Posted in Whathaveyou on December 4th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
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
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 27th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Not content to let this most wretched of years end without giving it one last kick in the ass — and all the more admirable for that — North Carolinian sludge institution Weedeater will be back on the road in December, touring around a sold-out Chicago date that also includes High on Fire and the well-managed return of Acid Bath and a date alongside Eyehategod, keeping company with next-gen NC sludgers Bronco, born out of Toke, and The Goddamn Gallows. My big question is whether they’ll play the reignited Emissions From the Monolith next year, but I suppose we’ve got time before finding out.
Oh, and Weedeater‘s still-most-recent LP, Goliathan (review here), turned 10 this year. Happy birthday and such. Strange to think of 2015 as “simpler times,” but yeah.
The PR wire has the latest:
Weedeater Announce Final Tour Dates for 2025
Cape Fear Legends Ending Year on Headlining Run + Dates with Acid Bath, High on Fire and Eyehategod
Fresh off grinding the ol’ dusty trail with Melvins, Napalm Death and Baroness, Weedeater are sending 2025 up in smokes with a December headline tour. The Cape Fear Legends will sling their heavy and colorful strand of weed metal all the way from Belgium to Pennsylvania Dutch Country and the American Midwest before heading back down south. Joining the band for this fresh stash of dates are Rust Belt psychobilly cowpunks The Goddamn Gallows and doomy fellow Cape Fear natives Bronco.
Along the way, Weedeater will join the recently reunited Acid Bath and Grammy winners High on Fire for a sold-out show at Chicago’s Salt Shed, followed by a night in South Carolina with the mighty Eyehategod.
Weedeater December 2025 Tour Dates with The Goddamn Gallows and Bronco
December 6 – Eeklo, Belgium @ Empire of Groove* December 9 – Harrisburg, PA @ Capitol City Music Hall December 10 – Toledo, OH @ Frankies December 11 – Columbus, OH – Skully’s December 12 – Chicago, IL @ Salt Shed w/ Acid Bath + High on Fire [SOLD OUT] December 13 – Murfreesboro, TN @ Hop Springs December 14 – Little Rock, AR @ Whitewater December 16 – Austin, TX @ Lost Well December 17 – New Orleans, LA @ Southport Music Hall December 18 – Panama City Beach, FL @ Moseys December 19 – Piedmont, SC @ Tribbles w/ Eyehategod December 20 – Raleigh, NC @ Chapel of Bones *only Weedeater
Weedeater’s full discography is available now on Season of Mist
Posted in Reviews on October 10th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
This isn’t the end of the Quarterly Review — it wraps up on Monday — but it is the end of the week, and I’m ready for it. The music’s been good though and that’s something of a salvation for times where it seems like the strange and terrifying are in competition with each other to make life more awful. That doesn’t end on the weekend, of course, but at least I’ll have two days to put together the last post of this QR, and when you’ve been writing 10 reviews a day all week, half that counts as respite. Something like it, anyhow.
So before we wrap up the week with whatever on earth I’ll actually pick to close it out (any requests?), here’s one more batch, with my thanks for your valuable time and attention. Hope you find something cool.
Quarterly Review #51-60:
P+A+G+E+S, No More Can Be Done
No More Can Be Done is the debut album from South Africa’s P+A+G+E+S, but the Cape Town trio spent five years in the 2010s together as Morning Pages, so that their first record would hold so much intention behind it shouldn’t necessarily be a shocker. The reason behind the name change? An apparent change in their project, which is to say the band got way, way darker, way, way heavier and nasty in that sharp-toothed-thing-you-can’t-see-but-you-know-is-there-also-there-are-no-lights kind of way. The 15-minute opener/longest track (immediate points) “The Passage” leads the way down into the bleak, extreme sludge that follows, but as the careful linear build of “Shine On” later demonstrates, P+A+G+E+S are more methodical than the noise and outwardly chaotic feel would seem to indicate. Atmosphere plays a central role in what they do, and that’s consistent from their run as Morning Pages, but No More Can Be Done is about what’s lurking and lurching in the bleakness.
Following the intro “Chasm,” Bask launch their fourth album, The Turning, with minor-key mystique and subsequent crush via “In the Heat of the Dying Sun” and “The Traveler,” piling triumph upon triumph in a way that is indicative of the progressive songwriting at work. “The Cloth” is slower, but neither less weighted nor less gorgeous for that, and as “Dig My Heels” works in some of the Southern/Americana pastoralism the Asheville, North Carolina, outfit have always been known for, the melody proves a standout, setting up another life-affirming payoff in the seven-minute “Unwound,” the mellower turn for the build of “Long Lost Light” and the somewhat wistfully twanging undertones of the title-track, which closes with grace and poise rare enough in heavy anything. Clearly a band who have worked to and been successful in transcending their root influences, and an identity that’s been hard-forged over their decade-plus. The Turning sees them actively bring their approach to another level.
