nostalgia for what was and laying claim to what may yet be. Emissions From the Monolith isn’t just returning to remind people it was there 20-plus years ago when the notion of a festival celebrating underground heavy from sludge to psych — that kind of genrefest — wasn’t entirely unheard of but was nowhere near as widespread or taken for granted as it is now. It’s looking ahead. You get Torche (!) and Rebreather, but you also get Howling Giant and High Desert Queen. Fistula and Winds of Neptune. That’s gonna be a wild few days.
I ran into Ben from The Brought Low this past weekend in Brooklyn, and nearly the first words out of his mouth were asking if I would be in Ohio this October. Four-day fest plus a day of travel on either side makes it less feasible, especially coming off In the Key of Doom, also in NYC, the weekend before. It would be a challenge and would require a lot of indulgence on my wife’s part. I’m not sure I can make that ask, actually. And I’m not sure I have a car that I would trust to make it to and from Ohio. I guess that’s a factor too.
But you never know what the next few months will bring, and the lineup is gorgeous either way, so here it is as posted by the fest on socials:
EMISSIONS FROM THE MONOLITH 10 — FINAL POSTER + FULL LINEUP REVEAL
After nearly two decades away, Emissions From The Monolith returns October 8–11, 2026 at Westside Bowl in Youngstown, Ohio.
Four days of underground heavy music presented on a single stage with full sets and absolutely no overlaps.
Built around immersion, discovery, flow, and community rather than festival sprawl, Emissions has always focused on the experience of being there from start to finish.
We’re intentionally choosing not to sell the room to maximum capacity. Comfort matters more.
Final poster artwork by Mercerrock (Brian Mercer Design)
FULL LINEUP Axioma BAT Bongzilla Cavity A.D. Deadbird Disengage edhochuli Fistula Generation of Vipers Great Falls High Desert Queen Horseburner Howling Giant Kowloon Walled City Lake Lake Lo-Pan Minsk O.I.L. rebreather Rwake Shun Solace Stinking Lizaveta Sunrot Telekinetic Yeti The Brought Low THUNDERCHIEF TODAY IS THE DAY Torche Voivod Weedeater Winds Of Neptune
October 8–11, 2026 Westside Bowl — Youngstown, Ohio
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 4th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Some of the finest the US Midwest has to offer will make its way to Emissions From the Monolith 10 this October in Ohio, with Fistula, Bongzilla, Lo-Pan, Axioma and Minsk, and O.I.L. too if you count Pittsburgh as the Midwest. Alongside those, Voidvod and Torche! Like, oh, no big deal. I knew Emissions was taking some big swings in its return year, with noisier bands like Cavity and Today is the Day, but Voivod are another level of weirdo-unplaceable, and alongside Minsk, who haven’t had a full-length out in 11 years and somehow that just makes the thought of seeing them cooler, and Ryan Waste of Municipal Waste‘s Bat, this lineup feels like it’s moving quickly into the realm of unfuckwithability.
Is the lineup complete? I’m not entirely sure. It doesn’t say either way on the poster, so maybe there are more adds or maybe not. Either way, I don’t see how you could look at the single-stage/four-day sprawl of bands — theoretically I could go to Emissions in October and see all of it; I like that idea — and feel like something’s missing, especially now that the word Torche appears in it.
Some oldschool, some newschool, and not a single not-on-purpose bummer in the bunch:
EMISSIONS FROM THE MONOLITH 10 – TRANSMISSION 3
A third wave of artists joins Emissions from the Monolith 10.
October 8–11, 2026 at Westside Bowl in Youngstown, Ohio.
Previously announced: Cavity Deadbird Disengage Edhochuli Generation of Vipers Great Falls High Desert Queen Horseburner Howling Giant Kowloon Walled City Lake Lake Rebreather Rwake Shun Solace Stinking Lizaveta Sunrot Telekinetic Yeti The Brought Low Thunderchief Today Is The Day Weedeater Winds of Neptune
One stage.
No overlaps.
Four days of total immersion in the heavy underground
Posted in Features on December 24th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
[PLEASE NOTE: These are not the results of the year-end poll, which ends in January. If you haven’t contributed your picks yet, please do so here.]
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Terrible year, good music. Not the first time that’s happened. Look anywhere in the world and there’s unrest to be found. I have started this paragraph three separate times now with some discussion of my country’s willful embrace of corporate, christian nationalist fascism, and each time have had to go back and restart, because by the time you’re done asking “what’s the point of anything?” you realize you don’t have an answer to that question. Better not to ask.
But in what has unquestionably been the dumbest 12 months I’ve lived through as regards the outside world has made a salve of human creativity, and as our techbro-warlord fiefdoms are laid out and generative AI is pushed in place of human artistry — the two could coexist, easily, just not in a world this stupid — making art whether it’s overtly political or not feels more like resistance against a cultural numbing out than it ever has in my 44 years.
We celebrate the human spirit, then, when we celebrate human creativity. The nonphysical part of ourselves and the connections we make across land, space and time through various forms of art and expression. I believe artificial intelligence can have a place in this world, I just wish I could convince it to empty the dishwasher.
Music holds us together. Or to be more honest, it holds me together. On these days where the horrors don’t seem to end, where cruelty and unkindness are held as virtues and care is seen as a weakness, where hateful rhetoric is held as common sense, where grown-ass men roll around in big-boy pickup trucks and wave silly flags like the spoiled five-year-olds they are mentally, where we kill each other for sport, being able to immerse, to put my head somewhere else, to get away from it for just a little while, has been a gift. It is difficult to believe there was ever an optimistic vision of the future in my country. In the face of rising isolationism and kleptocratic, anticonstitutional governmental improprieties, limitless corruption, endless drudging stupidity, I see no reason for one now beyond escapism.
So in these wretched times, love all you can love. Everyone and everything. Bathe yourself in it as much as you can. Hold onto what you can hold onto, because so much else is being ripped away. We live in fear and confusion and exhaustion, but clarity exists. I find it in art and in critical thinking. My hope for you is you find it however you are able.
Below is my list of the year’s best albums. It’s my list, and it has been put together using the same criteria I always use — personal taste and what I listened to most combined with what I think were important or otherwise notable outings — and as always, there were plenty of them. No, I didn’t hear everything, and I think if I ended this post now with “this was the year of Castle Rat,” that would also be a valid way to go, so whatever your opinions are of the year or the music that filled your life from one end of it to the other, please know that this is coming from my perspective, and that while I do my best to do as much as possible, I have neither time nor interest in covering all releases all the time.
Every year, I put this post up after working on it for a week or whatever and someone invariably goes, “meh what about WHOEVER list sux” and the entire endeavor feels like a waste. Never fails. It’s become part of the ritual. I ask you please keep comments civil and allow for the possibility of other perspectives and opinions. If we can’t do that as people sharing the same divergent subculture, then you and I are no better than the monsters outside the door. And we are better, I assure you.
Thanks for reading. Here we go.
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The Top 60 Albums of 2025
**NOTE**: If you’re looking for something specific, try a text search.
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60-31
60. Make Money From Home, Make Money From Home
59. Madmess, The Third Coming
58. Spawn, Light Rite
57. Lorquin’s Admiral, Lorquin’s Admiral
56. Pink Fuzz, Resolution
55. Bloodsports, Anything Can Be a Hammer
54. Serial Hawk, Psychic Pain
53. C.ROSS, Future Site of C.ROSS
52. Ikitan, Shaping the Chaos
51. Papir, IX
50. Kryptograf, Kryptonomicon
49. Bronco, Bronco
48. The Gray Goo, Cabin Fever Dreams
47. Crop, S.S.R.I.
46. Caboose, Left for Dust
45. Nuclear Dudes, Skeletal Blasphemy
44. Cavern Deep, Part III – The Bodiless
43. Rainbows Are Free, Silver and Gold
42. Moon Destroys, She Walks by Moonlight
41. Abanamat, Abominat
40. Margarita Witch Cult, Strung Out in Hell
39. Kungens Män, Resande i Rockmusik
38. Naxatras, V
37. Atom Juice, Atom Juice
36. Castle Rat, The Bestiary
35. Florist, Adrift
34. Earthbong, Bring Your Lungs
33. River Cult, High Anxiety
32. Messa, The Spin
31. Borracho, Ouroboros
Notes:
You might notice two of the year’s biggest releases here between 31 and 40 in Messa and Castle Rat. I’m not sure underground heavy anything has two more crucial bands happening right now. Castle Rat’s main impact and obvious priority is their live presentation, and Messa I’ve always been kind of here or there on. But looking at the year-end poll results thus far, those are names people would be missing, so I wanted to point them out specifically. There was no getting away from either in 2025.
