Category: stoner rock

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Saltmother Shares Dreamy, Hopeful “Masske”

Amanda Appel is a Danish singer/songwriter, best known for being a member of the Danish Music Award-nominated vocal outfit ilinx. Since their formation back in 2020, iinx has been at the forefront of the Danish experimental scene, playing sets at Roskilde Festival, midsummer bonfire ceremonies, fashion shows during Copenhagen Fashion Week and niche classical music festivals across the country.

Appel is also the creative mastermind behind the solo recording project Saltmother. Appel’s Saltmother debut, 2022’s Heavy in Baby Blue EP was an adventurous batch of electronic music with songs that thematically touched on being young and in love, living in rental apartments and taking hormonal contraception.

The Danish artist’s forthcoming Saltmother debut album reportedly marks a shift towards a much darker, more organic sound, anchored around intimacy and filled with captivating and deeply human imperfections.

The album’s first single “Maaske” is a weird yet gorgeous song that features a seamless blend of doom metal, stoner rock, folk and choral music, complete with some stunning harmonies. The song is anchored around a universal sentiment: that the darkness of our moment — or of any moment, really — isn’t forever; that we can overcome darkness by the comfort of being and singing together; and that brighter days are just ahead.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Bronco Forte Shares Bruising “Obvious Alias”

Los Angeles-based stoner rock outfit Bronco Forte — Chris Klepac (vocals, guitar), All Hail the Yeti‘s Sako Inajaian (guitar), White Forest‘s Jen Glomboski (bass), and Batillus‘ and A Storm of Light‘s Geoff Summers (drums) — will be releasing their full-length debut, Lightning Scars on April 3, 2026.

After years of creative toil and preparation, the Los Angeles-based stoner rock quartet’s full-length debut sees the band stepping into the spotlight as a fully-formed heavy rock phenomenon with roots in the classic heavy music of the 1970s — but with a modern sensibility and sonic approach. Lightning Scars was tracked and mixed by engineer Kevin McCombs at The Steakhouse, the studio where Queens of The Stone Age recorded Era Vulgaris. The album was mastered by Nick Townsend, who cut the album to lacquer on his own personal lathe.

Thematically, Lightning Scars chronicle the uncertain lives of ordinary people of California and elsewhere, with the characters each song depicts desperately striving to maintain their integrity and sanity in the face of a rapidly-changing, increasingly dystopian hellscape.

And as a result, the album’s lyrics balance literary style and kitchen-sink realism. The album’s material is anchored around deep, dirty riffs, hard swinging grooves and song structures that are clever without being cluttered or overly complicated. And this is paired by a pop leaning sense of harmony.

Lightning Scars‘ second and latest single “Obvious Alias,” is anchored around the sort of bruising riffage that seemingly channels Queens of the Stone Age, Dirt-era Alice in Chains and Badmotorfinger-era Soundgarden while showcasing a band with an uncanny knack for pairing catchy, melodic-driven hooks, rousingly anthemic hooks and lived-in lyrics.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Slumbering Sun Returns with Swooning “Together Forever”

Formed back in 2022, Austin-based outfit AND JOVM mainstays  Slumbering Sun — Monte Luna‘s James Clarke (vocals), Destroyer of Light‘s Keegan Kjeldsen (guitar) and Kelly “Penny” Turner, Temptress‘ Kelsey Wilson, and Monte Luna’s and Scorpion Child’s Garth Condit (bass) — is a Texas underground metal scene All-Star outfit that specializes in “music for crazy romantics,” as they’ve dubbed it, a melodic doom metal that incorporates elements of Celtic folk, grunge, prog rock and shoegaze. 

The Austin-based quintet’s full-length debut, 2023’s The Ever-Living Fire debuted at #20 on the Doom Charts. The band played their first show at SXSW’s Stoner Jam, then embarked on a series of regional tours before capping off the year with a set at Ripple Fest.

