Wasteland Haze Premiere “Handful of Dust”; Lonestar Due in April
Posted in audiObelisk, Whathaveyou on January 22nd, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Düsseldorf-based instrumental heavybringers Wasteland Haze start “Handful of Dust” with a skronk of noise and a sample from 1956’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers about humanity being drained away slowly, “not all at once,” before the crunch-toned riffing and nodding flow really begin to unfurl. Their new album, Lonestar, will be out in April through Clostridium Records, and the eight-minute cut is the second single from it behind the 10-minute “Pathfinder (The Great Hunt)” (points for long singles!), which operates not dissilimarly, though with more squibbly leads and a slower overarching progression.
“Handful of Dust” fills some of that space with an uptick in melodic complexity, as shortly after two minutes in, it transitions to a quieter stretch of standalone guitar, soon rejoined by the drums, feeling more raw-post-metal, like the break a SubRosa song might diverge into, but instead of slamming back to crush skulls, Wasteland Haze opt for a more meditative approach, gradually building up to incorporate lines of lead guitar — not as forceful as “Pathfinder (The Great Hunt),” and not-doing-the-same-thing-the-same-way is a strength to be considered — and another sample
circa six minutes marks the befinning of the shift into the crescendo, which seems to spread outward at least as much as it towers upward, more about the forward urging than the impact but certainly not without that either.
The stride is declarative by the time they actually hit the peak, and though the drums drop out to leave the guitar to handle an epilogue on its own, they do thud back in at the very end for just a moment, building again, this time to a cold, muted-cymbal finish. At its loudest and noisiest, “Handful of Dust” is viscerally satisfying, but, having not yet heard the entirety of Lonestar — the full title of which may or may not be Tales from the Wasteland Pt. 1 – Lonestar — that early break resonates through the surrounding churn to foster a sense of emotional complexity that speaks not only to the intended narrative the band discuss below, but to personal and emotive evocations as well on the part of the listener. You can lose yourself in its movement, and yeah, I’d advise you give it a shot.
If that requires a deep breath before you jump in on the premiere below, so much the better. Lonestar will be the second LP from Wasteland Haze, and given its ‘Pt. 1’ billing, the band are clearly thinking of it as part of a bigger, multi-album procession. If this is the arrival point following the trevails of the songs prior on the record, its payoff feels all the more earned, but even here, taken just on its own, “Handful of Dust” comes through as manifesting intent on the part of the band.
Their comment follows, courtesy of the PR wire. Please enjoy:
Wasteland Haze, “Handful of Dust” track premiere
Wasteland Haze on “Handful of Dust”:
This is the second single from our upcoming album “Lonestar” which we will release in april 2026 in cooperation with Clostridiumrecords.
Wasteland Haze is a instrumental 3 piece from dusseldorf, germany, founded in 2022. The music is a mix of Stonerrock, Doom and postrock. We try to get a gritty and interesting mix of all these genres and focus on a rich variety of styles, trying to make a entertaining and psychedelic experience.
On our first Album, which was first released in 2023 and rereleased in 2024, we wrote the songs first and this is the first time for us writing the whole storyline of the record and then writing the music around it, which resulted in a deeper and more cinematic storytelling and songwriting. Supported by various synth parts, voicing and atmospheric samples we created a fluid story in the whole record. The main story is like a revenge western story with our hero getting ambushed, learning about his inner spirits and take revenge on his scavengers.
Handful of dust is the 4th out of 5 songs on the record and is the mainfight in the story. Our hero stands and fights against his enemies after a long journey which was told in the songs before. The start is hard and sludgy and comes into a crispy post-rockish part, followed by a very hard doom riffing. With about 8 minutes of length, there are many parts and twists in the storytelling of this song. Best way is, checking it out for yourself :)