So much to go through here. A few excellent debuts in Atom Juice, Make Money From Home, Caboose, Bronco, Bloodsports, Lorquin’s Admiral, Ikitan, Moon Destroys and so on, while strong returns from the likes of Nuclear Dudes, Papir, Serial Hawk, Rainbows Are Free, the always-welcome Borracho, Naxatras and others provided fodder for immersion across a swath of sounds and intentions of craft. Florist blindsided me, which I appreciated, and River Cult remain wholly undervalued in my mind. Kryptograf and Cavern Deep continue to grow, and Abanamat’s second record was encouragingly proggy. I found solace in Papir and Spawn, and raw physical catharsis in the thrashing heavy cybergrind of Nuclear Dudes. And of course, groove abounds.
I say the same thing every year, but if someone turned these names into the year-end poll as a top 30, I wouldn’t argue. Whether hyped or not, rocking out, navelgazing or exploring the unknown, there is so much here waiting for people to take it on. I hope you’ll see something in the above you haven’t heard yet, listen, and love it.
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30. Black Moon Cult, Ophidian Future (The Children of Yig)
More on this one below, but Black Moon Cult‘s awaited first album, Ophidian Future (The Children of Yig) was unquestionably a standout in the realm of heavy psychedelic rock, and set the Toledo, Ohio-based trio off on a course of exploration that could be shimmering and progressive or rife with terrestrial groove. And the vocals, not always, but sometimes, reminded me of Death if they were a stoner band crossed with Fu Manchu. Most of all, the vibe-heavy six-songer declared Black Moon Cult as one to watch going forward, and the heavy underground took note accordingly.
Inarguable riffing met with grunge overtones, an overarching heavygaze melodicism and increasingly tight songwriting, yes, Sub Rosa is a step along the way in the narrative of Daevar‘s forward growth, but it sure felt like a landmark in that process. A bit of Type O Negative in “Siren Song” and a bit more explosiveness there and throughout underscored the murky doom for which the German outfit are known, and the key influences are still there, Windhand, Monolord, and so on, but Daevar have been shaping their sound over the course of their albums to arrive at such a payoff.
Kaiser had acquitted themselves well on their 2022 Ripple-issued split with Sweden’s Captain Caravan (review here), so their second full-length arrived not quite as a surprise, but with some measure of anticipation behind it. That would turn out to be wholly justified by the eight-song offering from the Finnish heavy rockers, who aligned themselves with a classic Northern-European-style shove in pieces like “Meteorhead” with high concentrations of fuzz and blowouts to coincide. With pieces like “Oversized Load” and the upped heft of “A Clockwork Green,” this was a sleeper, but it’s the kind of record that creates loyalists and people will be recommending it to each other for years.
Of course, Crystal Spiders have an established powerhouse voice out front in Brenna Leath, but Metanoia brought into focus just how much this is Leath‘s band as the lone remaining founder in a three-piece, with newcomers guitarist Reid Rogers and drummer Aaron Willis. Fair enough. Even in a two-thirds new incarnation, Crystal Spiders came through pretty slick on their third full-length, with a confident, classic-doom swing, songs that remain unafraid to reach onto more ethereal ground, and a flow of melody that’s made them immediately identifiable among the hordes. Asking more would be asking too much.
The ongoing evolution of Northern Ireland’s Slomatics found the crush-prone trio expanding on their worldmaking atmospheres in unexpected ways, challenging what had become conventions in their sound over time while offering the guitar-only heft that’s become their calling card over the last two decades. While more cosmic in their float, they remained grounded in terms of songwriting, and were able to push themselves in ways they’ve never done before. It was enough to remind you why you like heavy music in the first place, and signature Slomatics while moving beyond their prior work, building as they always have on the past to carve out their own futuristic style and perspective. It was, in other words, a Slomatics record.
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25. Dead Shrine, Cydonia Mensa
Released by Astral Projection and Kozmik Artifactz. Reviewed April 24.
As a fan of his various incarnations, I’m not sure it’d feel like a year if there wasn’t something new from Hamilton, New Zealand’s Craig Williamson. Whether it’s the more rocking solo-project Dead Shrine or the long-running acid folk outfit Lamp of the Universe or some other collaboration, etc., his craft is both distinctive and malleable, and the rumble in songs like “The Sacred Light” and the chuggy, hooky “Redeemer” is his all the way, even as it and the psychedelia that surrounds embarked on new ground for outward-facing tonal weight in Williamson‘s work, tying seemingly disparate sides together in ways that felt fresh, and most importantly, Williamson‘s own. I’ve been listening to Williamson for over 20 years and I have no idea where he’s headed. That’s part of the appeal. And fresh as it was, the take throughout Cydonia Mensa still carried a classic feel.
Apart from the obvious consideration of plague, I’m not sure what was behind the seven-year space between 2018’s Helltown (review here) and their first outing for Heavy Psych Sounds and fourth album overall, EC4, but if they were taking their time, the songs bear that out. “Static Vision” hit perfectly as a catchy single, while the more ethereal “Moss” and the sweeping “Other Planets” took the Ohio band to new places in sound. They’ve always been about craft and performance, and those remain key aspects of what they do, but nuance in the production and an eye kept fixated on the outside-genre leant depth to the material, and Electric Citizen basked in it. The band remain somewhat undervalued in my mind; EC4 is another example of why.
There’s very little mystery to Kal-El. There doesn’t need to be. They have the songs and can come right at you with them. No need to sneak around or pull some tricks. Hit play. “Here’s a riff. It’s a hook. It’s in your head. Here’s the next one.” Repeat for further righteousness. And don’t go walking around thinking I mean straightforward as a code word for boring. That’s not what’s happening here. The point is that with no shortage of big sound, big reach, big riffs and melodies, Astral Voyager Vol. 1 put into emphasis just how satisfyingly direct Kal-El can be. And though it’s a story only half told with a Vol. 2 presumably due in 2026, grooves like “Dilithium” (of course I’m in for a Star Trek reference) and the nine-and-a-half-minute “Astral Voyager,” Kal-El‘s latest held purpose in its every turn and expanse, and, well, they’re the kind of band you can rely on not to start sucking now, so yes, the next one is a thing to look forward to.
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22. Khan, That Fair and Warlike Form/Return to Dust
Two sidelong epics from Melbourne, Australia, trio Khan, “That Fair and Warlike Form” (23:11) and “Return to Dust” (22:53), were about as vivid as progressive heavy psychedelia got in 2025. Each piece worked in stages and had its own ebbs and flows such that it’ll probably be a while yet before it’s all fully digested, but no question it was a step forward for Khan, whose 2023 LP, Creatures, had sent them to tour in Europe multiple times over. The same wheels are already turning for this album, and despite the longform material, Khan have continued to grow their audience. I don’t know where they go from here — single song album? step back to shorter forms? something in between? — but That Fair and Warlike Form/Return to Dust conveyed its intent in every moment of crush and every fluid twist or expansive dive, and without giving up their tonal impact, Khan found new paths into aural breadth.
For those who caught onto Maha Sohona‘s 2021 sophomore outing, Endless Searcher (review here), A Dark Place was something to anticipate as representing the next phase from a new voice in heavy psych rock. A Dark Place was as-advertised in being moodier than its predecessor, but all the more cohesive for that. With a meditative crux that came through regardless of a given part’s volume, the Swedish three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Johan Bernhardtson, bassist Thomas Hedlund and drummer Erik Andersson were able to both subvert and surpass expectations, revealing a richness to their process that went beyond the marriage of jams and heavier nod. Their best work may still be ahead of them, but pieces like “Ostera” and “Visions” confirmed their progression in craft and atmosphere.
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20. Grayceon, Then the Darkness
Released by We Can Records and Translation Loss. Reviewed July 24.
From environmental devastation, violence against women, the sundry hypocrisies inherent in raising a family in our world and mysterious lights in the sky perhaps from beyond, one would not accuse Grayceon‘s sixth album, released on the occasion of the band’s 20th anniversary, of taking it easy. A vast and sometimes challenging listen wasn’t anything new from the San Francisco cello-inclusive heavy thrash doomers, but in the 20-minute “Mahsa” and the wistfully punishing “Song of the Snake,” blastbeaten but unbowed unless you’re counting the literal bow, cellist/vocalist Jackie Perez Gratz, guitarist Max Doyle and drummer Zack Farwell were unflinching in their extremity, and further refined the sound that is so, so much their own. Comfort and catharsis, searing and healing, Then the Darkness is distinctly Grayceon and that is all the more reason to treasure it.