The band spent the bulk of last year, writing and recording their highly-anticipated sophomore effort, Starmony, which saw its official DSP and limited vinyl release earlier this month.

In the lead-up to the album’s release, I wrote about two of the album’s previously released singles:

  • “Midsommar Night’s Dream,” a track that begins with a gorgeous, pensive piano and string driven introduction, before quickly morphing into swooningly heartfelt and nostalgia-fueled dirge anchored around the sort of fuzzy power chords that would bring smiles to the faces of Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Neil Young, all while being arguably the most cinematic song they’ve released to date. 

  • “The Tower” a track that begins with a broodingly atmospheric introduction that quickly morphs into slow-burning, power chord-driven dirge with dexterous guitar solos. “The Tower” continues a run of material that’s soulful and cinematic while showcasing the band’s unerring knack for crafting a sound that recalls The Sword, Soundgarden and others. 

“Together Forever,” Starmony‘s latest single is a slow-burning ballad that sees the band pairing the swooning Romanticism of goth with the churning and fuzzy power chord-driven dirges of doom metal. The new single continues a run of material that’s perfectly suited for folks who love to hear anthemic songs with enormous power chords and rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses with beers raised in the air — but while also feeling something.

The accompanying video features footage shot over the past two years of touring across Texas and the rest of the Midwest, including the late night food food stops, the endless trees and white lines of the road, the small shows, and the pals you meet across the scene — with an uncanny precision.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Slumbering Sun Shares Bruising Dirge “The Tower”

Formed back in 2022, Austin-based outfit Slumbering Sun — Monte Luna‘s James Clarke (vocals), Destroyer of Light‘s Keegan Kjeldsen (guitar) and Kelly “Penny” Turner, Temptress‘ Kelsey Wilson, and Monte Luna’s and Scorpion Child’s Garth Condit (bass) — is a Texas underground metal scene All-Star outfit that specializes in “music for crazy romantics,” as they’ve dubbed it, a melodic doom metal that incorporates elements of Celtic folk, grunge, prog rock and shoegaze. 

The Austin-based quintet’s full-length debut, 2023’s The Ever-Living Fire debuted at #20 on the Doom Charts. The band played their first show at SXSW’s Stoner Jam, then embarked on a series of regional tours before capping off the year with a set at Ripple Fest.

The band spent the bulk of last year, writing and recording their highly-anticipated sophomore effort, Starmony, which is slated for a digital and limited vinyl edition release on May 9, 2025.

Earlier this month, I wrote about “Midsommar Night’s Dream,” a track that begins with a gorgeous, pensive piano and string driven introduction, before quickly morphing into swooningly heartfelt and nostalgia-fueled dirge anchored around the sort of fuzzy pose chords that would bring smiles to the faces of Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Neil Young, all while being arguably the most cinematic song they’ve released to date. 

Starmony‘s latest single “The Tower” begins with a broodingly atmospheric introduction that quickly morphs into slow-burning, power chord-driven dirge with dexterous guitar solos. And much like its immediate predecessor, “The Tower” continues a run of material that’s simultaneously soulful and cinematic, while showcasing a band with a penchant for crafting material that recalls The Sword, Soundgarden and others.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Sheer Division Shares a Bruising Ripper

French metal outfit Sheer Division — Xavier Chaquet (guitar), Simonian Jérôme (vocals, guitar, programming) and Marie Helene Rattin (bass) — formed last year in Valence, where the band’s Jérôme worked as a sound engineer at the city’s concert venue, Mistral Palace.

The French trio describe their sound a mix of of stoner rock, punk, grunge and metal paired with lyrics inspired by sci-fi and fantasy writers like Asimov, Lovecraft, Drullet — with a bit of black humor and nihilism.

Their just released EP Saalammbö, features EP title track “Saalammbö.,” a blistering and forceful ripper that sounds like a gritty synthesis of Deftones, Queens of the Stone Age and Soundgarden, anchored around enormous, arena rock friendly hooks and choruses. Play at eardrum shattering volume.

