Category: news

 Antony Kalugin, the ukrainian multi-instrumentalist behind Karfagen, is a man of many talents and his 2025 album “Omni” is another good example of his stunningly prolific vein (you’ll find more elsewhere in this blog).”Omni” Part 2 is a well built suite, a 22 minute one divided into 4 movements, also enjoyable as stand-alone songs, many of them in a rather slow tempo, but with some welcome accelerations and many, unpredictable changes. 

As usual, an inspiring cover art

As always, there are very good melodies and beautiful solos, and this time the vocals, provided by the kinds of Marco Glühmann, Richard Sinclair, Jean Pageau, Bartosz Kossowicz plus, of course, Olha Rostovska and Antony Kalugin himself,  play an essential role in the great picture, something we don’t easily find in Karfagen’s discography. All those different and sensitive voices fit perfectly in such a rich musical texture. Among other guest musicians, Michel St-Père’s (of Mystery fame) guitars and John Hackett’s flute need no introductions and are two more bonuses added to this musical pearl. This is Neo-Progressive rock & Symphonic Rock at their best and I’m glad to loose my mind in this flowing, lush musical river.

Chris Glyde – Rochester, NY 

https://www.facebook.com/chrisglydemusic#

https://www.instagram.com/chrisglydemusic/

https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisGlydemusic

Chris Glyde – Rochester, NY 

https://www.facebook.com/chrisglydemusic#

https://www.instagram.com/chrisglydemusic/

https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisGlydemusic

Finland’s Stonegazer, current line up Jussi Virtala (vocals); Juho Puusniekka (guitars); Lauri Lehto (guitars); Tomas Kurki (bass) and Jani-Matti Salmela (drums), have been knocking around the underground scene for a fair amount of time but first came onto Desert Psychlist’s radar via their 2016 release “MDRM” a raw edged collection of songs that blended swampy southern sludginess with elements of heavy blues and grunge, a sound that came over at times like a weightier Mississippi Bones. Prior to “MDRM” Stonegazer had released “Volume II” and “Demo 2012“, both releases containing some really good songs but both hampered by less than ideal production values. Things really started to come together for Stonegazer with the 2020 release “The End Of Our World“, an album that saw the band really stepping up a level in the song writing and arrangement stakes as well as seeing them dipping their toes a little deeper into those grungier/bluesier pools they had began to explore on “MDRM“. This year (2025), after a five year break from recording, Stonegazer return with a new release, “Threshold“(Kozmik Artifactz), a far better produced album that fully delivers on all the promise those earlier albums hinted at but just fell short of delivering.

“Threshold” opens with “The Feed” a brain-frying blend of sludgy metal and heavy rock that begins with guitar feedback screaming around a growling bass motif backed by solid steady drumming then segues into a thrumming blues flecked stoner groove, the song continuing in this mode for a full one minute twenty seconds before being joined by vocals. If you are a fan of big beefy vocals that are a little bit wearied and posses a gritty soulful quality then Stonegazer’s man behind the microphone Virtala is your kind of singer, if you didn’t know he was Finnish you would swear blind he was brought up on a diet of fried chicken and grits in one of America’s southern states. “Next song “Unity” follows along similar lines to it predecessor with bassist Kurki and drummer Salmela laying down a barrage of ebbing and flowing groove for guitarists Puusniekka and Lehto to decorate with a mixture of crunching power chords and piercing lead work, Virtala delivering over this onslaught of bluesy southern metal throaty sermonizing that at times hovers close to the upper reaches of his range. Third track “The Machine” sees Stonegazer introducing into their heaviness subtle touches of psychedelic texturing, not enough to distract ears away from their core metallic bluesiness but enough to be noticeable. It’s back to full on shock and awe for the excellent “Simulacrum” then along comes “Kairos” a song that for Desert Psychlist ticks more boxes than it leaves blank, its groove is throbbing and slightly proto-metallic, its guitar work is a blend of crunchy and swirling and its vocals are bold brash and forceful on the verses and grittily melodious on the chorus. Any bands experimenting with music of a southern rock flavour are almost duty bound to throw their hats into the “torch song” arena and Stonegazer are no exception but where most bands will gradually build their torch songs to a crescendo layer by gradual layer Stonegazer on “Dissolve” go from reflective tranquillity to face-melting intensity in one giant leap. Next song “Age Of Unreason” begins down home and bluesy then explodes into a blustering metallic stoner groove that features growling low end and busy percussion supporting fuzz soaked refrains and feel drenched bluesy soloing over which vocals are delivered in snarly bear-like tones. Final number “The Weight Of The World” comes out the traps furious and feisty then eases back a little on the volume to allow space for Virtala to deliver his wearied and throaty vocals, all well and good up to this point but the real highlight comes when the songs shifts from stoner rock(ish) to stoner doomic, a shift that sees the guitarists layering thrumming textures and piercing solos around a dynamically darker vocal.

Stongazer’s “Threshold” boasts a sound that takes the heavy southern metal of bands like Pantera and Corrosion Of Conformity blends it with the mid-western swagger of bands like Mississippi Bones and Valley Of The Sun then sprinkles over the results elements of Seattle grunginess and 70’s heavy blues rock. It’s a huge sound that is made to sound even bigger thanks to it’s vastly improved production values. Who would of thought a band from the frozen reaches of Northern Europe could sound so authentically American. 

Check ’em out ….