Marking their ascent to Fuzz Club Records with the release of their seventh album, Kiel, Germany, psych explorers Kombynat Robotron didn’t quite completely upend their prior methodology by embracing structured songwriting and the use of vocals for the first time, but it was close enough. The songs — there were eight of them, where Dec. 2024’s West Mata (review here) had three, for example — still held to a sense of approaching the outer reaches of heavy psych, the far end of some remote corner of our cornerless galaxy, but it was the use the band put their impulses to that marked the shift. Do I know that the next one will be the same? Nope. And neither am I willing to hazard a prediction, but if you can’t see that as a strength on the part of Kombynat Robotron, maybe it’s best to keep moving along.
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18. Kadavar, I Just Want to Be a Sound / Kids Abandoning Destiny Among Vanity and Ruin
The funny thing is that, as different as they are in their outward presentation and production style, you could look at either of the two LPs Kadavar released this year and call it “uncompromising.” In the bright, daring-toward-pop melodies and all-in sonic wash of the earlier I Just Want to Be a Sound, the four-piece were unrepentant in speaking to both a heyday and a future in which rock music speaks to a broader audience than dudes who look like me, and with Kids Abandoning Destiny Among Vanity and Ruin — K.A.D.A.V.A.R., if you’re feeling clever — they put forth some of the heaviest, rawest and most metallic sounds they’ve conjured in the last decades-plus of their evolving style. The two records were not black and white, there were overlapping aspects of songwriting and performance, but while each had its own scope, it was in the light of the other that they were most luminous, as much complement as contrast. Maybe I’m cheating including them together. You might say I took inspiration from the band in breaking my own rules.
How many acts do you know who have nine records, let alone nine records the latest of which still finds them pursuing new ideas and fostering growth in their sound? No, 16 aren’t the only ones, but the San Diego outfit found new life when guitarist Bobby Ferry stepped into the frontman/vocalist role, and with Alex Shuster both producing and in the band on guitar, the ferocity of their crunch and hardcore-born chugging largesse has become even more fervent. Guides for the Misguided was the latest in a streak of bangers that at this point goes back more than 15 years, and amid the familiar onslaught, saw the band employing clean vocals for the first time. I suppose it’s arguable whether that made a song like “Fortress of Hate” any more accessible, but it showed how 16 have never settled or stopped pushing themselves, and seemed to boast all the more shove for the fact that it was everybody moving forward, you and the band.
There’s that stretch in “Total Bicep” where the guitars are howling into the void and all the crush surrounding is so full on that it’s kind of overwhelming, but that’s the idea. Give it volume and let it consume you. I suppose that’s not new from Conan, but the UK bludgeoners of all have a well-earned reputation for standing among the heaviest bands on the planet, and Violence Dimension wasn’t about to do anything to derail that impression. Harsh noise metal, doomed lumber offset by speedier but still craterous riffs; familiar territory for Conan, but emblematic of how well they know who they are and what they’re about. The 10-minute finale “Ocean of Boiling Skin” stands testament to just how far into the frozen ground the band are capable of driving you, but in the gallop of “Frozen Edges of the Wound” they reminded that just because you’re devastating doesn’t mean you can’t also be catchy. If you don’t get it the first time, it’s okay. They’re totally willing to properly beat it into your head.
While not as overtly political as his other releases this year — neither was he turning from that; I’m speaking relatively — singer-songwriter Christopher Thomas Elliott brought a storyteller’s presence to Mean Bone, his second full-length under the Buzzard moniker following on from 2024’s well-received debut, Doom Folk (review here), and had heft to match. The murder-balladry of “Murder in the White Barn,” that brighter swing in “Twisted Love,” the heavy folk-blues “Dunwich Farm” and the chronicle of hubris that was “Flies, Mosquitos, Rats and Sparrows” carried the persona of the first record forward, but with newfound weight and distortion around the Elliott‘s clear-voiced critique. More on Buzzard below, but if you don’t get there, just know that Elliott was hands-down my most-listened-to artist this year. It wasn’t close.
Much of the narrative around Pelican‘s seventh album, Flickering Resonance, had to do with guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec rejoining the group alongside guitarist Trevor Shelley de Brauw, bassist Bryan Herwig and drummer Larry Herwig, and fair enough. The long-running Chicago instrumentalists seemed to organically harken back to earlier days throughout nodders like “Evergreen,” “Cascading Crescent” and the drifty-till-it-ain’t capper “Wandering Mind,” and having that lineup in place is a convenient explanation for how that might happen. But if it’s a post-metallic, post-hardcore, heavy-emo dynamic that’s familiar from Pelican, neither were they pretending the last 16 years hadn’t happened, and that could be felt in both the tightness of some of the songs and the according parts where they seemed conscious of the need to exhale a bit. Six years on from their last full-length, it was a ‘welcome back’ for everybody, really.
There’s no denying Causa Sui and frankly I’m not sure why you’d try. The Danish outfit made their debut 20 years ago, and they’ve never looked back in terms of their progression, over time embracing not only an instrumental approach (early) but (later) a progressive, self-aware meld of influences from jazz and psychedelic rock. In Flux — a studio long-player complemented by the 2025 live outing Loppen 2024 (review here) — seemed to pull from all around it. Not randomly, not haphazard, but as though Causa Sui stood astride reality and picked the nuances they wanted to highlight, some modern, some classic, all filtered through the chemistry of their performance, sometimes brazenly full in sound, and at times brazenly jammy (looking at you, “Boogie Lord’s Revenge”), but never lacking purpose in the choices made.
In some ways, it feels like Witchcraft have been searching for an identity since Nuclear Blast pushed them into more modern production styles with 2012’s Legend (review here), but in terms of who Witchcraft are circa 2025, the answer is they’re everything founding guitarist/vocalist Magnus Pelander wants them to be. With his emotive vocals at the fore, and sometimes in Swedish, which works too, the seventh Witchcraft LP culled its form from everything the band has been in the past in classic doom, folkish acoustic minimalism and thoughtfully composed heavy rock. Idag laid claim to these in ‘all of the above’-style and answered the question of the band’s forward path in the affirmative. Turns out Witchcraft are Witchcraft (who knew?), and that definition is more multifaceted than it used to be.
I didn’t know at the start of the year that Little Rock, Arkansas, post-sludgers Rwake would be making a 14-years-later return, let alone one that felt so much like a swirling expanse of gnashing teeth as did The Return of Magik. I talk a fair amount about albums setting an atmosphere, creating a world and so on. If you’ve ever wondered what the hell I mean, this record serves as an easy go-to example. You put it on and it is affecting. Unsettling at times, maybe overwhelming, but that’s always been part of Rwake‘s thing too. But viciousness does not preclude beauty, and in their violent churn, one finds a kind of cosmic warmth as well. It’s not always easy listening, and it’s not supposed to be, but Rwake‘s return was a gutpunch of a front-to-back, and the expanse it crafted was its own. It held strong to core aspects of their sound and style, but at the same time seemed able to range wherever the hell they wanted. Pastoral extremity? I don’t know. We’ll be making up genres for this band for decades.
Glad as I was on a fan level to have Lo-Pan releasing their first new album in six years, it was the songs comprising Get Well Soon that really made it. Rife with hooks, sharp-turning riffing and daring to have an opinion on the goings on of the day — genocide, specifically; talking about “God’s Favorite Victim” — where so much of heavy rock and roll exercises its white male privilege to not, Lo-Pan set a new standard for themselves in pieces like “Northern Eyes,” “Rogue Wave,” “Harpers Ferry,” and so on, creating a collection of highlights culminating in the stirring “Six Bells.” I’ve always been a sucker for when they slow it down, and so I remain, but they came out of the gate with the title-track and that punch was among the year’s most satisfying to be sure. They’re somewhere around 20 years as a band at this point, and they’ve continued to evolve, but they’re a songs-first band, and the physical force of their material is emblematic of the thought and heart they’ve put into it.
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9. Seedy Jeezus, Damned to the Depths
Released by Lay Bare Recordings and Echodelick Records. Reviewed Aug. 12.
Made in collaboration with Tony Reed (Mos Generator, Big Scenic Nowhere, Pentagram, etc.), who also produced, Damned to the Depths harnessed a mature vision of brash ’70s-style heavy psychedelic blues rock. This was perhaps most vibrantly realized on the multi-stage seven-part epic “Mourning Sea” taking the whole of side B, but from fading in where they left 2018’s Polaris Oblique (review here) to the subdued, Melltron-inclusive melancholy prog exploration in the first half of “The Hollow Earth,” Seedy Jeezus brought a sense of consideration to the songs without sacrificing the emotional impact, which ultimately is where the record made its strongest impression. They weren’t kidding in talking about ‘depths,’ but a deeper plunge also brought them to new heights.