The accompanying animated video is fittingly a dystopian and apocalyptic sci-fi visual that’s captures a world on fire and in endless war, almost like ours.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: London’s The Fire Belows Share Bruising “Too Far To Reach”

London-based metal outfit The Fires Below — Smithy (vocals, guitar), Si (bass), Del (drums) and Sam (guitar) formed back in 2021. The band quickly established a sound that draws from punk rock, metal, stoner rock, desert rock and djent, a sub-genre of progressive metal named after the onomatopoeia of the guitar sound that characterizes it. 

The London-based quartet’s debut EP, last year’s Masquerade was released last year to critical acclaim and received quite a bit of radio airplay. Building upon a growing profile in the British metal scene and elsewhere, The Fires Below released their highly-anticipated sophomore EP Thorns last month. The five-song EP sees the British quartet firmly establishing a melodic and punishing sound rooted in their penchant for blending punk, desert rock, alt-metal and djent. “With more experience, we’ve pushed ourselves creatively,” The Fire Below’s Smithy explains. “This EP really plays to our strengths that we discovered playing live. We mix elements of punk, desert rock, alt-metal and djent for an intense yet melodic cocktail of riffs and emotion. Blast it as loud as you can until the neighbours complain!

The EP’s first single “Too Far To Reach” is a bruising and grimy ripper that sees the band seamlessly — and effortlessly — meshing elements of metal, stoner rock, desert rock and punk anchored around pummeling drumming, scorching riffage and howled vocals in a way that will bring Songs for the Deaf-era Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss and others to mind.

Directed by David Smith, the accompanying video for “Too Far To Reach” is shot in black and white, and features the band performing the song in front of a projections of gorgeous natural phenomena, interspersed with the brutality of the human world. The video channels the fiery hellscape of our contemporary moment.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Marshall Kilpatric, a.k.a. Der Baron M. Kilpatric has spent the past two-plus decades as a drummer for a number of different bands including Black Light Burns, The Esoteric, Seaspin, Kylesa, F-Minus, Today is the Day and others. 

Kilpatric stepped away from the music industry for several years to refocus and evolve in other areas of his life. But back in 2020, the grizzled music industry veteran began to step out into the limelight as a solo artist when he started his recording project The Behaviour, a representation of the sounds, harmonies and noises he has heard in his head and ringing in his ears for quite some time. 

The project’s full-length debut, A Sin Dance is slated for a September 15, 2023 release. While the project — and in turn, its full-length but — has been brought to life with a vision of artistic integrity, passion and substance informed by his decades of experience and intuition. The album’s material is meant to be a cathartic, a medicine for melancholy, a remedy for repressed emotion, an enlightenment for evolving senses, Kilpatric explains. 

Earlier this week, I wrote about album single “Burning of the Neon Dream,” a slithering and serpentine track that brought Queens of the Stone Age and Josh Homme‘s The Desert Sessions to mind with the song built around arena rock friendly power chords and enormous, remarkably catchy hooks.

A Sin Dance‘s second and latest single, the slow-burning and expansive “An Untouchable Relic” continues a run of material indebted to Queens of the Stone Age and Josh Homme‘s The Desert Sessions but with subtle elements of 80s metal and shoegaze paired with propulsive, building rhythm. As Kilpatrick explains, the song is “an ode to unrequited desires for something unattainable perhaps . . .”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Bristol’s PEACH Shares a Bruising Ripper

Bristol-based desert rock outfit PEACH — founding members Andy Sutor (drums) and Jean-Paul “JP” Jacyshyn (guitar), Tim Cooke (baritone guitar) and No Violet‘s Ellie Godwin (vocals) — can trace their origins back to 2019: Founding members Sutor and Jacyshyn started work on ideas for the band inspired by their shared love of Queens of the Stone Age, PJ Harvey, Eleven and others. Soon after recruiting Cooke, initial song ideas stared to take shape but progress was inevitably stifled as a result of the pandemic.

