Rolling Psych/Drone/Freak Thread 2023

Okay starting this a little late for the year, I realize, and I'm sure there's been other continuing threads. But -- especially now that my beloved Kikagaku Moyo are no more -- I'm always on the lookout for new things and the soon to be released debut album by Codex Serafini is a damn treat:

https://riotseasonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-imprecation-of-anima

some friends of mine made the album of the year:

https://stellakola.bandcamp.com/album/stella-kola

Beverly Ketch - vocals & lyrics
Robert Thomas - acoustic guitar, percussion
Jeremy Pisani - nylon string guitar, synths
Wednesday Knudsen - flute, saxophone, vocals, piano
P.G. Six - 6 & 12 string guitar, Celtic harp, synths, organs, keys, slide
Jen Gelineau - viola & violin
Jim Bliss - bass
Willie Lane - electric guitar
Gary War - synth, synth bass
Noah Bond - drums
L. Gray - acoustic & electric guitar

its a vehicle for bev's lyrics and they are the best lyrics.

love love love this.

https://troller.bandcamp.com/album/drain

also amazing:

https://wednesdayknudsen.bandcamp.com/album/soft-focus-volumes-one-and-two

Yes! That Stella Kola's a damn treat, as is the Troller.

(I repeat the positive descriptions but they are accurate.)

Troller are awesome.

i can't believe the 1st troller album was 2011. time...she flies. they are pals with boy harsher who are likewise the best. boy harsher live near me.

don't sleep on any of the collabs feeding tube records has done with the cardinal fuzz label. they are all so cool. and i think they put out another one every week.

https://cful.bandcamp.com/album/dead-sea-apes-the-band-whose-name-is-a-symbol-pantheon-of-fuckery

re troller :
i genuinely expected a lot more traction re their new album.
big label.
fantastic coverart.
massive tunes/production.

this solo electric guitar thing that a friend of Tom Carter's put out is totally in my sweet spot, major Heldon vibes in the best way

https://hiddendepth.bandcamp.com/album/summer-magic-2

and scott it is lovely to see u round these parts

the soon to be released debut album by Codex Serafini is a damn treat

Aw yes, I know one of the guys from this and one of our last shows was with them, they are GREAT live.

They sound it!

Saw them mentioned obliquely upthread, but the latest Dead Sea Apes, Rewilding, is some great instrumental psych/drone.

gonna go see Tengger at the end of the month. they are coming here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmv2xQgnPn0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH6DVY85_O0

love love love Tengger

This thread was too quiet this year, give me your suggestions folks! Already in on Stella Kola, Troller and Tengger, but would love to hear more things to check out!

Agreed. Let's keep it active in here next year.

Running out the door now but I will try to add stuff when I get back.

a psychedelic album I enjoyed: Blazing Worlds by Blazing Worlds
https://sonicmeditations.bandcamp.com/album/blazing-worlds

I tried putting the long list in here but it kept giving me errors. Will start with a smaller chunk.

Large Plants – The Thorn (Ghost Box) | UK
Emile – Spirit (Heavy Psych) | Denmark
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/emile-spirit
White Canyon & The 5th Dimension – Gardeners of the Earth (White Canyon) | Brazil
https://whitecanyon5thdimension.bandcamp.com/album/gardeners-of-the-earth
D||E – The Right Hand of the Devil (Mpls Ltd) | USA
https://diie.bandcamp.com/album/the-right-hand-of-the-devil
Black Helium – UM (Riot Season) | UK
https://blackheliumband.bandcamp.com/album/um

Futuropaco – Fortezza di Vetro Vol. 1 (El Paraiso) | USA
Flyying Colours – You Never Know (Poison City) | Australia
https://flyyingcolours.bandcamp.com/album/you-never-know
Edena Gardens – Agar (El Paraiso) | Denmark
Edena Gardens – Dens (El Paraiso) | Denmark
Nemegata – Voces (Nemegata) | USA
https://nemegata.bandcamp.com/album/voces

