Heavy Underground Band & Album reviews: My favorites in Riff rock/ fuzz/ stoner/ doom/ sludge/ heavy psych/ hardcore & metal
White Tundra is a hard stoner rock band from Trondheim, Norway. They consist of Steven Kresin on guitar and vocals, Kjell Andres Nilsen on lead guitar and vocals, Øyvind Persvik on bass, and Ola Fuglevaag on drums. Active since 2018, they have released: 2020’s Graveyard Blues EP, 2023’s Self Titled, and their latest sophomore, 2026’s Stories From The Dark. Stories...
Gurthworm are a four-piece stoner/ hard rock band from Charlotte, North Carolina. They consist of Jared Nuzzo on vocals and guitar, Matthew “Hippo” Pascale on bass, Greg Philbeck on guitar, and Steve Poe on drums. The band released an EP in 2023 called Scoleciphobia. They just dropped their latest EP entitled Circumference on April 17th 2026. It contains five tracks...
Birds Of Vale is a four-piece heavy rock band from Athens, Greece. They consist of Anthony Kyritsis on vocals, Lazaros Kangelidis on guitar, Kostis Papagiannopoulos on bass, and Nikos Manatos on drums. They released their debut album, Limbo in 2024 and just released their latest sophomore album, 2026’s Dimensions. Dimensions came out on April 23rd 2026 on Sungun Records and...
Elefus is an alternative stoner/ progressive/ psych rock band from Australia. They consist of Scott Cook on lead guitars and vocals, Matt Augustyn on drums, Mark Matthews on rhythm guitar, and Dan Eldano Brown on bass. They just released their debut full length album entitled Time To Bend on April 17th 2026. It contains nine tracks at fifty minutes long. ...
Stepmother is a Melbourne, Australian punk and hard rock trio, consisting of Graham Clise on guitar and vocals, Lee Parker on drums, and Robert Muinos on bass. The band’s releases include 2022’s Self Titled debut EP, 2023’s Planet Brutalicon, and their latest sophomore album, 2026’s Absurdus Manifestus. Graham Clise was the guitarist for underground legends, Annihilation Time, and Stepmother’s music...
Abrams is a heavy rock band from Denver, Colorado, with mixed elements of post-hardcore, shoe gaze, grunge, and noise rock. The current lineup consists of Zach Amster on vocals and guitar, Taylor Iversen on bass and vocals ,Ryan DeWitt on drum, and Graham Zander on guitar. Abrams formed in 2013 and their debut EP entitled February came out in 2014....
Demons My Friends is a heavy rock/ post-punk/ stoner doom band from Mexico. The trio consists of Lu Salinas on bass and vocals, Tarro Martinez on drums, and Pablo Anton on guitar and vocals. They released their debut album, Demons Seem To Gather in 2023. They just recently launched their latest sophomore album, entitled Survive/ Yourself on April 17th 2026,...
The Lords Of Altamont are a Los Angeles, California based hard rock/ garage/ punk/ psychedelic rock band. Formed in 2000, they have many releases including: 2002’s To Hell With The Lords Of Altamont, 2005’s Lords Have Mercy, 2008’s The Altamont Sin, 2011’s Midnight To 666, 2014’s Lords Take Altamont, 2017’s The Wild Sounds Of The Lords Of Altamont, 2021’s Tune...
Spirit Adrift is a heavy metal band formed in Messa, Arizona by Nate Garret. The multi-instrumentalist performs and records all the instruments in the studio (vocals, guitar, bass, drums, piano, and synth). The live line up also features Tom Draper on guitar, Sonny DeCarlo on bass, and Michael Arellano on drums. Formed in 2015 and now residing in Austin, Texas,...
Myar is a stoner doom/ heavy psych band from Lille, France. They consist of Nina Hirsch on bass, Julien Scymaniak on drums, Victorien Guy on guitars, and Paul-Antoine Vinchent on guitars. Myar just released their debut album called Bleak Mountains on April 4th 2026. It contains six tracks at thirty six minutes long. “As A Line” begins with a fuzzy...