While it’s true that Sealess‘ Aura is the first full-length from the project, it would be difficult to dive into its atmospheric sprawl and separate it from the overarching creative progression of which it’s part. Wrocław, Poland-based Kamil Ziółkowski is the sole denizen of the band, apart from Maha Sohona‘s Johan Bernhardtson sitting in on vocals and the last guitar solo in opener “Days of Gone” and Sandra Rutka adding vocals to “The Last Breath of Winter Glow,” and Ziółkowski handled the recording as well at Electric Witch Mountain Recordings while Haldor Grunberg mixed and mastered.

One might recognize Ziółkowski‘s name and style of composition from either Spaceslug or his other solo-project, Mountain of Misery, as well as bands like Palm Desert, O.D.R.A., Solar Trip, running the Electric Witch Mountain label, and so on, but for the stylistic diversity of the outfits in which he’s been involved, Sealess belongs specifically to a thread from Spaceslug to Mountain of Misery to it as the embodiment of a creative pursuit — and I mean that in the sense of chasing something, not just an endeavor — that brings together heavy ideologies with broader atmospherics, a stated love for The Cure shown in some of the brighter keyboards and airy guitar, and post-heavy rollout.

The band appeared on the Ziółkowski-led compilation, Deep Seven Vol. 1 (review here), in 2024, but Aura is the most substantial outing from the project to-date. It is comprised of seven songs and runs an immersive 44 minutes, beginning with the meditative keyboardery of “Days of Gone,” finding ground between the grunge-tinged heavy tones of Mountain of Misery and the vague Eastern lean of Om.

The latter aspect makes it a standout compared to most of what follows, but the effect that has is mostly to make Aura a less predictable listen, which is a strength as Ziółkowski moves between longer pieces and shorter-ish ones, “Days of Gone,” at 7:40 rolling into a fadeout ahead of the due cascade of “When the Water Breaks,” where the resonance comes into deeper focus as intentional and more of the aural purpose is revealed. “Days of Gone” is hookier, in its patient way, and the combination of Ziółkowski and Bernhardtson on vocals should be enough to please even the most discerning of nerds for Northern European heavy, but “When the Water Breaks” finds a place between texture and groove that seems at this point to be the heart of the project.

Ziółkowski isn’t a stranger to serving as an entire band on a release, and as a multi-instrumentalist and engineer, he’s practiced at creating a vibe, or a mood, or ambience, whatever you want to call it. The guitar rings out on Aura in a way that is familiar, but a step further on the path Ziółkowski has been walking from band to band, and particularly as Mountain of Misery grew out of Spaceslug‘s lush atmospheres, so too does Sealess feel extended from Mountain of Misery‘s style, or maybe extrapolated from it in-part.

Whatever the phrasing, Ziółkowski is recognizable as a composer and performer in this material, and while he’s working with and under influences outside the heavy underground norm, he brings everything into a cohesive, overarching sound that is Sealess‘ own and speaks to intentions toward taking the ‘band’ forward, developing a sound as he has with Mountain of Misery and as he’s been a part of with Spaceslug. I refuse to predict the future, but listening to Aura, part of what distinguishes Sealess from Ziółkowski‘s other ongoing projects is this sense of having branched off, and while I don’t know the origin of Sealess as distinct from Mountain of Misery, the songs present enough of a departure to justify starting another project, however they might’ve come about in the first place, in a very similar way that, when starting out, Mountain of Misery felt distinct enough from Spaceslug to warrant being a different band.

Does any of that make sense? It might in the future if Ziółkowski keeps Sealess going, and the tonal flourish on intertwining layers at the end of “The Last Breath of Winter Glow” — let alone the combined-vocal/duet aspect — continues to expand, or the daring-toward-positive-sounding “Interiors,” which wouldn’t seem to be accidentally placed as the centerpiece, becomes a blueprint, though of course that’s impossible to know now. The sweetness of melody in “Interiors” feels telling, however, as to the end goals of the project, and in just four minutes, it doesn’t capture the same kind of expanse as the penultimate “The Road is Promising,” which is twice as long, but it does come across as more straightforward in its verse and arrangement, and it demonstrates both the familiar elements Ziółkowski is using and the less familiar expression he’s building from them.

The forward drumming in “In Mortality” provides a strong foundation for the float in the vocals and guitar alike, and while the slower pacing makes it feel broad, “The Road is Promising” provides contrast with a double-time hi-hat amid its sprawl of keys and guitar. But here too, Ziółkowski holds to patience, and if you’re waiting for the breakout moment that so many records might shoehorn into a contemplative or emotive procession — you know, like when the post-rock band starts playing blackthrash to release the tension — closer “Endless Clouds” goes the other way entiretly, cutting the drums out of the picture for most of its four and a half minutes and wrapping Aura instead with its most ethereal stretch.

It’s easy to read defiance in that, but I don’t know that Ziółkowski is thinking in those terms rather than looking to finish with a priority on ambience over movement, though it’s a question of balance between them anyhow. The greatest impression Aura makes, from “Days of Gone” onward, is of being intentional. Of that pursuit referenced earlier. Of Ziółkowski chasing something, maybe the sound he’s hearing in his head, and working to manifest that in the audio. That’s a personal consideration, and so it’s not up to me to say whether he got there or not — most often, one tends to think of ‘creative goals’ as moving targets anyway — but Aura brings that chase to somewhere new, and hopefully Sealess becomes a vehicle for continuing the exploration portrayed here.

Sealess, Aura (2026)

Sealess on Bandcamp

Sealess on Facebook

Electric Witch Mountain Recordings on Bandcamp

Electric Witch Mountain Recordings on Instagram

Electric Witch Mountain Recordings on Facebook

Today we hit the halfway mark on this relative quickie Quarterly Review on the way to 50 releases covered by the end of the week. We’ll get there if past is prologue, and I’m having a good time so far digging in. Some of these are thrown together, some are more intentional. This just kind of came about as there was so much out there and so much more piling on. I’m glad it’s not a drag, is what I’m saying. Sometimes they’re fun but more of a challenge to get through. Shockingly, kickass records are a help.

Enjoy your day. I’m about to enjoy mine.

Quarterly Review #21-30:

-(16)-, Forgeries Vol. 1 1972-1984

True, 16, or, if you prefer their full name, -(16)-, are in a better position to take on covers than they’ve ever been in their career. They’re self-contained in terms of production with Al Shuster recording, and founding guitarist/now-vocalist Bobby Ferry has introduced more flexibility in their approach to sludge and punk and metal than they’ve had in their 35-year history. No, that’s not going to make Scorpions‘ “Can’t Get Enough,” which opens here, recognizable, but it is going to make it heavy. The key information on Forgeries Vol. 1 1972-1984 is of course the span of years, which means you get X, Rudimentary Peni, Fear, Agent Orange and Black Flag alongside Blue Öyster Cult, Black Sabbath, Bee Gees, KISS and UFO. And guess what? I think that’s pretty much how the band happened too. Also note this is Vol. 1. If it’s the ’80s next time, I hope they do Duran Duran, but if they went for a new LP of originals instead, I wouldn’t complain.