Night Beats – Rajan (Fuzz Club) | USA
https://nightbeats.bandcamp.com/album/rajan
Lamp of the Universe – Kaleidoscope Mind (Astral Projection) | New Zealand
https://lampoftheuniverse.bandcamp.com/album/kaleidoscope-mind
Vanishing Kids – Miracle of Death (Aural Music) | USA
https://vanishingkids.bandcamp.com/album/miracle-of-death-2
Me And My Kites – A Safe Trail (Me and My Kites) | Sweden
https://meandmykites.bandcamp.com/album/a-safe-trail
Krypta – Outo laakso (Svart) | Finland
https://kryptayhtye.bandcamp.com/album/outo-laakso

Agusa – Prima Materia (K2) | Sweden
https://agusaband.bandcamp.com/album/prima-materia
San Leo – Aves Raras (Bronson) | Italy
https://sanleo.bandcamp.com/album/aves-raras
London Odense Ensemble – Jaiyede Sessions Volume 2 (El Paraiso) | UK/Denmark
Slow Draw – The Mystic Crib (Slow Draw) | USA
https://slowdraw.bandcamp.com/album/the-mystic-crib
Population II – Électrons libres du québec (Bonsound) | Canada
url=https://population2.bandcamp.com/album/lectrons-libres-du-qu-bec

The Black Heart Death Cult – Pin Drops EP (Zenith) | Australia
https://theblackheartdeathcult.bandcamp.com/album/pin-drops
Weite – Assemblage (Stickman) | Germany
https://weiteband.bandcamp.com/album/assemblage
The Spacelords – Nectar of the Gods (Tonzonen) | Germany
https://thespacelords1.bandcamp.com/album/nectar-of-the-gods
Sunwatchers – Music Is Victory Over Time (Trouble In Mind) | USA
https://sunwatchers.bandcamp.com/album/music-is-victory-over-time
The Witching Tale – What Magic is This? (Bellisima) | UK
https://thewitchingtale.bandcamp.com/album/what-magic-is-this

WITCH – Zango (Desert Daze Sound) | Zambia
ttps://w-i-t-c-h.bandcamp.com/album/zango
Golden Hours – Golden Hours (Fuzz Club) | Belgium/Germany
https://goldenhours1.bandcamp.com/album/golden-hours
Wolvennest – The Dark Path to the Light (Van) | Belgium
https://wolvennest.bandcamp.com/album/the-dark-path-to-the-light
The Silver Linings – Pink Fish (Spinda) | Spain
ttps://spindarecords.bandcamp.com/album/pink-fish
The Vacant Lots – Interiors (Fuzz Club) | USA
https://thevacantlots.bandcamp.com/album/interiors

Estrella del Sol – Figura de cristal (Felte) | Mexico
https://mintfield.bandcamp.com/album/figura-de-cristal
Helicon – God Intentions (Fuzz Club) | UK
https://heliconglasgow.bandcamp.com/album/god-intentions
Carlton Melton – Turn to Earth (Agitated) | USA
https://meltoncarlton.bandcamp.com/album/turn-to-earth
Water Damage – 2 Songs (12XU) | USA
https://waterdamage12xu.bandcamp.com/album/2-songs
Betty Benedeadly & Braden Guess – At the Institute of Mentalphysics (Desert) | USA
https://bettybenedeadly.bandcamp.com/album/at-the-institute-of-mentalphysics

Sprain – The Lamb as Effigy (The Flenser) | USA
https://sprain.bandcamp.com/album/the-lamb-as-effigy
Adelaida – Retrovisor (Disco Intrepido) | Chile
https://adelaidaperdida.bandcamp.com/album/retrovisor-lp
Immaterial Possession – Mercy of the Crane Folk (Fire) | USA
https://immaterialpossession.bandcamp.com/album/mercy-of-the-crane-folk
Brown Spirits – Solitary Transmissions (Soul Jazz) | Australia
The Telescopes – Of Tomorrow (Tapete) | UK
https://thetelescopes.bandcamp.com/album/of-tomorrow

