I’ve been to Italy once in my life, for my honeymoon early in 2005, arguably the height of anti-American sentiment in Europe. Nonetheless, The Patient Mrs. and I basked in the glory of the Trevi Fountain above and many other of Rome‘s famous artifacts and tourism highlights. It was a beautiful country that I could have easily spent a lifetime getting to know.

This Where to Start comes by request, and I’ll confess to being no expert on the Italian scene, such as it is. Unlike Sweden, which has been a hotbed for heavy rock decades running, Italy doesn’t have the reputation of producing a killer desert or psych scene in particular, but what it does have as a diverse array of individual acts whose contributions to their respective subgenres has been considerable.

Through labels like Black Widow and Beard of Stars (both of which sign international as well as domestic Italian bands), Italy has had a slew of killer bands over the years. Here’s but a sampling to which I hope you’ll add in the comments section. Artists and albums to start with:

Paul Chain, Park of Reason: I started with Whited Sepulchres and it was a mistake. Paul Chain‘s catalog is intimidatingly huge, as it runs from his time in Death SS in the early-’80s to now in Translate, but if you stick with his solo stuff and Paul Chain Violet Theatre, you should be alright.

Ufomammut, Eve: These guys might be the best drone metal act on the planet right now. To put it simply: their doom is bigger than your doom. Most people will tell you start with 2004’s Snailking, and if you buy vinyl, they’re right, but it can be pricey on CD, so I went with the latest, Eve, instead. Either way you win.

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I’ve made no secret of my Sverige fetish since starting this site (and yes, at some point there will be a Swede-only podcast), but when it comes to nailing down a scene as important to the underground heavy as the Swedish one has been, it’s hard to even know where to start this Where to Start.

Let’s be clear: I’m talking about stoner rock only. The nation of Sweden has had a tremendous impact on metal, from Kebnekajse to At the Gates to Witchcraft and Graveyard, but that’s not what I’m interested in. I’m talking about riffs, crashes, fuzz and good vibes. Swedish stoner rock.

Even so, it’s a challenge to narrow down so many killer bands to just a few essentials. If you’re looking to embark on a listening adventure through Sweden‘s contributions to the genre, you should know it’s a serious undertaking that will probably consume years of your life. I’m not kidding. Here are a few bands and albums to get you started (listed alphabetically):

Abramis Brama, Smakar Söndag: Yes, it’s in Swedish. You’ll live.

Asteroid, Asteroid: I’ve talked about this band a lot in the last year-plus. Both of their albums are amazing. Life is but a joke to Dr. Smoke.

Demon Cleaner, Demon Cleaner: One of the original post-Kyuss Swede-stoner acts. They were a little punkier, but still heavy on the riffs.

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This, admittedly is a hard one. Let’s say we take the über-gods out. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Hawkwind, bands like that. Even if you’re just getting started on ’70s rock, you already know they were massively influential and you don’t need me to rehash, fun as it is to do on occasion.

The purpose of this list is to give you some more obscure artists to check out and see where the foundation of modern heavy rock (be it stoner, doom, etc.) comes from. I’ll admit to having zero personal expertise on the ’70s. I was born in 1981, so it’s not like I was there. Nonetheless, bear with me and maybe you’ll find something you haven’t yet heard.

Or maybe you know everything about ’70s rock and want to school me in the comments. Hey, I’ll take it. Here’s my list of starting points, no real order:

Captain Beyond, Captain Beyond (1972)

Atomic Rooster, Death Walks Behind You (1970)

Leaf Hound, Growers of Mushroom (1971)

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