A 15-minute two-songer from Lima, Peru’s Matus, as the psychedelic weirdo sometimes-cultists of long standing offer “El Aullido” (8:45) and “Planetario” (6:55) as their first outing since 2021’s Espejismos II (review here). Both processions — and they are that — feel built out from jams, but the recordings have guitarist Manolo Garfias and keyboardist Richard Nossar (both also alternate bass duties) at their core, along with Roberto Soto‘s drumming, Veronik‘s theremin in the deep-freakout section of “Planetario,” Úrsula Inga‘s vocals on “El Aullido,” and so on with other guests (including Camilo Uriarte, who co-produced and mixed, along solo artist Chino Burga on guitar, and Cristóbal Pérez on sax for “Planetario”) adding to the movement. “El Aullido” pairs shoegaze with a roll informed by South American folk, perfect for Inga‘s vocals, while “Planetario” carries more of its melody in the keyboards and surrounding ambience. It’s a welcome check-in from Matus as they celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band.
Where New England bizarropsych rockers November’s Fire‘s 2024 album, Through a Mournful Song, took an approach to its material like some of earliest Monster Magnet‘s underproduced kitchen-sink quirk, the two-song EP 2025 presents two different faces, and that turns out to be because the songs included are over 30 years old. “2025” and “Somnia” — the latter which brings in original guitarist Greg Brosseau for a guest spot that includes clean lead vocals — were allegedly written in the early 1990s, and if you told me the root of the title-track was a teenaged thrash riff, they make that easy enough to believe in the modernized, thickened chug of the song as it stands now. That is to say, they’ve brought it into the sludgy experimentalist context of the work now, but it remains dark. As it inevitably would. “Somnia” is shorter, has some backing chants, and feels meditative even as the guitar holds to its restlessness. Weird band staying weird, screwing around with their old stuff and getting something out of it. Sometimes an experiment works.
Bergen, Norway, four-piece Goatmilker don’t really leave you with much choice other than to call them progressive, though that hardly says boo about the reach of their self-titled debut, which is as much psychedelic punk as it is black metal in its rhythms, but remains a work of heavy rock and roll nonetheless, grooving, catchy on “Devils on My Tail,” aggro-weird on “Time… Tearing Apart,” all-in on tonal overwhelm for “Mountains” and cheekily grandiose in the finale “Storm” only after they’ve seen fit to take on Journey‘s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart),” which given the goes-where-it-wants succession leading up to it hardly feels out of place at all. While at no risk of overstaying its welcome at eight songs and 34 minutes, Goatmilker does make for a challenging listen at times, but the rewards for actually paying attention to what they’re doing are worth whatever effort is required. That is to say, engage actively for best results.
If Grin sound a little different on Incantation, a two-track 7″ with a digital bonus cut in the flatteningly heavy “Echoes in the Static,” that might be because the duo of drummer/vocalist Jan Oberg and bassist Sabine Oberg didn’t record themselves as usual, but instead tracked live at Wave Akademie in their native Berlin with Anton Urban (Jan Oberg co-produced, mixed and mastered, so still had a hand for sure). So, rather than the studio leftovers one might expect mere months after the band’s last full-length, Acid Gods (review here), the songs may have their origins as such but arise from different circumstances. There’s some more of a wash to “Incantation” and “The Color of Ghosts,” and “Echoes in the Static” is consumed by its titular noise toward its finish, but “The Color of Ghosts” dares some melodic vocals amid all that bombast, and as usual, Grin forge their own take on metal, sludge and intense atmospheric heavy.
A collection of bangers on the second LP through Glory or Death Records from San Diego rockers Mezzoa, TON 618 plays out over the course of a taut 13 songs and 39 minutes, careening desert style in “Hard to Hear,” punking up the groove in “Chump” before basking in Sabbath worship for “Wasted Universe” (think “Symptom” thereof), building crunching tension in “Uncle Cho” only to release it in the second half of the song with a grunge melody, carrying that melody into “Smiles for Everyone,” and then slamming all that momentum into the fuzzed radness of the lead tone and Alice in Chainsy vocal of “How You Been.” That’s not the end, I’m just less efficient than the band and so I’m running out of space. “Blessing” attains inner Nirvana while “Desert Snakes” sounds like it’s ready for a John Garcia guest spot, “Chachi Liberachi” echoes the sharper corners of “Wasted Universe,” “Goin’ Down” has that riff that every New York hardcore song ever (yes, all of them. don’t @ me.) has but goes somewhere completely different with it, and closer “How Are We” highlights the craft that’s let them do it all in the first place. Hey kid, you like rock music? Well get a load of this.