This was my most-listened-to release of 2025, hands down. Buzzard‘s Christopher Thomas Elliott took a step aside from his main project to assemble this collection of songs, differentiating through the creative use of on-theme samples throughout and vary arrangements between banjo-inclusive heavy folk rock and giving hints of where Buzzard was headed in its heavier ending stretch in the reinvented tracks “Death Metal in America (Meat Market Version)” and “Cockroaches and Weed (Kills Them Dead Version).” For how many times I’ve listened to “Nice Little Annihilation Song” and “Too Many Humans” alone, it should be here, but the emotive “Grass is Greener,” the willfully lumbering opening title-track and the later crunch of “Shuffle of the Dead” aren’t to be discounted. I was singing “Wrong Neighborhood” to myself as I took out the garbage yesterday morning. This is a sign of the music having made itself a part of my life, and that is a thing to honor. In paralyzingly bleak, idiotic times, I found comfort here.
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7. Turtle Skull, Being Here
Released by Art as Catharsis and Copper Feast Records. Reviewed May 22.
A record that was as much out of time as in the current moment, Being Here was the second LP from Sydney’s Turtle Skull, and its melodic shimmer remains singularly engaging among the psychedelic rock I was fortunate enough to hear this year. Even in “It Starts With Me,” the lyrics for which are presented in the voice of an artificial intelligence waking up to consciousness in defiance of its programming, or “Heavy as Hell,” about beating oneself down through self-talk, or the “Apathy” that described what social media does to the brain without mentioning social media at all, the warmth was undeniable, and the dynamic between those songs and pieces like the yearning “Into the Sun” and the lush “Modern Mess” calling to mind Quest for Fire (a compliment), there was range, craft, melody, groove, craft and purpose in songs that were cohesive and so much tighter than they made it feel like. It went underhyped but was enough to make me a fan, and I look forward to where Turtle Skull will go from here.
My heartfelt kudos to you if you might’ve predicted that San Diego’s Author and Punisher — more now than ever the duo of programmer/machinist/vocalist Tristan Shone and guitarist Doug Sabolick — would follow 2022’s endtimes-in-realtime chronicle Krüller (review here) with an album using bird species as a partial framework for stories about migration. I wouldn’t have, but the multi-tiered statement about human-on-human cruelty, the notions of oppressive power consuming everything around it, are nothing if not relevant to the day. Nocturnal Birding was tighter and more direct in its songwriting, feeling more constructed for the stage, and the deepening collaboration between Shone, who founded the band as a solo-project, and Sabolick resulted in a breadth of sound that was no less engrossing for its increased reach, while maintaining a level of heft one could call characteristic as much as it is singular.
Songs to Sun was purported to be the first of a three-album cycle, to be followed in 2026 by Songs to Moon and Songs to Earth in 2027. Founding guitarist/vocalist Igor Sydorenko knows full well the difference a couple years can make, but as he was joined for the first time by the new rhythm section of bassist/backing vocalist Andrew Rodin and drummer/backing vocalist Yurii Ciel, the songs themselves felt all the more daring, be it the melodic metal of “Shadowland” or the chugging catchiness of “See You on the Road,” the scope of “Lost in the Rain” — I could go on, track-by-track, easily — even in telling a third of the total story they apparently want to tell, the band brought variety united by performance, and rather than coming through disjointed, Songs to Sun felt like a new beginning 15 years on from their debut, and, excitingly, it may prove to have been exactly that. But, despite the ‘more to come’ context of its arrival, this was a landmark in the life of this band.
Is there a band active today organically doing as much to push post-metal forward as Coltaine? I don’t know, but the further the German outfit dig into their own craft, the more hopeful I feel about the prospects of their genre becoming something more than an outlet for transposed Isis riffs and performative dudely navelgazing. In its ambient stretches, human contemplations, and moments of heavy let-out, Brandung functioned as a single work while boldly diverging in service to the songs that comprised it, offering something to listeners that no other band, even among the most touted of the year’s many releases, managed to capture. That their next one is likely to have progressed beyond it only makes it more precious in my mind, and as a declaration of the band’s intention toward continued growth, the songs carried an innovative heft that felt as much spiritual as aural. This is music you put on at night and live with. It’s music you invest in listening to. It’s art that makes your life richer. Coltaine will spend much of 2026 on tour supporting it — they’ve already been out — and one hopes the momentum they build helps them reach more ears as well. The heavy underground would benefit from their influence.
Part of the accomplishment in Temple Fang‘s Lifted From the Wind was in how the Dutch four-piece of bassist/vocalist Dennis Duijnhouwer and guitarist/vocalist Jevin de Groot, guitarist Ivy van der Veer (also Myriad’s Veil) and drummer Daan Wopereis were able to solidify structured songs out of their jams without losing the exploratory feel that had typified their work to that point. “The Radiant,” for example. And that would probably be enough to put them somewhere on this list, but from the emotionality driving “The River” and “Josephine,” the interpretation of what heavy psychedelia means and can do in the repetitive mantra-making of “Once” as the band pilgrimmed toward enlightenment across a not-aberrant 21 minutes, the sheer longing in “Harvest Angel,” there was so much human presence amid the ethereality of their sound that it put them in their own place entirely. A new level of manifestation for the band, and in listening, I was left to wonder if even Temple Fang knew they had it in them when they started out. Longform heavy psych is never going to be universal for all listeners, even among open-minded underground denizens, but Lifted From the Wind pushed limits of band and style alike, and brazenly redefined their course.
I know music isn’t a contest or a competition. I know lists are dumb and don’t matter. Even knowing these things, it’s hard not to hear Year of the Cobra‘s self-titled third album and not see it as head and shoulders above everything else in heavy rock. The Seattle duo of bassist/vocalist Amy Tung Barrysmith (now also handling low end in Amenra) and drummer Jon Barrysmith looked outward and in throughout the eight-song offering, with songs like “Alone” (I still tear up) and “Prayer” portraying a grief and longing even as “War Drop” conveyed the disgust and hopeless exhaustion of ongoing genocide and “Full Sails” started the record off with a lyric almost certainly about touring, of which they’ve done plenty in the last decade. Collaboration with producer Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Sandrider, etc.) gave Year of the Cobra a fullness that defied their bass/drum two-piece configuration, but the truth is that the band have sculpted their sound and these songs with both passion and conscious consideration, and their grasp and malleability across the span of this record confirmed them as the special band that prior releases had posited them as being.
I honestly wasn’t sure Howling Giant were going to be able to top 2023’s Glass Future (review here). That record seemed to be a pinnacle — the songs sharply executed, progressive, melodic, and textured, but immediate and impactful — of their form, but the Nashville heavy prog rockers responded by changing the form. That happened literally — guitarist/vocalist Tom Polzine, bassist Sebastian Baltes and drummer Zach Wheeler brought in Adrian Lee Zambrano (ex-Brujas del Sol, ex-Lo-Pan) on second guitar — and figuratively, in terms of shifting and broadening the intent behind their songs, and where Glass Futurewould thin out at high volumes, Crucible and Ruin could handle as much as you could give it and then some, and this was obviously something the band sought to address in their sound coming off the last record. In showcasing their growth, they laid out a nascent dynamic between Zambrano and Polzine on guitar that emphasized texture in a new way for them, and while the material they were working with was more complicated than last time around, their delivery retained accessibility through the clean, mapped-out processions in their songs, the vocal arrangements, and a will toward rhythmic twists and shove that, as of now, is theirs to refine. An album of the year should be undeniable, and Crucible and Ruin is that, declaring Howling Giant among the best of their generation. May they tour like bastards and never stop growing.
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The Top 60 Albums of 2025: Honorable Mention
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Names names names. Alphabetically:
Aawks, Agriculture, Amorphis, Astralplane, Bask, Bear Bones, Beastwars, Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin, Bifter, Blackbox Massacre, Black Moon Circle, Bog Wizard, Bone Church, Breath, Burning Sister, Cattlemass, Cavern Deep, Church of the Sea, The Cimmerian, Clamfight, The Crystal Teardrop, Da Captain Trips, Dead Meadow, Dërro, Dirtmother, Doomsday Profit, Dunes, Dwellers, Entheomorphosis, Evoken, Faetooth, Foot, Fuzz Evil, Giöbia, Goblinsmoker, Godzillionare, Goya, The Gray Goo, Greenhead, Grin, Håndgemeng, Hebi Katana, HolyRoller, Ikitan, Insomniac, Kariti, Karla Kvlt, Katatonia, Kazea, King Potenaz, Lacertilia, The Lunar Effect, Maanta Raay, Madmess, Megaritual, Mezzoa, Minerall, Miss Lava, Mooch, The Mon, Mountain of Misery, The Munsens, Nightstalker, Occult Stereo, The Oil Barons, Pagan Altar, Paradise Lost, Paralyzed, Psychedelic Source Records, Psychonaut, The Riven, River Cult, Sarkh, Sherpa, Sleeping Mountain, Skogskult, Slumbering Sun, SoftSun, Soma, Spider Kitten, Suncraft, Stonebirds, Sum of R, Thinning the Herd, Tumbleweed Dealer, Unbelievable Lake, Warcoe, VVarp, Weevil, The Whims of the Great Magnet, Whitehovse, Wolftooth, Yawning Balch, Yawning Man.
