Diaries of Doom

I've admired Boss Keloid for around a decade, and they've changed, grown and metamorphosised in that time as much as I have. After seeing them at Bloodstock 2016 as a wide-eyed (and vaguely red-eyed) youngster during the Herb Your Enthusiasm era, I completely fell in love with Melted On The Inch in 2018, which remains an all-timer in my books. Boss Keloid were a little lighter on the ears than before, but still with the uniquely weighty riffs that define their sound, alongside a slightly revamped brand of off-kilter proggy sludge, pushing their melodies even harder. Family The Smiling Thrush continued that Primus-meets-Melvins evolution in 2021, which I wrote about at the time. You can check out a memorable interview with Boss Keloid and Tuskar I carried out in Sheffield when both bands were on the road together around the back end of that year (below). Make sure you watch out for the question about who has the best beard... There's been more of a gap between albums t...

And the mysterious haze has just about left Camden with another Desertfest gone until next year. For three days, London worshipped the power of The Riff. Here's how it went! FRIDAY One of the first bands on at The Dev on Friday were Yorkshire riffmongers Ironrat , who completely pack out the venue around teatime. The snarling, high-octane 'Liar' opens proceedings at full throttle to get fists pumping and arses shaking before the progressive 'Tip Of My Tongue' keeps the flow and shows their versatility with sludgy gutpunches, thumping blues riffs and a meditative bass guitar break (all in one track). Their low-tuned grooves are as heavy as anything and move the whole room, and although there's a sense of melancholy in some of their vocal melodies Ironrat still really bring a party vibe to the festival, led by Martin's charismatic frontmanship. Amid psychedelic leads, sludgy power, and twin guitar harmonies, Ironrat don't reinvent the wheel. Instead, they ...

Joel H Bulsara is a Yorkshire-based musician with his first solo album hot off the press. The vocalist of Leeds groove metal force Ireosis, as well as the man behind the trap-inspired Vilitigo. project, and formerly of stoner doomsters (The) Sound Of Origin, he already boasts an impressive musical CV (heavily condensed into one line here). So, where does his new project as JHB sit? Hastur The King seems to mostly act as the spiritual successor to (The) Sound Of Origin, with its heavy leanings into riff-worshipping stoner and doom metal. However, as the lyricist, composer, producer and engineer, performing every instrument, this is far more than the logical next step of an old band. Hastur The King is brought together with occult themes, and a hell of a lot of soul poured into the effort. Conceptually, Hastur The King handles Lovecraftian horror and the occult. This is apparent in song titles such as The Tarot or Mandelbrot Madness (The Musical) - which, in very simple and half-expl...

Music festival season in the UK begins by the time May comes around, and keeps going all the way through the summer. Kicking off a spell of alldayers, weekenders and more for 2026, the first weekend of May saw Slaughterhouse Festival come to Birmingham for its fourth edition. It showcased all sorts of talent in heavy music coming out of the Midlands and beyond, on three stages for the first time. The Castle & Falcon may be a bit out the way from the city centre, but has hosted some of the best Birmingham gigs you'll find over the years, and today's no different. While I'm here, I'd like to thank Rory for asking me to cover the event, for adding Diaries of Doom to the festival poster (that's a first!) and also inviting Slump to headline the unplugged stage for what was our first acoustic performance. My first band of the day are Osiris , who give everything they've got for half an hour on the second stage. Showing off a varied range of influences, Osiris cov...

West Midlands-based goth rockers She Sells Sin made their long-awaited live debut at The Giffard Arms in Wolverhampton in January, as main support for longtime UK regulars Rhombus. After releasing a stream of singles in recent years and existing mainly as a studio project led by singer/guitarist Ian Guest, the live lineup is now ready to go and, on tonight's account, already firing on all cylinders. The synth-heavy intro of Sorrow gently leads into a clean first verse, showing She Sells Sin's melodic core from the first moments. Ian's soulful baritone carries the track's powerful hook nicely, before some blasting from their drummer makes for a killer surprise at the very end, showing off some impressive technical chops. Lucifer follows, picking up the pace with its pounding groove and gothic vocal lines. A flashy guitar solo adds another layer of effortless cool before the song's low, doomy, melodic coda evokes Type O Negative at their slowest. She Sells Sin, a...

Brand new solo project JustSkye released their debut single Internal War at the end of January, featuring Neil Hudson of Gutworm and Krysthla on production as well as with a guest appearance. This track is rooted in emotional heaviness, dealing with internal struggle and the process of confronting personal demons head-on. Built upon a strong sense of atmosphere, Internal War unfolds with a restrained, soulful vocal performance before gradually pulling in the listener deeper and eventually giving way to a weighty midsection. With gritty melodies and punishing, low-tuned guitars, the dynamic shift is part of the song's natural ebb and flow. Skye delivers each line with conviction, bringing a sense of vulnerability that suits the song's subject matter in an impactful way. After further dynamic and harmonic shifts, the song's final chorus and coda hit in a satisfying way as the track wraps up. This is a well-considered and well-written number. Internal War is an atmospheri...

