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Their first album as just Haast, 2021’s Made Of Light saw them embrace new styles, strengthening their change of name, but with Dreams Of Home they have created their best work yet, consumed by a feeling of hiraeth, the stirring strings and clean guitar from opener Black Light sets the tone of the record, epic from the first moments as they move further towards grunge and alt metal.

Dreams Of Home is a record from a band carefully crafting every moments so it just hits right, the string section of this first track in the first moments used an impressive overture before starting properly, the distortion kicking in for some thunderous grooves driven by the muscular bass parts of Elliot Blake and the progressive drumming of Hwyel Williams.

With the strength of this rhythm section creating the foundations for brilliance, the windscreen guitar playing of James Tottle and Adam Wrench bring the melodic contours with plenty of dual harmonies on tracks such as the fabulous National Razor, where the dual vocal approach of Wrench and Williams is used to full effect.

There’s also bucket loads of energetic riffs on the ragged Mastodon-like Cratered Pilots, the vocals here counter point between cleans and shouts. With just three tracks into the album and Dreams Of Home feels huge, the scope is phenomenal, increasing again on the glittering Lark Song, a majestic end of side one, where there’s some movements from Holst weaved into the fluid progressive rock changes.

Side two begins with something even longer, as Denial In The Lion’s Den brings 14 minutes of Soundgarden meets Alice In Chains grandeur, a spoken word middle and Celtic storytelling that continues into the latter part of the album with Clychau Arian and Clychau Celyn inspired by the sunken kingdom (Welsh Atlantis) of Cantre’r Gwaelod and the very real sinking of Capel Celyn in 1965 which is still to this day a driving force of Welsh nationalism.

Both can be seen as one track as the haunting silver bells give way to the dramatic doom of homes lost many years ago. Climaxing with the intense In The Voice Of Rhodri Mawr where Welsh and English lyrics are intertwined between the wise words of three influential Welshmen and more magnificent music where sludge, alt metal and traditional folk instruments combine.

Creating vivid and poignant Dreams Of Home, Haast’s second full length enshrines them as one of South Wales’ finest acts. 10/10

Dysthymia – The Morning Darkness (Hypnotic Dirge Records) [Mark Young]

And then a thing of raw beauty appeared.

That’s it, that is the review. 10.

The Morning Darkness, their sophomore release channels a weary, lived-in atmosphere leading to each track standing out as something that is tangible, something that feels more alive. For me, this is a release that you have to sit down with and do nothing else other than absorb it. That’s my recommendation for this. I know we have talked about atmospheric black metal before, and it seems to always follow a pattern or type.

This is different. Yes, the traditional tropes are there – the constant rhythm guitar and its wall of sound played out against a melodic line and of course the extreme vocals (that sound like they are being dragged out of Grushenka) but its not the harshness that does you in. It’s when they combine with relative cleans with those melody line. 

Again, we know its not a new thing but there is something different at play, possibly it registers on a personal level. You might describe the music here as rough, unpolished and to an extent you would be right. Just because it’s this way doesn’t mean it has no value. It is rough, its jagged and torn and uncomfortable.

I realise that I’ve kind of written my main points without actually talking about the songs; I think that if you look to their respective lengths, you could be forgiven for feeling discouraged. After all, the opening duo of I Live With What You Created and We Can Never Go Back combined are 18 minutes long. That is a long time to be sat in darkness. Of the former, they waste nothing in filling that space out. Once it starts you are locked in. 

We Can Never Go Back is closer in spirit to what I class as normal Black Metal, something that is atonal and harsh splintered by lighter guitar lines that almost break into lead territory. The thing is that they never completely move out of the shadows, its like they cannot afford to allow themselves to do that. Like the opening track, there’s no wasted space. 

To Choose Life Is To Choose Grief comes in from the opposite end, a short and focused 4 minutes that is more fury that anything else. The shorter run time gives you the chance to take a breath (of sorts) as their focus here is hammer the song home and be quick about it. 

If you get this on Vinyl, you have hit the end of side A. Get a drink and then settle in for the ethereal beauty that starts Until I Was Nothing, and as expected they kick it over, because there’s no way they could possibly stay that way, the depression has to find its way out.

Even so, those cleans don’t completely quit, dropping in as necessary to great effect. It’s the same on The Morning Darkness, their final act. They use cleans to elevate and give the music that darkened edge. What they do is pick the right riffs, the right changes dropped in at the right time.

I’m sure that those who have listened to a lot of Black Metal, including this sub-genre of depressive Black Metal will have something to say. I have to repeat myself that the music you hear here might be similar in execution to something else. I’m not saying that it is new, or that they have done something magically different. I’m saying that there is something in the way that they have written and recorded this music that lands with me. 