16 Linktr.ee

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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Belzebong, The End is High

The four-song/34-minute The End is High from Polish instrumentalist bong-worship pioneers Belzebong opens with its longest track (immediate points) in the 10:54 “Bong and Chain,” which rolls straight-ahead enough until spacing out for a while and realigning around its chug. Riffs are the priority, always. This is the first studio outing from Belzebong since 2018’s Light the Dankness (review here), and “420 Horseman” lands heavy enough to make up for lost time, shortest of the bunch but heavy straight through. “Hempnotized” starts with a sample like the song before it, something about getting high, before unfurling its solo-topped lumber, and “Reefer Mortis” caps side B (the sample’s at the end this time) in riffversation with the opener. This isn’t the record you put on when you’re just getting stoned. It’s the one you put on when you’re already very, very high. It sounds like it was made with a similar mindset.

Belzebong website

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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Haze Mage, High Fantasy

Born out of Blood Mist‘s debut EP (review here) in 2017, Baltimorean five-piece Haze Mage went on to develop a sound likewise ritualistic, heavy metal, and fun on their 2019 debut, Chronicles (review here), and seven years later, their second full-length, High Fantasy refines this sound while putting a cap on the band’s tenure. That’s right. They might not sound like it on the catchy “Evil Candle” or the Southern-style “Bat Brain” or the vocals-forward-till-it’s-time-to-rip “Ogre,” and so on, but Haze Mage are done as of the last sway into the crashout of “Sleepers,” and while that’s unfortunate since their songwriting had perspective and brought a needed lack of pretense to cultism, the good news is High Fantasy itself, which comes across like Ouija shenanigans across the nine included songs, and if it’s all we’re ever gonna get from them, I’m glad Haze Mage are going out on their own terms. Nothing else could be so appropriate.

Haze Mage on Bandcamp

Haze Mage on Instagram

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Fir Cone Children, Vs. the Real World

Adventurous and sometimes genre-defiant punk is the root from which Fir Cone Children branches, and Alexander Leonard Donat (also Vlimmer, Blackjack Illuminist Records, etc.) revels in the shove of “Enhype!” as much as the post-everything gaze of “Severe Weather Warning” and the Sonic–Youth-but-make-it-sweet guitar-based noise of “(Hang in There) My Moon,” resolving ultimately in the sprint of “Beating the Real World” and the acoustic/electric blend of “Forever,” gleefully breaking its own rules as fast as it can make them as only a project about one’s kids could. Momentum stays on Donat‘s side through the more ethereal moments, and the playful bounce of “Vampire Queen” and the noisier “Time to Ask” convey movement while feeling dug into the process of their own creation, the album’s 32-minute course managing to be atmospheric despite the fact that it never stays in one place all that long. Aesthetic malleability is nothing new for Donat or Fir Cone Children, and it’s nice to be reminded that just because a song is 71 seconds long doesn’t mean it can’t have reach.

Fir Cone Children on Instagram

Blackjack Illuminist Records on Bandcamp

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White Canyon and the 5th Dimension, IV

I’m not sure how many full-length releases Brazilian duo White Canyon and the 5th Dimension have to their name, but I think it’s more than might be indicated by the title IV. Nonetheless, if this eight-song/40-minute collection is their fourth proper studio LP, fair enough for the cohesion the band find in moody psychedelic melodymaking and, tonal and vocal warmth. “Silver Womb” at the outset tells the listener a lot of what they need to know about where the two-piece are headed — into a misty nighttime sprawl, it seems — and feels restrained even in its later breakout. This proves to foreshadow “Gravestone Lips” and pieces like the sax-laced “Alumia Part II,” which have a headphone-ready dynamic that encourages deeper, active hearing and draws one across the album’s span — effectively broken into two sides for vinyl, if that’s your preference — with a sense of overarching flow. The penultimate “River Song” and wobbly-guitar closer “Wicked Eyes” assure that in the final stretch, there’s no loss of ground covered from where the wailing lead of “Where the Dreamers Go” winds up. Immersion is key. So, immerse.

White Canyon and the 5th Dimension Linktr.ee

White Canyon and the 5th Dimension on Bandcamp

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Onionfuzz, Meeplek Naar Nemen

Presumably Belgium’s Onionfuzz are called what they are because the fuzz is like an onion: layered, as per Shrek. Fair enough for the intertwining of guitars and bass on their new live-captured seven-song collection Meeplek Naar Nemen (‘take a seat’), but if that would imply the band get up to some studio wizardry, however many waveforms lined up with guitars on every frequency from here to 35Hz. Not the case, even in the fuzz of “Ongebluste Kalk.” Onionfuzz are much more in-the-moment on these gathered improvisations, recorded at various shows throughout 2025 and immediately distinguished among the improv-based wing of the Euro heavy underground by the use of (I think also improvised) vocal lines underscoring the point that you, the audience, don’t know what’s coming next, whether it’s in the jazzy title-track or the more minimal meander “Answers to Question,” which for most of its 7:42 lets you hear the crowd chattering. That’s not the case as the subdued “The Bees Partout” answers back to the opener “The Bees Don’t Laugh When I Mow the Grass,” so I guess it depends on which night you catch their mellow fluidity. In any case, Meeplek Naar Nemen argues convincingly for doing so.

Onionfuzz website

Onionfuzz preorders

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Glisten Trick, Death Cult Rainbows

I’ve heard vaguely similar moody, heavy post-rock positioned as night-desert before, but Glisten Trick aren’t playing to genre so much as they’re serving the songs with their six-track Death Cult Rainbows EP, with airy guitar, subdued, breathy vocals, deceptively weighted low end textures and straightforward but not boring rhythm. “Dirge From Above” dares toward psychedelic fuzz, but the title-cut’s electronic beat feels indie-fed, and though “Deep Cut” is clever for the sonar sounds included and manipulated within its five-minute span, the lightly meandering guitar, emotive delivery and subtly building procession is more a highlight precisely for how to-style it isn’t. I’m not sure where Glisten Trick are in terms of landscape metaphor — the mostly-solo-project of Glasán Ghost, geographically, is from the UK — but in the swing of “No Comedown” and “Black Acid” they’re barely terrestrial to begin with, so maybe such concerns are all pretend anyway and don’t matter.

Glisten Trick website

Glisten Trick on Bandcamp

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Stonebride, No Chances Given

Zagreb’s Stonebride — the four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Siniša Krneta, guitarist Tješimir Mendaš, bassist Matija Ljevar and drummer Stjepan Kolobarić — are reportedly (i.e. it’s what they said on Bandcamp) thinking of the two-song No Chances Given EP as indicative of where they might want to be direction-wise coming off of 2024’s Smiles Revolutionary (review here), and listening back to that album, neither “111” (4:12) nor “Barren Slope” (7:13) are a radical departure, but the former eases up on thrust somewhat and the latter feels more patient with specific attention to the vocal arrangement and the feeling of space as it builds toward its culmination, so the balance has been apparently mindfully adjusted. I won’t predict how that’ll play out among their more charge-minded impulses as shown on that LP, but an intention to grow and try new things has served them thus far into their tenure and I see no reason why it would stop now. If they’re indeed headed into more open sounds, as “Barren Slope” might hint, they have a real opportunity to play back and forth and develop their dynamic. That they’re even interested in doing so after 20 years is both deeply admirable and indicative of why you should listen.

Stonebride on Bandcamp

http://www.instagram.com/stonebrideofficial

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Aidan Baker, Songs of Waking and Weather

Sounds of Waking and Weather is the soundtrack to a forthcoming novel, and while I’m not sure if that’s also by Aidan Baker (of Nadja and numerous other collaborations) or not, the acoustic guitar threaded through the included 12 songs on the 79-minute offering resonates thematically as something in literature might, even running backward as it does in “Dream Song I.” Such manipulations are prevalent throughout this solo effort, and Baker brings field recordings into “Dream Song II,” which at 10:58 is one of three extended pieces alongside “Weather I (Tule)” and the 18-minute finale “The Black Swan.” Sometimes minimal, with piano in the lead on “Weather III (Advection),” the songs might be peopled by drones, sharp hi-hat, a dulcimer in there somewhere, Baker feels purposeful in the choices of arrangement and texture, and I’m curious about the story being told in the music. If you want the spoiler from the album, it ends in the open, at night, with the sounds of insects and no humans after the bassy avant-doom nod has given way. I’m not sure what that means for plot or character, but Baker‘s ability to put you in a place and time is palpable as ever.

Aidan Baker website

Broken Spine Productions on Bandcamp

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Tesa, Interval

Latvian post-metal instrumentalists Tesa released Interval in June 2025 through My Proud Mountain, and with it offer four engrossing tracks, each with its own feeling of the journey being undertaken, each adding to the scope of the entirety. The harsher noise that makes its way into the back half of “Interval I,” or the tension held in the drums after coming back from the drone in “Interval II” which also ends the song, the time-to-riff moment of arrival at the start of “Interval III” and the fuller push over the edge of its crescendo and the 11-minute sprawl of “Interval IIII” — which does include voice if not lyrics — provide landmarks along the way, but it’s the overarching feeling of going deeper with each one until finally “Interval IIII” caps with a shimmering megawash that’s most resonant. I don’t know if it was written as one whole work or as distinct, separately-processed songs, but between the titling and the listening experience, cohesion was obviously a priority. It comes through manifest in the music itself, for which I’d recommend a healthy dose of whatever volume you can give it.

Tesa on Bandcamp

My Proud Mountain website

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At least two years ago, when Sealess appeared on Electric Witch Mountain Recordings‘ compilation, Deep Seven Vol. 1 (review here), alongside outfits like Spaceslug, Palm Desert, Mountains of Misery, and Solar Trip, the band was the two-piece of Kamil Ziółkowski (who is or has been in all of the acts listed in this sentence and runs the label) and Palm Desert vocalist Wojciech Gałuszka. On that release, Sealess were the somewhat formative, understated closer, and though their inclusion, “Fading Away” doesn’t feature on their impending debut album, Aura, out May 28, the mood across the two singles feels progressed from that same intent.

Ziółkowski specifically cites The Cure as an influence, and fair enough as a source of that floaty guitar, but this is a thread Ziółkowski has been chasing for years through heavy and post-heavy songcraft — a place where substance can meet air. Think of how Spaceslug can flatten you and make it sound gentle. Sealess are more open tonally, and as opening track/new single “Days of Gone” unfolds with Johan Bernhardtson (Maha Sohona) adding meditative vocals and guitar, the aesthetic grows even more complex and progressive.

But Sealess sound like a logical next step on Ziółkowski‘s creative path, finding a mode of expression that on “Days of Gone” can sound like Om instrumentally and on “The Road is Promising” can nonetheless drop hints through suncoated ethereal guitar and vocals of New Wave and proto-industrial impressions. Just how broad can Sealess get? Stick around to find out. Like, maybe for the next few years or however long it takes.

The this-exists informative email came in from Bandcamp:

The album will be released on May 28th, and two tracks are already available for listening (as a pre-order).

While this isn’t Spaceslug (for now, material here is also in the works), it’s its next offshoot, with its members involved.

SEALESS (you might recognize one track from the DEEP SEVEN Vol. 1 compilation) has prepared a dark, melancholic journey, perhaps not as heavy with distortion, but with darkness and a heavy emotional weight. It’s more of a cold wave vibe, with strong inspiration from the amazing The Cure, for example.

Check out this material. As a curiosity, we’ll add that the first track (“Days Of Gone”) features Johan from Maha Sohona, so you can hear the combined voices of Spaceslug and Maha Sohona.

Enough of these introductions :) Check out this material; some of you might like it :)

https://sealessband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61589048701258

https://electricwitchmountain.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/electric_witch_mountain/
https://www.facebook.com/p/Electric-Witch-Mountain-Recordings-61552988139323/

Sealess, Aura (2026)

Well, we made it to the final day of the Spring 2026 Quarterly Review, and as ever, I hope somewhere in the mass of 70 releases written up that you were able to find something you hadn’t heard before that spoke to you. If not, first, are you okay? I mean, if you’ve been through all now-70 offerings discussed over the last week-plus and found absolutely nothing, that seems pretty bleak. Granted that’s the state of the world, but I know that when things seem at their lowest, it’s music and art that gives me any hope for humanity whatsoever. If I didn’t have it, I’d be in trouble. Anyway, hope there was something cool for you, and as always, thanks for reading.

Let’s wrap this up. Back maybe mid-June with the next QR.