The Holy Family – Go Zero (Rocket) | UK
https://theholyfamilyuk.bandcamp.com/album/go-zero
The Slow Voyage – The Slow Voyage (Slow Voyage) | Chile
https://theslowvoyage.bandcamp.com/album/the-slow-voyage
Grails – Anches En Maat (Temporary Residence) | USA
https://grails.bandcamp.com/album/anches-en-maat
Hooveriii – Pointe (Reverberation) | USA
https://hooveriii.bandcamp.com/album/pointe
Hexvessel – Polar Veil (Svart) | Finland
https://hexvessel.bandcamp.com/album/polar-veil

Trees Speak – Mind Maze (Soul Jazz) | USA
Modern Nature – No Fixed Point in Space (Bella Union) | UK
https://modernnature.bandcamp.com/album/no-fixed-point-in-space
Rotor – Sieben (Noisolution) | Germany
ttps://rotor1.bandcamp.com/album/sieben
Altin Gün – Aşk (Glitterbeat) | Netherlands
https://altingun.bandcamp.com/album/a-k
Blue Lake – Sun Arcs (Tonal Union) | Denmark
https://bluelake1.bandcamp.com/album/sun-arcs

Daniel Bachman – When the Roses Come Again (Three Lobed) | USA
https://threelobed.bandcamp.com/album/when-the-roses-come-again
J. Wiegold – Norfolk Serpent (Wiegold) | UK
https://j-wiegold.bandcamp.com/album/norfolk-serpent
Teksti-TV 666 – Vapauden tasavalta (Svart) | Finland
https://teksti-tv666.bandcamp.com/album/vapauden-tasavalta
Kostnatení – Úpal (Willowtip) | USA
https://kostnateni.bandcamp.com/album/pal
Nighttime – Keeper is the Heart (Ba Da Bing) | UK
https://nighttimes.bandcamp.com/album/keeper-is-the-heart

nunn – Meditations for Sick Fucks (Trouble In Mind) | USA
url=https://nunnband.bandcamp.com/album/meditations-for-sick-fucks
Divide And Dissolve – Systemic (Invada) | Australia
Prizes Rosa Rosa – Burned Car Highway Light Volcanic (P.rosa Inc) | Australia
https://p-rosa.bandcamp.com/album/burned-car-highway-light-volcanic
Kali Malone – Does Spring Hide Its Joy (Xkatedral) | USA
https://kalimalone.bandcamp.com/album/does-spring-hide-its-joy
Belbury Poly – The Path (Ghost Box) | UK

Tim Hecker – No Highs (kranky) | Canada
https://timhecker.bandcamp.com/album/no-highs
Föllakzoid – V (Sacred Bones) | Chile
https://follakzoid.bandcamp.com/album/v
Ruhail Quaisar – Fatima (Danse Noire) | India
https://ruhailqaisar.bandcamp.com/album/fatima
The Warlocks – In Between Sad (Cleopatra) | USA
https://thewarlocks.bandcamp.com/album/in-between-sad-2
One More Grain – One More Grain (One More Grain) | UK
https://onemoregrain.bandcamp.com/album/one-more-grain

SQÜRL – Silver Haze (Sacred Bones) | USA
https://squrlnyc.bandcamp.com/album/silver-haze
Drab Majesty – An Object in Motion EP (Dais) | USA
https://drabmajesty.bandcamp.com/album/an-object-in-motion
Anjimile – The King (4AD) | USA
https://anjimile.bandcamp.com/album/the-king

I just bought this, really friend stuff from China. https://wvsorcerer.bandcamp.com/album/worst-of-cementin

fried*

The above I picked out specifically for this thread. Below are my own genre lists published yesterday.