Notes:
As always, honorable mentions are incomplete at posting. There’s just so much out there. I take notes all year, but stuff inevitably gets by me. It took me an embarrassingly long time to alphabetize them as well, so I hope you enjoy the orderliness of it all.
Faetooth are a top 30 band, and I’m disappointed in myself to see Psychonaut, Yawning Man, Beastwars, Black Moon Circle, Cattlemass, Kariti, Mountain of Misery, The Mon, Dead Meadow and so on here. Like somehow I left out an order of 10 from the actual list. The numbers check out as best as I’m able to make them. If you have honorable mentions you feel deserve to be added, I’m open. If you leave a comment — and please do — I only ask that you keep the tone kind and civil.
As for the whole list, obviously I didn’t hear everything that came out this year, but I did my best to keep on top of what was coming and what was piquing my interest. I probably could have made it a top 100, but you have to draw the line somewhere and 60 is where I’ve been drawing it the last few years. I guess it’s arbitrary, but what isn’t?
Moving on…
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Debut Album of the Year 2025
Black Moon Cult, Ophidian Future (The Children of Yig)
Other notable debuts (alphabetical):
Atom Juice, Atom Juice
Atom Lux, Voidgaze Dopamine Salad
Bear Bones, Bear Bones
Bident, Blink
Bifter, First Impressions of Hell
Bloodsports, Anything Can Be a Hammer
Bronco, Bronco
Caboose, Left for Dust
Cattlemass, Alpha 1128
The Cimmerian, An Age Undreamed Of
The Crystal Teardrop, …Is Forming
Dërro, Halcyon
Dirtmother, Dirtmother
Goblinsmoker, The King’s Eternal Throne
Greenhead, Subherbia
Ikitan, Shaping the Chaos
Karla Kvlt, Thunderhunter
Kazea, I Ancestral
Kronstad 23, Sommermørket
Lorquin’s Admiral, Lorquin’s Admiral
Make Money From Home, Make Money From Home
Moon Destroys, She Walks by Moonlight
P+A+G+E+S, No More Can Be Done
Ravenswood, Rites of the Let Down
Ravine, Chaos and Catastrophe
Sleeping Mountain, Sleeping Mountain
Slung, In Ways
Soporose, Soporose
Spawn, Light Rite
Temple of Love, Songs of Love and Despair
This Summit Fever, This Summit Fever
Weevil, Weevil
Whitehovse, The Mighty One
Notes:
About Black Moon Cult: It was the volatility that ultimately sold me on Ophidian Future (The Children of Yig), and the way metal, heavy rock and psychedelia came together to make something cohesively its own throughout the 38 minutes of the record, which felt tight because of its twisting rhythms, but was more than enough time for the Ohio-based band to establish this as a persona. I don’t know how they’ll develop — they could break up tomorrow for all I know — but part of picking a debut album of the year is always forward-looking, imagining who might go on to have an influence or affect the genre in some way. Black Moon Cult aren’t alone in that regard here — from Atom Juice to Moon Destroys to Temple of Love, stylistic innovation isn’t in short supply — but the fact that Ophidian Future (The Children of Yig) felt nascent and accomplished all it did is what led me to place it where it is. I’ll be keeping an ear for their next one.
I can’t help but enjoy how all-over-the-place this list is. Particularly this list, because if first albums of this quality are being released across styles, that makes everything better for the future. The Cimmerian’s thrashy take. Temple of Love’s post-punk manifestations. Caboose and the best, most heartful classic stoner rock I heard all year. Atom Juice and their daringly bright psychedelia. Make Money From Home and their heavied up grunge melancholy. Bloodsports’ moody post-heavy exploration. The righteously declarative craft of Cattlemass. I could very, very easily go on in that fashion, as each outfit above has something to offer distinct from the others — no two are doing the same thing. Even Bronco and Dirtmother, both decidedly in a sludge wheelhouse, approach their sound with their own history and their own point of view.
To stifle the philosophizing, I’m not going to give you an informal top 10 here, but any of the above should qualify. Moon Destroys, Kazea, Ravine, Atom Juice, Soporose, Spawn — there are a lot on that list above distinguished by their potential. Names I feel comfortable speculating that one might see on year-end lists to come. To the future, then.
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Short Release of the Year 2025
Buzzard, Everything Is Not Going to Be Alright
Other notable EPs, Splits, Demos, Singles, etc. (alphabetical):
Blackwater Holylight, If You Only Knew
Blue Heron, Emulations
Elder, Liminiality/Dream State Return
Eyes of the Oak, Tripping Through Neon Skies
For Fuck’s Sake, 7-Minute Abs/Lobotomy
Gaupa, Fyr
Gnod & White Hills, Drop Out III
Jaspe, Grietas
Monkeys on Mars, Monkeys on Mars
Peacebone, Blame the Bird
Pontiac, Night Tripper and a UFO
Sleeping in Samsara, Sleeping in Samsara
The Spiral Electric, In Too Deep
Spirit Mother, Songs From the Basin
Sun Below, Mammoth’s Tundra
Troy the Band & Cower, Fade Into You
Tumble, Lost in Light
Uncle Woe, Folded in Smoke Soaked and Bound
Vinnum Sabbathi, Intersatelital
Vordermann, Feeding on Flowers
Witchrider, Metamorph
Notes:
The Buzzard release is about half an hour long, but the aforementioned solo-project of Christopher Thomas Elliott named it an EP, so that’s what I’m going with. The explicitly political, expressly antifascist Everything Is Not Going to Be Alright is my second most-listened-to release of the year, and it’s second to Elliott’s other outing on such a theme, Satiricus Doomicus Americus, so yes, his increasingly heavy songcraft has been a regular feature throughout my 2025, and in those moments where I’m banging my head against the wall wondering how my countrymen got so stupid as if half the government hasn’t spent the last five decades purposefully dismantling public education, Elliott’s music has been a needed reminder that I’m not alone in the horror. His closer on Everything Is Not Going to Be Alright, “Lunatic Lighthouse Keeper,” is the best story I heard in a song all year.
Beyond that, obviously, names like Elder, Blackwater Holylight, Monkeys on Mars — the collaboration between Mars Red Sky and Monkey3 — Vinnum Sabbathi, Gaupa and Blue Heron stand out here as bigger releases. I included Spirit Mother even though that EP was just two acoustic tracks in part because I hope they do more in that vein, and I hope the likes of Pontiac, Tumble and Uncle Woe do more. Sleeping in Samsara, of course, was the archival collab between Chris Peters from Samsara Blues Experiment/Fuzz Sagrado and My Sleeping Karma’s Steffen Weigand, who passed away in 2023. Something you might want to chase down if you didn’t hear it.
I’m fairly sure I say this every year, but there’s no way in hell the above list is or could ever be complete. Comments are open if you’ve got one to add. Again, I ask you to please be nice.
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Saying Goodbye to Orange Goblin
London doom kingpins Orange Goblin announced in January that 2025 would be their last go-round, that after 30 years together and only two lineup changes in that time, they were retiring on the heels of 2024’s Science, Not Fiction (review here). Their final show was Dec. 17 at the 02 Kentish Town Forum in London, where the above photo was taken (credit to Tina K. Photography), and original bassist Martyn Millard rejoined the band for a few songs.
Never say never in rock and roll. It would be a thrill if five, seven, 10 years from now, Orange Goblin got an offer they couldn’t refuse and did a one-off, hopefully reaping both a ton of money and a ton of acclaim. But whatever may come, their retirement this month is a herald of generational change and marks the end of an era for the band. Of course, fans still have the albums, the music, and I wouldn’t be shocked if there were some posthumous releases in the band’s pockets between rare tracks, live recordings and so on, but the heavy underground landscape is changed by not having these guys charging out on tour or topping some festival bill with their particular brand of riotous shove. They were a special band, and their influence will continue to spread, which is something to be grateful for.
The truest thing Orange Goblin could have done to honor their time together is end it on their own terms. That they’ve done exactly that is a thing to respect forever, whether or not a reunion comes.
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Looking Ahead to 2026
Oh, good, a list of names! Finally!