Beginning with its longest track in the nine-minute “Biting In,” Orsak:Oslo‘s Silt and Static finds the Norwegian/Swedish outfit somewhat outgrown from their dronier foundations, harnessing a psychedelia that moves with krautrocking purposes, while retaining the band’s previously-established ambient instrumentalist approach. “Days Adrift” is an even thicker roll, with ebbs and flows that give precedent to the shove that results in “Salt Stains,” which follows, while “Petals” dips momentarily into minimalism. But the story here is the fullness of sound, with pieces like the subdued-but-building “Resonance in Ash” or “Petals” in conversation with Pelican/Russian Circles-style heavy, while “The Onward Stride” and “Time Leak” bring prog more to the forefront and “Bread and Sink” lets the rumble bring it all together. In these ways, Silt and Static rewrites the story of Orsak:Oslo as a band, and their reach has never seemed so broad.
Modder, Destroying Ourselves for a Place in the Sun
The hypnotic drone finish of “Type 27” that ends side A of Modder‘s second album, Destroying Ourselves for a Place in the Sun, is just one way the band incorporate ambience as a key element in their trades between loud and quiet, tense and open, and crushing and spacious. These different sides come together in various combinations across the six cuts on the Belgian instrumentalist five-piece’s 41-minute run, which sets out in oppressive and blasting fashion with “Stone Eternal,” as heavy as whatever doom you want to put it next to and still able to hit with the precision of Gojira. The shorter “Mather” is more angular, glitchy and mirrored by “Chaoism” on the album’s second half, and though they lead off with their longest track (immediate points) in “Stone Eternal,” the heavy djenty chug that comes to fruition on “In the Sun” is unmistakable as anything but the closer, building, receding, tossing in what sure sounds like a human voice chanting and surging in intensity to round out with a keyboard-overlaid bludgeoning. By then you’re pretty much pulp anyway.
Past Warnings of Present Futures tells you a lot about its point of view in the title, but electronic experimentalists Futuredrugs push the meaning deeper still, opening with a barely recognizable take on “What a Wonderful World” with “Skies of Blue” and revamping Tom Waits‘ “Dirt in the Ground” on “…And the Gallows Groaned.” The cinematic, dark synth/programmed backdrop of these and the sampled “No Home” blur the line between originality and reinterpretation/manipulation, and I won’t claim to know whether pieces like “Ice Age Coming” or “When the Last Tree Falls” are similarly sourced, but maybe. In any case, in a time when remembering things like “nothing matters anyway” is a comfort, there is space for the open-minded listener to dwell among these seven tracks, which when taken as a whole succeed in embodying the apocalyptic hellscape of recent years. I don’t know if they’re offering sanctuary so much as a snapshot, but as that, it sure feels like an accurate depiction.
Posted in Reviews on September 22nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
There is greater instrumental and emotional intelligence in Stoned Jesus‘ work than I’ve ever seen them given credit for. And they are not a band particularly wanting for plaudits. Part of it’s the name, right? I know. Sometimes a band has a name, and then sometimes maybe that name over time represents a little less what they do than where they came from. Stoned Jesus hit on a landmark over a decade ago with their second album, 2012’s Seven Thunders Roar (review here), and thanks in no small part to millions of views (16 mil and counting) for “I’m the Mountain” from that record, they were able to become spearheads for a new generation of heavy rockers finding new bands in a new way. You’d keep the name too.
That was a while ago now, as noted, but Stoned Jesus have never stopped walking the path they were on, and to the eternal credit of founding guitarist, vocalist, keyboardist and lead songwriter Igor Sydorenko, they’ve never capitulated creative drive to suit audience expectation. They’ve never stopped growing, and while there’s no question their sixth full-length, Songs to Sun, is not the album they planned on making coming off of 2023’s Season of Mist label-debut, Father Light (review here), the circumstances of the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine forced Sydorenko to leave his home country, resettle the band in Germany, and reform the lineup with bassist/backing vocalist Andrew Rodin and drummer/backing vocalist Yurii Ciel both making their first studio across these six songs and 41 minutes.