Fester's Lucky 13
https://fastnbulbous.com/lucky-23/

Psych
1. Spidergawd – VII (Crispin Glover) | Norway
2. Hollow Hand – Your Own Adventure (Curation) | UK
3. The Church – The Hypnogogue (CommVess) | Australia
4. White Canyon & The 5th Dimension – Gardeners of the Earth (White Canyon) | Brazil
5. DIIE – The Right Hand of the Devil (Mpls Ltd) | USA
6. Rose City Band – Garden Party (Thrill Jockey) | USA
7. Druid Fluids – Then, Now, Again & Again (Copperfeast) | Australia
8. Futuropaco – Fortezza di Vetro Vol. 1 (El Paraiso) | USA
9. Flyying Colours – You Never Know (Poison City) | Australia
10. Edena Gardens – Agar (El Paraiso) | Denmark
11. Edena Gardens – Dens (El Paraiso) | Denmark
12. Nemegata – Voces (Nemegata) | USA
13. Night Beats – Rajan (Fuzz Club) | USA

Psych Pop & Prog Pop
1. Hollow Hand – Your Own Adventure (Curation) | UK
2. Motorpsycho – Yay! (Rune Grammofon) | Norway
3. Peter Gabriel – i/o (Real World) | UK
4. Holy Wave – Five of Cups (Suicide Squeeze) | USA
5. The Bright Light Social Hour – Emergency Leisure (Modern Outsider) | USA
6. The Coral – Sea of Mirrors (Run On) | UK
7. Me And My Kites – A Safe Trail (Me and My Kites) | Sweden
8. Novelty Island – Wallsend Weekend Television (Think Like A Key) | UK
9. Vanishing Twin – Afternoon X (Fire) | UK
10. Permanent Clear Light – Right as Rain (Sulatron) | Finland
11. Anton Barbeau – Morgenmusik / Nachtschlager (Think Like A Key) | UK
12. Soft Hearted Scientists – Waltz of the Weekend (Nathan Hall) | UK
13. Sparks – The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte (Island) | USA

Kosmische & Space Rock
1. Glass Hammer – Arise (Glass Hammer) | USA
2. The Black Waves – Sonic Maze (Silver Factory) | France
3. Kanaan – Downpour (Jansen) | Norway
4. DIIE – The Right Hand of the Devil (Mpls Ltd) | USA
5. Black Helium – UM (Riot Season) | UK
6. REZN – Solace (REZN) | USA
7. Kanaan – Diversions Vol. 2: Enter the Astral Plane (Jansen) | Norway
8. Futuropaco – Fortezza di Vetro Vol. 1 (El Paraiso) | USA
9. Giöbia – Acid Disorder (Heavy Psych) | Italy
10. Edena Gardens – Agar (El Paraiso) | Denmark
11. Edena Gardens – Dens (El Paraiso) | Denmark
12. Lamp of the Universe – Kaleidoscope Mind (Astral Projection) | New Zealand
13. Travo – Astromorph God (Spinda) | Portugal

Stoner/Desert/Fuzz
1. Baroness – Stone (Abraxan Hymns) | USA
2. Kanaan – Downpour (Jansen) | Norway
3. Black Helium – UM (Riot Season) | UK
4. REZN – Solace (REZN) | USA
5. Howling Giant – Glass Future (Magnetic Eye) | USA
6. Church Of Misery – Born Under A Mad Sign (Rise Above) | Japan
7. Restless Spirit – Afterimage (Magnetic Eye) | USA
8. Green Lung – This Heathen Land (Nuclear Blast) | UK
9. Witchskull – The Serpent Tide (Rise Above) | Australia
10. Demons My Friends – Demons Seem to Gather (Gravitoyd) | USA
11. Dopelord – Songs for Satan (Blues Funeral) | Poland
12. Ritual King – The Infinite Mirror (Ripple) | UK
13. Mars Red Sky – Dawn of the Dusk (MRS Red Sound) | France

liking that Cementin, thanks table

that label (WV Sorcerer) puts out some of the weirdest psych/free shit coming out of China. Well worth more investigation on my part, I only have three of their releases but they're all great.

