October was a big month for new music from the heavy underground.
Australian heavy psych outfit Robot God lands at the top of the list, with Subconscious Awakening, their second album of the year (their April release, Portal Within, topped that month’s Top 10!). Their intoxicating fusion of long form heavy psychedelic, and stoner rock riffs has made Robot God one of my very favorite bands this year. Vokonis dropped another crushing and dynamic release, their fifth studio full length, sending me down a rabbit hole through their impressive discography. I’m not sure how Sandveiss hasn’t been on my radar until now, but their latest, Standing in the Fire, a captivating blend of hard rock, stoner, prog, and metal, with powerful, clean vocals and irresistible hooks, has been on repeat for weeks. The Long Forever split album from Lowrider and Elephant Tree, two perennial favorites, completely broke my “no splits” rule. Rounding out the top five is the latest spellbinding psychedelic doom offering from California’s Old Blood.
Northern California cosmic stoner doom trio Deer Lord returns with a thundering new release, Dark Matter Pt. 2, fittingly released on Halloween day. I was immediately drawn to the fuzzy, eerie groove of debut album Bloodstained from French trio Oda. … Belgium’s Your Highness rumbles onto my radar and into the monthly top ten with their bluesy sludge offering. Coming in at #9 is Philly/Delaware doom metal outfit High Reeper. And rounding out this month’s top ten is another fantastic psychedelic blues offering from UK-based Black Elephant.
Seven countries represented this month – Australia, Sweden, Canada, UK, USA, France, and Belgium.
Ten more essential October 2024 Albums
- Inche Kai Che – Inche Kai Che
- Eye of the Golem – Nigredo
- Morpholith – Dystopian Distributions of Mass Produced Narcotics
- The Electric Mud – Ashes and Bone
- Oryx – Primordial Sky
- Doomraiser – Cold Grave Marble
- Ruff Majik – Moth Eater
- Wizzerd – Saturnalia
- Demonio – Acid Rain
- Low Flying Hawks – Makebelieve