Quarterly Review #61-70:

Black Lung, Forever Beyond

Bringing together ethereal sounds and feet-on-the-ground, real-world themes can be tough. Are Baltimorean heavy psych-blues veterans Black Lung providing escape or confronting the times we live in head-on? A bit of both on the seven-song/35-minute Forever Beyond, which brings melodic textural flourish to “Savior” as the lyrics remain unconvinced. The later “Border Horder” and closer “Scum” say it more clearly, and that’s an asset in the album’s favor, not that one would call the progressive and expansive, Mellotron-and-cello-laced centerpiece “Follow” subtle, exactly. I can’t tell if I’m just hearing an acoustic layer in the second half of “Forever Beyond Me” or if it’s really there, but I like that about it, and it’s worth noting that along with the pointed direction Forever Beyond takes — which is to be commended in a heavy rock underground where far too many have buried their heads — the band continue to refine their songwriting. I do wish the ending of “Border Hoarder” went on for another three minutes riding that riff, but maybe live.

Black Lung on Bandcamp

Magnetic Eye Records store

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Die Spitz, Something to Consume

Pardon me for playing catchup to Austin fury-punk heavy shovers Die Spitz, whose Third Man-delivered debut LP, Something to Consume, was released in Sept. 2025. The 11-song grunge-informed album is a ripper, giving a much-needed generational refresh to punkish heavy noise, like Chat Pile but not for podcast bros. The heft of “Sound to No One” reveals a depth of mix that despondent/sludgy-but-moving opener “Pop Punk Anthem (Sorry for the Delay)” hinted toward in its later solo, and cuts like “Red40” and “Riding With My Girls” gallop with a fresh-feeling glee, while the lumber of “Punishers,” the big-riff slam of “Throw Yourself to the Sword” and the almost unfortunately catchy “American Porn” seethe with intensity aggressive purpose. The recording sounds close enough to live to convey the genuine energy of the execution, and the blend of immediacy and atmospherics speaks to a nascent creative growth to take shape in the years to come. One of last year’s best debuts, easily. The kids are pissed off, and rightly and righteously so.

Die Spitz website

Third Man Records website

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Borracho, Eternos

Borracho‘s cover of Spirit Caravan‘s “Fang” might be the heaviest thing the Washington D.C. trio have ever done. It’s one of five cover songs on Eternos, a sweet-but-somewhat-bittersweet homage to lost friends from among the heavy underground. “Fang” pays homage to Dave Sherman (also Earthride), who always said “Fang” was special to him because he wrote it. Foghound‘s “Keep on Shoveling” follows, for Rev. Jim Forrester, with Karma to Burn‘s “Twenty-Nine” after for Will Mecum, The Hidden Hand‘s “Damyata” for Bruce Falkinburg and “A Heart Without a Home,” by The Hellacopters, for Robert “Strings” Dahlqvist. Can’t argue with the concept, the choices of songs or the resulting EP. I swear to you I almost didn’t review it because all there is to say is, “well yeah, it’s kind of sad, but duh it rules anyway.” But they do really dig in while handling the material with care, and you can feel the intent of the release accordingly.

Borracho website

Borracho on Bandcamp

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Avon, Black on Sunshine

If you’re new to them, the key to understanding Avon is knowing that guitarist/vocalist James Childs — joined in the band by bassist June Kato and drummer Alfredo Hernández (Across the River, Yawning Man, Kyuss, etc.) — has his roots in the history of English rock and roll, so while tonally Avon draw a lot from desert-heavy, they’re also pulling from decades of UK rock, from garage rock to early progressive blues rock to early punk to artsy ’90s whathaveyou, and those influences come out in their material as well. Songs are short and the benefit of this stylistic blend is that it’s the songwriting that draws the album together, as well as the band-in-a-room sensibility of the recording, however it was actually made. “Bandits” and “Nineteen Bruises” make a particularly effective back and forth before the piano/stomp of “Super Furry Antidotes,” and the hook of the leadoff title-track assures you never forget which record you’re hearing, not that you would.

Avon website

Go Down Records website

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Sons of Gulliver, Tetrahedric Hellscape Cannon

A brash and gritty sound permeates the geometric charm of Tetrahedric Hellscape Cannon, and even with bassist Justin Potter‘s rough vocal delivery, the verse of the title-track reveals earlier Clutch as a source of some of the patterning, which the penultimate “Ohio” affirms. Potter and drummer Dolphin Riot comprise the entirety of Dallas’ Sons of Gulliver, and nobody who’s heard “Vagabonds” or the ’90s-bouncing “Headcleaner” is going to say they’re lacking anything as regards heft for not having guitar. But for being a duo, the songs have variety baked into their purpose, as the acoustic/hand-percussion centerpiece “Earthbound” — think instrumental “Planet Caravan” — demonstrates, if not the shift from the punk/metal of “Death or Distortion” and the strutting, self-aware desert riffery of “Dunes,” and at nine-songs/31-minutes, Tetrahedric Hellscape Cannon can count efficiency among its strengths. It’s definitely a first record, but there’s character here.

Sons of Gulliver website

Sons of Gulliver on Instagram

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Gozd, Trees Are Silent

Instrumentalist save for side B’s “Rusalka,” wherein Paulinia Przychodzień-Witek Damroca adds voice and lyrics to their post-metallic push, Trees Are Silent finds Wrocław’s Gozd mindful of the atmosphere being created by each of the album’s eight inclusions, and yes, trees are a theme for some of it. The keys and lead guitar of “Birch” place them somewhere in the Russian Circles/Pelican school, but whether it’s the trumpet in the quiet moments and subsequent payoff of “Linden” or the outright gorgeousness and serenity on offer in “Axis Mundi,” or the crush wrought in “Om,” they bring an individual edge to their creative pursuit, the post-rock drifter finale “Ekoton” as fitting a conclusion as one could find to a release of intentional sprawl. The going isn’t quite meditative, but they obviously set these songs up for a whole album fluidity, and in that they are successful.

Gozd on Bandcamp

Gozd on Instagram

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From Yuggoth, And Ever Since My Paths Were Crooked and Forsaken

Somewhere between stoner metal riff idolatry, post-metallic shout-into-the-void atmospherics, and Conan-esque tonal wallbuilding, Dresden’s From Yuggoth loose the expanses of their four-song second EP, And Ever Since My Paths Were Crooked and Forsaken, staving off hypercerebrality on “A Crimson Dawn” with an emotive crescendo marked by vast lead guitar and ace basslines. This blend of the raw and progressive one might trace to Neurosis (especially this week), but there’s pure doom in the band’s veins as well, as the semi-title-track shows in its early lumbering. You should note that “My Paths Were Crooked and Forsaken” gets very, very heavy™, but neither are From Yuggoth entirely reliant on tone to make their impact, as the snare-led slog of “Thy Serpent Eyes” makes plain, despite the assault, crush and burn of “Deathlike Living (We Are Alpha),” which closes. There’s enough Electric Wizard in the structure of the riffs to keep the songs doomed, and that serves them well and makes From Yuggoth‘s approach more their own. And, again, the bass.