PEACH’s lineup was finalized in 2021 when Godwin, who brought along writing and vocal influences like Joni Mitchell and Jeff Buckley was recruited. Taking their ideas to the rehearsal room, the newly-constituted quartet pulled together a hard hitting set of songs. After a drawn out inception, they believed that material deserved — and needed — to be recorded.

With a handful of singles under their collective belts, the Bristol-based outfit have been championed by BBC Radio 1‘s Daniel P. Carter, Noizze, James Scarlett and BBC Radio Wales‘ Adam Walton. They’ve also earned opening slots for bands like Mclusky, LIFE, Chiyoda Ku, Skin Failure, and CLT DRP — and a set at last year’s ArcTanGent Festival.

The Bristol-based quartet’s Peter Miles-produced nine-song, self-titled, full-length debut is slated for a September 30, 2023 release. Recorded live-to-tape with minimal overdubs in Devon‘s Middle Farm Studios, the album sees the band staying true to their original influences while capturing the raw energy, thunderous drumming, emotive powerhouse vocals and heavy dirge-like guitar riffs. Thematically, the album’s material reportedly sees the band exploring boundaries, comfort zones, change and moments of clarity in relationships with an unvarnished honesty.

The self-titled album’s first single “Already There” is a ripper built around Godwin’s furious, powerhouse delivery, scorching dirge-like, power chord-driven riffs, thunderous drumming and enormous shout-along worthy hooks and chorus. Sonically bringing PJ Harvey, Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age and others to mind, “Already There” discusses the awareness of being manipulated and the bitter feelings that come with that relationship — and it does so with the earnest, unvarnished honesty that can only come from personal experience.

“’Already There’ is about a growing awareness of being manipulated – that guttural feeling of unease, exhausted and perplexed thoughts, repeatedly striving to be a better version of oneself,” the members of PEACH explain. “As you move through the circular notion of this song, its growling and sludgy behaviours are profound. ‘Already There’ eventually leads to the intertwining of the spiralling vocals and the jagged guitar solo, projecting the emotion of the track to a pinnacle point of defeat.”

Directed by studio other types‘ Charlotte Gosch and IDLES’ Lee Kiernan, who are also both part of the film production company Holding Hands with Horses, the accompanying video features the band in Brady Brunch-like squares with colored strobe lights singing the song’s hook, split with footage of a romantic couple having a bitter, drawn-out fight. The video captures and evokes the fury and shame at the core of the song.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Denmark’s Sonic Moon Share a Sludgy Ripper

Danish stoner rock/doom metal outfit Sonic Moon features members split between Aarhus and Copenhagen. After spending the better part of the past two years developing and refining their contrasting, riff-based sound, the band will be releasing their seven-song, self-recorded full-length debut Return Without Any Memory on August 4, 2023 through Olde Magick Records.

Return Without Any Memory‘s first single “Give It Time” is built around sludgy power chord-driven rifle paired with thunderous drumming, crooned vocals and a heavy groove. While sonically recalling Soundgarden, The Sword and countless others, the song at its core sees the band evoking a shared feeling of loneliness, despair and frustration that feels familiar to most of us.

Edited by Emil Gam Klinkby, the accompanying video features tableaus shot by the band’s members meant to touch upon themes of passing time, decay, melancholy and cold shot in some stark yet cinematic settings.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Demons My Friends Share an Expansive Face-Melting Ripper

Currently split between Austin and Mexico City, Demons My Friends features members of Washington, DC-based outfit Fellowcraft and well-regarded Mexico City-based rock band QBO, and can trace their origins to an impromptu recording session at last year’s SXSW. Conceptually, the trio explore the inner journey its members have been on since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, confronting inner demons and battling anxiety, depression, self-doubt and rage while teaching themselves how to turn these demons into their “friends.”