Father Light was initially to have been complemented by a sequel, Mother Dark. As I understood it, Mother Dark was recorded but shelved amid everything else. It now becomes lore — the lost Stoned Jesus LP — which is kind of fun, but it’s hard to imagine that if it’s actually done and sitting there, it won’t surface at some point in the future. Still, Songs to Sun, which the band will reportedly follow with Songs to Moon sometime in 2026 and Songs to Earth sometime in 2027, begins a different trilogy cycle, also somewhat positioned around notions of light and dark in addition to the various other themes that emerge in the first installment, whether that’s touring in opener “New Dawn” and the penultimate “See You on the Road” or cuts like “Shadowland,” “Low” “Lost in the Rain” and closer “Quicksand,” which foster a more personal, internally-focused point of view while pushing Stoned Jesus to new places musically. And if you might say, “wait, that’s all the songs,” yup, you’ve got the idea.
Because while Songs to Sun echoes Father Light in a kind of titular luminosity heralding contrast to come, the two albums are divergent enough in their intent to give the impression of the band having actually redirected from one project to another. Some of that comes from the unrepentant metallurgy happening in the two shortest inclusions here, which are “Shadowland” and “Low,” both around four minutes long. After “New Dawn” lays out its welcome/wakeup and showcases both the tones to please old and new fans and the first of the vocal showcases Sydorenko will put on throughout — his vocal range has never been more apparent or confident; he sounds like the professional frontman he’s become over time, and shreds on guitar besides — taking its time across in the build of its almost-nine minutes but never losing direction thanks in part to the grounding effect of its memorable chorus, going big at the outset, “Shadowland” represents an immediate departure.
Crashing in on a lumbering swing, the band reveal a thick and nigh-on-funky start-stop verse procession in “Shadowland,” more immediate than the opener but still tempered in pace. The real turn happens with the chorus, which pays off the tension of all that bounce with a melodic, full-sounding push that reminds most of all of something Katatonia might proffer. It’s a different take than I’ve ever heard from Stoned Jesus, but as with everything else on Songs to Sun, there’s no new ground they touch that is beyond their reach. The vocal layering and flourish of keys are prescient, and if you wanted to stretch a bit, you could say the production gave hints of the metal to come in the payoff of “New Dawn,” but really, the build in “Shadowland” is its own thing, and serves well as an example of Stoned Jesus‘ willfully progressive songcraft. They never drop the melody, and they give a noisy impression without being out of control, Sydorenko positioned at the center of the storm. His vocals become an element tying the songs together.
Not the only one, however. Songs to Sun is sequenced such that, on the vinyl, there are three songs per side. Digitally or on CD, it works out that the tracklisting trades off between four longer and shorter pieces before flipping that so that “See You on the Road” (5:45) leads into the definitely-the-closer “Quicksand,” also the longest of the bunch at just under 10 minutes. The malleability isn’t a coincidence; it comes from the songs themselves trying and executing new ideas, so that even as “Lost in the Rain” sets up a melancholy mirror with “Quicksand” in closing side A — the acoustic guitar and mellotron of the earlier cut becomes part of a long intro and a mellower, mostly-instrumental progressive-style flow, classy in how it brings in tonal weight and moves through its plotted solo into the fade, feeling like a meander but again, never without direction — it isn’t quite as hypnotic as the repetitive structure of the finale, but communes in a somewhat likeminded atmosphere. This dynamic, of the songs speaking to and about each other, bolstering each other to make the whole offering stronger and more complete, finds a certain kind of pinnacle in “Low.”
Namely the metal kind. If “Shadowland” demonstrated that the Sydorenko/Rodin/Ciel incarnation of Stoned Jesus — which, just to emphasize, is a different band than that which put out Father Light only two years ago — had an underlying current of intensity, “Low” is where that comes forward. The side B opener sets out with a cymbal count-in and a speedy galloping omegakyuss riff that’s likewise brash and catchy, but it’s after two minutes in, when they shift from the somewhat twisting rhythm to a straight-ahead all-out blastbeaten black metal pummel — topped with a throaty high register scream, no less — that Stoned Jesus show just how far into extremity they’re willing to push to get a point across. That turn momentarily upends the song, but they bring it back to finish, the drums every bit showing the resonance of their Karl Daniel Lidén mix/master (recording was by Ignancy Gruzecki in Poland; Sydorenko is listed as producer) on the way to the sudden-sweep of an ending. It sounds like they’ll have fun playing it live.
Which perhaps is part of why “Low” rests so easily next to “See You on the Road” despite the latter’s more definitively heavy rock chug. With an epic-style hum-topped crescendo stretch in its second half, “See You on the Road” carries is-hot-shit-and-knows-it swagger and, while retaining the threat that at any minute they might again break out into blastbeats, they set up a grungier melody in the vocals ahead of the chorus setting up both its own hook and that of the breakdown riff that follows. Introduced by double-kick drumming, that stretch in “See You on the Road” deserves to be played on every European festival stage for the next year, and it would seem to have been written with that intention in mind as well. With the theatricality of its post-midpoint takeoff, it’s in some ways the culmination of Songs to Sun as a whole, but there’s more than epilogue to “Quicksand” as the trio pull off one last turn and redirect.
