Our Top 10 Stoner/Doom Albums for August, 2024

Finbally, we’re heading into the home stretch of Summer. Depending where you are, this time of year can either be brutal or idyllic. Personally, it’s been brutal. Lucky for us, we have Reverend Fuzzcut to step in and craft the Clean and Sober Stoner list for August. Otherwise, this would be the first month in nearly two years that we didn’t.

Our Top 13 Stoner/Metal/Doom Albums for August are an eclectic mix that represent the turmoil and triumphs of a challenging month. Which is a great way to describe Stoner/Doom!

Our Top 10+ Stoner/Doom Albums for August, 2024

10. Fostermother: Echo Manner

Ripple is a label that seems to be completely incapable of releasing mediocrity. Everything they’ve released this year – from Temple of the Fuzz Witch to Haunted to RIFFLORD has been absolutely primo, grade A+ stoner doom. The latest album by Fostermother – Echo Manor – is no different.

Fostermother has given us something special here. It’s one of those records I can play for fans of pop and mainstream music and they typically respond pretty positively. I won’t make any bones about it – my wife and step-kid aren’t super into this kind of music, but even they were asking me questions about Fostermother’s latest effort.

I have a feeling it’s because there’s a lot to like here. Fans of prog will find light elements to rejoice in across the LP, the vocal hooks are absolutely infectious, the riffs are crunchy, and the lows are pushed – what’s not to like?

This is another one of those records I could see igniting the bulging powder key under stoner doom. I could see this making a dent in the charts much in the same way Castle Rat did earlier this year. It has all those special ingredients that allows an album to be well-received by the vast majority that hear it, but without the band having to sacrifice any artistic integrity whatsoever to achieve that kind of crossover potential. Bravo!

9. Eyes of the Oak: Neolithic Flint Dagger

This album came out of absolutely nowhere for me. I found it by complete happenstance on Bandcamp and it blew me away from the first track on. 

Eyes of the Oak have absolutely dominated my meditation sessions since releasing Neolithic Flint Dagger. This is heavy, doomy music, sure. That’s without a doubt, however Eyes of the Oak very much reside in the same space as Acid King and Earthen do for me in that they are crushingly heavy, but they really aren’t all that aggressive.

The doom mood is more evoked by a masterful use of timing effects, vocal delivery, and chord progression mores than any aggressive chugging or other more metal techniques. This is going to appeal to fans of doomy space-rock such as Astral Construct or Absynth. Check this out if you want to reach sonic enlightenment.

8. Sidewinder: Talons

The first thing that is going to strike any listener once the wax ring starts spinning is how powerful the vocals are on Talons. Jem Tupe’s vocal work across the entirety of this album reaches the kind of emotional depth only heard from vocalists on the level of Chris Cornell.

Don’t think that’s the only thing Sidewinder has on offer with Talons, however. Oh no. The riffs across the entirety of the Talons are chock-full to the brim of big, bassy caveman-blues riffs that will get the listener’s head banging right off their neck. The mix on this LP is bass-heavy – just like I like it – so this is the perfect album to throw on this month when you really want to feel those low frequencies in your chest.

Editorial Note: Jem delivers one of the best vocal performances of the year, maybe even the decade: This is must-hear stuff! – SWSpiers

7. Föhn: Condescending 

Listening to this latest LP by Föhn is a bit like scraping the raw nerves from the roots of your teeth against salt-encrusted, lemon juice-soaked sandpaper. This is a dense, chaotic, anarchic listen. I certainly didn’t feel well after I sat through it for the first time and I don’t right now for what is easily the tenth. 

But that’s why I love this album so damned much. Anything that can reach inside me, tug at the strings of my psyche, and make me feel is a worthwhile pursuit in my book, and the fine folks in Föhn have certainly succeeded in manipulating my feelings. Now true, these aren’t good emotions like I feel from walking away from a SUNN O))) or Sumac listening session, but the sheer fact that mere sound waves can make me this uncomfortable, this anxious and full of panic is a testament to the incredible songwriters Föhn are.

6. Mammoth Volume: Raised up by Witches

Truth time: I did not like Mammoth Volume the first time I heard them. At all. I simply didn’t get it. I listened to The Cursed Who Perform the Larvagod Rites three times through before I removed it from my saved folder. It was simply not for me.