The Mexican-American trio’s Jeff Henson-produced and mixed Demons Seem To Gather is slated for a September 8, 2023 release through Gravitoyd Heavy Music. Sonically seeming to draw from the likes of Monolord, King Buffalo, All Them Witches, Soundgarden, Baroness and a lengthy list of others, the trio’s full-length debut is reportedly features material that pairs drop-tuned grunge riffs, doom song structures, soaring melodies, groove-driven rhythms and psychedelic harmonies — but while rooted in the band’s musicianship.

Demons Seem To Gather‘s latest single “Make Them Pay” is built around a face-melting mix of sludgy power chords, thunderous drumming, Black Sabbath-meets-Soundgarden/Alice in Chains-like solos and crooned vocals with an expansive song structure. While touching upon some familiar styles, “Make Them Pay” is powered by dexterous and impassioned musicianship and earnest purpose.

Directed by Lu Salinas, the accompanying video for “Make Them Pay” was generated using AI, and it captures a fiery hellscape that sort of resembles the one we’re marching lockstep into right now.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Permanent Records and RidingEasy Records Release a Bluesy Ripper off Forthcoming “Brown Acid: The Thirteenth Trip” Compilation

Throughout the course of this site’s 11-plus year history,  Permanent Records’ and RidingEasy Records‘ ongoing collaborative proto-metal and pre-stoner rock compilation series from the 1960s and 1970s, Brown Acid have been regularly featured. Now, as you may recall, each individual edition of the ongoing series is centered around RidingEasy Records founder Daniel Hal’s and Permanent Records co-owner Lance Barresi’s extensive, painstaking research and curation with Hall and Barresi spending a great deal of time attempting to track down the artists behind these great yet sadly under-appreciated tunes. 

Frequently those bands haven’t written, played or recorded together in 30 or 40 years — but Barresi and Hall encourage the bands to take part in the compilation process. “All of (these songs) could’ve been hits given the right circumstances. But for one reason or another most of these songs fell flat and were forgotten,” Lance Barresi explains in press notes. “However, time has been kind in my opinion and I think these songs are as good now or better than they ever were.”

Having the original artists participate as much as humanly possible in the compilation process can give the artists and their songs a real second chance at the attention they had the misfortune of missing all of those years ago. And of course, for critics, audiophiles and fans alike, the material on the Brown Acid series will do three very important things: 

  • introduce listeners to some great, sadly under-appreciated tunes that fucking rip or will melt your face right off 
  • fill in the gaps of what was going on in and around regional, national and even international underground scenes during the 60s and 70s
  • push the boundaries of proto-metal, proto-stoner rock, metal and stoner rock in new directions. 

The 13th edition of the Brown Acid series, Brown Acid: The Thirteenth Trip is fittingly slated for an October 31, 2021 release. Continuing in the path of its 12 predecessors, The Thirteenth Trip sees Barresi and Hall somehow digging even deeper into a very deep well of material recorded throughout the 60s and 70s — and discovering tunes still rip and rip hard.

In the lead up to the album’s release later this month, I’ve written about two of its released singles:

  • “Run Run,” a groovy arena rock friendly ripper, by Montreal-based outfit Max.
  • “Buzzin,” a party starting-anthem centered around a funky blues riff, rollicking rhythmic changes and a chugging bass line that was technically credited as being by Gary Del Vecchio with Max — not the Montreal band.