From Yuggoth on Bandcamp

From Yuggoth on Instagram

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Desert Colossus, Apparatus

Netherlands four-piece Desert Colossus present their fourth album in the nine-song/46-minute Apparatus, rife with moody melody and riffed with its whole heart. Desert rock at its foundation, their sound is able to expand around that to various degrees when called to do so, as in the closer “Come Forth” with its Middle Eastern guitar inflection and ensuing multi-stage nod. Largesse is a tool at their disposal — hello “Vanity” — but they know a classic push and swing too, diving in with a hungry Sabbathism on “Sweet Cherries Hang Low” and opener “Hermit,” and while “Prixie House on the Wax” and the partially-acoustic “Black Out” are more complex, they still groove. It all comes together in “Three Eyed Fox,” which makes that a highlight, but it’s not alone as Desert Colossus find new paths through familiar ground, distinctive in melody and consistent though dynamic changes in tempo, volume and purpose. This was my first exposure to them, and no regrets in starting from Apparatus whatsoever.

Desert Colossus on Bandcamp

Desert Colossus on Instagram

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Axe Dragger, Axe Dragger

It’s heavy metal or no metal at all on Axe Dragger‘s Ripple-released self-titled debut full-length. The multinational project brings together guitarist Bob Balch (Fu Manchu, Big Scenic Nowhere, Slower, etc.), drummer “Minnesota Pete” Campbell (ex-Pentagram, The Mighty Nimbus, etc.), vocalist Terry Glaze (ex-Pantera) and bassist Fredrik Isaksson (Dark Funeral, ex-Grave), and together they run through 10 songs of mostly-classic-styled metal, with some thrash and groove elements finding balance in songs like “Fight Another Day,” “Death is Calling My Name,” and “Fire in the Madhouse,” while all-out rippers like “Axe Dragger,” “Give You Rope’ and “El Toro” revel in speedy twists and shove. Their apparent aim is to be the kind of metal band you’d draw the logo of on your math notebook instead of doing your homework, and as aspirations go, I can think of few so admirable. Everybody here is definitely an adult, but it’s fun pretend.

Axe Dragger on Instagram

Ripple Music store

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Den Der Hale, Larking About

Consuming waves of drone intertwine, change and move around a dynamic mix to create the sense of dread and, sometimes, oppression in Den Der Hale‘s Larking About, as the Swedish troupe bring heavy ambience to fruition across four tracks and 42 minutes of swelling, ethereal tones, sporadic vocals for a likewise sporadic human presence, and a level of worldbuilding that veers into the cinematic as regards evocation. The piano lines in “Where My Flesh Cannot Be Torn” and distinguishable vocal lines make it more grounded perhaps than “Silphium” just before it, which somehow ends up in black metal in its second half though don’t ask me how they got there, and each post-everything unfurling adds another aspect to the entirety, right through to “Under Jord” fostering a single swell of drone and letting it hold sway for most of its 11 minutes, building on the foundation laid out in the opening title-track. As an album it is vivid and affecting, and though it’s something of a shift in direction for Den Der Hale, perhaps it’s more of an extrapolation from their past work, taking the weight conjured through past outings and finding this amorphous, occasionally terrifying thing in it. You won’t hear something else like it today.

Den Der Hale on Instagram

Sound Effect Records website

—

Feeling dug in, which I take as a good sign. There’s been a decent portion of this QR that’s catching up from last Fall onward, and I would’ve liked to cover some of that sooner, but honestly I struggled to find a week-plus to do this and lost an additional month by the time I did. So if you’re like ‘duh this is old’ to some of it — there are also releases that aren’t out yet — I apologize. In 10 years it won’t matter that whatever it was came out last October.

On that happy note, back to it.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Witchcraft, A Sinner’s Child

Sweden’s Witchcraft follow their 2025 full-length, Idag (review here), with the five-song EP A Sinner’s Child, which runs a similar, if condensed, gamut, from founding frontman Magnus Pelander‘s solo acoustic folk to lumbering, heavy doom and points between. Pelander plays all the instruments on rolling opener “Drömmen Om Död Och Förruttnelse,” the minimal guy-and-guitar “Even Darker Days,” and the morosely weighted “Själen Reser Sig,” while the full-band title-track “A Sinner’s Child” and its closing alternate-lyrics companion-piece “Sinner’s Clear Confusion” are defined as much by the emotive blues of the vocals as by the wistfully strummed electric guitar that accompanies. “A Sinner’s Child” is between the two sides of “Själen Reser Sig” and “Even Darker Days,” sound-wise (it’s before them in the tracklisting) and underscores that it’s not just the extremes that Pelander/Witchcraft inhabit, but the intricate places between as well. I don’t know if it’s leftovers from the record or filler or what, and I don’t care. Just happy it exists and the band are making music, thanks.

Witchcraft website

Heavy Psych Sounds website

—

Perfect Buzz, Happy Trails

Well, Portland and post-punk, so yes, Dead Moon are a factor, but PDX trio Perfect Buzz keep the songwriting tight and headed in their own, vividly rocking direction. The punk roots come out in “Here Come the Cowgirls,” with a shimmer in the guitar that’s unexpected, particularly after “You’re Wrong” was so sure of itself pounding its titular chorus into your head, but the heavier opener “Mess Around” sets a heavy-alternative expectation, and even the proto-grunge riffing of “Gonna Make U Sweat” is drawn under that umbrella. If you see them compared to Mudhoney, that’s probably why. But “Gonna Make U Sweat” is also the longest song at 3:28, and nothing else tops three minutes, so it’s not like Happy Trails is wasting anyone’s time. Instead, Perfect Buzz‘s debut EP showcases varied intent brought together by sharp, clearly-nobody’s-first-time-at-the-dance craft. Each of the four tracks sets out to do, and does, something different, while adding depth to the persona of the band, still being shaped but already a good time.

Perfect Buzz on Bandcamp

Perfect Buzz on Instagram

—

Smoke Rites, Eager Eyes of Talion

Raw sludge metallers Smoke Rites offer visceral and disaffected doom on their second full-length, Eager Eyes of Talion, marked by the forward-in-the-mix gritty vocals of Tomasz Mielnik, whose harsh-throated shouts, growls and divergences into clearer singing top the weighted, rolling processions of guitarist Łukasz Borawski, bassist Adam Ziółkowski and drummer Michał Kamiński, resulting in a suitably filthy sound. It’s dark-themes-for-dark-times in “Golden Road,” the title-track and the chugging “Nothing Never,” and certainly “Death is a Five Letter Word” and “Wind of Most Cruel Kind” aren’t offering much in terms of comfort. Even the interlude “Charas Drift” is brought to a harsh place, but Eager Eyes of Talion stays grounded in the muddy shove of “10ft. Dread” and the comparative loll of “Devil’s Advocate,” and doesn’t feel like it’s hading out any more punishment than is due. In a mad world, madness feels reasonable. Here we are.