As noted, “Quicksand” follows on in part from “Lost in the Rain,” but the arrangement is notably stripped down in comparison. It is acoustic strum and foreboding drums and bass at the start. There’s piano, and the light and dark there (everywhere) becomes backdrop for spoken word from Sydorenko, repeating a litany of “tired of” declarations. Tired of getting screwed over, tired of bombs, you get the idea. The next verse is sung, soulfully, over Ciel‘s tense drumming before the guitar comes back. A build is undertaken and seen to fruition, then dropped. Sydorenko‘s voice, once more centrally positioned in the material, repeats the line, “…To become what you hate the most,” then steps back and the last build announces itself. You know when you’re there. The acoustic guitar stays but they’re metal by the end anyhow. The vocals chant, part of the fray now manic in crash and guitar. It ends when everything leaves and the line turns around to, “to become what I hate the most,” to cap the track and album. Gorgeous.
Ten years and several months ago, a different incarnation of Stoned Jesus announced with 2015’s third album, The Harvest (review here), that not only could they liberate you with a riff, but that they were a more complex and more progressive outfit than anyone expected them to be. They have in the time since refused to dumb-down their creative ambitions and intentions, and Songs to Sun is the latest reward for that refusal. Longtime fans will find it mature in the songwriting but refreshed with the captured performances of a new lineup, and triumphant in the realization of its goals. Stoned Jesus stand among the best European heavy rock bands of their generation, and one only hopes they continue following the path of which this album now forms an integral part.
More to come with Songs to Moon? I guess we’ll find out. But if that record is going to reveal this one as only half the story — and there’s always a risk with staggered LP releases recorded around the same time; I can think of examples of bands ending up with a weaker-seeming second part owing to repeated ideas from the first; I wouldn’t put it past Stoned Jesus to have some trick up their collective sleeve to get around this — there’s nothing here that feels incomplete in the listening as the band draw threads across seemingly disparate elements and emerge from the process with like measures of cohesion, individuality and aural force. Approach with an open mind and discover one of the best albums you’ll hear in 2025.
Hard to argue with “Shadowland” as the first single from the upcoming Stoned Jesus album, Songs to Sun. Set to release on Sept. 19 through Season of Mist as the beginning of a trilogy cycle, the album covers a range of sounds and ideas, but “Shadowland” encapsulates what kind of becomes a theme in the material in its engagement with metal. The lesson here is that the new lineup of Stoned Jesus can hit really hard when they want to. “Shadowland” starts out with a slinger of a riff, ba-dum-dum da-da-dum, and lumbering, but by the end, they’ve sharpened the point and are blasting away with what would be extreme metal purposes if they didn’t stay so loyal to the melody.
This isn’t as deep into aggression as they go, and the story of Songs to Sun is not — I emphasize, not — that Stoned Jesus have gone metal, but it’s a part of the pastiche they offer and “Shadowland” also represents the LP suitably in being catchy as hell, with a chorus that careens in a way that feels like born of Katatonia but is executed with more life, and a build toward the finish that highlights just how tight this band is at this point, as well as Igor Sydorenko‘s charisma as a frontman, which is a whole other plot thread here. His vocals have never sounded more confident or ranged as far as they do on Songs to Sun.
The video for “Shadowland” is on-theme for the song. There are some effects, a chase, and the band in a room with a blank background. It’s pro shop — they’ve got eyeliner, on, so you know they’re for real — and they’ve got tour dates for Europe, Australia and Latin America. If you’re waiting for them to come to the US, I wouldn’t say it couldn’t happen, but if I was in a band called Stoned Jesus and had the prospect of doing a month on the road in a christofascist dictatorship, maybe I’d think long and hard about whether or not to make that trip. I suppose “we’ll see” applies there, and I’ll note the ridiculous cost of US visas being the result of a government that actively doesn’t want you to hear new ideas and grow your brain.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they sneak more Euro shows in before the end of the year, but surely 2026 will see Stoned Jesus thoroughly on the road. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Freak Valley, as it was such a pleasure to see them last year for the first time when I was in Hungary.
PR wire info follows the video below. Enjoy:
Stoned Jesus, “Shadowland” official video
Stoned Jesus Outrun Demons on Catchy Lead Single “Shadowland”
Returning to Latin America After 8 Years
Touring Europe with Cult of Luna + Australian Debut
Whether climbing to doomy peaks or bouldering through a radio-friendly banger, over the course of the past decade and a half, Stoned Jesus have left a mark on the world of rock as true trailblazers.