Ralph Williams and the Wright Brothers’ “Never Again” appeared on the tenth edition of Brown Acid. The group returns to the series with “Dark Street,” the A-side of their 1972 Hour Glass Records 45. Centered around a chugging riff and thunderous drumming, the song hints at Van Halen‘s famous cover of Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman” about a decade before they actually did the cover. Sadly, the band soon disappeared after.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Permanent Records and RidingEasy Records Release a Party Starting Anthem off Their Forthcoming “Brown Acid: The Thirteenth Trip” Compilation

Throughout the course of this site’s 11-plus year history,  Permanent Records’ and RidingEasy Records‘ ongoing collaborative proto-metal and pre-stoner rock compilation series from the 1960s and 1970s, Brown Acid have been regularly featured. Now, as you may recall, each individual edition of the ongoing series is centered around RidingEasy Records founder Daniel Hal’s and Permanent Records co-owner Lance Barresi’s extensive, painstaking research and curation with Hall and Barresi spending a great deal of time attempting to track down the artists behind these great yet sadly under-appreciated tunes. 

Frequently those bands haven’t written, played or recorded together in 30 or 40 years — but Barresi and Hall encourage the bands to take part in the compilation process. “All of (these songs) could’ve been hits given the right circumstances. But for one reason or another most of these songs fell flat and were forgotten,” Lance Barresi explains in press notes. “However, time has been kind in my opinion and I think these songs are as good now or better than they ever were.”

Having the original artists participate as much as humanly possible in the compilation process can give the artists and their songs a real second chance at the attention they had the misfortune of missing all of those years ago. And of course, for critics, audiophiles and fans alike, the material on the Brown Acid series will do three very important things: 

  • introduce listeners to some great, sadly under-appreciated tunes that fucking rip or will melt your face right off 
  • fill in the gaps of what was going on in and around regional, national and even international underground scenes during the 60s and 70s
  • push the boundaries of proto-metal, proto-stoner rock, metal and stoner rock in new directions. 

The 13th edition of the Brown Acid series, Brown Acid: The Thirteenth Trip is fittingly slated for an October 31, 2021 release. Continuing in the path of its 12 predecessors, The Thirteenth Trip sees Barresi and Hall somehow digging even deeper into a very deep well of material recorded throughout the 60s and 70s — and discovering tunes still rip and rip hard.

Last month, I wrote about The Thirteenth Trip‘s first single, the hard charging and groovy, arena rock friendly ripper “Run Run” by  Montreal-based outfit Max. Technically credited as Gary Del Vecchio with Max — not the band from Montreal — the compilation’s second single “Buzzin” begins with what sounds like an in-studio party full of guffaws, yelps and chatter and is centered around a Led Zeppelin “Heartbreaker“-like funky blues riff, rollicking rhythmic changes and a chugging bass line. Simply put “Buzzin'” is a party-starting anthem.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Permanent Records and RidingEasy Records Release a Groovy Ripper off the Forthcoming “Brown Acid: The Thirteenth Trip” Compilation

Throughout the course of this site’s 11-plus year history,  Permanent Records’ and RidingEasy Records‘ ongoing collaborative proto-metal and pre-stoner rock compilation series from the 1960s and 1970s, Brown Acid have been regularly featured. Now, as you may recall, each individual edition of the ongoing series is centered around RidingEasy Records founder Daniel Hal’s and Permanent Records co-owner Lance Barresi’s extensive, painstaking research and curation with Hall and Barresi spending a great deal of time attempting to track down the artists behind these great yet sadly under-appreciated tunes.

ears — but Barresi and Hall encourage the bands to take part in the compilation process. “All of (these songs) could’ve been hits given the right circumstances. But for one reason or another most of these songs fell flat and were forgotten,” Lance Barresi explains in press notes. “However, time has been kind in my opinion and I think these songs are as good now or better than they ever were.”

Having the original artists participate as much as humanly possible in the compilation process can give the artists and their songs a real second chance at the attention they had the misfortune of missing all of those years ago. And of course, for critics, audiophiles and fans alike, the material on the Brown Acid series will do three very important things:

introduce listeners to some great, sadly under-appreciated tunes that fucking rip or will melt your face right off
fill in the gaps of what was going on in and around regional, national and even international underground scenes during the 60s and 70s
push the boundaries of proto-metal, proto-stoner rock, metal and stoner rock in new directions.

slated for an October 31, 2021 release. Continuing in the path of its 12 predecessors, The Thirteenth Trip sees Barresi and Hall somehow digging even deeper into a very deep well of material recorded throughout the 60s and 70s — and discovering tunes still rip and rip hard.

