The Grim Gang is a four-piece grunge / hard rock hailing from Richmond, Virginia. Although The Grim Gang's career is very new - they just released their first, three-song demo EP Introducing​.​.​.​The Grim Gang - it looks quite promising.

The highlight of the EP is certainly the first track, Troublemaker. With its heavy and raw 90's sound and fast, catchy rhythm, it's a powerful song which will make your muscles move without you noticing. Exactly what a grunge song should be. The second track, Willow Branch, is a slower, ballad-esque rocker in the vein of Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains. The last song is a pretty straight forward cover of Nirvana's Pennyroyal Tea.

I really enjoyed the first demo EP of The Grim Gang. They caught my interest and can't wait to see a full album. If you like what you hear, then head over to their bandcamp and grab a digital copy for more listening pleasure. Also be sure to support them by checking out their Facebook, Soundcloud and Twitter.

Bandcamp | Website| Soundcloud
Facebook | Twitter

Telekinetic Yeti - Stoned and Feathered Video

Epic stoner metal/stoner doom is at the core of the duo Telekinetic Yeti, whose first full-length album is coming out march 2017, through Sump Pump Records. Check out the video for Stoned and Feathered, a track from their upcoming album, Abominable. It's a great presentation card for this band which creates a groovy, massive sound. Pre-orders for the album has started, links below.

Facebook | Big Cartel

Album Sale (Vinyl)

Pre-order Now

La Iglesia Atomica - La Mala Viene Single / Demo (2016)

Apparently the band reunited after 20 years, but I don't know much about these guys. I was lucky to find the release on Bandcamp. There are three of them, they are from San Juan, Puerto Rico and they've just released a catchy as hell single called La Mala Viene.

Sung in Spanish, it has elements of stoner rock, blues rock and psychedelic. Their single is a name your own price download on bandcamp. Check it out below and as always support the band if you like it!

Bandcamp | Facebook | Soundcloud

The Unholy 13 - Best of 2016

I'm presenting you The Unholy 13, my top albums of the year. It's a totally subjective list and these are only the stoner/doom/sludge/retro rock albums that I consider personal favourites. It was quite hard to make a solid selection out of all those wonderful albums released in 2016. I also wanted to pick more underground bands, so you won't see here bands like Witchcraft or Blood Ceremony. Of course compared to Adele or The Weeknd they are still very underground, but you get the idea, right?

I also want to say thank you so much to everyone who visited my blog. 2016 was a good year for Stoner Mountain.

P.S. Please visit Stoner Mountain on Facebook and click the "Like" button :)

13. Dunbarrow - Dunbarrow

Nothing new here, but I just love this album. The overall sound is very Witchcraft/Pentagram-esque, but can you blame them? It's just like Magnus Pelander sang - 'It is the Pentagram. It's got your soul again and you never be free!'. Easy listening and no skipping needed, just press play.

Favourite track: Forsaken

Bandcamp | Facebook

12. Stone Witch - Order of the Goat

A well balanced combination of stoner rock, hard rock and doom metal with a pinch of catchy blues tones thrown in for good measure.

Favourite track: The Herald

Bandcamp | Facebook

11. Conan - Revengeance

Conan's Revengeance is a beast. Heavy as fuck and extremely slow at times, but also has some well-placed faster moments that brings together a favourable combination of blast beats and doom, which really gets you into a head banging mood.

Favourite track: Revengeance

Bandcamp | Facebook

10. Old Blood - Old Blood

Another wonderful female fronted doom band. Old Blood mixes a bluesy vibe with psychedelic and doom sounds, creating dense, spaced-out atmospherics. They describe their sound as acid doom and that's probably the best description. Of course, I cannot forget about the soft, beautiful, almost smooth jazz-like vocals.

