I usually say some shit here about “oh man, so much good music this quarter!”, and I feel confident that I am rarely wrong in doing so, but this one, I say goddamn. There’s too much of it. Both of us could’ve provided a honorable mentions list a mile long if need be. A lot of it for me personally was metal, hardcore, and adjacent stuff, but really everything was shining bright these last few months. What a time to be alive! – MCG
In Times New Roman… by Queens of the Stone Age
Sometimes we have to go back in order to keep things moving forward, not only in life but in music as well. The story is very simple really, my sister was dating a drummer at the time and they went to an Oz Fest around the time Rated R was released, they came back singing a band’s praises and that band was Queens of the Stone Age. Let’s just say that as someone who spent NYE 2000 on just about every party drug he could find, Feel Good Hit just felt, goooooood! This was a kindred spirit band from the jump and it turned into a huge gateway band as well opening the door to other bands from this desert scene which led me to All That’s Heavy, a community dedicated to stoner rock. Now let’s dive into the new one shall we, 23 years after Rated R we are welcomed back into the fold with In Times New Roman … and I must say I’m enjoying the vibe of this one. It feels like the party has gone sour and the indulgent decadence has set in. To my ears I’m getting some Doors, Stooges and Bowie vibes but wrapped in the Queens package which plays like a mix of Era Vulgaris meets …Like Clockwork, the songs and hooks are back. More importantly, Jon Theodore is allowed to stretch out on record here quite a bit more which is what I think we all want to see. The strong vaudeville opener “Obscenery” and the back to back jacks of “Paper Machete “and “Negative Space” get this thing off and poppin’. Plus I’m just going to be honest and say I was never a fan of the production of Villains, it has some bangers and we all know the band can easily convert those in a live setting but this album feels more organic and keeps the muscle and shred intact. As much as I would love a return to the desert album from this band, that’s probably not in the cards but this is a great return to form and I’ll be looking forward to the next one. – Apache Slomo
https://music.apple.com/us/album/in-times-new-roman/1676853411
ÁTTA by Sigur Rós
I don’t fucking know, man. I don’t know how they do it. I have no goddamn clue how Sigur Rós have consistently conjured up some of the most beautiful music that the world has ever heard. If I was listing out my favorite bands, I’m not sure they would come to mind in the first 20 or so, maybe, but my point is that I don’t consider them one of my immediate favorites, and yet the two times I’ve seen them perform live stick in my mind as some of the best music I’ve ever witnessed. They are as singular and as great as it gets, and with this long awaited return, they show that time holds no bearing on their greatness. Get cozy in this warm blanket of light and love. – MCG https://music.apple.com/us/album/%C3%A1tta/1689744202
Drifting In The Endless Void by Dozer
Dozer are back baby!! Like a runaway asteroid shower set on delivering only the filthiest riffs planet Earth has ever heard. Before I dig int to the new album Drifting Into the Endless Void I have to mention how big Call It Conspiracy was for me and my musical journey. I remember scrolling through the All That’s Heavy Music Store (RIP) back in the day, casually looking for CD’s and the article mentioned the new Dozer, the descriptors checked all my boxes and the rest is history. Still one of my favorite stoner rock records to this day, they harnessed the power of Led Zeppelin and filtered it through desert rock and grunge like Kyuss or early QOTSA. If you have a taste for this stuff then you know who these crazy Swedes are and you know what they are capable of when they roll up to the studio. Their best songs always have the feeling of propelling the listener into a vacuum of tight fucking riffs, then these glorious riffs repeat themselves until you feel like you’re flying. Pair that with one of the grooviest rhythm sections and then it all comes together ever so sweetly. All I needed was to hear lead off track “Mutation/Transformation” off the new record and I was convinced the 10yr hiatus had only sharpened the magic these guys bring to the table and that they have only gotten better in time. – Apache Slomo
https://music.apple.com/us/album/drifting-in-the-endless-void/1673758527
Obsession Destruction by Chained To The Bottom Of The Ocean
SLOW BURNING RIFFS. EVIL FEEDBACK. BEAUTIFUL GROWLING AND SCREAMING. ARTFUL BLUDGEONING. SLUDGERIFIC SLUDGE. This is a slow stroll through the valley of death, and we should all feel so lucky that they decided to take their time creating this world for us. It’s immersive, challenging, and exhausting, all in the best ways possible. I fucking dare anyone to try to match this type of epic bloodbath. – MCG
https://music.apple.com/us/album/obsession-destruction/1674341294
A Storm Is Coming by Still Waters Run Deep
**Editors Note**: For any of you reading this that happen to know us outside of this site, I truthfully, 100% DID NOT put Apache Slomo up to this! – MCG
A storm is indeed on it’s way, as I sit at my desk looking out over the lake the sky begins to blacken. It’s mid June in South Florida so this is very common this time of year but I’ll tell you what, it’s an ideal setting to sit back and enjoy the new Still Waters Run Deep record. From what I hear, Still Waters is the one man project of a martial arts madman and effects pedal freak hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, but the music itself feels incredibly organic, like it’s always existed in some form or another. On A Storm Is Coming, he’s tapped into something extremely elemental, like what you would imagine the perfect soundtrack to floating in space would sound like. The songs run into each other and flow in ways that keep them connected but are bursting with explosive black metal parts and noise rock then met with calming, languid interludes. Some signifiers I pick up on would be a more post-rock Secret Machines, The Mars Volta and Deafheaven. The instrumental tracks really bind the album together, take “The Winds Within III” for instance, with some of the prettiest guitars you’re likely to hear this year, you start to fall into a trance then without hesitation you get pummeled by “So Anyway…Massacre”. As a 90’s kid I will always be a sucker for quiet to loud dynamics and Still Waters Run Deep employ those to perfection. This is an album to get lost in, to take on a late night drive to nowhere, to start a hike down a path where you have no idea where it will lead you or to just light one up and watch a storm roll in over the water. – Apache Slomo