This year, following a successful showing at Hellfest and ahead of their long-awaited return to Latin America, Stoned Jesus are embarking on their most expansive journey yet. Songs to Sun is the first in an upcoming trilogy of albums that promises to take these heavy progressive rockers to the dark side of the moon and back. While well-marked by their mind-melting heaviness, the album’s lead single is haunted by shadows of doubt. But on “Shadowland”, frontman Igor Sydorenko and his new mates outrun their demons with fresh twists and the catchiest hooks of their career.
“This song is about finding solid ground amidst the instability of the past few years”, Sydorenko says. “The opening hook screams Alice In Chains, while the pulsating verses evoke Mastodon at their poppiest. And the climax is something else entirely!”
An existential shadow hangs over Songs to Sun. The album reflects on the unstable ground that Sydorenko navigated after the band’s previous lineup dissolved. Like the mysterious figures that creep and crawl around every corner of the video, insecurity looms over “Shadowland”. “Ground under my feet is / Turning to quicksand”, Sydorenko sings right before the compressed bridge cuts out. But even when shrouded by depression, Stoned Jesus are guided by the spirit of innovation. Right as their new lineup comes fully into focus at the end of the video, the song’s closing sprint breaks toward the light with a high-powered fusion of pop melodies and headbanging prog.
“There’s a constant sense of instability that seeps through the lyrics of Songs to Sun”, Sydorenko says, “but experimenting with the music is what helps give our lives a solid foundation”.
The video for “Shadowland” was produced by Pirate Shot (@pirateshotcreation)
Additional video credits Directed and edited by Olivier Terrade Camera work by Olivier Terrade and Onur Cinar Special effects by Nicolas Stenger Actor – Philip P. Coffey
Hear Stoned Jesus perform “Shadowland” and other new songs off Songs to Sun when they return to Latin America this fall following their European summer tour with Cult of Luna and Australian debut.
2025 European Festivals August 3 – Gyongyos, HU @ Fekete Zaj Festival September 13 – Crest, FR @ Bridge To Hell September 20 – Bilbao, ES @ Kristonfest November 8 – Bochum, DE @ Tombstoned Fest November 14 – Magny-Les-Hameaux, FR @ Foud Rock November 15 – Eindhoven, NL @ Helldorado
2025 European Dates with Cult of Luna August 11 – Osnabruck, DE @ Botschaft August 12 – Bremen, DE @ Modernes August 13 – Utrecht, NL @ Tivolivredenburg
2025 XV & Debut Australian Tour September 28 – Perth @ The Rosemount October 1 – Canberra @ The Baso October 2 – Sydney @ The Underground October 3 – Brisbane @ Soapbox Beer October 4 – Melbourne @ The Leadbeater October 5 – Adelaide @ The Crown & Anchor
2025 Latin American Tour October 21 – Rio De Janeiro, Brazil @ Rock Experience October 22 – Porto Alegre, Brazil @ Gravador October 23 – Florianopolis, Brazil @ Desgosto October 24 – Curitiba, Brazil @ Beveldere October 25 – Sao Paulo, Brazil @ Jai Club October 26 – Belo Horizonte, Brazil @ Caverna October 28 – Buenos Aires, Argentina @ Uniclub October 29 – Santiago, Chile @ Club Ambar October 31 – Mexico City @ Sangriento [FIRST-EVER SHOW IN MEXICO]
Lineup: Igor Sydorenko – Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards Andrew Rodin – Bass, Backing Vocals Yurii Ciel – Drums, Backing Vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 15th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Holy smokes. I got the chance last night to hear Stoned Jesus‘ Songs to Sun for the first time, and it’s staggering. The melodies, the hooks, the progressive side coming together with the sheer joy of a band riding grooves, plus a few grand and/or metallic divergences, big builds, big riffs, big heart. I, accordingly, had big feelings, and ended up taking 472 words of notes on my first listen that I’ll at-some-point-between-now-and-Sept.-19-I-hope expand out into a review. But the record hit me hard, the songs are there, and it’s a next-level, AOTY-contender-type outing from them.
It’s also the first of three LPs to come. True, their last LP, Father Light (review here), was intended as the first part of a two-record cycle, and perhaps Mother Dark will be the great lost Stoned Jesus album that someday founding guitarist Igor Sydorenko will return to, but for now, Songs to Sun sets out with Songs to Moon and Songs to Earth slated for 2026 and 2027, the last of them seeming to be a massive two-tracker different from the others. Given some of what they do across Songs to Sun — the first single isn’t out yet, but there’s an announcement video below where bassist Andrew Rodin is giving (I think; he’s facing the other way) drummer Yurii Ciel a haircut or a shave or somesuch, out in a field, likely on tour, and that has some voice at least. Also the kind of atmosphere and a Tarantino-style font that made me wonder if Ciel was about to get axed. Spoiler, everybody survives the minute-long clip.
