Southern Italy’s riff-wielding power trio King Potenaz have officially signed to Majestic Mountain Records for the release of their highly anticipated sophomore album Arcane Desert Rituals Vol. 1, due out June 27th, 2025 on both vinyl and digital formats.
To mark the occasion, the band has just unleashed their blistering new single and video for ‘Rivers of Death’, a 10-minute descent into fuzzy doom, psychedelic dread, and scorched-earth riff worship.
“We’re back with a vengeance, unleashing our long-awaited second album, Arcane Desert Rituals Vol. 1! Says the band. "This is our heaviest, most intense work yet — a sonic onslaught that’ll blow your mind. We can’t wait for you to crank it up and dive into the chaos!”
With a sound steeped in the grimy tradition of Electric Wizard, Sleep, and Monster Magnet, King Potenaz blend occult doom, stoner fuzz, and eerie psychedelia into a swirling ritual of sound. “Rivers of Death” is the perfect first taste of what’s to come: hypnotic, devastating, and weird in all the right ways.
After the announcement and pre-order start of their sophomore album Waving at the Sky and the release of their first single ‘The Malevolent’ featuring Ross Jennings from Haken, Norwegian prog rockers AVKRVST reveal their second offering – ‘The Trauma’.
Simon Bergseth, vocalist, shares about ‘The Trauma’:
“‘The Trauma’ is the heart of the story— the origin of everything. A harrowing act triggered a wound that never should have been inflicted. This is where it all begins.“
The single comes with a brand-new music video in established AVKRVST aesthetics – a continuation of the story of the lonely, bleak soul in the cabin. Watch the video here:
mclusky released their first album in 20 years, the world is still here and so are we, last week. they’re sharing another video today which is directed by remy lamont, and that’s for the track ‘autofocus on the prime directive’, which is one of the songs from that album. there are also a lot of live dates coming up which you can look at below if you like.
falco offers; “autofocus on the prime directive is a series of patently untrue statements set to music by a man who can barely dress himself. the title is not a reference to star trek in any way but if it was I hope you’d understand.”
NYC-based producer indie music veteran Charlie Nieland presents his new single ‘Drown’, a stunning reverb-laced offering and the first taste of his forthcoming The Ocean Understands EP, set for release on June 20. The expansive and visceral music video was directed by NYC-based multi-faceted artist Hypnodoll.
“The track ‘Drown’ was inspired by Monique Vescia’s book Hole In The Sky, which I read for the Bushwick Book Club songwriter series in 2021. It depicts a dark world, where an authoritarian won the US presidential election of 2020. So I made this mythical tale from the past, told in the future, where all the stories are jumbled up – a celebration of destruction,” says Charlie Nieland.
“Of course, it all feels quite prescient as we sift through our present wreckage, searching for grace in the violent forces underneath. It’s a white-hot psychedelic siren song with an oceanic undertow.”
It’s been four years since Nieland released his 2021 widely acclaimed Divisions with its sweeping melodies and restless rhythms. Renowned for tastefully blending post punk, dream pop and progressive rock, he has been writing, playing and producing music for decades, with a focus on the atmospheric and the imaginative. Nieland’s musical backstory is extensive, having played dream pop with Her Vanished Grace for over 20 years before establishing himself as a solo artist with a mix of nuanced songwriting and sonic exploration, initially releasing Ice Age (2014) and Hopeful Monsters (2016). He is currently half of the literature-inspired songwriting and performing duo Lusterlit with Susan Hwang and produces and participates in the podcast ‘An Embarrassment of Prog’.
Along the way, Charlie wrote and produced material with such notable artists as Debbie Harry, Rufus Wainwright, Dead Leaf Echo, Blondie and Scissor Sisters. He scored the feature film The Safety of Objects (starring Glenn Close), the pilot episode of ‘The L Word’ on Showtime and the VH-1documentary NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell. Charlie was awarded a Gold record (UK) for his production work on Blondie’s ‘Greatest Hits Sight & Sound’ and achieved a Top 10 Billboard Dance Chart Position with Debbie Harry’s single ‘Two Times Blue’, which he co-wrote and produced.
Charlie Nieland shares his impression of the accompanying video: “With its mind-melting imagery, the video for ‘Drown’, created by NYC multimedia artist Hypnodoll, is beautiful and deranged. She conjures storytelling just out or rational reach, playing tag with the ancient and futuristic in a way that perfectly compliments the song. Collaborating with her is such a thrill”.
Portuguese heavy sludge hitters Vaneno have just dropped the official video for ‘Sludgehammer’, the crushing second single from their forthcoming album Chaos, Hostility, Murder, due out May 26 on Raging Planet Records.
Shot in black and white, ‘Sludgehammer’ embodies everything Vaneno stands for: heavy, unrelenting riffs, cavernous grooves, and a primal energy that feels like it could destroy entire brick walls. The track delivers a punishing blend of sludge, stoner, and death metal, the kind of sound that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go.
KAYO DOT have revealed the video single ‘Oracle by Severed Head’ taken from their forthcoming new album Every Rock, Every Half-Truth under Reason, which is scheduled for release on August 1, 2025.