Favourite track: Taking Refuge with Strangers

Bandcamp | Facebook

9. Electric Citizen - Higher Time

Electric Citizen had me in 2014 with their superb debut album Sateen. It was a great, highly energetic mix of 70’s psych rock and vintage doom with hypnotic Siouxsie Sioux-style vocals. Higher Time builds forward on that formula, bringing just slightly updates to their overall sound. The album is more consistent but ultimately not as good as Sateen.

Favourite track: Crux

Bandcamp | Facebook

8. Bright Curse - Before The Shore

Bluesy and heavy stoner/doom grooves from the UK. Before The Shore is so thrilling, that it’s hard to believe it’s the product of just three people. The album is chock-full of muscular guitar sounds, powerhouse drums, prominent bass and amazing, clean vocals. There's definitely a Witchcraft and Graveyard vibe.

Favourite track: The Shore

Bandcamp | Facebook

7. Winter Moon - Hearts and Hands EP

Yes, it's another female fronted retro rock, but they have a unique and refreshing style that will appeal to a broad range of tastes. I just love how Winter Moon transcend many classic rock genres like blues rock, psych-rock, hard rock and it still sounds modern. The songwriting is taut, soaring and shows how a real band crafts their tunes once the writer has penned the initial song. The musicianship is at a high level. Each song is haunting in its own way with the guitars wailing, drums banging, keyboards conjuring melodies and soulful powerhouse vocals. Read the whole review

Favourite track: Wasted With You

Bandcamp | Facebook

6(66). Psychic Dose - Myrkviðr

The best example why it's good to wait with the 'Best of' list until the end of the year. Psychic Dose's second album was released just 10 days ago. Their music is heavier now, characterized by a more sinister and morbid sound; less 70's proto/traditional doom metal and more 80's doom metal/heavy metal. The production is much better and the vocals...Holy Smokes! The vocals are so fucking awesome. Singer Amanda Howell can touch your soul with her smoky powerhouse voice one minute, then completely melt your face off with passionate higher pitched vocals and harsh screams. Read the whole review

Favourite track: Lycnthropic State

Bandcamp | Facebook

5. Haunted - Haunted

Think of it as Electric Wizard teaming up with Pentagram adding female vocals, a dark, doomy sound played in a funky, rockin' psychedelic way. I'm just addicted to their overall sound and the catchiness of each of their songs. From the hauntingly beautiful vocals to the monolithic riffs. This is exactly how we want all of our records to sound like. Read the whole review

Favourite track: Nightbreed

Bandcamp | Facebook

4. Messa - Belfry

It was a battle for the fourth place between two Italian newcomers, Haunted and Messa, like a classic Serie A match between Juventus and Roma. ‘Belfry’ is searingly honest and brilliantly uncompromising, but also stuff full of hooks. There’s a lot of diversity present. It's a refreshing take on doom metal taking inspiration from different genres like drone, ambient and industrial. The sound is Heavy, melodic, immersive, trippy. And last, but not least, Sara's voice is beautiful and powerful, to the point of leaving you speechless.

Favourite track: Blood

Bandcamp | Facebook

3. Salem's Pot - Pronounce This!

The child of Electric Wizard and the younger brother of Windhand. They finally established their sound. Yes, it's much softer now, but guess what? They've never sounded better! Pronounce This! is a top notch and surprisingly diverse sounding album, there's even a sweet, laid back country-blues track!

Favourite track: Desire

Bandcamp | Facebook

2. Grajo - Grajo

Another female fronted newcomer on the list. Grajo nailed it with their self-titled debut. These guys have a really groovy Saint Vitus-esque vibe around their sound. Combine this with mountainous riffs and you're in for a ten ton trip. Yes, it's heavy, but very melodic at the same time, with mesmerising dreamy vocals. A perfect combination, very refreshing. Trust me, you'll get addicted in no time. Read the whole review

Favourite track: Magic Eye

Bandcamp | Facebook

1. Mountain Dust - Nine Years

The King is dead, long live The King! Because Mountain Dust is like a spiritual successor to Sweden's Graveyard. Heavy, bluesy 70's hard rock with loud, soulful clean vocals that are clear and have a wonderful bluesy tone to them. Nine Years is their full-length debut album and it already tipped Mountain Dust into the big leagues. It's got fistfuls of energy and manages to have an identity of it's own, which isn't easy. The seven tracks on this record contain enough traces of different acid/psychedelic rock, early heavy metal and even some traditional doom to make classic rock fans lose themselves for a few hours.

