Medieval fantasy doom metal is how Brooklyn's Castle Rat describe their music and judging by their videos they certainly dress the part, the respective members utilizing a mix of over the top makeup, headdresses and masks to reflect the medieval fantasy side of their image. Image is all well and good but if you do not have the musical chops to go with that image then basically you end up being just a novelty and Castle Rat, Riley Pinkerton (vocals/guitar); Henry Black (lead guitar/backing vocals); Ronnie Lanzilotta III (bass) and Josh Strmic (drums), are no novelty, this is a ..read more

Have you ever listened to a bands earlier work and thought these guys have something good going on here but they are missing an ingredient? Usually in these cases you make a mental note to keep an eye on said band hoping they will find that ingredient and finally deliver the goods but in truth you usually tend to forget all about them when the next blow you away album from another artist/artists drops. This was the case with Switzerland's Lucifer Giant, we at the Psychlist had checked out their earlier released one off tracks and liked what we heard but were not quite sure if the band delive ..read more

Reading the blurb accompanying Heavy Temple's latest release Desert Psychlist was somewhat shocked to find that it was only 2012 that Heavy Temple came into existence, we say shocked because it seems like they have been around making music for just about forever. Admittedly the band have gone through a few line up changes in their time together and have been a little less than prolific on the album front but it does, partly thanks to their constant touring, feel like they have been around this whole doom/stoner/psych scene a lot longer than they actually have. The band recently finished and ..read more

That damn Chilean underground scene has its hooks embedded deep into us here at Desert Psychlist, it seems that every time we think the we have heard all the country has to offer up pops another outfit and drags us back into the countries clutches. The outfit pulling on those hooks today is a Punta Arenas trio going by the name Loud, and before you ask yes they are loud, they are also heavy, doomic and have a penchant for going off on unexpected tangents into cosmic climes, all of which makes their latest album "Super Heavy Doom" a very interesting and highly satisfying listening experi ..read more

Acid Mammoth, Chris Babalis Jr (vocals/guitars); Chris Babalis Sr. (guitars); Dimosthenis Varikos (bass) and Marios Louvaris (drums) have risen from promising new kids on the block to being one of those bands whose albums are pre-ordered well in advance of their release date but it has not been an overnight thing, they have worked hard to get where they are today. The band was formed by schoolfriends Babalis Jr. and Varikos and were soon joined by Babalis Jr's father Babalis Sr. and Louvaris, the band then set about honing their chops on their local scene before going on to fund and self-r ..read more

While there may be countless songs titled "Under the Sun," Desert Psychlist is aware of only one band with that name. Hailing from Athens, this Greek group delivers a brand of rock'n'roll rich in fuzz and laden with crunchy riffs, a sound that's evident on their debut album "The Bell of Doom."(Sound Effects Records) Given the albums title and artwork and the fact that the word "DOOM" looms large on its cover it might be expected that Under The Sun's debut is an opus drenched in dark down tuned dankness. While it is true that there are moments when the band DO don their cloaks and ride the ..read more

Once again Desert Psychlist has been seduced into checking something out simply due to its artwork, its an old habit formed in our youth when perusing the shelves of record stores that did not allow buyers to check out a release before purchase, a time when the only way to discover new music was to take a gamble based solely on an albums cover art. The album in question is Luggy Ton's "Holey Troller", the artwork of which depicts a partially buried skeletal head with glowing eyes staring skywards against a monochrome rural backdrop. Quite why we were drawn to this albums artwork remains uncer ..read more

Thirty Doradus, Daniel (drums/vocals); Olli (bass/vocals); Jens (guitar) and Christoph (guitar), describe their music with all the straightforwardness and efficiency we have come to expect from Germans, they don't try to dress things up with all the usual bells and whistles they say it how it is and that is that Thirty Doradus play "heavy psychedelic blues with progressive elements and deeply layered sounds and rhythm arrangements". Although bluntly accurate that statement does not really tell you everything you need to know before dropping the needle /pushing play o ..read more

For those familiar with the long-running TV show 'The Walking Dead' and its various spin-offs, you'll know that zombies often appear in hordes. Typically, these hordes are merely a collection of shambling, decaying humanity whose sole purpose is to feast on the flesh of the unturned. Today, however, we present a horde of a different sort. Let us introduce you to Zombie Hunger, an ensemble comprising Patient Zero on vocals, Coffin Queen on bass, Graveborn on rhythm guitar, Wormfeast on lead guitar, and Skineater on drums, an Australian outfit with a flair for delivering old-school doom tinted ..read more

Pardis Latifa (bass/vocals); Moritz Ermen Bausch (drums) and Caspar Orfgen (guitar) are not names you will immediately recognise UNLESS, that is, you happened to chance upon "Delirious Rites"(2023) by a German band going by the name Daevar."Delirious Rites" was an album that blended the dense atmospherics of bands like Katatonia and Anathema with the low slow stoner doom dynamics of bands like Windhand and Sleep and benefited from generous sprinklings of occult rock ethereality and alt-metal colouring , elements that saw the album achieve a very respectable #16 placing on the Janua ..read more