Watch it here:
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KAYO DOT comment: “The song ‘Oracle by Severed Head’ is about prophecy, but not the clean, transcendent kind that we’ve been taught to expect”, mastermind Toby Driver reveals. “This is prophecy as defilement – a sacred voice ripped from the past and forced through a severed head – a voice no longer truly its own, but distorted, fragmented, bleeding into the present. It is a song that interrogates the ways in which manipulated versions of the past continue to invade the present, asserting themselves in violent ways. These voices might be real and they might speak some truths, but who, through the obscene fracture that brought them back, are we really listening to? And at what cost? Musically, ‘Oracle by Severed Head’ pulls us into that space of rupture. It is built on a large ensemble – guitars, drums, bass, strings, woodwinds, trumpet, and vocals – an orchestration that calls back to the earliest Kayo Dot works. The song is a perfect choice for a first single, as it celebrates our return to form while marking the passing of time since ‘Choirs of the Eye’. The music is expansive but controlled, allowing tension and release to breathe in real time. Its beauty is at odds with its plaintiveness, as aching melodies and delicate harmonies evoke a sense of loss and longing. The climaxes feel inevitable, yet somehow unexpected. In these moments, the music mirrors the emotional intensity of our most powerful moments, but also speaks to the underlying disquiet of the present – trapped between what was and what is yet to come.”
AZURE EMOTE drop the video clip ‘Feast of Leeches’ as the first single taken from their new full-length Cryptic Aura. The fourth studio album of the American progressive death alchemists has been scheduled for release on July 25, 2025.
AZURE EMOTE comment: “The first single ‘Feast of Leeches’ is a frantic release of anger and madness”, mastermind Mike Hrubovcak writes. “For far too long have we suffered the pressure of outside vultures feeding off our personal energies. It’s fitting that this video was created by ‘Drain Hope’, because it visually expresses the frustration of being surrounded by leeches and parasites that are sucking on our lifeblood, while leaving us ultimately drained and lethargic. It’s like suffocating under dirt but still crawling through the mud in hopes of getting out. We are all waiting to breathe, but always holding our breath, and continually striving to be, while awaiting our death.”
Belgium’s harbingers of doom and despair, Growing Horns, have just unleashed a music video for ‘Godvergeten’, the latest single from their crushing debut album The Essence of Suffering, set to be released on May 3rd.
With riffs that crash like falling cathedral walls and vocals that echo like the wails of the damned, ‘Godvergeten’ is a sludge-soaked sermon of pure sonic punishment. Filmed in stark black and white, the video captures the primal energy and unfiltered bleakness that defines Growing Horns sound.
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Formed in 2015 in the shadow-cloaked depths of Kortrijk, Belgium, Growing Horns didn’t emerge as just another sludge band—they rose as a séance. A slow-burning, punishing invocation of pain, fury, and existential dread. Their sound isn’t forged—it’s exorcised.
Their 2019 debut EP, The Nobility of Pain, landed like a blow to the chest. A raw, unrelenting outpouring of emotion that critics called relentless and fans called home. It wasn’t just music—it was a wound. Pulsing. Festering. Unrepentantly real.
Now, the Belgian collective returns with The Essence of Suffering—an album that doesn’t simply gaze into the abyss, but sets up camp, builds an altar, and lights black candles in its honor. Heavier, darker, and more immersive than anything before, this new chapter digs even deeper into their signature sound: a harrowing fusion of sludge, doom, and stoner-infused despair.
Before Witch of the East, there was Chambers. They were a killer band. Since Chambers, Aeris Houlihan has been producing more electronically-orientated works Witch of the East. We’ll let her words and the music speak for themselves here.
This video is a response to the wave of negative messages I received after publicly sharing my truth as a transgender woman. Following a major legal ruling that questions the identity of trans women in the UK, these messages came pouring in — each one a window into a growing cultural shift. But this video isn’t just about one person or one moment. It’s about what happens when fear turns into division — and how that division is used. History has shown us: it never stops with just one group. It always spreads. Until even those watching in silence realise: they were never safe either. This is a document. A reflection. A call to think deeper, love louder, and stand together before more is lost. — Witch of the East
IMHA TARIKAT premiere the intense new video clip ‘The Day I Died (Reborn into Flames)’ as the next single taken from the forthcoming album Confessing Darkness. The fourth full-length from the German black metal band has been slated for release on June 20, 2025.
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Imha Tarikat comment: “With the song ‘The Day I Died’ I am publicly sharing my past contemplation of suicide for the first time and reflect on a dark time in my life”, mastermind Kerem Yilmaz reveals. “At the time, I was clinically depressed and saw no hope in my future. Suddenly, something ignited inside of me, and I began fighting my way back into life. Through tears, violence, grief, and anxiety, I finally found my place by rising above the voices that tried to pull me down and by focusing upon that one whisper that told me to fight. That voice grew louder and louder. Since then, I have not looked back. Reborn into the flames, I set everything ablaze with passion upon the path that I walk now.”
Aural Aggravation 