Smoke Rites on Bandcamp

Smoke Rites on Instagram

—

Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean, Let Us Not Speak of Them But Look and Pass On

Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean uphold a long Massachusetts legacy of extreme sludge, and the four-song EP, Let Us Not Speak of Them But Look and Pass On, is duly facepeeling. Obviously “An Abundance of Mercy,” the nine-minute opener, is ironically titled. Mercy doesn’t really apply in the post-deity gnashing void the band portray, abrasive and churning. The lead cut is a slower assault where “Upheaval” is faster and more outwardly violent. “An Adornment of Light” might take home the prize for the lyric “I can show you/Just how broken/A wing can be,” if not for its seven-minute succession of massive lumber and throatripping screams or the ping ride in the last minute, like it’s marking the steps to where you jump in the volcano. Speaking of, “Execution” closes with a summary made more volatile for smashing elements together, but across the board, it’s a litmus test for how much noise you can take, which, since you’re alive today, is obviously more than any people at any other time in history could, so yes, have at it.

Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean on Bandcamp

Redscroll Records website

—

Slow Draw, Is it Death Metal or Sadness

This might be genius. Hurst, Texas, solo experimentalist Mark Kitchens (also Stone Machine Electric) offers 11 sub-minute-long — the longest track is Hugging Curbs at 41 seconds — snippets, song ideas, root melodies, and tossoffs on Is it Death Metal or Sadness. Most are voice-based, but like opener “Big Dipper Little Dipper,” “Lynda and Her Celery,” “Almonds and Pistachios” and “Steven Lee Hall Junior” and “In the Pharmacy,” most have some synth or percussive accompaniment, and for most the lyrics are basically the titles. Maybe the most telling of all, centerpiece “Banana Time” — the lyric, “It’s banana time in the kitchen” — sounds like it was probably thought up while Kitchens was getting a banana. Five-second closer “Season My Eggs” — “I forgot to season my eggs, yeah-heah,” in a rocker voice — is likewise true to life. The reason this might be genius is because it reflects the ways music interacts with your daily life. Maybe you do sing a little song while you’re getting a banana, or get a hook in your head like the multi-layered “3 and 7” out of nowhere. It’s the sense of spontaneity captured. It turns out neither to be death metal nor sadness, and that could hardly be more fitting for the project.

Slow Draw website

Slow Draw on Bandcamp

—

Capacopter, Capacopter

Once they start rolling out that fuzz, there’s little stopping (and why would you?) German heavy rockers Capacopter who, working under influence from early Queens of the Stone Age via modern forerunners Slomosa, present their self-titled first LP with all due electricity and grooving intent. Hooks abound as in opener “600 Years” and the desert-airy “Caravan,” and they keep structures pretty straightforward for the eight-song duration — has Noisolution heard this? — but there’s some branching out in “Half’n Inch” at the start of side B, and “JP’s Horse” and closer “Wandering Stones” take time for atmospherics as well, while “Kings and Crowds” and “Temple Son” are, on balance, more direct, though songwriting is a factor front-to-back. The album ends up being a mix, and there are highlight stretches in the quieter moments as well, but as a statement of intent, Capacopter posits them as rockers, and fair enough. An encouraging and promising debut album. There’s growing into themselves to do, but there’s also time to do it.

Capacopter website

Capacopter on Bandcamp

—

Monovoth, To Live in the Breath of Worship

Dense to a point of opaqueness at its heaviest, but able as well to shift into and through ambient passages, Monovoth‘s To Live in the Breath of Worship feels emotive without words and finds the despondent post-metallic Buenos Aires solo-project exploring tense and grimly progressive reaches. The third LP in five years from multi-instrumentalist Lucas Wyssbrod, it doesn’t shy from extremity in “Crimson Red Wound” or the blastbeaten-until-it-drones-in-apology 16-minute closer “To Drown in the Tears of God” (there is a human voice there), but is no more defined by that than the subdued bleakness of its stillest moments, nor is it overly predictable in the movements between those two sides, or unipolar in how it executes one or the other. This variability, flexibility, allows “Cosmically Orphaned” and earlier opener “From a Dying Star” to tell a similar story in different ways, and makes the album as a whole a more complete, immersive experience. It’s also noisy as hell, and that helps too.

Monovoth website

Monovoth on Bandcamp

—

Pimeyden Harha, Aika

Opening cut “Kronologia” (8:32) is the shortest of the three inclusions on Pimeyden Harha‘s severe-cast, wholly-doomed full-length debut, Aika, by about half. The subsequent “Rauha” (16:01) and “Entisöijä” (19:27) render the opener as lead-single fare, but rest assured, the solo outfit has plenty of doom to go around, whether it’s longform or, you know, sorta-longform. Lyrics, and somehow also the instruments, are in Finnish, and most of what keeps Aika from being death-doom is the melodic chant of sole-denizen/multi-instrumentalist J. LaCoin‘s vocals. Tempos are mostly a crawl, but “Rauha” lets you know up front it’s going to thrash out at the finish, and yes, it does, and there’s a bit of pickup in the later reaches of “Entisöijä” as well, but the bulk of the record is willed as a morose plod, and the atmosphere is accordingly grey. To its credit, however, Aika holds firm to its intent and doesn’t veer from its path as the songs play out; the most divergence happens in “Koronologia,” and it’s brief. That’s not to say Pimeyden Harha comes across as unipolar, just that it’s a sound crafted with a goal in mind. As a debut, one might call it foreboding.

Pimeyden Harha on Bandcamp

Pimeyden Harha at Mikseri

—

Wild Fuzz Trip, Fuzz Transmissions

The only real question going into this debut album by Spain’s Wild Fuzz Trip is whether or not the five tracks on Fuzz Transmissions live up to the billing. Are they, in fact, a wild fuzz trip? Well, yes. Whether you’re dug into the mellow midsection of “Big Grey” or the more uptempo boogie into meatier riffing that happens over the course of centerpiece “Galactican Twilight,” the double-guitar troupe — here guitarists Miguel A. Marañón and Diego López (also keys), bassist Andy Shardlow (Josiah) and drummer Suso Valcárcel and Martin Ludl on the sax in closer “Nebula Groove” — are right there with you, and though they’ve been a band for eight years and this is apparently their first LP, the surety of their going speaks to the slew of EPs and single releases leading up to it. They neither wasted their time nor waste yours as the listener, bringing their ambition to life in an expansive sound one hopes will continue to flesh out.