somebody else tried to tell me about the Cementin recently, i will give it a listen soon

I listened to a couple of Cementin tracks a few days ago. i liked the autoplay preview song (#5?) a whole heck of a lot, wasn't feeling the actual opening song as much. i'll listen to the whole thing soon.

what are the other releases you have, table? do they also draw on trad. Chinese music? i'm interested in hearing more stuff that does this.

i liked the autoplay preview song (#5?) a whole heck of a lot, wasn't feeling the actual opening song as much.

hm, maybe not. i think the percussion was what i liked the most.

Co-sign on this year's Sunwatchers, fastnbulbous: once again they made my Uproxx ballot, and will be on others. This afternoon at nice quiet library, dipped a toe in two (out of three) of this year's 75 Dollar Bill reissues, from the beginning. A couple ov faves so far:

When my guitar part finally breaks form it’s just to signal the end. As for the long track that takes up the whole first side of this tape, it was named in homage to Najeeb, a young Tunisian man with Down Syndrome I’d met a few years earlier while traveling in Kairouan, Islam’s 4th holiest city. Najeeb would hang out at the cafe all day and the other guys would buy him sodas while he’d crack them up with fantastical and occasionally lewd bits about physical love, flying airplanes and tourists. Never missing an opportunity for a send up of the local religious piety, he’d attempt to order a drink you couldn’t get at this cafe, or anywhere as far as I know, وسكي بالحبرورش or “Whiskey with Hail." - CC

I had seen Karen and Andrew playing around town and admired their playing, and finally got to meet them while playing amplified strings in a Tony Conrad ensemble circa 2012, right around when Rick and I were starting to play together. They were probably the first people to come rehearse with us and appear here on what has become our most often played (and recorded song) “WZN#3."

Andrew Lafkas: contrabass on "WZN#3"
Karen Waltuch: viola on "WZN#3"

The Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2023

https://stonerhive.blogspot.com/

A smaller jump of only twenty points today. We leave those fuzzed out stoner boogie superheroes called Black Rainbows on Number 8 to reach Number 7. Where we find the perfect reason to drink the Kool-Aid and join a proto doom cult! That is of course your first take and your first dip into the acid-soaked warm tub brought to you by this UK trio. And that obvious feral catchiness of something slightly occult and dripping with blood served on that first track, gets stomped by the fierce and high energy propellent that follows. And that’s where these boys seem to live, seem to fester like dream, somewhere in the middle between classic sounding proto doom, psychedelic meandering, stoner riffage and fast paced fuzz! And this is their debut album, the start of a cult, that will be grow into gigantic proportions before you can mix your favorite cocktail or get to that great sing-along part of that one Karma To Burn song… You know! 20!

On Number 7 we find…

Margarita Witch Cult - Margarita Witch Cult

https://margaritawitchcult.bandcamp.com/album/margarita-witch-cult

8. Black Rainbows - Superskull
9. Saint Karloff - Paleolithic War Crimes
10. Dopelord - Songs for Satan
11. Fire Down Below - Low Desert Surf Club
12. Hail The Void - Memento Mori
13. Witchthroat Serpent - Trove Of Oddities At The Devil's Driveway
14. REZN – Solace
14. Church Of Misery – Born Under A Mad Sign
15. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse
16. Ritual King - The Infinite Mirror
17. Mutoid Man – Mutants
18. Danava – Nothing But Nothing
19. Khan – Creatures
19. Graveyard – 6
19. REZN & Vinnum Sabbathi – Silent Future
20. Tidal Wave – The Lord Knows

It takes almost 60 points to jump from Margarita Witch Cult on Number 7 to reach Number 6! Where we find an album about which we wrote a lengthy piece about when it was released. And a band that made the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown before, back in 2015. And who certainly would have made it more times had we started sooner, since they only released one album since the HiVe started back in 2009. A band that has been putting out music since 1994 and was founded a year before that. And is still fronted by the same Queen. A band that delivered amazing stoner, metal and doom albums, that all meandered through the psychedelic landscape. High dependable and always delivering the good stuff. But with this new album, they go beyond all that. All those boundary markers from before are ripped out of the soil and not just moved but thrown into the endless void.