Initially starting out as Dawn, before Tony Orlando and Dawn forced a name change, the Montreal-based outfit Max kicks off the lead-up to the album’s release with “Run Run,” off their lone 1970 single. “Run Run” is a hard charging and groovy ripper featuring Bonham-like drumming, crunchy power chords and some soulful wailing splashed with a little bit of reverb and some enormous, arena rock friendly hooks. The end result — to my ears, at least — is a song that will bring Are You Experienced? era Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin 1 and early Black Sabbath to mind.

Sadly, the band didn’t last long: The band suffered through poor management and various other factors, so according to guitarist Gerry Markman, the single is the only surviving document of the band and their existence. But even so, this one rips and roars with intent and purpose.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Spelljammer Releases a Trippy and Brooding Visual for Bruising “Abyssal Trip”

The members of Stockholm-based doom metal/stoner rock act Spelljammer — currently, Niklas Olsson (vocals, bass), Robert Sorling (guitar) and Jonatan Remsbo (drums) — have developed and honed a unique, attention grabbing sound rooted in their penchant for sludgy, power chord riff-driven dirges with dramatic interludes.

Spelljammer’s third album, 2015’s Ancient of Days was in many ways a rebirth of sorts for the band: it was their first recorded output as at trio — and sonically, the album was a decided move towards a heavier, doom metal-leaning sound. Lyrically, the album was inspired by Swedish author and Nobel laureate Harry Martinson’s epic poem “Aniara,” in which a spaceship leaving an uninhabitable Earth is hurtled off course, sending its thousands of passengers on a steady course in the wrong direction — and there’s nothing they can do about it. The poem ends with the spaceship’s passengers dying as the ship continues on its journey through the vast nothingness of the solar system. 

Released earlier this year through RidingEasy Records, Spelljammer’s fourth album Abyssal Trip is the first batch of new material from the Swedish doom metal band inver five years, and the album finds the band bridging their early desert rock/stoner rock leanings with their recent penchant for slow-burning, massive, sludgy riffs. Continuing Olsson’s long-held obsession with the vastness of everything, Abyssal Trip derives its name from the perpetually dark, cold, oxygen-free zone at the bottom of the ocean. Interestingly, the album’s six songs embody that bleak and dark realm with rumbling and oozing guitars and dramatic melodic interludes. But unlike the band’s previously released material, the album finds the band crafting material that slowly unfurls, which gives the album a brooding and hypnotic quality. 

“The lyrical themes we address, like the ultimate doom of man, and the search and longing for new and better worlds, are still there,” Olsson says. “The concept of something undiscovered out there in vast emptiness is pretty much always present.” Additionally, the band employed a much different recording process: the trio opted to capture the performances live while holed up in a house in the countryside, just outside of Stockholm. “The songs benefitted from the relaxed environment of being away from everything,” Olsson explains. 

Beginning with some ominous film dialogue discussing blood sacrifices, album title track and latest single “Abyssal Trip” is an unrelenting bruiser of a song, centered around rumbling down-tuned guitars, thunderous drumming and howled vocals. There’s a brief respite from that punishing dynamic through a scorching lead solo before the song ends with an abrupt jerk. The song evokes the vast and unfathomable power of nature — and its ability to crush everything and everything in its path. And as a result, the song seems like a desperate howl into the indifferent and uncaring void. 

The recently released video for “Abyssal Trip” features footage of the band performing the song in front of some trippy, lava lamp-like lighting and equally trippy stock footage of wintry forests, of diver struggling to survive in the ocean and more.