https://linktr.ee/cleanandsoberstoner
Another month of holy shit! I need another year to catch up with everything. As always, I freely admit that there’s A LOT I couldn’t get to. But the stuff I did? Well, Our Doom Charts for February 2024 probably contains a big chunk of the Best of the Year list.
I do plan on this being my last month of doing this solo. After this, Jipsy and Blake will (hopefully) be a much bigger part of the monthly lists.
For the first time, the list is also available on YouTube. There’s lots of bonus material in the video, aka “ranting.” I think I come across like I went to a John Malkovich and Christopher Walken film festival and somehow got stuck in-between imitating both of them. But it’s up there, with plenty of “why did he say that” moments…
Our Doom Charts for February 2024
10. SAMSARA JOYRIDE- THE SUBTLE & THE DENSE
Pure blues-based heavy psych. Great production. Heaviness not for heaviness sake, but to make the song better. Solid, real focus and groove for days. This is fun, heavy, trippy and just plain GOOD. For fans of Hard Rock done right!
09. SPECTRAL VOICE – SPARAGMOS
Funeral Doom, with more than a touch Blackened Death. Tremolo picking at 30 beats per minute is awesome! The vocals are as grating and intense as the guitars while the bass and drums plod along until it’s time for a blastbeat. Funeral Doom for people who don’t know that they love Fundral Doom.
08. LOCOMOTIVA ELECTRICA – OS ANIMAIS QUE NOS HABITAM
What’s better than heavy blues-based psychedelic music? MORE heavy blues-based psychedelic music. This time with tasty Hammond keyboards that are more Uriah Heep than Deep Purple. Brazil and the whole of South America are KILLING it lately. Instrumental heavy psych with a hint of spice! Absolute old-school guitar heaven!
07. DEADPEACH – THE COSMIC HAZE AND THE HUMAN RACE
Even more bluesy heavy psych, this time courtesy of Italy. Oh, and with a hefty dose of punk-attitude and swagger. Deadpeach have been doing this longer than ANYBODY, and this is their “we’re still here, bitches” moment. Find out for yourself why Deadpeach is such a big frigging deal and check them out ASAP!
06. THE OBSESSED – GILDED SORROW
There is no single person in the Stoner/Doom scene with a more consistent catalog than Wino. Doesn’t matter what band or incarnation it is, his DNA is all over it and it’s unmistakable. This is AOTY material for a lot of doomers, and I can’t argue. Expectations were high, and they were absolutely met!
05. GRAVITY WELL – NEGATIVE SPACE
With influences like Sabbath, Kyuss, Sleep and Windhand, I expected a generic but solid album. Ah, but they didn’t tell us what parts of those bands they meant. Gravity Well under-promised and seriously over-delivered with an album of space-aged Doom that’s closer in spirit to Acid King than any band I’ve heard. AOTY contender without a doubt.
04. DEAD RUNES – RAIDHO
What Dead Runes pulls off on this album is remarkable. They mix up the tempo, tone, and groove of the album while maintaining a solid identity. Equal parts Doom/Metal/Stoner with a slight progressive edge.
Be sure to subscribe here and on our YouTube Channel. Jipsy is interviewing Dead Runes, and we’ll have a more in-depth review later in March
03. SUNDRIFTER – AN EARLIER TIME
February surprised me a lot. Sundrifter is one of the biggest. “Limitless” is the Hot Track for me here. It announces the intentions of the album, and it just takes off from there. World-class vocals, REAL guitar tone. Heavy stuff that sits alongside Faerie Ring and Aurlayer as some of the best that this new generation has to offer.
Breaking news: Sundrifter hit #1 on the Doom Charts!!!!
02. SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM – OF THE LAST HUMAN BEING
Full disclosure: I’ve seen them three times, back in the early 2000’s. They were practically a local band, and their show at the Whole Earth Festival in Davis is burned into my brain. This is the stuff, along with Dredg, that reignited my passion back in the day. What can I say: a legendary band whose reunion SURPASSES the albums that made them legend.
This was meant to be inhaled all at once. Hold it in deeply.
01. ništa – ništa
Nothing but feels for this one. Check out my video review as I babble, out of focus, on how much I love this album. Even mentioning it beckons me back to its haunting embrace. Ništa is my favorite album so far in the early part of the year. I can’t imagine anything supplanting it.
Better yet, here’s Jipsy’s hot take on the album:
Jipsy on ništa:
Nista, what can I say? This Post-Rock band from The Netherlands is something to pay attention too. They deliver all the sorrow and longing we each carry at some point in our lives, served up with freshly picked bittersweet melodies.
My heart broke a thousand times while listening to the hauntingly feminine vocals telling me stories I already knew but hadn’t faced for a while, simple and painful tales of what love really feels like.
The lyrics are timeless. With the melodic shoegaze tones and the innocence of the vocals, I felt as though I might drown in grief a few times and nearly hit pause. But I was saved by heavy guitar progressions, to my great relief. The bass came through for me as well, several times, offering something to grab onto to stay afloat.
As the songs move along, the theme of the sweet suffering of love is obvious. The talent of the musicians is also clear, with beautiful and heavy melodies that support a sweet and melancholy voice. I imagine seeing this band live would be an utterly transformative experience.
************************************************************************************
So, that’s Our Doom Charts for February 2024.
I have a feeling we’ll be going through a lot of changes over the next few weeks. It might just be the perfect time to follow us on this blog, and our YouTube channel…
One thought on “Our Doom Charts for February 2024”