Ripple Music

Dead Feathers – Full Circle Review

Dead Feathers – Full Circle Review

Dead Feathers play a fuzzy psychedelic rock, emphasis on the rock, in the vein of Black Mountain or Dead Meadows. The obvious selling point is Marissa Belu’s fantastic Grace Slick-meets-Elin Larsson (Blues Pills) vocals. But the instrumental side is no slouch either.” Circle of dead feathers.

Fire Down Below – Low Desert Surf Club Review

Fire Down Below – Low Desert Surf Club Review

“Ever since Huck N Roll tragically jumped his mountain bike into a combine harvester, I’ve been missing my buddy dearly. Out of everyone among the AMG staff, his taste and mine aligned the most, especially around prog, psychedelic and stoner. So it’s only right for me to carry on his legacy and dive into the new Fire Down Below.” Stone the surf.

Thunder Horse – After the Fall Review

Thunder Horse – After the Fall Review

Huck boldly covered the first 2 releases by this Texas-based doom act and he was quite taken with their 2021 Chosen One platter. He enjoyed its heavy Sabbath worship filtered through a burly biker doom perspective with sprinkles of classic rock and Crowbar-esque sludge. I was also a big fan, and might have rated it a bit higher than the miserly old sod did.” Olde horses and classic sounds.

Morass of Molasses – End All We Know Review

Morass of Molasses – End All We Know Review

“I’ve always rooted for the Reading trio, enjoying their blend of NOLA-inspired sludge and bluesy hard rock. Ultimately, there is little changing about Morass of Molasses’ third attempt at greatness. Aptly molasses-thick sludge grooves meet bluesy melodies and wild drumming, while a bearded bro shrieks into the mic. Inject a lil stoner vibe, and you’ve summed up everything to expect.” Down with the thickness.

Vitskär Süden – The Faceless King Review

Vitskär Süden – The Faceless King Review

“Well, this is certainly a unique release in many ways, and thanks to the bureaucracy of our PDS this one slipped by everyone and right down to me. Meet Vitskär Süden, a progressive/psychedelic/overall trippy band that hails not from some esoteric land as the umlauts in their name might suggest, but rather from Los Angeles, California. These guys have been playing together in some form or other for around twenty years now, but as Vitskär Süden this is their second release. The Faceless King follows up 2020’s well-regarded eponymous debut.” Dungeons and prog kings.

Wo Fat – The Singularity Review

Wo Fat – The Singularity Review

Wo Fat and I go back a long ways. Some trivia for you before we dig in: my first ever Angry Metal Guy review was written in May of 2016, for the band’s Midnight Cometh album. But, dear readers, I hear you saying “Huckster, we never saw said review.” This is true. By the time Steel Druhm and myself sorted things out, my fully-edited review was a few weeks too late to post. It probably sucked as well, but the album didn’t. It isn’t possible for these guys to suck, to be honest. And now here we are, six years to the month later, and I can finally review a Wo Fat album for you.” Wo to you of earth and sea.

JIRM – The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam Review

JIRM – The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam Review

The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam: one of the coolest album titles so far this year. It comes to us courtesy the psychedelic spaced-out minds of JIRM, known as Jeremy Irons and the Ratgang Malibus until 2018’s Surge Ex Monumentis album. Now here they are four years older and wiser but presumably just as high, with their fifth album, and with a title like that (and some cool song titles as well) I’m intrigued despite my tepid thoughts on their last one.” Holy Batman.

Fostermother – The Ocean Review

Fostermother – The Ocean Review

“More so than any other genre of metal, doom relies upon momentum. If you cast your mind back to Ms. Johnson’s 6th grade science class, you’ll recall that momentum is a product of both mass and velocity. Which is to say: if you want more momentum, you either need more speed, or you need more weight. If you’re a doom band looking for a weighty metaphor, there is nothing heavier on earth than the damn ocean. And Fostermother, a trio from Houston Texas, are here to use that idea in their sophomore album to convey complex ideas about depression in a society which emphasizes personal greed over human connection.” Fostered by the sea.

Obsidian Sea – Pathos Review

Obsidian Sea – Pathos Review

Pathos is the fourth full-length from Bulgarian trio Obsidian Sea, and their second for current home, Ripple Music. It is also not at all what I was expecting. Obsidian Sea was unknown to me until I picked this up for review but, given the band name, I was expecting some dark and stormy prog, perhaps infused with elements of doom, sludge or even some epic post-metal. That is not what I got, however.” Choppy waters.

Witchcryer – When Their Gods Come for You Review

Witchcryer – When Their Gods Come for You Review

“I recall being quite taken with Witchcryer’s 2017 debut Cry Witch when I stumbled across it in the rancid promo sump. A product of Las Cruces, Earthen Grave, and The Living Fields members, it had a lively doom rock sound akin to Castle and Jex Thoth and frontwoman Suzy Bravo was a force to be reckoned with. In hindsight, however, I overrated the album as it was very short on content, and though its high points are great, it has downslopes and filler too, which is a bad sign for such a short album. Nonetheless, I was still excited to get my hands on their sophomore album When Their Gods Come for You and see what the last few years had done to their sound.” Gods and sirens.