The year 2024 was a spectacular year for heavy riff rock music. It was nearly impossible to realistically choose 20 albums and rank them in order of favorites. I did my best at that time but things are constantly changing for me with music and discovering stuff that I didn’t hear until later. I reviewed over seventy albums that were...
Howling Giant is a stoner metal/ psychedelic rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. The power trio has been active since 2014 and consists of Tom Polzine on guitar and vocals, Sebastian Baltes on bass, and Zach Wheeler on drums and vocals. The band’s releases are 2015’s Self Titled EP, 2016’s Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 1 EP, 2017’s Black Hole Space...
Daily Thompson is a power trio from Dortmund, Germany and started in late 2012. The band’s sound is a mix of stoner rock and grunge, with a slab of noisy power blues. Their full length releases include 2014’s Self Titled, 2016’s Boring National, 2018’s Thirsty, 2020’s Oumumua, 2021’s God Of Spinoza, and their latest album 2024’s Chuparosa. The lineup consists...
Shotgun Sawyer is three piece blues rock band based in Auburn, California. The lineup consists of David Lee on drums, Brett Sanders on bass, and Dylan Jarman on guitar and vocals. The band formed in 2015 and released 2016’s Thunderchief, 2019’s Bury The Hatchet, and their latest, 2024’s Self Titled album on December 6th. Shotgun Sawyer contains nine songs in...
Welcome to the last installment for my five favorite albums of 2024 from five of my favorite record labels. This series started in late December when I posted about five of my favorite current underground record labels (here). From there I reviewed Blues Funeral Recordings (here), Heavy Psych Sounds (here), Magnetic Eye Records (here), and Ripple Music (here). This brings...
Toronto, Canada’s Indie/ riff rocking legends Puddy, are back with a new album! It has been twenty five years since their landmark debut album, 2000’s Sweetspot was released. In 2023, the band remixed and remastered the album and scaled off a few tracks for a lean and mean vinyl repressing (review here.) It has been over seventeen years since Puddy...
LowMad are a sludgy, fuzzed out, punk infused, stoner metal band from East Flanders, Belgium. The band consists of Kenneth De Schepper on bass and vocals, Philip Couliez on drums, Tom Fruytier on guitar and vocals, and Christof Bessems on guitar and backing vocals. They have two albums out including 2021’s Lowland, and their latest 2024’s Lost. The album was...
The Lunar Effect formed in 2016 and are based in London, England. Their sound is a mix of hard bluesy retro rock and grunge. The band members include 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, and 2019’s Calm Before The Calm. Their latest...
Whores. is a post hardcore/ noise rock/ metal band from Atlanta, Georgia. The band formed in 2010 and currently consists of Christian Lembach on vocals and guitar, Casey Maxwell on bass, and Douglas Jennings Barrett on drums. The power trio released a couple of EPs including 2011’s Ruiner, and 2013’s Clean. The band then put out their debut album, 2016’s...
The Sonoma County power trio Deer Lord are back with a new recording of two of their older songs from their debut 2020 Deer Lord EP. The heavy riff rocking doom and rollers return with new and improved versions of the songs “Deer Lord” and “Into The Beam”. Both songs are now available (as of January 24th, 2025) on all...