A new Atomic Rooster album in 2025? Yes indeed! Circle The Sun is here in all of its Hammond Organ glory. This is the band’s first album of new material since 1983, a long time but also a time period that saw the band’s influence grow, especially in the heavy underground rock scene. This version only has one original member, guitarist and now adding more vocals, Steve Bolton, but if you dig the band and have been yearning for more Rooster, you should really dig this record.
The Hammond is strong on the opener, Fly Or Die, while the title track continues that trend while Bolton rips it up on guitar. Never 2 Lose slows it down and gets all psych bluesy but leads nicely into the insane organ work on Walk With Me, which is all sorts of fun and crazy. Rebel Devil is as straight ahead rock as the Rooster gets on Circle The Sun, adding some female background vocals to the party and has (another) cool organ solo. Not sure about the vocals on No More, but musically it has some Death Walks Behind You vibes. The weird and spooky Pillow isn’t my favourite but doesn’t do anything to ruin the vibe, while Last Night sounds like Traffic, which is fine by me. The last two tracks, First Impression and Blow That Mind are more of the same, but it gets a little tired as the album goes on.
New Atomic Rooster is welcomed for sure. While the vocals are in some parts a struggle, musically this record rocks. Is Circle The Sun great? Debatable. Is it a fun listen for long time fans? Indeed. Can there ever be too much organ? Absolutely not. But let us not bury the lead…there is a new Atomic Rooster album in 2025, and its pretty damn good. 7/10
Soul Blind - Red Sky Mourning (Closed Casket Adventures)
New York’s Soul Blind is right in my 90s post rock wheelhouse on their new record, Red Sky Mourning. Quicksand, Helmet, Hum, Failure, Handsome, Into Another, etc., all makes me very happy. Add some Alice In Chains and some of the heavier 90s shoegaze bands, and what you get are the ten tracks on Red Sky Mourning.
Heavy, atmospheric, and guitar that just rips, the record opens with Business Or Pleasure, which just blows you away. The chunky Dyno is Hum vs. Alice In Chains in a fight to the death. Hide Your Evil is dripping with 90s goodness with vocals that remind me of Walter and has quite the Quicksand swagger to it. Mistake To Wonder is dreamy post rock with serious Failure vibes, while Billy sounds like one of the better Filter songs. We head back to the Pacific Northwest with the grungy For Real that also includes this fuzzy wall of sound in the background.
Hard driving stoner rock with the right amounts of fuzz, psych, and melody is what you get from the excellent new record from Elepharmers title Western Wilderness. The Italian trio’s fourth record is right up there with the rest of their great discography and another collection of killer tracks that blend elements of stoner, space, and psych rock perfectly.
Riffs are a plenty on the opener, The Underworld, then add the hard driving The Call Of The Wild for such a strong one-two punch to kick the record off. I love the psych guitar work on this one. We get a change of pace with the slower, atmospheric, and spacey Arcuentu that also sounds right out of the 1990s in the best sort of way. A chunky gallop picks up the pace once again with Burning The Nest that reminds me a bit of the excellent band Tidal Wave.
The Hammond is strong on the opener, Fly Or Die, while the title track continues that trend while Bolton rips it up on guitar. Never 2 Lose slows it down and gets all psych bluesy but leads nicely into the insane organ work on Walk With Me, which is all sorts of fun and crazy. Rebel Devil is as straight ahead rock as the Rooster gets on Circle The Sun, adding some female background vocals to the party and has (another) cool organ solo. Not sure about the vocals on No More, but musically it has some Death Walks Behind You vibes. The weird and spooky Pillow isn’t my favourite but doesn’t do anything to ruin the vibe, while Last Night sounds like Traffic, which is fine by me. The last two tracks, First Impression and Blow That Mind are more of the same, but it gets a little tired as the album goes on.
New Atomic Rooster is welcomed for sure. While the vocals are in some parts a struggle, musically this record rocks. Is Circle The Sun great? Debatable. Is it a fun listen for long time fans? Indeed. Can there ever be too much organ? Absolutely not. But let us not bury the lead…there is a new Atomic Rooster album in 2025, and its pretty damn good. 7/10
Soul Blind - Red Sky Mourning (Closed Casket Adventures)
New York’s Soul Blind is right in my 90s post rock wheelhouse on their new record, Red Sky Mourning. Quicksand, Helmet, Hum, Failure, Handsome, Into Another, etc., all makes me very happy. Add some Alice In Chains and some of the heavier 90s shoegaze bands, and what you get are the ten tracks on Red Sky Mourning.
Heavy, atmospheric, and guitar that just rips, the record opens with Business Or Pleasure, which just blows you away. The chunky Dyno is Hum vs. Alice In Chains in a fight to the death. Hide Your Evil is dripping with 90s goodness with vocals that remind me of Walter and has quite the Quicksand swagger to it. Mistake To Wonder is dreamy post rock with serious Failure vibes, while Billy sounds like one of the better Filter songs. We head back to the Pacific Northwest with the grungy For Real that also includes this fuzzy wall of sound in the background.