And admittedly, that video isn’t much to go on, but it’s what I’ve got for today. Stoned Jesus‘ latest outing otherwise is their earlier-this-year holdover cover of HIM‘s “Buried Alive by Love,” which is under that announcement clip below. Art and info — including copious tour dates on multiple continents of course; they might need a touring keyboardist for this material — came from the PR wire:
STONED JESUS Expand Their Universe on New Album Songs to Sun
Heavy psych road warriors embark on sweeping album trilogy
Touring Europe with Cult of Luna, Debuting in Australia + Returning to Latin America this Fall
Over the course of the past 16 years, Stoned Jesus have risen as true trailblazers. Whether it’s a radio-friendly banger or a 13-minute classic, frontman Igor Sydorenko has explored lush valleys of folk, proggy expanses, bouldering alternative rock and peaks of headbanging doom. Now, after a sneak peak at Hellfest, Sydorenko and his new bandmates are embarking on a three-part quest that will take their heavy progressive rock all the way to the sun, moon and back.
Songs to Sun comes out September 19, 2025 on Season of Mist. The album is the first in a trilogy that will span the different phases of Stoned Jesus. Season of Mist will release the darker Songs to Moon sometime next year, followed by the proggier Songs to Earth.
“We are thrilled to announce the beginning of this expansive journey”, Sydorenko says. “Songs to Sun picks up where Stoned Jesus left off on our previous album Father Light. Along the way, people will hear nods to Seven Thunders Roar and The Harvest. But there are also lots of new twists and turns that merge metal’s groove and intensity with vintage prog and our catchiest choruses yet. Lyrically, there’s a constant sense of insecurity and instability, but experimenting with the music is what helps give our lives a solid foundation”.
Hear Stoned Jesus perform new songs off Songs to Sun when they return to Latin America this fall following their European summer tour with Cult of Luna and Australian debut.
2025 European Festivals August 3 – Gyongyos, HU @ Fekete Zaj Festival September 13 – Crest, FR @ Bridge To Hell September 20 – Bilbao, ES @ Kristonfest November 8 – Bochum, DE @ Tombstoned Fest November 14 – Magny-Les-Hameaux, FR @ Foud Rock November 15 – Eindhoven, NL @ Helldorado
2025 European Dates with Cult of Luna August 11 – Osnabruck, DE @ Botschaft August 12 – Bremen, DE @ Modernes August 13 – Utrecht, NL @ Tivolivredenburg
2025 XV & Debut Australian Tour September 28 – Perth @ The Rosemount October 1 – Canberra @ The Baso October 2 – Sydney @ The Underground October 3 – Brisbane @ Soapbox Beer October 4 – Melbourne @ The Leadbeater October 5 – Adelaide @ The Crown & Anchor
2025 Latin American Tour October 21 – Rio De Janeiro, Brazil @ Rock Experience October 22 – Porto Alegre, Brazil @ Gravador October 23 – Florianopolis, Brazil @ Desgosto October 24 – Curitiba, Brazil @ Beveldere October 25 – Sao Paulo, Brazil @ Jai Club October 26 – Belo Horizonte, Brazil @ Caverna October 28 – Buenos Aires, Argentina @ Uniclub October 29 – Santiago, Chile @ Club Ambar October 31 – Mexico City @ Sangriento [FIRST-EVER SHOW IN MEXICO]
Tracklist 1. New Dawn (8:53) 2. Shadowland (4:38) 3. Lost in the Rain (7:49) 4. Low (4:09) 5. See You on the Road (5:45) 6. Quicksand (9:52)
Production Credits Produced by Igor Sydorenko Recorded by Ignancy Gruzecki Mixed and Mastered by Karl Daniel Lidén at Studio Tri-Lamb, Sweden
Recording Studio Monochrom Studio in Poland Cover Art Vadym “Karaska” Karasiov
Lineup: Igor Sydorenko – Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards Andrew Rodin – Bass, Backing Vocals Yurii Ciel – Drums, Backing Vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 8th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Soon to undertake a quick round of Polish dates surrounding their appearance at this year’s Desertfest London, Polish stoner metal spearheads and recent Season of Mist signeesDopelord have a new Fall tour that includes their previously-announced Nov. 15 show with Orange Goblin on the UK band’s farewell tour. Focusing on the eastern and northern parts of Europe, the stint is one of several I’ve seen at this point for post-fest-season in late 2025, as it seems the adage of everybody going home for December has gone the way of… well, not working all the time generally, I suppose. Fair enough.