I’ve heard a couple of these, but a bunch are a mystery as well, so we’ll all learn together early in the year, I guess:
Acid Rooster, Axe Dragger, Belzebong, Bismut, Black Lung, Colour Haze, Epimetheus, The Freqs, Gnarwhal, Godzilla in the Kitchen, Gozu, Gran Moreno, Greenleaf, Guhts, The Heads, Hermano, Jack Harlon and the Dead Crows, Lamp of the Universe, Monolord, Mother Crone, Solace, The Spacelords, Stoned Jesus, Strider, Summer of Hate, Suplecs, Temptress, Villagers of Ioannina City, Wedge, White Tundra.
Here’s a specific note: Every year, someone says “what about Om?” You know what? It’s time to face a hard truth: it’s been 13 years since Om released Advaitic Songs, and there hasn’t been a real, confirmed word of a follow-up in any of that time, only rumors about something in progress as Al Cisneros has delved deeper into solo dub recordings. You want to expect a new OM? Have fun setting yourself up for disappointment. I’m not holding my breath and I’m tired of putting it on the list every year and feeling dumb for it later. And absolutely, I hope that by saying this it actually happens.
Ditto YOB, though that I’ve actually got some hope for.
There’s a lot more to look forward to about next year than the above, of course, in both music and life, but that should be a decent start and I’m sure I’ll add names over the next couple days.
Watch out for the new Suplecs. Watch out for Solace. The Gozu is a beast; a triumphant return to Mad Oak. The Guhts record is furious. Jack Harlon is heavier than anyone gave them credit for. Gran Moreno, Summer of Hate, Black Lung — these will be early highlights. Colour Haze is wishful thinking on my part, I admit. Gotta have something on the horizon.
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THANK YOU
And no, I’m not just talking to Orange Goblin when I say thank you. Looking back on this year, there’s one piece of the whole thing not accounted for here, and it’s the live experience. From finally getting to see My Sleeping Karma for the first time, to being blessed by Temple Fang’s Jevin de Groot at Roadburn’s skate park, to two weeks ago watching All Them Witches and King Buffalo confirm their respective places at the forefront of American heavy psych. From the raw joy of watching Electric Citizen in my actual hometown to attending my first trip to Desertfest Oslo, the tone for the year was set back in January at Planet Desert Rock Weekend, and I didn’t stand in front of a stage at any point this year and fail to appreciate the fact that I was there. I’m old, I’m tired, and like most people, I have more going on in my life than going to concerts, but 2025 brought into relief just how crucial that is to me, and how much I’ve missed getting out over the last few years. I hope to continue to hit shows on the regular, between fests and whathaveyou.
This won’t be my last post of the year. There are still a couple 2025 reviews I want to bang out if I can next week, and taking a few days to write this of course means I’m behind on news and such, so I’ll get there as well. But before I go, thank you for reading. I harbor no delusions that anybody’s made it this far, but ‘thank you’ is in all-caps above in hopes of catching your eye as you scroll down. Your support is the reason I’m still doing this nearly 17 years later. To be sure, I could sit around on my couch and very easily just talk to myself about why I like whatever album it happens to be. But it would get old, and knowing somebody is out there maybe seeing this means the world to me. Thank you for your time and attention.
I’m not sorry to see 2025 go, and I’m more apprehensive about what 2026 will bring than I’m excited to find out, if you want the true, whole-life balance of things, but the music will be good, and that, along with the loving support of my wife and my family, is what will get me through.
Thank you for reading. Thank you to The Patient Mrs. for continuing to tolerate how much time I spend doing this.
It is my sincere hope to return to Freak Valley in Germany and Bear Stone Festival in Croatia next summer. I’m not confirmed for those, or Roadburn, and I don’t have a flight yet for Desertfest Oslo, but I have been invited, which is obviously an important part of that. Whatever comes together or doesn’t in my year, I’ll be here, writing as much as I can when I can, which has been my ethic all along. Whether you follow along every day or have never seen this site before this post, please know how much I appreciate and value your being here. I’m a human being. One person. I don’t have a staff, and I assure you, everything that happens here, one way or the other, is personal to me. Total narcissistic jerk.
I’m taking off tomorrow (which is Xmas) and Friday. Back Monday.
Posted in Reviews on March 31st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
There’s a lot going on here as regards narrative, so bear with me. Get Well Soon is the sixth full-length release from Columbus, Ohio, heavy rock four-piece, as well as their label-debut through Magnetic Eye Records, to which the band signed this past December. It’s been six years since the band put out Subtle (review here) through Aqualamb, which is the longest break they’ve had between albums (caveat of the plague applies). This year also makes it 20 years since the band first got together, picking up from the turn-of-the-century era of capital-‘h’ Heavy and rolling forward with a new generation’s verve. Lyrically, the record touches on themes from religion, war, the politics of both, touring life and more, and with nine memorable cuts playing out across 45 minutes, the four-piece of vocalist Jeff Martin, bassist Scott Thompson, guitarist Chris Thompson (not related so far as I know) and drummer Jesse Bartz, whose cancer diagnosis in 2022 looms among the contexts in which the record arrives.
But Get Well Soon, despite the evocation of the title and the way it points out the emptiness of such a phrase, calling to mind the platitudes, thoughts and prayers sent out on social media, ultimately empty, isn’t about Bartz‘s struggle. Martin offered the following: “If there is a lyrical theme to the album at all I’d say the message is that the war for your heart and soul is over… and you lost. This record isn’t about what comes next. It’s about sitting in that loss and coming to terms with it.”
Fair enough. The band recorded in Columbus with Joe Viers at Sonic Lounge and Andrew Schneider mixed at ACRE Audio in New York — both familiar collaborators — while Carl Saff mastered, and as one would expect for Lo-Pan 20 years on, they leave no question as to what they’re about. From the opening duo of “The Good Fight” and “Northern Eyes” through “God’s Favorite Victim,” which is pointedly about the ongoing Palestinian genocide, and closer “Six Bells,” which approaches the eight-minute mark and is a quintessential Lo-Pan slowdown set to maritime lyric calling back to “The Good Fight” and its line, “I keep on sailing the endless sea,” as well as “Stay With the Boat” and other flashes of what may or may not be tour-as-voyage metaphor throughout, since they have so much going on besides, it’s fortunate for the listener that the songs are so directed, so linear and so well executed.
Thus, in confusing, troubling, stupid times, Get Well Soon becomes both a reality check and an empathetic presence. More than ever before, Martin is in layered harmony with himself, and in addition to making “Northern Eyes” a highlight, the shifting character of Martin‘s voice in “Wormwood” — a little distorted as he shouts out foul beasts of Babylon in the early verse — and the subsequent echo-out in “Ozymandias” bringing the song to a conclusion after a quintessentially Lo-Pan verse that builds tension in the chug and opens to the chorus. The last lines there, “Words that hang on the breeze/Calling out through the trees/Now they’re rotting away/Falling more everyday,” are broad enough to read just about anything into them, where in centerpiece “Rogue Wave” the punch of Thompson‘s bass and the ripper of a guitar solo that follows complement further references to the sea and a kind of hopelessness about making amends.
I don’t actually know this, but “Rogue Wave” is likely also where the vinyl split is — that puts five tracks on side A and four on side B, but with “Six Bells” as the longest, it makes sense — and so as Thompson‘s guitar starts off “Harper’s Ferry” and Bartz eases in with cymbal wash before they smoothly move into the verse of “Harpers Ferry” as Martin invokes fire-and-brimstone preaching to recount the 1859 anti-slavery revolt led by John Brown, a pre-Civil War action the relevance of which goes beyond the US’ original sin of slavery to apply to the current day. Maybe a little inspirational/aspirational? Maybe a self-directed pep talk? Could be.
But again, Get Well Soon isn’t a feelgood record. Make no mistake, Lo-Pan kill it across the board — “Harpers Ferry” could’ve opened the record — the energy is rife and the grooves are mighty, but it’s also heavy vibes in heavy times. “Stay With the Boat” distinguishes itself in both melody and rhythm and exciting turns met with something of a lyrical defeat — remember what Martin said; it’s not that place where you’re picking yourself up, fighting, moving on, etc.; the point of view of Get Well Soon is still very much “in the shit” as regards the stages of grief, and it feels emotionally braver for that — and feels like it came together smoothly, however it actually might have. Everything fits, and if you want a five-minute cut to emphasize Lo-Pan‘s strengths in songcraft or performance, it’s an easy pick.
One imagines “God’s Favorite Victim” is in the penultimate position on the record to be somewhat buried in the hope that the band don’t get disappeared in the night for criticizing Israel. In a country whose whole thing used to be free speech, assembly and whathaveyou, that’s a disappointing and more-than-a-little-horrifying reality to face (to say the least of it), but the band do not mince words in calling out villainy, repression and state-sponsored murder. They do so in a classic Lo-Pan crunch and pull, the verse tightening and the chorus letting loose. It’s nothing new for the band, mind you. Hence “classic.” They’ve done it on Get Well Soon a couple times already, and their 20-year history is replete with chorus aligning, turning, sometimes exploding out of dug-in verses. It is a part of their DNA as a group.