Thru The Haze has a Catherine Wheel thing going on and that makes this reviewer very happy. This song shows that the band certainly understand melodic 90s heavy alt rock like they were studying it for their PhDs. The title track is more of the same in the best kind of way, bringing their version of atmospheric grunge circa 2025 with some serious post emo vibes to go along with it. The early 2000s creeps in with New York Smoke, but no harm no foul on this one. The closer, Closer To You, sums up what this record and what Soul Blind’s sound is all about.
Yeah, of course I love Red Sky Mourning given who Soul Blind is channelling. This record is chock filled with all the stuff I love from my favourite decade of music. If you like any of the band mentioned above, then check this out and let it take you on a journey to some of the best times of the 90s, updated for one of the better releases in 2025. 9/10
Elepharmers - Western Wilderness (Electric Valley Records)
Yeah, of course I love Red Sky Mourning given who Soul Blind is channelling. This record is chock filled with all the stuff I love from my favourite decade of music. If you like any of the band mentioned above, then check this out and let it take you on a journey to some of the best times of the 90s, updated for one of the better releases in 2025. 9/10
Elepharmers - Western Wilderness (Electric Valley Records)
Hard driving stoner rock with the right amounts of fuzz, psych, and melody is what you get from the excellent new record from Elepharmers title Western Wilderness. The Italian trio’s fourth record is right up there with the rest of their great discography and another collection of killer tracks that blend elements of stoner, space, and psych rock perfectly.
Riffs are a plenty on the opener, The Underworld, then add the hard driving The Call Of The Wild for such a strong one-two punch to kick the record off. I love the psych guitar work on this one. We get a change of pace with the slower, atmospheric, and spacey Arcuentu that also sounds right out of the 1990s in the best sort of way. A chunky gallop picks up the pace once again with Burning The Nest that reminds me a bit of the excellent band Tidal Wave.
Dung Beetle has a frantic vibe to it, with guitars all over the place, while Drifter brings more chunky riffs that the Elepharmers cultivate so well. I get Fire Down Below vibes from this one. Blind opens up like a 90s thrash track before kicking into something that stays in the same decade but slows the pace down to something more alt friendly, with excellent results.
Towers Of Silence is where the band shows off that they are more than just a riff-y stoner band, bringing a new depth to their writing with this kind psych ballad, until it kicks in with the biggest and nastiest riff of Western Wilderness, sounding like Trippy Daisy or Hum musically, which is a huge compliment. The instrumental Genna Serapis closes out the record with more Tidal Wave vibes and shows that Elepharmers continue to be masters of their craft.
If you dig bands like Tidal Wave and Fire Down Below, like a bit of psych and 90s alt rock with your stoner, and can’t get enough of Italian power trios, the new Elepharmers record, Western Wilderness, will be right up your alley. 8/10
Birds Of Nazca - Pangaea (Self Released)
Solid instrumental stoner psych doom is what you get on the new record, Pangaea, from Nantes, France guitar and drums duo Birds Of Nazca. This is the band’s third record which keeps up the quality heavy instrumental rock the band has become known for.
The band never sounds like only a two piece, as Birds Of Nazca have a much bigger sound than that of just two dudes. My favourite tracks is the desert rock sounding Racetrack Playa that has such a great stoner groove to it. My other favourites include the opener, Batagaïka, that has some very cool changes and big riffs, and the one-two punch of the last couple of tracks Riftus…directly into …Pangaea. The former is a psych-y intro track that turns into a slow burn led by a knuckle dragging riff and some more cool changes.
I tend to lean more towards bands with vocals, but Birds Of Nazca are a band that can keep it interesting even without words. Cool riffs, heavy vibes, and quite the groove brought to you by what sounds like way more than the two guys playing on Pangaea. 7/10
If you dig bands like Tidal Wave and Fire Down Below, like a bit of psych and 90s alt rock with your stoner, and can’t get enough of Italian power trios, the new Elepharmers record, Western Wilderness, will be right up your alley. 8/10
Birds Of Nazca - Pangaea (Self Released)
Solid instrumental stoner psych doom is what you get on the new record, Pangaea, from Nantes, France guitar and drums duo Birds Of Nazca. This is the band’s third record which keeps up the quality heavy instrumental rock the band has become known for.
The band never sounds like only a two piece, as Birds Of Nazca have a much bigger sound than that of just two dudes. My favourite tracks is the desert rock sounding Racetrack Playa that has such a great stoner groove to it. My other favourites include the opener, Batagaïka, that has some very cool changes and big riffs, and the one-two punch of the last couple of tracks Riftus…directly into …Pangaea. The former is a psych-y intro track that turns into a slow burn led by a knuckle dragging riff and some more cool changes.
I tend to lean more towards bands with vocals, but Birds Of Nazca are a band that can keep it interesting even without words. Cool riffs, heavy vibes, and quite the groove brought to you by what sounds like way more than the two guys playing on Pangaea. 7/10
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