It’s a sonic trip that tries to make you envision interplanetary existence as well as the fact that linear life does not exist. Your path will swerve every which way but straight. And that is exactly how the music comes across, as an extremely dense, yet meandering path through the wasteland of existence. The moments of release, when inhibitions are elegantly stripped away and euphoria is on the brink of exploding, feels as much as those tab induced experiences, where you were an intrepid inner space wanderer, as music can possibly attain. But as we mentioned, there is light and vision, but also darker recesses that are more dangerous, thanks to that dense and doom approach. And then when it all ends, that final track, if there’s ever been a song in the stoner doom genre that represents that green light, that sense of hope and belief, that there can be a better future, that the journey to the unknown destination, might be fruitful, this is it. Heavily inspired by many space exploration movies and ideas, and the fact that the band makes it sound as big as the universe and thought provoking about human inner workings, is beyond… Many albums have felt like a small and logical step for the King, but this is a giant leap for the Queen…

On Number 6 we find...

Acid King – Beyond Vision

Entering the Top 5 takes almost a hundred points jump from Acid King on Number 6. And here, at Number 5, we find a band that also made the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2019 with their album from that year. A cool Number 13 back then, but this new album steps up their game in a massive way and takes them to Number 5. Topping the Doom Charts back in October we wrote back then: “Getting bigger, better and bolder, the new album aims for a huge progressive future. There shall be no shattering of dreams here, we concur with everyone claiming this album to be a new step in the band’s progression. One that sets them on the same kind of pedestal as King Buffalo and Elder. And where those two bands take a more progressive or psychedelic approach respectively, these guys touch it all up with metal and something that sounds like pure punk determination.” Indeed, there’s energy here, a sonic kinetics that crackles and writes its own saga underneath the poetic fantasies recited, the tales told and the fables issued as a warning… For whatever the future might bring, this band will be there, with riffs a plenty and songs the more…

On Number 5 we find...

Howling Giant - Glass Future

Almost fifty points. Before we enter the Top 3, we have a Number 4 to contend with! And it sits there, all seasoned and spicy after that almost fifty-point jump from Howling Giant on Number 5. We must confess, even though we immediately loved a track or two, three on this album, it has not been clicking with us as hard as their earlier releases. But that doesn’t mean it’s not good, cause those earlier albums clicked hard and apparently it clicked just as hard with all you lovely voters out there, cause it ended up on Number 4! They made the Top 20 Countdown before, all the way to Number 2 back in 2019 and their newest album ranked high on the October Doom Charts. A new drummer, a change in vocalists and almost no keywork changes the sounds; but not for the worse. It becomes more fluid and eclectic, grandiose without overstating it, subdued but never easy-going or laidback. The new drummer has a bit of a Ginger Baker kind of style going on and that guitar work seems to have blossomed by all the changes, more slow-burning riffs and smoldering guitar lines. And with the female vocals it sounds as if they’ve arisen like a phoenix, cast off shadows and that better days are ahead… Yes, and we all shall join their cult, cause just listening to the album while typing these words, its starting to click more and more, so I will be rocking this one until tomorrow’s sky…