Happy New Year! 2025 birthed some fantastic releases in the heavy music world, and I've picked out five hidden gems from the English circuit that may have flown under your radars. We've got a melting pot of groove metal, sludge, death metal, and all of the above in my recommendations, which mostly saw the light of day over the second half of last year. I want to use this to thank everyone who sends me their music for review. I would love to give space on my blog to every artist who emails or messages me if there was an extra six hours a day and an extra three days a week to make that happen. These five here, though, are genuinely worth your time if you care about grassroots heavy music. We're all excited to see what 2026 brings. Drēor - Hell's Kitchen Rising Nottingham old school death metal trio Drēor (meaning 'blood' in Old English, or 'gore') released their sophomore EP in June, an unapologetic slab of classic OSDM. Dripping with blood and guts, and...

The Victoria in Central Birmingham filled out for a night of live music, with Newcastle's Dunes the main attraction. But the Worcester-based Fights and Fires opened up with their first gig in two and a half years, playing like a band with a point to prove as they delivered a set full of energy and loads of presence onstage. Their post-hardcore style is unapologetically straight out of the 00s (can we call it retro yet?), delivered with a sense of urgency and a hard hitting punch. The backing vocals that the rest of the band support with really underline the strong melodies that Fights and Fires offer. Performing like seasoned pros, it's surprising to learn that it's their current drummer's first gig partway through the set, as he genuinely slots in seamlessly. It's an energetic start to the night, and great to see a fantastic Midlands band back at it again. Flamebearer are up next, with a fist pumping, rowdy stoner metal style closer in sound to tonight's he...

Hail Satan, Triumph Awaits! It's a fitting title for Tumanduumband's second full-length, self-released today. With horror movie samples littered throughout and crushing doom metal riffs, it's a dark, unsettling listening experience. Spinning this album must be a bit like having a bad trip while Electric Wizard and cult classics play in the background, very, very slowly. The Stourbridge-based doom duo released Throne of Grief shortly before Halloween 2023, backed up by a busy touring schedule in the UK where Luke and Scott delivered, and continue to deliver, a simple but effective cocktail of bass, drums, riffs, fuzz, skulls, blood and Satan to whichever venue that has the stones to let them through their doors. With no vocals, no guitars, no solos, and no fucking about, their core aim of bringing doom down to its simplest, most skull-caving, most fundamental form has remained true, and Hail Satan, Triumph Awaits very much carries on down that path. Bigger, scarier, and lon...

Tusks up! Bradfordian stoner doom titans Son of Boar return this week with the storming new single U.F.O. Son of Boar are on fine form with their first new track since Satanic Panic (Revelations) a couple of years ago. No less than twelve minutes of monolithic riff worship, to put it bluntly, it's spacey and heavy as fuck throughout and doesn't so much announce their return but scream it from the top of a mountain. A holy mountain, perhaps. In the band's own words, U.F.O. is a vagabond’s tale of fungal experimentation. The song seeks to take listeners on a journey through the honest retelling of youthful exploration, while channelling feelings of impending doom, confusion, and wonder. Producer Kurt Wood has helped the band find and focus their sound, delivering cacophonous drums from Luke Doran, paired with the thunder-flow of Gaz Bates' bass playing. Both form the sturdy foundations upon which a wall of guitar sounds is built by Lyndon Birchall and Adam Waddell, all ...

There’s something brewing in the Black Country right now, but Kensei are showing the world that it isn’t just the beer. After bulldozing the Birmingham Metal 2 The Masses in 2024 and destroying their slot at Bloodstock Festival - hopefully the first of many - their first full-length outing is a confident, tightly-wound assault that blends razor sharp melodeath with the heft of 00s metalcore. Possibly the biggest pit the New Blood Stage saw in 2024 The ominous Intro sets the scene like an oncoming storm before End of Days makes its entrance with impact, crushing the listener with thrashy, harmonised riffing and tasty drum fills. Vocalist Dave wastes little time snarling venomously across the verse, with a big melodic chorus and a blistering breakdown that’ll see a future bruise or two in the pit. As album openers go, this one lays the foundations well. It's a real statement of intent. Lucid , which follows, might just be the crown jewel here. Its Phrygian-flavoured riffing bring...

  Amongst the finest, doomiest power trios to come out of Nottinghamshire are Master Charger, who return this week with their first full length since Origin of the Lugubrious from the summer of 2020, following on from 2023's ripping Social Witch Hunt single. Posthumous Resurrection picks up where they'd left off, following in the footsteps of the 70s heavy rock/heavy blues overlords that built the path to stoner, doom and sludge, with low-tuned vintage riffs and an almighty fuzzy heaviness that threatens to crush your skull. A swirling, crashing drum intro sees in Thy Kingdom Polluted , a doom n' groove rager. It's led by a cool, nostalgic lead guitar lick early on, nodding to the greats of psychedelic music, before the band settle into a sludgy rager. John James' throat-shredding vocals carry his trademark intense grit before a guitar solo drenched in wah takes over nearer to the end. It's a powerful way to start the album ahead of the slightly Melvins-y Onl...