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…

 

GaupaFYR (digital: Nuclear Blast / physical: Magnetic Eye Records, 04 July 2025)

 

Drowned in SilverMothers (Pagan Records, 07 November 2025)

 

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Ommadon – V (2014), Empathy for the Wicked (2015), self-titled (2016), End Times (2018)

OmmadonV (Domestic Genocide Records, 05 August 2014)

 

OmmadonEmpathy for the Wicked (Golden Mantra, 15 July 2015)

 

OmmadonOmmadon (Medusa Crush Recordings/Dry Cough Records/Burning World Records, 08 April 2016)

 

OmmadonEnd Times (Dry Cough Records/At War with False Noise/DGRecords/Medusa Crush Recordings, 01 May 2018)

 

Today is going to be Ommadon day. All day long. And that’s really not an exaggeration: you’re going to need all day to plow through the massive heap of noise this Glaswegian duo (featuring David Tobin, guitars, and Ewan Mackenzie, drums/keyboards) has forged together over the past four years!

Fans of the two-minute pop ditty should probably just quit reading right here. But if you’ve ever listened to Ufomammut or Kongh and thought to yourself, “Wow this is great but I really wish all of the songs were way longer and way slower,” well… this just may be your lucky day!

 

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Kongh: New Album Details + Pre-Orders Now Available

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Hello again, folks. You might not remember, but last summer I was happy to report that Kongh, Swedish titans of heavy doom, had signed a deal with Polish label Agonia Records — and especially excited about the news that the band was working on a new album, their third overall!

Well, I haven’t forgotten — I’ve been excited about that news in the several months since then, and I’m glad to say, my most-anticipated album of 2013 is finally almost here!

 
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Congratulations: Kongh Signs to Agonia Records

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Although I only discovered them about a year ago, Sweden’s Kongh quickly became one of my favorite new bands.  Their brutally heavy, almost aggravatingly slow, brand of sludgey, droney post-doom really resonated with me from the first time I heard a track from their 2007 debut Counting Heartbeats.  Sadly, as much as I love that album (it can be streamed/downloaded on Bandcamp), I haven’t seen it available on CD anywhere.

However, I did snatch up a copy of its follow-up, 2009’s Shadows of the Shapeless, which was released in North America through Seventh Rule Recordings, as soon as I saw it at my local record store.  That’s an incredible album as well, so I am beyond excited to learn that they are nearly ready to begin recording a third album!

That announcement came yesterday (Wednesday, 13 June) morning, along with information about the band’s new record deal…

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Get ’em While They’re Hot: Seventh Rule Recordings Offers Free Album Downloads for Cyber Monday!

[W]e could have emailed you Friday about this awesomeness, but honestly we were too busy sleeping in…

So begins the announcement sent out by Seventh Rule Recordings last night.  The Chicago-based underground label then wastes no time getting to the meat of their message:

We figure that every year, all businesses try to grab every bit of money you have in your wallet. This year we wanted no part in that, in fact we just wanted to make it so you could enjoy Seventh Rule releases without spending any money at all. This is our thanks to you, our friends and supporters.

That’s right, well over a dozen albums full of high-quality stoner/sludge/doom/ambient/whatever metal are now yours for the taking, absolutely free of charge!  The only catch is, this appears to be a today-only offer, so get on it ASAP!

Seventh Rule official website is here, but to jump straight to the download section, you’ll want to visit their Bandcamp page here.

If you find the vast list of free downloads overwhelming, fear not!  Here are some suggestions that I’ve had in my personal library for quite some time, and which come highly recommended by yours truly: