Heavystoned Albums · 20.04.2026
And then there are days when I receive music that goes far beyond my usual musical horizons. The Finnish band Marianas Rest achieved this with their release this year, "The Bereaved." Normally, an opener like "Thank You for the Dance" closes an album, a song that begins calmly, subtly, and culminates in an epic monument, practically a soundtrack. "Rat in the Wall," however, is as melodic as an Amorphis song, sung with growling death metal vocals and clean backing vocals. The following song...
Daily Peaks · 08.01.2026
I had barely finished enjoying the excellent appetizer "I See You" by Suplecs when I unfortunately had to criticize the song "No Apologies," which is about two minutes too long. The intro is too long, the hooks are played eight times instead of two—for what? To fill a record? Less noodling means more listening pleasure; constant repetition is simply annoying. "I See You" is a perfect song; a riff that combines Black Sabbath with a certain rawness of punk, interspersed with some noisy shredder...
Daily Peaks · 31.01.2025
Maison Dieu hailing from Ancona, Italy and they sound like a jam between Karma to Burn´s riffing and drumming and Electric Wizzard´s riffing with Jex Thoth on vocals. Actually a lot of reasons to buy the record or their merch. The lyrics are a hermetic poem that speaks of the dialogue between the plant from which the song takes its name (Mandragola) and a person who tries to uproot it to extract the magical properties derived from the root, which is known to be shrouded in countless stories,...
Daily Peaks · 27.12.2024
In the late 70´s and early 80´s we were flooded with records of Budgie, Triumph, April Wine or Y&T, which put a lot of melodic rock into hard riffin´ music. Nice to hear, but not heavy or loud or fast enough. That´s why bands like Motörhead, Maiden, Priest, Saxon, Accept etc. gained a lot of success and sold out tours. Musically more interested were those nerdy bands which I mentioned above. Now, 40 years later, Warlung dug out this kind of music, added an authentic production to their...
Heavystoned Albums · 22.11.2024
Let’s set the stage: Sergeant Thunderhoof’s latest masterpiece dives headfirst into the mists of history, weaving myth and legend into a tapestry of heavy riffs and haunting melodies. For those who've skipped their British history classes, Badon Hill was the site of a legendary battle between native Britons (Celts) and invading Saxons. Fittingly, this album is steeped in the spirit of struggle, honor, and the echoes of ancient Somerset, the band’s home turf. The opener, "Badon", eases us...
Daily Peaks · 08.11.2024
Nothing unusual really: Tony Iommi plays one amazing riff, hook and solo after another in and outside a castle with a band. If Ronnie James Dio sang along, it could easily pass as "Heaven and Hell" 2.0. Up until that point, everything is normal. It's the normal Toni Iommi riff god song. For the post, I needed a picture and googled "Tony Iommi Xerjoff" and ended up with a perfume range from the company "Xerjoff", which was founded by Sergio Momo in 2007. Sergio Momo also plays guitar in the...
Daily Peaks · 04.10.2024
Press releases are always interesting; if they are very long, then the music is usually not interesting and if the author of the text searches in vain for the right words, then the music is interesting. This is what happened with the Danish band "Dying Hydra" and their latest single "Grasping Stone". Sludge means in this case the slowness of the song and the growls. So much for melodic sludge which was mentioned in the press text; there are so many different styles in this song, be it doom, a...
Heavystoned Albums · 05.09.2024
Babona's new album is a heavy mix of instrumental groove and crushing doom metal, and it pulls no punches. Think Karma to Burn, but darker, heavier, and with an ominous undertow that drags you into the depths. The song titles? They might be in Hungarian, but they perfectly reflect the mood shifts of the music—each track feels like a chapter in some lost, mythical journey. The opener, Virágom, might translate to "my flower," but don't expect any delicate petals here. The track blooms slowly,...
Daily Peaks · 23.08.2024
You can already hear the closeness to their compatriots Moonspell, but Sinistro have a classically trained singer in Priscila Da Costa, who needs opera arrangements and vocal lines to bring out her fantastic voice in Portuguese. The song "Elegia" is reminiscent of the best Paradise Lost moments like "No Hope Inside" or "An Eternity of Lies", only this band has a much better voice and probably a much better front(wo)man. The album will be released on October 4th, 2024 and I'm already excited...
Heavystoned Albums · 08.07.2024
It took them less than three years to compose and record "Breakfast with Death" with a simple artwork which is easy to understand and 38 minutes of music which only Duel is able to perform. Their recipe is absolutely unique and for non-US-bands not to copy. They put the southern swagger together with NWoBHM, Proto Metal, a bit of melodic Doom, spiced with the ghost of late 70´s b-movies, horror-movies and the useful amount of a winking eye. The production is closer to "In carne Persona" than...