Y’all. This is not a drill. New NEUROSIS album just dropped.
Neurosis – An Undying Love for a Burning World (Neurot Recordings, 20 March 2026)
Category Archives: Videos
SoftSun – Daylight in the Dark (2024), Eternal Sunrise (2025)
Hello, Dear Readers! Hope you are all having a splendid Thursday.
Yesterday I told you about this weekend’s Mojave Experience festival taking place Friday and Saturday in the California desert.
Well today, I’d like to call your attention to another group who will be making an appearance in the Yucca Valley this Friday night (20 March): SoftSun, a collaboration between Norwegian bassist/vocalist Pia Isaksen (also known for her solo act Pia Isa as well as being a member of Superlynx (reviewed here) and Californian guitarist Gary Arce (whose other band Yawning Man will ALSO be at the Mojave Experience on Saturday) with the trio rounded out by a different drummer on each of their first two albums.
SoftSun – Daylight in the Dark (Ripple Music, 08 November 2024)
SoftSun – Eternal Sunrise (Heavy Psych Sounds, 07 November 2025)
Borracho – Ouroboros (2025) || Mojave Experience (Yucca Valley / Joshua Tree, March 2026)
Following up this post from last week, we here at Valley of Steel HQ are pleased to present to you ANOTHER article about ANOTHER new (well, it was new last year) album from a band we’ve written about a bunch of times, who ALSO will be playing at a festival at the end of the week (in addition to a few stops through southern California leading up to it). It’s like déjà vu all over again.
Borracho – Ouroboros (Ripple Music, 08 August 2025)
Stone Machine Electric – Faces (2025) || Stoner Jam (Austin TX, March 2026)
Greetings, friends! I come bearing good news for those who live in or within driving distance of central Texas, and for those who just enjoy good music no matter where in the world they are…
Stone Machine Electric – Faces (Argonauta Records, 26 September 2025)
Remaining Warmth – Before the Years (2025); Domhain – In Perfect Stillness (2026)
HAPPY FRIDAY y’all!
It has been a long-ass week and I’m kind of exhausted as we approach the end of it, so I won’t waste too much time or energy on introductory matters. Let’s just say I’ve got some atmospheric blackgaze to share with you.
One album that came out last summer and quickly found its way onto my list of 2025’s best releases; the other is just coming out TODAY and wouldn’t be terribly surprising if it ended up headed in a similar direction by next January…
Remaining Warmth – Before the Years (self-released, 06 June 2025)
Domhain – In Perfect Stillness (These Hands Melt, 20 February 2026)
Gaupa – FYR (2025); Drowned in Silver – Mothers (2025)
Hello, Internet friends! Guess what — it’s freezing outside. But this is GOOD news. Because for more than two weeks, we hadn’t seen any temperatures this high. Sub-freezing every day, and single digits (Fahrenheit) AT MOST every night. And I’ll be honest, I’m tired of it. Tired of the anxiety of waking up every couple hours and checking on the kitchen sink and the bathtub to make sure the pipes haven’t frozen in either place AGAIN, despite the supplemental electric heaters in both rooms plus one in the basement, when it has dropped below zero outside.
But then on Monday it crept slightly above freezing finally, and then Tuesday the temperature anomalously soared up into the 50s (Fahrenheit)! And while the rest of this week has been closer to normal for this time of year (highs in the 30s, lows in the 20s), at least I can rest a little easier for now. At least, until all those mountains of snow that have lined the driveways and roads all melt too quickly and then we have the potential for the river to flood.