Favourite track: Running Fool

Bandcamp | Facebook

Voodoo Idol - Sense (2016)

The second band from Russia is Voodoo Idol, a refreshing alternative/stoner rock trio from Moscow. Sense is Voodoo Idol's first full-length album, released in September, the record consists of nine stunning tracks, in which the band manage to combine experimentation with various genres.

Voodoo Idol take inspiration from alternative rock, psychedelic, pop rock and of course, stoner rock, that gives us a perfect balance of heavy grooviness and an almost poppy catchiness. Alina Goldobina, the woman behind Voodoo Idol, has a knack for drifting melodies and soft, soothing singing. The rhythm section is tight, with a rolling bass and precise drumming. Songs like (Welcome to the) Vault, Ghost and Hell On Wheels are a great example of psychedelia and powerful rock, while songs like Those Signs Led, Hero and Tango show the band's softer, danceable side. I especially like the rolling bass, the stuttering drum beat.

Overall, Sense is full of shiny hooks and standout moments. It's a catchy album that you will love immediately and put on repeat for some time. Now let the music do the talking. Recommended!

Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | VK

Temnee - Dialectics (2016)

I'm still doing some old requests. So let me take you to trip to Russia to meet these two bands, Voodoo Idol and Temnee. Let's start with the second one.

Temnee is a massive heavy psych instrumental, stoner rock band from Tver (it's located about 160 kilometers north west of Moscow).

Dialectics, Temnee's full-length debut album is a wild psych-stoner ride. The whole album is crammed full of ideas and the breadth of genres covered results in some intriguing music. It's a generally great and always entertaining mash of psychodelia, stoner rock, 70s space rock, krautrock, sweet fuzzy riffage, catchy hooks and even some hard blues based rock and roll. It's filled with tsunamis of chunky riffs, ear-splitting solos, low-end bass and groovy jams — like the soundtrack to a psychedelic drug film.

Sometimes the best releases never receive as much credit as they deserve, and this is one of them. It's an awesome fuzzy, heavy psych instrumental gem you cannot miss!

Bandcamp | Facebook | Soundcloud | VK

Padres del Yermo - Demo (2016)

Ok, Christmass is over. Now back to business!

Padres del Yermo is a young, psychedelic/space/desert rock four-piece from Buenos Aires, that brings us some stunning cosmic soul-soothing jams. Their Demo was released on October 17.

The demo is the band's debut and it offers six long songs of tight, riff-fueled fuzziness filled with that wonderful Argentinian vibe of space, stoner and psychedelic rock. The cosmic and warm sound is key with this promising band. They may sing in Spanish but I'm sure their songs will speak to you anyway. Listen to La Importancia del Mito to get the perfect feel of a song you never want to stop, even though it's almost 8 minutes long. Then the heavy, drilling Fuego fatuo, which creates a heavy, somber mood that is sometimes dark and deep and then warm and relaxing. Then, the groovy, upbeat El mandato, with a dirty bassline, monotonal hypnotised vocals...

Haven't you heard enough? Just go and get a copy of their demo. It's definitely worth downloading it. Pay what you want through the Bandcamp link below.

Bandcamp | Facebook

Merry Christmas from Stoner Mountain!

I wish you and your families a merry Christmas! I hope that you're all healthy and lucky and that Santa (or Satan, I don't judge ;D) got you all the stuff you wished for.