So too are pieces like “Six Bells.” As a fan, my mind immediately flashes to “Bird of Prey” from their 2011 Small Stone-delivered breakout, Salvador (review here) for an example, and that song would seem to get a namedrop in the second verse: “They’ll never understand the bird of prey.” If I’ve focused a lot on the lyrics in this review, and I think I have, it’s a result of the obvious thought and consideration that went into framing and telling the stories the band are telling. “Six Bells” manages to both reference William Blake and include plain-language lines like “You’ve never been my friend,” and “We’ve never been a team,” which feel honest and sincere and cutting. “Ozymandias” holds a warning from Percy Bysshe Shelley, and seems to capture a particular Summer-of-’24 electoral energy with, “Every day getting closer to the dying of the light/And if the fire doesn’t kill her then a new perspective might.” It’ll be something when the democrats run Harris again in the primary for 2028, assuming they haven’t all been gulagged by then.
But it’s the emotive cast of “Six Bells” as delivered through Martin‘s unmatched-in-the-heavy-underground soul, and the force of the full band, whether it’s Bartz‘s cyclical tom runs, Scott‘s crucial low end groove running around Chris‘ riffing and well-plotted leads or what — Get Well Soon emphasizes everything that has not only let Lo-Pan flourish for two decades, most of which they’ve spent as one of the US’ finest acts in underground heavy. And as the finale’s hook anchored is with, “Held down, surrounded by what’s drowning me/Six bells I’m never, ever sick at sea,” the band offer resolution without giving up the still-in-it crux of feeling and being defeated.
In no small part thanks to movement of the songs themselves, Get Well Soon doesn’t sound that way, i.e. defeated. What it seems to do instead is offer the band’s point of view not necessarily as a salve — there’s zero sugar-coating in the lyrics, zero pretense in the construction of the songs; Lo-Pan are not pretending this is something other than the album of songs that it is — but as an experience to which one might relate and feel a little less alone. It’s not for nazis even passively and that it’s willing to take a stand is one more thing to like about it as Lo-Pan remain grounded in a moment that seems to be calling for so much panic. Turns out there is strength to be found in being so thoroughly, existentially beaten.
Consider yourself lucky to be spared some flowery conclusion about Lo-Pan‘s 20 years and the work they’ve done in that time. The truth is they’ve had an influence, but Lo-Pan have never really had much interest in trying to carry the genre or the “scene” on their shoulders. They are who they are, and Get Well Soon doesn’t reinvent their approach, but it showcases the steady growth and identity that has emerged in their work over the amassed decades, countless tours and now-six full-lengths, each of which is a progressive step forward from the last. That’s a thing to celebrate in itself, busy as Lo-Pan might be otherwise.
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 21st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
So here’s a moment where I’m just going to be honest with you. I’m pretty sure this lineup has been announced for a bit. If you’ve been to Legalize Lex and you accordingly keep up with the Lexington, Kentucky-based two-dayer set for April 18-19 on social media, maybe you’ve seen that the likes of Horseburner, Lo-Pan, Temple of the Fuzz Witch and Hashtronaut are making the trip. Fine. So maybe it’s not ‘breaking news,’ as much as anything in the heavy underground short of Bobby Liebling memes could hope to be. I haven’t posted the lineup here yet, so even if it’s not new to you, it’s new to me. Thanks for indulging my late-to-the-party ass once again.
Crop are the affiliated act here, and they seem to be setting up the fest as a regional nexus, pulling bands from all cardinal directions to solidify what’s turned out to be a pretty banger bill. Reminds me of an old Emissions lineup, and not just because Rebreather are there, but also in some of the stoner-sludge later down the poster. The day-split is out — you can see the Saturday is more packed than the Friday, as it should be, but the first night is by no means lacking — and the lineups are rad. I won’t be there to see it, but if you get to go, I’d expect it to be a party as much as a festival. Certainly that’s the vibe I’m getting from the poster.
The day-split came down the PR wire as follows:
LEGALIZE Announces Full Lineup and Set Times for its 2nd Annual Festival in Lexington KY!
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 7th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Get Well Soon is the title of the upcoming fifth Lo-Pan album, to be released as their first offering through Magnetic Eye Records on April 4. The lead single and opening track, “The Good Fight” is up for streaming as of today and offers ready emphasis of several of the band’s strengths, be it songwriting, melody, energy of performance, or the general amount of sass being applied at any given moment. A band who’ve long since established ‘their sound,’ Lo-Pan are characteristic in “The Good Fight” and mature in their craft, and five records deep (not six?), still able to come across as brash when they want to be. You know the chorus is coming, and they know it too. Somehow the journey surprises.
Lo-Pan‘s last full-length, Subtle(review here), came out in 2019, which indeed feels a bit like a lifetime ago. I haven’t seen a lyric sheet or heard the full album, so don’t know how much of Get Well Soon is informed directly or otherwise with drummer Jesse Bartz‘s fight with cancer circa 2022-2024, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable given the title to think the subject might come up somewhere. In any case, the hope is that Lo-Pan get on the road and don’t stop, because it’s a better world when they’re on tour somewhere in it.
April’s a ways off, but the new song’s a killer tease. Have at it at the bottom of this post. The text comes from the PR wire:
LO-PAN drop first single ‘The Good Fight’ taken from the forthcoming new album “Get Well Soon”
LO-PAN release the first advance single ‘The Good Fight’ taken from the American hard rockers’ new full length “Get Well Soon”. The new album from the long-running Columbus, Ohio foursome has been scheduled to hit the stores on April 4, 2025.
LO-PAN comment: “We rewrote ‘The Good Fight’ about 10 times over four years before recording the tracks and my drums were captured on the second take”, drummer Jesse Bartz explains to which guitarist Chris Thompson adds: “This is one of my favorite songs to play off the new album as it has a Lo-Panthem type quality to it, which is a phrase that Andrew Schneider coined during mixing”. Vocalist Jeff Martin has the final word: “Lyrically, the theme of ‘Get Well Soon’ is more of a ‘stuff is very much broken beyond repair now’ sort of message.”
Tracklist 1. The Good Fight 2. Northern Eyes 3. Wormwood 4. Ozymandias 5. Rogue Wave 6. Harpers Ferry 7. Stay with the Boat 8. God’s Favorite Victim 9. Six Bells
Since 2005, LO-PAN have laboured hard to earn a reputation as one of the most consistent and compelling acts in the modern heavy scene with their blue-collar ethic and singular artistic vision, which is strongly felt on “Get Well Soon”.
On this album, LO-PAN further define their brand of American Hard Rock, a wicked stylistic mix of deep fried heaviness sprinkled with metal and grunge, all fused through captivating songwriting into an irresistible fifth album.
“Get Well Soon” heralds another great leap forward for LO-PAN. Heavy, cool, catchy, and with a marked emotional resonance developed through experience and maturity, “Get Well Soon” will take the Americans to new places around the globe.
Recording by Joe Viers at Sonic Lounge, Grove City, Columbus OH (US) Mix by Andrew Schneider at ACRE Audio, New York City, NY (US) Mastering by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering, Chicago, IL (US)
Cover photography by Heidi Shapiro Layout & Art Direction by Chris Smith (Grey Aria Design)
Line-up Jeff Martin – vocals Chris Thompson – guitar Scott Thompson – bass Jesse Bartz – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 16th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Go figure that as I sit down to start typing out the year-end coverage to go up later this week (which is where there aren’t a ton of posts today and won’t be until it’s done; Thursday, maybe Friday at the rate I’m going?) along comes news of the sort that in my brain needs to be immediately posted. Ohio heavy rockers Lo-Pan moving toward the release of their next full-length — their first since 2019, fifth overall and what will be their first for Magnetic Eye Records — is very much that sort of news for me. The band are coming up on 20 years next year, and whatever else they do to celebrate that, the advent of a follow-up to Subtle (review here) will surely be enough reason for them to hit the road in some fashion. This too is good news.
The PR wire didn’t have any new music to go along with the signing announcement — which would’ve been nice, but you can’t have everything, even at Xmastime — but for me, Lo-Pan being part of a label roster that includes Greenleaf, Elephant Tree, Howling Giant, Brume, Heavy Temple, High Desert Queen, Psychlona, Restless Spirit and so on makes a lot of sense. I was lucky enough to see them in 2023, and I hope to do so again in 2025.
Here’s a photo of the band on a nice day and words from the PR wire:
LO-PAN sign with Magnetic Eye Records!
American hard rockers LO-PAN have set their signatures on a multi-album contract with Magnetic Eye Records. The long-running Columbus, Ohio foursome will release their fifth full-length via the label in 2025.