But while we revel in modern capitalist hell despair, Dopelord offer solace in mountainous fuzz and tidal riffery. 2023’s Songs for Satan(review here) still resonates. It’s at the bottom of the post if you’d like a demonstration. They’re reportedly working on new stuff now, but unless they pull something sneaky, I wouldn’t expect a record before 2026, especially if they’re focused on celebrating an anniversary at the end of the year. By the way, the ‘XVth anniversary’ thing? Stoned Jesus memed it brilliantly.
Dates from socials:
Dopelord Sign to Season of Mist
Attention! This November and December we embark on our XV Anniversary Tour thanks to Zoltan at Doomstar Bookings. All the dates below:
12 November: Riga, LV @ Vagonu Hall 13 November: Tallinn, EE @ Kinomaja 14 November: Tampere, FI @ Olympia 15 November: Helsinki, FI @ Ääniwalli with Orange Goblin 16 November: Vilnius, LT @ nArauti
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
Beautiful poster art done by @miodek.art
Dopelord May 2025 15th Anniversary Dates May 16 – Warszawa, PL @ Klub Mechnik w/ Sanity Control and Head of Cassandra May 18 – London, UK @ Desertfest May 22 – Katowice, PL @ Piaty Dom w/ Astral Nomad May 23 – Poznan, PL @ Pod Minoga w/ Red Scalp May 24 – Krakow, PL @ Alchemia w/ Sanity Control May 25 – Wroclaw, PL @ Liverpool w/ Sanity Control
DOPELORD is Paweł Mioduchowski – Guitars and Vocals Piotr Ochociński – Drums Grzegorz Pawłowski – Guitars Piotr Zin – Bass, Vocals and Mellotron
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 7th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Checking in from coincidence-land, I was lucky enough to see Dopelord last summer in Budapest (review here), and the band they were touring with, Ukrainian heavy rockers Stoned Jesus, are now their labelmates on Season of Mist. Of course, if you heard Dopelord‘s 2023 Blues Funeral-issued long-player, Songs for Satan(review here), I can’t imagine you’re all that surprised. In its songwriting, grooves, Satan-is-a-blast vibes and audience engagement, it was the band’s best work and given the swath of press quotes that came with this announcement on the PR wire, clearly I wasn’t the only one who thought so.
Congrats to Dopelord and onward to album six. No word yet on what kind of shenanigans the band (and their buddy, the Devil) will get up to this time around, but I look forward to finding out:
Dopelord Sign to Season of Mist
Doomy Stoners Busy Crafting Wickedly Heady Sixth Album
Celebrating 15th Anniversary during Tour of Native Poland + London’s Desert Fest, Farewell Date with Orange Goblin
Season of Mist is proud to welcome Dopelord!
Since budding out of Poland in 2010, Dopelord have cultivated their own heavily psychedelic strand of stoner metal. While they worship at the altar of the almighty riff, the band’s discography is blessed with haunting choruses, catchy trancelike riffs and other signs of the occult.
Dopelord are busy crafting full-length album number 6(66). When they’re not lighting up the studio, the band are out rolling the road with their hazy magick ritual. With highly regarded appearances at festivals like Brutal Assault and tours with current and former Season of Mist labelmates Stoned Jesus and Saint Vitus, the smoke from their weed cult stretches over the world of metal like a dank, dark cloud.
Come party with Dopelord as the band celebrates its 15th anniversary next month with a return to London’s Desertfest and five shows across their home country. Later this year, they’ll join legendary tokers Orange Goblin for the English heavies final show in Finland.
“We are beyond excited to announce that we are joining Season of Mist!” Dopelord says. “We are honored to be working with a label that has such a rich history and supports so many amazing bands. Get ready for some heavy, psychedelic doom that will take you on a journey deep into your mind. See you on the road!”
Dopelord May 2025 15th Anniversary Dates May 16 – Warszawa, PL @ Klub Mechnik w/ Sanity Control and Head of Cassandra May 18 – London, UK @ Desertfest May 22 – Katowice, PL @ Piaty Dom w/ Astral Nomad May 23 – Poznan, PL @ Pod Minoga w/ Red Scalp May 24 – Krakow, PL @ Alchemia w/ Sanity Control May 25 – Wroclaw, PL @ Liverpool w/ Sanity Control
Dopelord with Orange Goblin November 15 – Helsinki, Finland @ Ääniwalli
DOPELORD is Paweł Mioduchowski – Guitars and Vocals Piotr Ochociński – Drums Grzegorz Pawłowski – Guitars Piotr Zin – Bass, Vocals and Mellotron