Wild Fuzz Trip on Bandcamp

Wild Fuzz Trip on Instagram

—

Gavran, The One Who Propels

Breadth and crush, expressive human intimacy and instrumental expanse, post-metallic chiaroscuro, etc., however you want to frame Gavran‘s The One Who Propels, the Rotterdam four-piece find their niche in style with a sound that basks in its multifaceted nature across five longer-form cuts, each of which plays out with a balance between two-plus sides, melodically sung here and abrasively screamed there, conveying emotion in the lulls of “Brod” as much as the next-level-obliteration that kicks in for (about) the final minute of “Okreni.” “Zora” and “Pogon” both start very, very heavy, but even there, a change in the vocals provides distinction amid tonal consistency, and Gavran are served across the 59-minute span by their attention to detail in terms of arrangement as well as the depth of mix which sometimes they seem to occupy to a point of spilling out, only to recede again and let the next melodic contemplation hold sway. The resulting entirety is viciously affirming as it leads to 16-minute capper “Plutaju,” which methodically encapsulates the course of the album while continuing to carve its own place.

Gavran on Bandcamp

Dunk!Records website

—

Weedpecker by now are no strangers to lush soundscaping. In 2026, they stand as one of Europe’s foremost in progressive heavy psychedelia, the product of a mature and broadly respected Polish heavy underground, with an expansive style and a fanbase that continues to grow. Their fifth album, titled simply V, comes five years by the numbers (it was late 2021, so take that as you will) after IV: The Stream of Forgotten Thoughts (review here), which was duly encompassing, and once again sees founding guitarist, vocalist and keyboardist Piotr Dobry heading a partially-revamped lineup.

Tomasz Walczak (Tankograd, ex-Dopelord), who played drums last time, returns on synth alongside Piotr “Seru” Sadza (“Cheesy Dude” in Belzebong), while Piotr Kuks, who played with Dobry in the apparent side-project Atom Juice for last year’s self-titled debut (review here) takes up the bassist role and Zbigniew Promiński of Behemoth, Witchmaster and others steps in on drums.

Longtime associate and former member Bartłomiej “Bartek” Dobry adds guitar and continues his role as producer, working with Haldor Grünberg at Satanic Audio (who also mixed and mastered; Mikołaj Kiciak recorded the drums), and for those who’ve followed Weedpecker on the path they’ve laid out, the six-song/40-minute procession will feel familiar in tone and even more consistent in its purposeful exploration.

With marked flow within and between the songs, a clear two-sided LP structure, rampant melody and Mellotron-fueled etherealism, the band 13 years on from their self-titled debut (review here) still sound like they’re discovering fresh ground, but doing so with a maturity and a sense of intention that a newer band couldn’t have. That is to say, V offers both the sun-coated breadth of the view and the perspective to see it fr om, teaching patience with patience guided by a hand of mastery.

Side A establishes fluidity as a key component with deceptive efficiency. The two-minute “Intro” sets forth, fading in on a sustained and undulating synth line, almost a drone but moving, and is joined by more keys as a wash emerges. It becomes its own movement enough to be distinct from the subsequent “Fading Whispers” (which is also the longest inclusion at 11 minutes), but the two feel like a stage-ready complement just the same, and the guitar that enters to start “Fading Whispers” could hardly seem as serene without the lead-in it gets.

That’s part of what the “Intro” accomplishes, but not all of it. It is foremost a two-minute chillout; playing to transition from the headspace of the moment you just left to your experience of the album. It is the entryway, or if you prefer to think of it as going outside into sunlight and breathing fresh air, the quick contemplation carries that as well. “Fading Whispers,” then, becomes where Weedpecker first unfurl the fuller vision of V; the airy guitar strumming, the harmonized vocals, continued melodic backdrop of keys/synth, the drums distant but not so far off as to be lost in the mix, enhancing the sense of texture while subtly providing the ground beneath the rampant atmospherics.

“Fading Whispers” is not without its own introduction, and it does the work of building on the soothing mood of “Intro” in its opening minutes before shifting into a more tonally weighted (read: “heavier”) roll, full, stately and no less immersive than anything they’ve wrought to that point. The going is smooth and the mix is dynamic, and as vast as “Fading Whispers” gets, it never loses sight of its structure.

It could be an album unto itself, but the driftier “Ash” (9:10) answers, picking up from the comedown to close the (longer) first half of V, with long, pulled lead guitar notes over its initial strum and currents of distortion peaking through, reminiscent of the heft of “Fading Whispers,” but not relying on that as a crutch so much as a piece of the entirety of their presentation. When they lock into the central riff, the affect reminds of Elder, which isn’t at all the first time I’ve said that about Weedpecker but is true nonetheless, and what plays out over the nine minutes is a reverbed cascade of gorgeous tone and outreach. The later moments are more clear-eyed than the middle movement, but they not only payoff the build with due crunch, but do so, again, without departing from their purpose.

None of the songs on side B — “In the Dark We Shine” (4:27), “Mirrors” (6:16) or “The Last Summer of Youth” (7:14) — is long as either of side A’s non-intro cuts, but they flow together more directly and the Rhodes (I think) amid the acoustic/electric blend of “In the Dark We Shine” is worth whatever temporal tradeoff you might want to make. The acoustic solo just past the halfway mark is a shift, but not radically so, and the verse comes back around before a synthier finish leads into the stark and more immediate, heavier push at the start of the penultimate “Mirrors.”

Mellotron/keys again play a major part as they have all along, but while “Mirrors” comes gradually to hit more forcefully and, as it is wrapping up tears willfully into a standout (electric) guitar solo which gives over to the residual feedback that ends, the contrast of ‘now it’s pretty again’ as “The Last Summer of Youth” emits its nostalgic crux — string Mellotron sounds over acoustic guitar will do that — the transition isn’t exactly intuitive, but works because of the prior established scope.

The vocals aren’t whispered but give a breathy impression just the same, and seem to come from deeper in the mix of guitar. There is sitar for flourish and classic-psych vibing, and where the closer really triumphs is in the band’s ability to telegraph the fact that they’re about to get much heavier, then to do that and continue to hold to their path. It’s been the case throughout the entire album that they’ve demonstrated and preached patience through their songwriting, but the level of consciousness in V remains striking, and even as the lineup has shifted, Weedpecker has only grown more self-aware with time.

As to whether or not that holds them back, like anything, there are arguments to be made on either side. I would say that the strength of purpose laid out across V is a strength in their songwriting, and that the fact that they know what they’re doing and have an idea of where they want their sound to go — and that then those things are what happens in the material — are emblematic of the growth they’ve undertaken over the last decade-plus. V is often beautiful, while still unmistakably heavy, and it creates its own (better) world and organic warmth with poise and what sounds an awful lot like a will to keep searching. At properly loud volume, it is easy to feel surrounded by the music, and that is a lucky place to be.