The year is not over yet, for the next days I will review some old requests and of course there will be also a 'Best of 2016' list. So stay tuned!

Desertfest London: Saint Vitus, Wolves In The Throne Room and more confirmed!

As festival season creeps closer and closer, Desertfest London has gone ahead and announced another amazing bands to it's already killer line-up.

Enjoy an early Christmas treat from DESERTFEST LONDON, with their last announcement for this year and a dozen more bands to join the festival's lineup on April 28-30th, 2017.

Conjurers of atmospheric black metal WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM are back on the warpath and headed straight for Camden! Doom pioneers SAINT VITUS make their Desertfest London debut, with founding vocalist Scott Reagers in tow.

Not content to merely headline this year's festival with Slo Burn, stoner rock's favourite frontman brings the JOHN GARCIA BAND to Desertfest 2017. Returning sludge crust heroes SCISSORFIGHT are taking a stand on this year's Human Disease Promo/When Planets Collide Stage.

Jamming psychsters STONED JESUS will be playing a special set of their album "Seven Thunders Roar" back to back, and as if it wasn't enough, we've got brutality - from WEAR YOUR WOUNDS, EARTH SHIP and IRON WITCH - and insanity - from BACKWOODS PAYBACK and one of the UK's most exciting doom acts, MAMMOTH WEED WIZARD BASTARD.

We've also got your stoner rock covered with STEAK, your 70s worship is sorted with DEAD LORD and your psych is all over the place with PONTIAK. And the party doesn't stop with Sleep this year, as the festival invited Canadian party rock foursome CHRON GOBLIN to play us out in style at the official after party... ~ Purple Sage PR

- DESERTFEST LONDON 2017 -

28th to 30th April in Camden, London

Weekend passes (£100) available HERE

Get more infos on the Desertfest website

Follow the festival on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Psychic Dose - Myrkviðr (2016)

Some of you might know these four freaks from Fort Myers, Florida from their great lo-fi retro doom debut from 2015. Psychic Dose just released their second full-length studio album, titled Myrkviðr. It's so fresh that it's still warm.

The band's sound has notably evolved since their debut album Satyrnalia. The lyrics are still influenced by paganism and fantasy, but the music is heavier, characterized by a more sinister and morbid sound; less 70's proto/traditional doom metal and more 80's doom metal/heavy metal. The production is much better and the vocals...Holy Smokes! The vocals are so fucking awesome. Singer Amanda Howell can touch your soul with her smoky powerhouse voice one minute, then completely melt your face off with passionate higher pitched vocals and harsh screams. Which reminds me of Dax Riggs's singing in the mighty Acid Bath. Enough with the vocals, because the music is equally awesome. Psychic Dose assaults you with thunderous guitar riffs, explosive bass lines, and pounding drums. There is a decent amount of variation between the songs with slower, doomy songs like Lycnthropic State, Phantoms and Fall of the Valkyrie, as well as more up-tempo stuff like Maenad and The Doom of Sarnath.

Anyway, I'd suggest this fantastic album to anyone who likes their metal with a special, more sinister edge. Although this album might feel dark, but it also provides a strange feeling of enjoyment and makes you want to get up to bang your head. Let's dance the electric Pagan Love Song!

Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter

BCMC - BCMC Single / EP (2016)

BCMC is a noise rock / stoner rock duo from Montevideo, Uruguay consisting of Bruno Conti on drums and Matías Cor on vocals/guitars. They just released their two-track debut record, wich can be downloaded for free from their Bandcamp.

On their first release they bring forth their South American stoner rock with a dose of punk energy, inspired by the good old Queens of the Stone Age. If you are in the mood for choppy riffs and loud pounding drums, that makes you swoon and wanna bang your head at the same time, then check these guys out. You might not understand the lyrics of BCMC, but you don't have to - the rhythm and the vocals are too catchy not to appreciate. Show them some love!

Bandcamp | Facebook