Anyway, you haven’t come here for me to sit here like some elderly at a nursing home, chattering nonstop about what’s happening with the weather. Instead, I present you with not one but TWO excellent albums that dropped last year, in case you may have missed out on these…
Gaupa – FYR (digital: Nuclear Blast / physical: Magnetic Eye Records, 04 July 2025)
Drowned in Silver – Mothers (Pagan Records, 07 November 2025)
Philip K. Discs – The Haunt (2026)
Hey folks — from the record label that’s been making a reputation for itself over the past several years for your go-to spot for crazy experimental noisy sounds and truly unique merch options, perhaps we should have seen this one coming, but the latest Philip K. Discs release is here… and it’s a hand-built, fully customizable, fully modular, noise box you can use to make your OWN crazy experimental noisy sounds!
Introducting: The Haunt
Bog Wizard – Journey Through the Dying Lands (2024), Satanik Panik (2025)
It’s Bandcamp Friday once again — hope you all are having a happy one!
Feels like a good time to check in on our Michiganian friends Bog Wizard. Back when we published a review of their 2020 and 2021 releases, there were a few specific references to the “Satanic Panic” of the late 20th century. Well, since that time, the band went and released a whole damn album named for that concept. They also put together an album with literary tie-ins, both of which are highly recommended for you to check out!
Bog Wizard – Journey Through the Dying Lands (self-released in collaboration with Madness Hearts Games, 25 October 2024)
Bog Wizard – Satanik Panik (self-released, 31 October 2025)
Gavran – Indistinct Beacon (2022), The One Who Propels (2026)
Hello, friends. Hope you’re having a pleasant Friday.
Here, we’re still slowly but surely shoveling ourselves out from last weekend’s storm, trying our best to keep ourselves warm and keep our pipes from freezing, with recent high temperatures refusing to rise above the tweens (Fahrenheit), and Alexa blinking its caution-colored yellow light at us every day with a new notification about a severe cold warning, with overnight lows hovering around zero or below (also Fahrenheit).
Meanwhile, I haven’t ventured out anywhere since last Saturday morning (to pick up groceries and library books) — in the days since, I’ve only been outside to shovel the front walkway, the driveway, and as much of the surrounding street as I could, given that the borough either felt it was unnecessary to plow all the way to the end of our road OR they were unable to get past our neighbors’ annoying arrays of vehicles parked all over the place.
Nevertheless, without leaving the house or any contact with outsiders, I’ve somehow managed to now find myself practically bedridden with some kind of dreadful sinus infection or cold or perhaps turtle flu. But there’s new music out today and I’d be derelict in my duties if I didn’t take some time out of my day to share it with you folks!
Gavran – Indistinct Beacon (Dunk! Records, 02 December 2022)
Gavran – The One Who Propels (Dunk! Records, 30 January 2026)
Nomadic Rituals – Fust (2025) || Cursed Monk Records – Year IX Compilation (2026)
Fucking earwigs, amiright? I watched Spike Lee‘s 2025 film Highest 2 Lowest over the weekend (which I enjoyed, by the way, despite its middling ratings — although admittedly I have not seen the Kurosawa original it was based on; I guess I probably should), and almost nonstop over the past few days I keep finding “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’” (originally from Oklahoma, but it plays during the opening of this movie as Denzel‘s character looks down over New York City from the balcony of his probably-billion-dollar apartment.
Anyway, it is NOT a Beautiful Mornin’ here in the valley. It’s like six degrees outside (Fahrenheit, which I think is something like negative a hundred in the rest of the world), and it’s been the kind of windy that wakes you up sporadically throughout the night because it keeps rattling the windows. So I am very much dragging this morning. Fortunately I don’t actually need to go outside (thank you, remote work) so I can just throw on an extra layer or two and push through it. And anyway by this afternoon I heard it’s supposed to go up to like 15F (aka minus 50C or something).
And fortunately, there is a simple doctor-recommended remedy for getting rid of earwigs: listening to something else, ANYTHING else. Especially at a high volume. And I’ve got some great candidates here.
Cursed Monk Records – Year IX Compilation (03 January 2026)
Nomadic Rituals – Fust (digital: self-released, CD/vinyl: Cursed Monk Records, 14 March 2025 | cassette: Fiadh Productions, 11 July 2025)
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