Heavy Underground Band & Album reviews: My favorites in Riff rock/ fuzz/ stoner/ doom/ sludge/ heavy psych/ hardcore & metal

Orange Goblin – The End Of An Era (1995-2025)

Orange Goblin are a hard rocking stoner metal band from London, England. Formed in 1995, the band have released ten full length studio albums and a couple of live ones. They have decided to call it a day and retire after a thirty year career as a driving force in the heavy underground music scene.  I can’t express enough the...

Suncraft – Welcome To The Coven

Suncraft are a five-piece band from Oslo, Norway. Playing a heavy octane of hard driving rock, the band mixes in an array of different styles into their sound. Their debut album, Flat Earth Rider was released in 2021. They just put out their sophomore album called Welcome To The Coven on November 21st 2025. Suncraft consists of Rasmus Skage Jensen...

Winds Of Neptune – Self Titled 

Winds Of Neptune are a three-piece hard rock band from Detroit, Michigan. Featuring Ross Westerbur on bass and vocals, Kevin Roberts on guitar, and Mike Alonso on drums, the trio formed during the Covid pandemic of 2020. Being sidelined from the global lockdown, the band features members from Flogging Molly, 500 Ft. Of Pipe, and The Meatmen. Winds Of Neptune...

Spaceslug – Lemanis (2024 Remaster)

Spaceslug is a three-piece cosmic stoner doom band from Wroclaw, Poland. Consisting of Bartosz Janik on guitars and vocals, Jan Rutka on bass and vocals, and Kamil Ziółkowski on drums and vocals, the band formed in 2015. Their album releases includes 2016’s Lemanis, 2017’s Time Travel Dilemma, 2017’s Mountains & Reminiscence, 2018’s Eye The Tide, 2019’s Reign Of The Orion, 2020’s...

Astralplane – Out Of The Void 

Astralplane is a heavy psychedelic stoner rock band from Oslo, Norway. Consisting of three brothers, Lars Kristian J. Halvorsen on bass and vocals, Magnus J. Halvorsen on guitar and vocals, and Jørgen J. Halvorsen on drums and vocals, the trio just released their latest album called Out Of The Void. The band has released 2017’s Sly Serpent, 2019’s Three Kings...

Black Charger – Small Town 

Black Charger is a stoner rock band from Osnabrück, Germany. They consist of Christian on guitar and vocals, Stephan on bass, and Uli on drums. They just released their debut full length album called Small Town on October 31st 2025. It contains ten tracks around forty two minutes long. When the fuzz kicks in on the opening track “Liquor Store”,...

Howling Giant – Crucible & Ruin

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...

Elepharmers – Western Wilderness 

Elepharmers is a three-piece stoner rock band from Cagliari, Italy. Formed at the end of 2009, the band have released four albums including: 2013’s Weird Tales From The Third Planet, 2016’s Erebus, 2019’s Lords of Galaxia, and their latest, 2025’s Western Wilderness. The band consists of Guido “El Chino” Solinas on vocals, bass, and rhythm guitar, Angrea “Fex” Cadeddu on...

Brimstone Coven – The Light Shines Not For Thee

Brimstone Coven is a proto-metal, hard rock, bluesy doom band from Wheeling, West Virginia. They consist of Andrew D’Cagna on bass and vocals, Corey Roth on guitar and vocals, and Dave Trik on drums. The trio have released: 2014’s Self Titled, 2016’s Black Magic, 2018’s What Was And What Shall Be, 2020’s The Woes Of A Mortal Earth, and their...

The Lunar Effect – Fortune’s Always Hiding 

The Lunar Effect is a hard rock band from London, England. Formed in 2016, the band consists of Jon Jefford on guitar, Daniel Jefford on drums, Brett Halsey on bass, and Josh Neuwford on vocals. They have released 2017’s Strange Lands EP, 2019’s Calm Before The Calm, 2024’s Sounds Of Green & Blue, and their latest, 2025’s Fortune’s Always Hiding....