https://music.apple.com/us/album/a-storm-is-coming/1682666166
Devil Music by Portrayal of Guilt
For my money, Portrayal of Guilt is one of the very best heavy bands doing it since their arrival. It’s all somewhat similar, but in a very unique way. They have found a way to harness some type of dark magic that has them head and shoulders above their contemporaries. On Devil Music, they wrote five songs for the first half of the album, and then reinterpreted their own five songs in a different way with classical instrumentation for the second half. Like, what in the fuck? Yeah man, that’s the type of uniqueness that will make a band stand out and live long. The first half stands up next to their previous efforts, and the second half sounds like Game of Thrones spinoff seeded in a much deeper evil, and if that doesn’t sound like it’s for you then maybe just stop reading this and revaluate your entire life. – MCG https://music.apple.com/us/album/devil-music/1667654816
The Old Ways Remain by Blood Ceremony
I like my doom rock nimble and melodic for the most part and holy shit does Blood Ceremony deliver the quality tunes on The Old Ways Remain. Like Graveyard with sultry female vocals and I’m just gonna say it, that fucking flute just absolutely kills throughout the entire album. I was familiar with this band before on a cursory level but nothing ever stuck the way Eugenie did the first time I heard it, just a magical song and one of my favorites this year. There is no question that this type of music has been done, this proto-doom rock but when you have an album this complete and this well executed, then it’s truly a sight to behold and an album I’ll certainly cherish. – Apache Slomo https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-old-ways-remain/1670447030
Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon by The Mars Volta
When I found out The Mars Volta were releasing an acoustic version of the their self-titled return album from last year, I was excited. Not super over the moon or shit-my-pants-uncontrollably excited, but still, excited. I did not foresee the fact that this was going to lead to a completely different experience to the extent that my favorite songs on the original album are completely different than my favorite songs on the acoustic edition. The stripped down nature of the arrangements and hand drums leave plenty of space for the vocals and lyrics to shine much brighter, and I quickly found myself being grabbed in different sections of songs and by different songs altogether. The darkness underlying these lyrics hits home more so than ever, and the intent is screaming in your face regardless of the fact that the music is subdued. I wasn’t planning on including this because at the core, the songs are the same, but the way they hit me so differently, and the fact that I also saw them live for a top 10 favorite show of my entire life a couple months ago, left me no choice here. “Cerulea” and “Flash Burns from Flashbacks” are standouts, and “Palm Full of Crux” will undoubtedly end up being one of my most played songs this year. – MCG
https://music.apple.com/us/album/que-dios-te-maldiga-mi-corazon/1674058410
PetroDragonic Apocalypse … by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Is there nothing this band can’t do? Let’s just look at the last album which was chalk full of Grateful Dead-esque psychedelia and kraut rock, they have now switched gears into the metal meets stoner rock machine they inhabited on the album Infest the Rat’s Nest and while that album was good this album is great and the playing tighter than a witch’s titty on all hallow’s eve. Now PDA as I like to call it is obviously a concept album about some great ecological disaster but you don’t have to follow this bad boy just understand that the Gizz have the ability to meld the finest melodies on top of riffs on riffs. There are very few bands that can make a 10 minute banger feel like it whisks by in 4 mins. What has become clear is that this Aussie band is building a bit of a cult and a serious following, paving the way for a burgeoning scene with some great bands. King Gizzy have built the perfect setup, a band that has the freedom to follow any muse they so wish, the difference between them and most is that they have the chops to actually get the job done! – Apache Slomo
https://music.apple.com/us/album/petrodragonic-apocalypse-or-dawn-of-eternal-night/1684380069
What Keeps Me Here by To Be Gentle
I have about 15 albums on my list that I wanted to put here, but I felt as though this one is something that resonates with me personally the most out of all of them. Simply put, this is for fans of Deafheaven. The songs, the instrumentation, the vocals, the sequencing of the album, the soft interludes, etc. all lean in that direction, but to me, it doesn’t feel like they’re trying to rip off Deafheaven, it feels like they have something to say and it just so happens to fall in line. Comparing this album and band to one of the best bands of the last decade+, and one of the best bands ever, probably isn’t fair. I will say that this album is linear; it begins in one point and the entire thing is barreling towards the payoff at the end. At least that’s how I hear it. So, consequently, the listener beings in one state of mind and traverses the soundscape to a completely different one. It’s a journey, and a truly beautiful one, at that. – MCG https://music.apple.com/us/album/what-keeps-me-here/1691690164
**Honorable Mentions**:
KOKYOU DE SHINU OTOKO by Seek
Inevitable by None
Bunny by Beach Fossils
Still Life In Decay by FACS
LIVING PROOF by DRAIN
The Sunken Seer by UZLAGA
Life Under the Gun by Militarie Gun
Systemic by Divide and Dissolve
War Remains by Enforced
Let There Be Music by Bonny Doon
Snow Business by Persekutor
72 Seasons by Metallica
Sad Sex for Dummies by Loose Sutures
Helvger by Tsjuder
Margarita Witch Cult by Margarita Witch Cult
The Circle of Fifths 