But I also wasn’t in the headspace for something as complicated and out there from another fucking planet as Mammoth Volume at the time because my life was as messy as a game of bait-and-switch with a baby’s diaper at a Gallagher comedy special. Luckily I made sure to listen to the PR copy of this amazing record in full right after I listened to delving so I was already craving some far-out, crazy-ass, proggy grooves.

So short story, I now own vinyl copies of both The Cursed Who Perform the Larvagod Rites and Raised up by Witches. See what I mean about just needing to hear the right albums at the right times? Raised up by Witches is the perfect listen right after delving. They’re both such outlandish releases, but both do their own unique, crazy brand of prog only they themselves are capable of creating.

5. Norna: Norna

I had been looking forward to this album for a few months ever since hearing the first single and it more than lived up to what I had hoped it would become. These are heavy, thick riffs. They don’t so much come blasting out of the speaker cones to punch the listener in the teeth as much as they slowly ooze out, trickle like molasses into a festering, smoking slime onto to floor to eat a hole through the foundation.

Norna achieves much the same effect as bands like YOB and Lungburner – they slowly grind the listener down with wave after wave of perilously downtrend riffage. If you’re in the mood for something caustic and violent, look no further, folks. This will do it for you.

4. Cobranoid: Cobranoid

“If you’re here simply looking for caveman riffs to pump your fist to, you will likely love this EP, however I do hope y’all put this one under the microscope a bit more than usual because the depth of songwriting in these riffs covers a spectrum at once both a deeper abyss than the furthest reaches of space and as shallow a pool as a puddle evaporating in the summer’s heat. There’s as much substance to willfully grab onto and ingest as one wishes – both light and shade in equal measure. Cobranoid is a fantastic debut recording by an act I will certainly be keeping my eye on.”

3. Barbarian Hermit: Mean Sugar

I have to admit if I would have found out about this record just a few days earlier I would have absolutely spent the time reviewing it, but alas I was just a bit too late to the party. Rest assured this album would have absolutely won album of the month from me in any normal month, but the two records at the top of this list exist and there’s only so much a band can do when they’re going up against what are essentially The White Album or Dopethrone. It’s all but impossible to topple complete perfection.

Barbarian Hermit’s latest effort here is a mishmash of all things heavy. It’s doomy, it’s sludgy, it’s punky, and the whole presentation is wrapped up in golden bow bearing some of the catchiest vocal hooks this side of a dimed drive knob. Barbarian Hermit very much achieves the same atmosphere of what I’ve taken to calling Arena Sludge since QAALM forced me to try to come up with a phrase that could succinctly describe their sound with their incredible EP The First Light of the Last Dawn back from June.

What’s different in this release – well, aside from being a full LP of course – is that these songs are for the most part standard-length listening experiences. Expect something more like joy-inducing five minute songs here rather than QAALM’s fifteen minute cacophonic, clattering symphonies of nihilism. 

Number One: Tie!

1. Anciients: Beyond the Reach of the Sun

I had high hopes for Beyond the Reach of the Sun. Based of the two pre-release singles, I knew the album had a ton of potential. I did not expect for my preorder to arrive a day early and completely and utterly upset my rankings, though.

Anciients have released an absolutely exquisite prog-metal masterpiece that is capable of going toe-to-toe with any of the other releases that have floored me this year in that camp, but they do it with such an interesting mix of influences. I can just as easily hear hints of Opeth in these tunes as I can Horseburner, Huntsmen, and Dream Theater, However Anciients is no mere emulation of any of those bands. What they have achieved here with Beyond the Reach of the Sun is certainly wholly and definably them.

There’s been a lot of good prog released this year – of that there is no question. Anciients have absolutely released what has easily become my favorite extreme-metal release this far for 2024 in that camp.

1. delving: All Paths Diverge

“As an introduction to this style of music, All Paths Diverge is as close to perfect as I’ve ever heard. Even more remarkable is that Nick played all of the instruments, with the exception of some tasty keyboard and piano work by Fabien de Menou. Of course, I’d listen to Michael Risberg if he played for Cold Play or Katy Perry. His presence sweetened the deal.

So, yes, BUY THIS if you have the money. Borrow some if you don’t. And if you have to stream it, for gawdsake listen to the whole thing before you decide if you like it or not. This is an actual album: an experience meant to be taken in all at once. I highly recommend that you do…”

Check out the full review here

Good-bye, August!

Our Top 10+ Stoner/Doom Albums for August, 2024 was compiled by Reverend Fuzzcut this month, with a slight assist by me. We know we missed a few, and we’ll try to cover what we missed as we can.

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