Diaries of Doom

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...

Desertfest London is a bit like Christmas for British people of a certain musical persuasion. It comes once a year, and you spend most of it drunk with the family. Instead of music about decking the halls or reindeer, though, you're more likely to catch someone singing ‘N.I.B.’ or claiming to be Iron Man after hours at The Black Heart. And instead of a traditional roast dinner, you've got virtually the entire world's cuisine within a stone's throw in the Camden markets. I first went in 2017 for the day to see Sleep, then started doing the full weekend every year from 2022 onwards. By now, it's booked into the calendar as soon as the dates are announced. This year will be my second time covering the event for Diaries of Doom and my third time as an artist (more on that later), which I'm very grateful for. If you see something on the merch table that catches your eye, consider doing without the next couple of beers and grabbing it there and then. It's one of t...

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...

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 ...

  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...

Back with their second album and a revitalised lineup, Bradford quartet Ironrat - consisting of members of Wolves In Winter, Lazarus Blackstar, Psychlona, Hollow Earth, and former members of Monolith Cult and Khang - have produced a real statement of intent with Beneath It All, their first record since 2015. My introduction to them was at Bloodstock Festival in 2017, with tracks like the low-tuned Weed Machine (which was re-recorded in 2023) sticking out in my memory. However, as circumstance would have it, Ironrat had a quieter spell for a few years, but the boys are firmly back in town with forty minutes of power, melody, riffs and groove. Kicking off with high octane rock and roll attitude, title track Beneath It All gets the record spinning with a simple guitar riff that sets the tone nicely. Its energy is clearly designed for live shows, before the song develops and drops into a slower stoner blues breakdown, given character with some vocal harmonisations, before the fist pumpi...

Hello! It's been a while since I've posted on here. I'd been thinking about how to bring this blog back for a while, doing a bit of strategising with others, and then after a confidence boost a few weeks ago I'm feeling more motivated to get back on here, writing about the music I'm hearing. Anyway, 2025 has started brightly and I've wrapped my ears around some good new music already. Here's three tracks that may have gone over your heads (and ears) if you like Sabbathy, riffy goodness, as many of this blog's followers do as well. Earl Of Hell - The Infernal Dream The first single from the Edinburgh-based quintet's upcoming album, due on April 25th via Copper Feast records, Earl Of Hell have opened their new chapter on a strong note. The Infernal Dream 's dissonant, chugging intro is reminiscent of early Mastodon, but with a much more laid back and stoned-out atmosphere than the frenetic hurtlings through the void found on Remission and the ...

Slump are a band very much in the ascendency right now (hopefully the cheque they gave me to write that will clear by the time this publishes) - with an ever increasing live presence across the UK and a burgeoning brand of distinctive Sludge Metal-tinged, Grunge-infused psychedelic rock, there has never been a better time to get fully behind a band who are working hard to make their way out of the murky backwaters of the UK Underground Doom scene. 2024 has seen the band going from strength to strength, playing sweaty, breathless shows in literally every single city across the entire country, to releasing the gnarly SP/LIT EP with the frighteningly heavy At War With the Sun. Given the band's somewhat frustrating past habit of having long gaps between releases, you'd have been forgiven for assuming that would be it from Noble, Kabu and co. for the year... fortunately, on this occasion, the band have proved us extremely wrong! Dust marks yet another step forward for Slump. Hav...

London stoner/grunge quartet Okay You Win have barely been active for a year, but are surely starting to make their dent in the British heavy rock scene. In the last few weeks they've immortalised their first chapter of existence with Live From The Pit , a seven-track recording captured live from The Pit Studios in Kent by Paul 'Pablo' Annis in early November 2023. The Live From The Pit album takes you on a sonic ride that kicks off with Ten Year Trip 's climbing psych-rock riff, signaling the start of what immediately seems an epic, grungy adventure. This opener sets the tone, bringing chugs and guitar dissonance that pack a serious punch, all while channeling vocals reminiscent of the legendary Chris Cornell. These echoes of the Soundgarden frontman ooze a vintage sense of cool, and the instrumental/lead guitar break? We're only just getting started. It nicely encapsulates what's to come, with Ryan and Rodrigo's guitar and bass chemistry making itself ...

I was there the night Slump was born - some people (me) would even say that the band was my idea… May 2018, Munich: vocalist/guitarist Matt Noble and I had just been to Sleep (the band, not the act) and were continuing to drink in the bedroom of his tiny student flat, near the top of a Brutalist tower block. Matt drunkenly confided in me that he was struggling with not being in a regular band - my answer? “Mate, *chugs beer* start your own band” Matt did just that. Now a mainstay on the underground Stoner/Doom/Sludge circuit, it’s been a long time coming to hear new music from the band - 2020’s singles Nothing More and Degenerate seem a very long time ago now, even though the tracks still hold water and bang heads to this day. New music has been due for a long time, but you’ll have to wait a little longer for my opinion on these two new tracks, because Slump aren’t the only band with a track on this split EP… Worcester-based Sludge-mongers At War With The Sun kick things off in s...

On this day 50 years ago, Black Sabbath released Sabbath Bloody Sabbath on Vertigo I didn't grow up in a household of heavy music, so my first memory of hearing metal is being in my friend's kitchen at around seven years old, at the time when The Osbournes was on the telly. I didn't know what Black Sabbath or metal was back then, but I picked up on a couple of earworms that turned out to be Sabbath songs later down the line. Fast forward to the age of 13 and I was chatting to an older mate of mine about music. When I told him that I was listening to a lot of Green Day and Kings of Leon, he turned his nose up and told me I should try a bit of Black Sabbath and get into metal. I went to a youth club in my village back then and a few months after that conversation I noticed a CD lying by the player at the end of a night with 'Black Sabbath Greatest Hits' written on the front. I stole it, put it on my mp3 player (showing my generation here) and brought it back the n...