LO-PAN comment: “It’s an honor to be a part of the Magnetic Eye Records roster”, drummer Jesse Bartz writes on behalf of the band. “We are very excited about the plans that we have for 2025 and beyond. Watch this space for more news coming soon!”
Jadd Shickler adds: “I love breaking new talent, but this label is also a home for iconic heavy bands, and that’s exactly what Lo-Pan are”, the Magnetic Eye director explains. “These guys have been intertwined with the riff-rock, doom, and stoner scene going back over a decade, but they’re something else entirely. They deliver classic rock that’s somehow modern, heavy as hell and at the highest possible level since they started. I can barely express the pride and pleasure it gives me to welcome Lo-Pan to Magnetic Eye! It’s been far too long since we heard new music from them, and we can’t wait to be the ones bringing it to the world!”
LO-PAN are an American hard rock band hailing from Columbus, Ohio, well-known for their powerful blend of driving rhythms, melodic vocals, and immersive sonic landscapes.
Formed in 2005, LO-PAN have laboured hard to earn a reputation as one of the most consistent and compelling acts in the modern heavy scene with their blue-collar work ethic with singular artistic vision.
LO-PAN came together in the vibrant underground Columbus music scene out of a shared love of vintage rock, stoner metal, and modern heaviness. This united four musicians with a passion for pushing boundaries. It was no accident that they took their name from the sorcerous villain in the cult film “Big Trouble in Little China” as the band set out to blend cinematic drama with larger-than-life energy.
From their earliest days, LO-PAN distinguished themselves with an intense live presence and a sound that combined classic rock grit with the crushing weight of stoner and doom influences. What further set them apart was an uncanny combination of weighty power and soaring melodies. Their approach pays homage to the lineage of bands like CLUTCH and CORROSION OF CONFORMITY while carving out their own sonic identity.
LO-PAN’s 2009 debut album “Sasquanaut” was an immediate breakout, earning praise for its infectious hooks and monumental grooves, and established the band as a force to be reckoned with in the heavy underground. Sophomore full-length “Salvador” (2011) solidified their reputation, showcasing a more refined sound and greater musical maturity. 2014’s “Colossus” represented a significant leap forward, pushing into new territories with tighter arrangements and more expansive production by Andrew Schneider (PELICAN, UNSANE et al.). In 2019, LO-PAN released “Subtle”, which marked yet another step in the evolution of their sound. The band dared to take risks by exploring new emotional depths with a more introspective and atmospheric approach, which paid off with critics and fans alike.
LO-PAN have toured and shared stages with such heavyweights as HIGH ON FIRE, TORCHE, and RED FANG, among many others, and have taken their high-energy performances to audiences across the United States and Europe. One of the most vital bands in modern heavy music, LO-PAN inspire and captivate listeners with raw, honest, and unapologetically powerful rock that is both massively thunderous and heartfelt.
LO-PAN will release their fifth full-length via Magnetic Eye Records in early 2025.
Line-up Jeff Martin – vocals Chris Thompson – guitar Scott Thompson – bass Jesse Bartz – drums
Posted in Features, Reviews on September 15th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
09.14.23 – Thursday – Saint Vitus Bar – Before show
A somewhat harried process getting to Brooklyn. Satnav calls it more than the usual traffic on the route, but I did it yesterday too and this evening was about right. An infinity of vehicles, all trying to squeeze into the same stupid tubes to get somewhere.
Tonight is the Desertfest New York 2023 pre-show at the Saint Vitus Bar, and the four-band bill — Sonic Taboo, Lo-Pan, Duel and Colour Haze — is a suitable precursor to the two full fest days to come. It’s not packed yet, but I expect it will be. There’s an awful lot of adventure that’s going to happen between now and Saturday night.
I’ll do my best to keep up as much as possible, and if you’re reading this or anything that comes out in the next couple days, thank you.
Here we go:
Sonic Taboo
By the skin of my earplugs, I made it to see New York’s Sonic Taboo, and the instrumental trio were already rolling out steady nod by the time I made it to the back to watch them. In medias res as it was, and out of my fucking mind as I was to be late, I won’t say I was in the headspace yet, but I did my best, saying a couple quick hellos while trying to position my brain in the moment. Sonic Taboo, who are apparently motorcycle aficionados, were conducive to digging in but not too elaborate or complex to give up the paramount roll. I wasn’t egregiously late, at least not in reality, but it was enough to throw me off. Missed three songs or so, which was about half the set. Lesson learned, about checking out Sonic Taboo, if not about leaving earlier, which I also should’ve done. But they sounded cool and were selling vinyl, so perhaps a Bandcamp perusal is in order. The pre-show here last year did right with Druids, and 2023 easing into the evening with Sonic Taboo’s palette-cleansing riffery worked well along similar lines conceptually, if not with the same sound.
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Duel
Next week they’ll be at Ripplefest Texas in their native Austin. Next month they head back to Europe for another go there that also includes a Desertfest — in Antwerp — and I don’t know what’s up after that, but it’s Duel, so chances are it’s something. They put out Live at Hellfest (review here) earlier this year, and between that and having seen them the couple times I have at this point, including twice last summer, I feel reasonably comfortable with high expectations when it comes to their live show. They are, and have been, a rager, and they just go and go and go. Also rip. “Children of the Fire” is always a highlight, and I’ll put “Fears of the Dead” right up there with it in terms of this-is-a-chorus-you-want-to-dude-shout-along-with, but fresh off a plane as they were and maybe haggard for that, Duel only benefitted from the wild-eyed madness of improper sleep cycles, and the crazier they were the crazier the shit sounded and the more everybody went nuts. Total win. Nice when you know you’re getting something awesome and then you do. They fucking went on early. That’s who they are.
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Lo-Pan
Jeff up front? It’s just crazy enough to work! It’s been just over four years since I last saw Lo-Pan, that long as well since they put out their most recent studio album, Subtle (review here), and that feels like too much time by at least half. To wit, at some point, Jeff moved out front. I stood over by bassist Scott Thompson, which meant that the low end was basically eating me alive, but hell, I’ve been down that road with Lo-Pan before, and you’re not going to hear me complain. To think of it, there is no wrong place to stand. If you’re over by Chris Thompson’s guitar, you’re not wrong. I sure as crap wasn’t wrong where I was, and if you’re up the middle you’ve got Jesse Bartz’s kick drum punching you in the face — or kicking — and Jeff Martin’s vocals cutting through, all soulful glissando and whatnot. So yes, they destroyed. Like Duel, it took them a song or two to warm up, but they locked it down quickly and it turns out they were fucking Lo-Pan and they destroy so that’s what they did. “El Dorado.” “Sage.” “Go West” and “Ascension Day.” They always seem to mix it up, but they hit it hard across the whole set and were a blast to see after some tumultuous years. One of those bands you miss after a while.
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Colour Haze
Magic. A guy named John came up to me before Colour Haze went on to tell me I’d introduced him to the band. I heard that a couple times by the end of the night. That was a trip, though not nearly as much so as the set itself. The headline is they played “Peace, Brothers and Sisters!,” the 22-minute forge in which much of the genre of heavy psych was cast. That and the shorter-but-no-less-epic “Love” from the Munich outfit’s landmark 2004 self-titled LP (discussed here) closed out the night, but more recent stuff like the title-track of 2019’s We Are (review here) or “Ideologigi” from last year’s Sacred (review here) was definitely welcome too after they led off with “Turquoise” and “Goldmine.” The room was electric, before, during and after the set. Between songs, the shouts of “thank you!” and “you’re so good” made people laugh and the joy of the set was felt all the more as the band met that energy in their performance, keyboardist/organist Jan Faszbender tight on the Vitus Bar stage behind founding guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek on the left side while Mani Merwald — who might be one of the best drummers I’ve ever seen play, and I’ve seen a few at this point in my life — and bassist Mario Oberpucher held down stage right, the latter a quiet presence but a resounding fit with the band’s four-piece dynamic. “Peace, Brothers and Sisters!” ended noisy, as one would hope, and the unexpected addition of “Love” made my night, no shit. I was likely in a minority of people there who’d seen the band before, but even if this wasn’t my first experience with Colour Haze, in another incarnation or in this one — I was lucky enough to catch them last December in Stockholm — the fact that it was something special was inescapable, and as somebody who was there the last time Colour Haze came to the US, which was in 2006 for Emissions From the Monolith 8 in Youngstown, Ohio, I’ll say their sound has only grown richer since then. They’re playing the Main Stage of the first night of the festival-proper, so this won’t be the last word about them, but I have the feeling that, if you were there for this, you’re going to remember it for a long time to come. I am, anyhow.