© 2025 Frazer Jones

Finland’s Stonegazer, current line up Jussi Virtala (vocals); Juho Puusniekka (guitars); Lauri Lehto (guitars); Tomas Kurki (bass) and Jani-Matti Salmela (drums), have been knocking around the underground scene for a fair amount of time but first came onto Desert Psychlist’s radar via their 2016 release “MDRM” a raw edged collection of songs that blended swampy southern sludginess with elements of heavy blues and grunge, a sound that came over at times like a weightier Mississippi Bones. Prior to “MDRM” Stonegazer had released “Volume II” and “Demo 2012“, both releases containing some really good songs but both hampered by less than ideal production values. Things really started to come together for Stonegazer with the 2020 release “The End Of Our World“, an album that saw the band really stepping up a level in the song writing and arrangement stakes as well as seeing them dipping their toes a little deeper into those grungier/bluesier pools they had began to explore on “MDRM“. This year (2025), after a five year break from recording, Stonegazer return with a new release, “Threshold“(Kozmik Artifactz), a far better produced album that fully delivers on all the promise those earlier albums hinted at but just fell short of delivering.

“Threshold” opens with “The Feed” a brain-frying blend of sludgy metal and heavy rock that begins with guitar feedback screaming around a growling bass motif backed by solid steady drumming then segues into a thrumming blues flecked stoner groove, the song continuing in this mode for a full one minute twenty seconds before being joined by vocals. If you are a fan of big beefy vocals that are a little bit wearied and posses a gritty soulful quality then Stonegazer’s man behind the microphone Virtala is your kind of singer, if you didn’t know he was Finnish you would swear blind he was brought up on a diet of fried chicken and grits in one of America’s southern states. “Next song “Unity” follows along similar lines to it predecessor with bassist Kurki and drummer Salmela laying down a barrage of ebbing and flowing groove for guitarists Puusniekka and Lehto to decorate with a mixture of crunching power chords and piercing lead work, Virtala delivering over this onslaught of bluesy southern metal throaty sermonizing that at times hovers close to the upper reaches of his range. Third track “The Machine” sees Stonegazer introducing into their heaviness subtle touches of psychedelic texturing, not enough to distract ears away from their core metallic bluesiness but enough to be noticeable. It’s back to full on shock and awe for the excellent “Simulacrum” then along comes “Kairos” a song that for Desert Psychlist ticks more boxes than it leaves blank, its groove is throbbing and slightly proto-metallic, its guitar work is a blend of crunchy and swirling and its vocals are bold brash and forceful on the verses and grittily melodious on the chorus. Any bands experimenting with music of a southern rock flavour are almost duty bound to throw their hats into the “torch song” arena and Stonegazer are no exception but where most bands will gradually build their torch songs to a crescendo layer by gradual layer Stonegazer on “Dissolve” go from reflective tranquillity to face-melting intensity in one giant leap. Next song “Age Of Unreason” begins down home and bluesy then explodes into a blustering metallic stoner groove that features growling low end and busy percussion supporting fuzz soaked refrains and feel drenched bluesy soloing over which vocals are delivered in snarly bear-like tones. Final number “The Weight Of The World” comes out the traps furious and feisty then eases back a little on the volume to allow space for Virtala to deliver his wearied and throaty vocals, all well and good up to this point but the real highlight comes when the songs shifts from stoner rock(ish) to stoner doomic, a shift that sees the guitarists layering thrumming textures and piercing solos around a dynamically darker vocal.

Stongazer’s “Threshold” boasts a sound that takes the heavy southern metal of bands like Pantera and Corrosion Of Conformity blends it with the mid-western swagger of bands like Mississippi Bones and Valley Of The Sun then sprinkles over the results elements of Seattle grunginess and 70’s heavy blues rock. It’s a huge sound that is made to sound even bigger thanks to it’s vastly improved production values. Who would of thought a band from the frozen reaches of Northern Europe could sound so authentically American. 

Check ’em out ….

© 2025 Frazer Jones

This Friday, August 1st, will be the first Bandcamp Friday since May of 2025! For those that don’t know, on Bandcamp Fridays the Bandcamp music site drops their cut from any sales that happen in that 24 hour period, so bands get 100% of the share of each sale (minus credit/debit card fees if you pay with one) which makes it a great day to support bands and buy some new music! To that end, I thought I’d round up a few local metal releases that have come out since the last Bandcamp day.

Obsidian Blade is a new local band with a trad metal/NWOBHM vibe but the members have all been involved in other bands in the DMV scene for some time. They’ve started playing out live a bit but so far this is their only recorded song available, and it dropped on June 10th.

The Borracho guys are at it again with their repetitive heavy grooves as their new full length album that releases on August 8th, though you can pre-order now and enjoy the 3 preview tracks right now.

Kontusion finally dropped their debut full length album on July 25th and man is this some back-to-basics filthy, brutal death metal! None of that spacey death metal that is in vogue to be found here.

Cemetery Sex is a local goth band and their debut album is dropping August 1st. The album showcases Anastasia Noire’s beautiful vocals that soar over the rainy-day vibe guitar riffs.

The most intense music in this post comes by way of Blood Monolith on their debut album that dropped on May 16th. This has been one of my favorite albums to drive around blasting this summer!

As The Sea Parts is a black/death band that formed in the 90s, went on hiatus for about 20 years or so, and finally dropped their debut full length on July 11th. The album has former Dying Fetus drummer Erik Sayenga on drums and sick cover art by Mark Riddick!

Fresh off their appearance at this year’s Maryland Deathfest, I.C.E. just released their third full length on July 11th and their frigid black metal riffs will def keep you cool in the dog days of summer.

If you dig instrumental metal with a fiddle then be sure to check out the newly remixed version of Seasick Gladiator‘s self-titled debut from 2017 that just dropped on July 12th.

That’s what I’ve got for now but if you know of any other metal releases by local bands since the last Bandcamp Day, or any that are pre-orderable just email me at DCHeavyMetal@Gmail.com and I’ll add them to this post!