The most ironic thing about this month is that November is generally my favorite month to listen to music. There’s something about the chill in the air, darkness embracing us earlier and earlier, and the slowly developing bleakness of the landscape makes me want to experience a whole new soundtrack.
Life happens, man, and sometimes that’s how it goes. The 10 albums I am listing are literally the only 10 albums I had time to listen to. But I gotta tell you, each one of these releases would’ve made it onto the list one way or the other.
I’ve mentioned it a couple times on our YouTube channel, so I might as well address it here: Newbie Doomer ended up in the ICU for a few days with a pulmonary embolism, a side effect of the Achilles tendon/bone spur surgery she had in September. She’s totally fine, and a few hours from now she’s getting her boot off and we can begin some serious rehab and power walking. It’s not a stretch to say that I got distracted by some really important things this month, and none more important than she is.
Top 10 albums of November
10. LORD KINBOTE – CALM LIKE CASTLE BRAVO
Maybe I’m becoming heavily infuenced by Doomcakes (Stephanie) and her love of grunge. Which is a good thing, since she knows what she’s writing about. Or I’m just getting old and nostalgic for some old-fashioned Grunge-tinged hard rock with catchy riffs. Either way, Lord Kinbote fits the bill. My immediate reaction to the rousing opener, Castle Bravo, was like hearing a searing Stone Temple Pilots riff for the first time. Oh, this is gooood. Nothing that came after changed my mind, and if you need some real RAWK in your life, this gem from The Land Down Under is a solid bet!
09. AGLO – BUILD FEAR
Deep, growling vocals are a tough thing for me to get past. Most of the time. AGLO has such a compelling, dark guitar tone with a bass and drum section that grooves so hard it compels me to embrace the bleakness. This is Doom/Death that never loses sense of pace and purpose: resistance to this Riffage was definitely futile.
08. SUPERTZAR – EPIC TRUTHS & FANTASIES
Man, if you’re going to name your band after a classic Sabbath song, you have a lot to live up to. I also think there’s a danger of being “too on point,” or literal with the Sabbath worship. In the case of Supertzar, they nailed it. Take closing song The Factions Part I. It has a modern, acoustic and melodic opening more akin to chilled-out Monolord, until their inner Iommi comes out with a thunderous riff that lies somewhere between Sabbotage and Mob Rules. Supertzar claims on their Bandcamp that they came together during a Monolor and Conan concert, and that fits. But it’s the fact that the whole album is so fresh and vibrant that’s the big surprise here. Primo stuff, and Epic Myths and Fantaisies lives up to its lofty name!
07. SKULL SERVANT – TRADITIONAL BLACK MAGICKS II
He (Calvin Bauer) comes across as some dude from Sweden given an experimental cannabinoid, like Delta-13 or something, from a sketchy dispensary imbedded in a gas station. He’s always just on the edge of losing the groove or fucking up the transition, and I keep waiting for the train wreck. It doesn’t happen, and what feels like a bad choice gone wrong ends up being the part of the song you go back to, over and over, just to feel the blissful rush one more time – Skull Servant review
06. CLOUDS TASTE SATANIC – ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOUR SOUL
It’s time they formed the “Trans-Satanic Orchestra” and be done with it. Anything less than an UnHoliday EP every year would be the only thing disappointing about this blast of HeXmas cheer.
05. RAGANA – DESOLATION’S FLOWER
I feel like I keep writing the same thing, over and over, each month. Actually, I think it’s a continuous thought that I have yet to actually address: there is something going on in “Doom”, it’s becoming more eclectic, bringing in a surprising number of artists who, on the surface, could be making more money or even attention in a different genre. Ragana presents a stark version of Doom, with severely blackened vocals, vulnerable yet full of rage. Don’t let the artistic sensibilities and gender of the band fool you: This isn’t “woke” so much as savagely aware…
04. BURN RITUAL – GRAVE WATCHER
Yet another one-man band, Burn Ritual maestro Jake Lewis takes us on another dark and doom-tinged journey of awesome. Starting out as an almost pure tribute to Windhand, Grave Watcher twists and turns beyond influence and into a near-perfect brew of all things dark and heavy, and then back again. Grave Watcher is a must-have for fans of pure contemporary Doom, especially fans of Haunted, Monolord, and once again, Windhand. Jake has an original take on the genre, but never strays too far from the low-and-slow template so many of us love…and crave.
03. BANDSHEE – BANDSHEE III
I don’t blame you. It’s easy to miss a small band from Louisville, Kentucky, releasing yet another EP of original material and trying to stand out in an extremely crowded release schedule. But Bandshee III is a quantum leap over Curse of the Bandshee from late last year. And that’s saying something, since Curse has been on heavy rotation here at Headquarters for the past few months. Bandshee is emerging from the shadows of their Blood Ceremony-infused retro style, and leaning heavily into some of the most original guitar work I’ve heard in years. But it’s Romana who steals the show with her ever-evolving voice.
Bandshee is on the verge of becoming one of the most original bands in the heavy underground, and Bandshee III is a huge step in that direction.
02. ALMOST HONEST – THE HEX OF PENNS WOODS
Almost Honest is one of the many casualties to my schedule in November. This definitely deserves a full length review, but I can rest easy knowing that Kyle SB “dropped the mic” with his excellent review on Stoner Hive. He nails it when he declares that The Hex of Penns Woods catapults these guys into another league.
This is just fun, exciting, excellent stuff and damn good story telling!
01. RITUAL KING – THE INFINITE MIRROR
I got into a “mostly” friendly debate with a fellow reviewer, outside of the Doom Charts, who was publishing his top 100 albums of 2023 like, a week ago. I pointed out that it was November, and he pointed out that he was already getting PR material for 2024.
Fair enough, but the last comment I made to him was a link to The Infinite Mirror. I haven’t heard back from him since.
From the acoustic flourishes of opener Flow State to the resolution of the final chord of the title track, this is a virtually perfect album. The writing, recording and production is a thing of beauty. I can’t help but notice the influence of Elder and King Buffalo- not on the song writing or style, but the trend towards massive works of art and…magnificence.
I know that a lot of us are probably a little panicked at the amount of work ahead of us as we slide into December. I feel the urge, the temptation to wrap 2023 in a nice package and a shiny bow. In the meantime, we still have 30 days left in a year this has been absolutely fantastic across the entire spectrum of the heavy underground.
Ritual King’s The Infinite Mirror is my reminder to slow it down a bit, and make sure you’ve heard everything before you put a period on your final list.
And now I gotta listen to the new Green Lung album. I hear it’s pretty good…
