Howling Giant – Crucible & Ruin

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · Published November 27, 2025 · Updated November 27, 2025

Howling Giant is a stoner/ heavy psych/ progressive rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. They have been active since 2014 and consist of Tom Polzine on guitar and vocals, Sebastian Baltes on bass, Zach Wheeler on drums and vocals, and Adrian Lee Zambrano on guitar and synths. The band’s releases include: 2015’s Self Titled EP, 2016’s Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 1 EP, 2017’s Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2 EP, 2019’s The Space Between Worlds, 2020’s Turned To Stone Volume II: Masamune & Muramasa (Split with Sergeant Thunderhoof), 2021’s Alteration EP, 2023’s Glass Future, and 2025’s 10th Anniversary Edition of their Self Titled EP (review here), released this past January. The band was primarily a three-piece prior to this past year, when they brought in Adrian to play second guitar. They just released their latest album called Crucible & Ruin on Halloween (October 31st 2025), on Magnetic Eye Records. It contains ten tracks at forty seven minutes long.

From the guitar opening riff to the drum snare tapping entrance, “Canyons” is an elaborate mix of hard riff rock and progressive metal wrapped around melody. Howling Giant makes a grandiose statement with this lead off track. The production is immaculate and clean. The drum sound is amazing and everything is balanced perfectly in the mix. Howling Giant are extremely talented musicians and have found the balance of prog and riffs and vocal harmonies too. “Hunters’ Mark” is another blissful blend of guitar-monies and catchy vocals. Zach Wheeler’s drumming is next level on Crucible & Ruin and really accentuates the whole album actually. The other huge factor in Howling Giant’s current and heavy sound is the addition of a second guitarist in Adrian Lee Zambrano. It gives the songs an extra boost of zest and density. Tom Polzine’s playing is top level as always and his voice sounds better than ever also.

“Archon” is a great tune that fully captures the power of the Howling Giant sound. The songwriting is incredible and each piece floats into the next with a fluidity and grace. “Lesser Gods” begins with a killer bass tone that glides the song along. Sebastian Baltes is a phenomenal bassist and adds a lot of foundation to their sound. This instrumental track is a mellow and compelling track that acts as a bridge to separate each side of the record. When “Beholder 1: Downfall” kicks right in immediately following, the energy transitions into the progressive slamming of riffs and melodies. The vocals are precisely sung in unison and harmonize well together. Tom and Zach have really perfected their blending of vocals and balance nicely together.

“Archivist” is another incredible song! The bass and drums command the rhythm as the guitars flourish melodies in combination. The nice and elaborate build up is spiked with powerful vocal harmonies and tight as nails musicianship. Every song on Crucible & Ruin is an epic masterpiece of some sort. For me personally, this is my favorite album so far from Howling Giant. The heavier slant in the direction of the music is well received in my ears. “Scepter And Scynthe” is yet another great song that flexes heaviness and melody together in cohesive harmony.

“Melchor’s Bones” begins with a sample and heavy crushing rhythms that extend from various parts. Howling Giant incorporates progressive rock into their songs in a subtle way that makes everything sound so interesting and exciting. The band has clearly put some thought in the structure and order of the songs on this album. The short clean guitar and synth instrumental of “The Observatory” is a great break. The soft and tuneful melodies are soothing and satisfying. It lends itself beautifully to set up the final score on the record, entitled “Beholder 2: Labyrinth”. The just over six minute masterpiece is catchy and riff driven. It has a sludgy groove in the chugging rhythms and a melodious tone in the vocals. The band perform musical gymnastics on the ending part and never fails to impress me with their collective talents. Howling Giant are on the verge of breaking through to a larger fan base, I believe. Seeing them perform live is another level of greatness that needs to be experienced also. Either way, Crucible & Ruin is a top notch album that I will listen to often.