Excel originated in Venice, California in 1985. They are considered a crossover band, a hybrid of hardcore and heavy metal, like DRI and Cryptic Slaughter. I have been a fan of Excel since I was about fourteen years old when they released Split Image in 1987. I really liked their second record 1989’s The Joke’s On You. At that time,...
Another split release courtesy of Heavy Psych Sounds recordings. This one features three songs each, first from stoner rock pioneers Nebula and and then Italy’s grand masters, Black Rainbows. This is the second split release from Heavy Psych Sounds this year. The first one featured Geezer and Isaak which came out this past May. This record was released on June...
Duel is a heavy rocking, stoner metal quartet based in Austin, Texas. The band formed in 2015 and released four studio albums up to this point. Breakfast (with) Death is their fifth record on Heavy Psych Sounds Records and was released on July 5th, 2024. The current lineup consists of: Tom Frank on guitars and lead vocals, Jeff Henson on...
High Desert Queen is desert rock band based in Austin, Texas. They started in Houston in 2019 and relocated to Austin a year later. The bio on their website states: “High Desert Queen was formed when singer Ryan Garney and guitarist Rusty Miller went looking for a rhythm section to help complete some songs they had been working on. The stars...
Monkey3 is an instrumental rock band from Lausanne, Switzerland. They formed in 2001 and have released six full length albums, two EPs, and a live record since that time. Their latest, entitled Welcome To The Machine is their seventh full length album and was released on February 23, 2024. The current lineup of Monkey3 consists of: Walter– drums, Boris –...
Here is a split release of two bands on Heavy Psych Sounds Records. The album was released on May 17th, 2024 and features Kingston, New York power trio Geezer and Genoa, Italy’s quartet Isaak. The record has seven songs total, the first four from Geezer and the remaining three from Isaak. Geezer starts things off with “Acid Veins” which is...
Slower is a side project put together by Bob Balch from Fu Manchu, redoing five classic Slayer songs. The caveat is that these tracks are performed and recorded in a very slow and doomy manner. Bob plays guitar on all the songs and recruited a good cast of musicians to collaborate these songs with. Esben Willems from Monolord plays drums...
Legendary California fuzz rockers Fu Manchu are back with a new record, their thirteenth overall. The Return Of Tomorrow was released on June 14th, 2024 and features 13 new songs that combine stylistically all the goodness that this band are capable of delivering. The lineup has been the same since 2001, consisting of founding guitarist and vocalist Scott Hill, bassist...
On March 29th, 2024, Sweden’s The Quill have released a new record entitled Wheel Of Illusion. The band formed in the early 1990’s and has been one of Sweden’s longest standing stoner rock/metal artists. Since the return of original vocalist Magnus Ekwall in 2017, the band has been back in true form. Releasing Born From Fire that same year, Earthrise...