Other releases haven’t, and yes, I can like them because they fulfil one of my core requirements – for example its fast and aggressive – The Morning Darkness resonates in a way that is possibly due to where my head is at. I don’t honestly know, but none of this feels forced or inauthentic in any way. I hope that this pulls you in to give this a listen. If you do, please give it the respect it deserves by providing your full attention. It deserves it. 10/10

Risperidrone – Black Shuck (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]

The debut album from Cardiff sludge doomers has been long away at but Black Shuck has finally arrived and it brings with it more fuzz than a cashmere sweater. After a six year digestion period and honing them with stage time across the UK to get these songs just right, we finally have the first collection of tracks from Risperidrone.

They manage to capture their live stage heaviness with the record, guitarist/bandleader Wigg Grant handles the production/recording/mixing/mastering of the record and makes it sound like those classic doom/sludge records from the 90’s. The riffs create walls of fuzziness and woozy atmospheres on tracks such as Spectre where the groove doom metal merges with the prog metal of Elder, the fusion of clean and heavy used really well on the title track as well.

The bass is both fluid and grooving alongside being droning and earthquaking on the synth Dirge. The drums are given room to expand, controlling the pace but adding fills and moments you may not expect, like the jazz/prog on Swamp Ape, with a snap to them that takes me back to those Sleep records. Vocally there’s an echo effect on the cleans that clearly has Ozzy/Maynard inspiration while the screams are raw adding groove and death/doom, though Never Again brings some Type O Negative and guest vocals from Root Zero’s Sasha Bannister.

The only thing I would say is that Wizard Weed works as a better opener than Reptile, however closing with Anvil makes sure that the Risperidrone’s swampy, groovy, doom sludge gives you everything you want from them as they end the record with the song that taps into every part of their influence.

Risperidrone delivers on record what I’ve seen on stage a fair few times now, a band with a vision born from the darker side of doom, filled with horror and folklore themes. Black Shuck claws at the door, begs you to stare into it’s green eyes and listen to it’s heavy fuzz riffs. 8/10

Destroy My Brains – WILT (Self-Released) [Mark Young]

Destroy My Brains is the sound of sludge pulled through a unique and extreme Canadian filter that draws from the industrial roles that some in the band complete in their day to day lives. The album itself, according to their bio completes a 5 album journey that commenced in 2018. 

Of those, I can’t tell you if this is a step up or down when compared to those. What I know is that this bio promises a collection of face melting riffola and extreme music, a form of sludge that is completely removed from what I’m used to on these shores. So no pressure, obvs.

OCI is their starting statement of this intent. By their own words, they wanted something that explodes out of the gate, grabs the listener by the throat and doesn’t let up. It is exactly that. Straight forward attack, one purpose in mind, to just crush you. Showing that sometimes simple works as well as complex measures in being able to hammer the listener, OCI takes this approach and batters you. They wrap this in vocals that run the full range from shrieking to the guttural, underpinned by ferocious drumming and you have a starter that makes good on their promise. 

Keen to avoid any repeated measures, Burn The Virgin gives us the first of their long descents into doom territory. Rather than follow a dense, traditional bottom end break out where not a lot happens, this is a well-constructed and executed ten minute special. 

Its there for you to hear; the arrangement is one that is filled with mint riff-building that builds and builds during each section. Does it sound like the wheels could fall off at any moment? Most definitely but that only adds to it. What you have is a release that tells you upfront not to expect an easy time here. It’s harsh and abrasive but accessible at the same time. 

Take Decontribute that mixes in the blasts with an almost laidback riff set. The vocal delivery from Jarret doesn’t alter, its fully on, no respite or quarter given. That mix is almost hypnotic in the way they deploy it and the unannounced stop at doom central takes you by surprise. 

It’s a massive break without resorting to something that is overly produced to get that heavy sound, something that I think is becoming a lost art. It is surprising how their sound differs from song to song, running from sludge/doom to punk to death metal, it comes across as washed-out depending on the style they are dropping, giving each of the songs a unique flavour. 

The closing track, WILT, is where they bring it all together. This is one of THOSE tracks that pulls you in and keeps you entrapped by its shifting arrangement that rips from one extreme to another. It goes where it wants to go, almost as if they had no control over how this turned out. Its brutal, uncompromising and maintains that harsh approach that has been in place from the start. I’ve mentioned before about bands that confuse song length with having something to say. 

Destroy My Brains have no trouble in making the song lengths seem almost too short given what they are trying to fit into that space. Its autobiographical, and in their own words weaponizing certain feelings and experiences. Its not easy listening, but Christ it is something else to listen to. 

WILT, as a final track is up there as one of the best songs of 2026. Put it on your list, and I’m loathe to mention AOTY positions but as a release its criminal if people don’t get to hear this. 9/10