Weedpecker, V (2026)

Weedpecker merch page

Weedpecker BigCartel store

Weedpecker on Bandcamp

Weedpecker on Instagram

Weedpecker on Facebook

Heavy Psych Sounds website

Heavy Psych Sounds on Bandcamp

Heavy Psych Sounds on Instagram

Heavy Psych Sounds on Facebook

Of course, Polish progressive heavy psychedelic rockers Weedpecker are preparing for the Feb. 27 (I have it in my notes so I can hopefully review beforehand) release of their new album, V. The night of the release, the band will be in Deventer, in the Netherlands, playing a Heavy Psych Sounds Fest followed by another the next night in Bruxelles, which is how it goes. The tour starts in Berlin at the famed Neue Zukunft, and they’ll spend a good amount of time in France as well on this run, which I suspect won’t be the last they undertake in promotion of the album.

Summer fests? Maybe. If you’ll recall, in addition to these dates, the band are booked for the Obelisk co-presented Jam in the Psych Castle (info here) in Hungary in September, so that at least would speak to an active Fall involving some measure of travel and gigging. I obviously have no knowledge beyond what’s been announced (and even that I’m spotty at best), but if you don’t live somewhere on this routing, I wouldn’t get upset, is all I’m saying. I think you’ll get a chance.

From socials and the PR wire:

Thanks to our friends at HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS, we’re thrilled to announce the upcoming tour! We’d be more than happy to meet you all! See you very soon 🖤

*** WEEDPECKER – European Tour 2026 ***
25.02 DE Berlin – Neue Zukunft
26.02 DE Oldenburg – MTS
27.02 NL Deventer – HPS Fest
28.02 BE Bruxelles – HPS Fest
01.03 ***OPEN SLOT***
03.03 FR Lille – La Bulle Café
04.03 FR Paris – Le Chinois
05.03 FR Nantes – Cold Crash
06.03 FR Lorient – Pit Dog
07.03 FR Arthez de Béarn – Le Pingouin Alternatif
08.03 FR Clermont-Ferrand – La Raymonde
09.03 FR Chambery – Brin De Zinc
10.03 ***OPEN SLOT***
11.03 SK Bratislava – Pink Whale

BIOGRAPHY

One of Poland’s pioneering bands in the realm of psychedelic stoner rock, they’ve already released four albums and are now entering their fifth transformation to unveil a brand new creation. Constantly in search of new sensations and flavors, the band relentlessly chases the green dragon, never looking back.

Weedpecker:
Piotr Dobry – Guitars / Vocals / Synths
Zbigniew Promiński – Drums
Piotr Kuks – Bass
Piotr Sadza – Synths
Tomasz Walczak – Synths

http://weedpecker.8merch.com/
http://weedpecker.bigcartel.com/
https://weedpecker.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/weedpecker420/
https://www.facebook.com/Weedpecker-349871488424872/

https://www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/

Weedpecker, V (2026)

Yeah, I know it’s the opening slot on a four-band bill, but for the rest of their lives, the dudes in Dopelord get to say they went on tour with Napalm Death‘s ‘Campaign for Musical Destruction,’ and that’s pretty god damn cool from where I sit. The gleefully blasphemous, Sabbath-worshipping Polish stoner doomers signed to Season of Mist earlier this year after releasing the catchy powerhouse Songs for Satan (review here) in 2023, and one imagines if you needed an occasion to pound out a follow-up to that hook-filled riff-fest, this tour makes a good one, though even if they’re not supporting a new record at that point, Songs for Satan very much remains a flag worth flying. It’s not like it’s gotten stale, is what I’m saying.

Hear that for yourself on the player at the bottom of this post. The poster was put on socials and I typed out the dates because I’m a nerd and I think it’s important to keep a record of these things. Dopelord are out now celebrating their 15th anniversary as a band, even as they continue to reach new heights and new audiences.

Here you go:

Holy shit! We’re far beyond stoked to be joining this monster of a tour. Sharing the stage with absolute legends is a great honor. Our set won’t be too long so be sure to show up early to check us out! See you very soon!

“There isn´t any tour that survived for decades and remain just as interesting as 36 years before , like the Campaign for Musical Destruction Tour 2026. This successful and extraordinary tour has been running , with Napalm Death leading for decades now. The tour consistently impresses with its blend of creative and extreme underground music.”

Dopelord: Remaining 15th Anniversary Dates
04 December: Prague, CZ @ Subzero
05 December: Dresden, DE @ Chemiefabrik
06 December: Vienna, AT @ Escape
07 December: Innsbruck, AT @ PMK
08 December: Ljubljana, SI @ Menza pri Koritu
09 December: Zagreb, HR @ Vintage Industrial Bar
10 December: Belgrade, RS @ Zappa Baza
11 December: Budapest, HU @ Instant
12 December: Bratislava, SK @ Zalar
13 December: Brno, CZ @ Kabinet Múz

Dopelord: Campaign for Musical Destruction Tour Dates
30.01 Koln DE Essigfabrik
31.01 Paris FR Mondial du Tatouage
01.02 Antwerp BE Trix
03.02 Rennes FR Lantipode
04.02 Pamplona SP Sala Totem Aretoa
05.02 Madrid SP Mon
06.02 Toulouse FR Interference
07.02 Vitry-le-Francois FR L’Orange Bleue
09.02 Grenoble FR La Belle Electrique
10.02 Paderno Dugnano (MI) IT Slaughter Club
11.02 Munchen DE Kulturzentrum Backstage
12.02 Wien AT Arena Wien
13.02 Berlin DE Astra Kulturhaus
12.02 Hamburg DE Grunspan
15.02 Malmo SE Plan B
17.02 Warsaw PL Progresja
18.02 Leipzig DE Felsenkeller
19.02 Herford DE Kulturwerk
20.02 Leer DE Zollhaus Leer
21.02 Drachten NL Iduna
22.02 Lille FR Le Splendid – Salle de Concert
24.02 London UK Electric Ballroom
25.02 Glasgow UK Clyde Room
26.02 Dublin 1 IR The Academy
27.02 Liverpool UK 02 Academy Liverpool
28.02 Torquay UK Arena Torquay
01.03 Birmingham UK 02 Academy Birmingham

DOPELORD is
Paweł Mioduchowski – Guitars and Vocals
Piotr Ochociński – Drums
Grzegorz Pawłowski – Guitars
Piotr Zin – Bass, Vocals and Mellotron

https://dopelord.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/dopelord_666/
https://www.facebook.com/Dopelord666

http://www.season-of-mist.com/
https://www.instagram.com/seasonofmistofficial
https://www.facebook.com/seasonofmistofficial
https://tap.bio/@SeasonOfMist

Dopelord, Songs for Satan (2023)