4. Hippie Death Cult – Helichrysum

Today we enter the Top 3 according to all of the votes that came in! We can’t thank you all enough for voting for and following the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2023! We love doing it and with the feedback we receive, we love doing it even more! So, thank you! And today, we jump almost thirty points from Number 4 to Number 3. Hippie Death Cult’s Helichrysum album missed the Bronze by almost thirty points. Their earlier album took the Number 1 spot on the Countdown back in 2019 and this one feels, in many ways, like a righteous continuation of that album. Seeds were planted and the new one feels like a blossoming of that sound into sonic and cosmic proportions. We wrote a few words about the album back in September, when it also took the Top spot on the Doom Charts. Where we wrote: “Their psychedelic doom, their highly fuzzed out take on it, with sludge tones and kraut hypnotism has always been a band that knew how to catch a groove and follow the flow. And where their earlier album perhaps started off a bit slower, a bit more open spaced, the new one makes its intentions clear from the start. The opening track, with its ominous riff, soon even denser and darker, before it’s allowed to open up, turns more galactic as we continue on and the vocals wind itself along the echoing guitar. And that cosmic edge, turns it all into something even more hypnotic than we are used to. Hypnotic, addictive and obliterating, this is the new galactic drug of choice for every heavy rock junkie…”

3. Domkraft – Sonic Moons

It’s the Silver Medal! The second spot on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2023 according to all your votes. It sits only eight points above the Number 3 album Domkraft and Sonic Moons. All those votes went out to a band that already made the Number 1 spot of the Countdown back in 2019, Number 5 in 2021 and now Number 2. It’s an album that everybody could only come to grips with for a month and which therefor only rose through the ranks as the votes came in. And on those final days, the album shot passed the amazing albums we already visited in the past few days. An album we must confess, once again, we did not click with as hard as we did with their earlier ones. I remember feeling a bit too much of a Ghost touch as we started getting acquainted with the lay of this new land. That feeling has somewhat passed after having the album on repeat for the past few weeks. And their crossing over a tad more to the metal side of classic hard rock has shown to open up their larger than life sound to even more euphoric choruses and even more dynamic interplay. You can hear they’ve been on the road for a while and saw what worked best live, incorporating so much of that experience and that energy into this new album might have tilted the album askew, perhaps my initial weirdness about some of it was stemming from this, but not for these five infidels, they land it beautifully. And we all now know that the next time they brings their ritual to avenue near you, you will need to participate. Missing them next year will be a holy sin…

2. Green Lung - This Heathen Land

I will be intrigued with whatever number one is!

The jump in points is staggering. No less than 1332 points above Green Lung on Number 2 we find the Number 1 album according to all the votes that came in. Indeed, it was at the very top of many a list and actually on some spot somewhere on almost every list that came in. Crazy! Which results in this majestic lead. Which does fit a majestic band and their majestic comeback album. On many levels a landmark album and on many levels a dangerous release. Cause what does this mean for the other band half of the members are in? Cause the past years we could enjoy that signature circling, stomping and grooving guitar sound that the main axe slinger produces while he rocked out with a different quartet. And after eight records with that band, you could easily have forgotten that the band once started as a side-project. Because the guitarist wanted to explore more seventies rock touches and because the other band did not want to tour as much anymore. Some of them wanted to finish their education or something weird like that. So, after that final 2008 album, this went quiet around the band. A gig here or there, a few more a few years later. And then, back in April, it was there, suddenly, coming in out of the void. Filled with more of that sultry and sliding stoner rock, that you might have gotten accustomed to from that other band, but now, a bit rougher, edgier and wrapped in barbed wire. Biggest difference of course is the vocalist, who is able to touch that raw and intense nerve in a different way. Although, he does manage to do a bit of that drawling sound you know so well from the other vocalist on a few moments as well. Which makes the new album a complementary and vortex like whirlpool of influences and memories… One that can drown you just as easily as set you adrift…

The Number 1 album of 2023 according to all you who voted for the Stoner HiVe top 20 Countdown is…

1. Dozer – Drifting In The Endless Void

Honestly I was pretty disappointed by the Dozer album. It's like the community's version of overrating the Stones album. But I'm pretty on board with most of the list!

we need a 2024 thread! in the meantime, all this stuff is amazing

https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/gespensterland-compilation-feature