Best New Releases July 2024
I'm happy to report that July's Best Of list is nearly three times longer than June's was. I was especially excited to hear some great new doom albums in July, particularly doom with a delicious occult rock tone (I'm admittedly quite picky about my doom). Listening to these devilish tunes in the comfort of air conditioning has me craving the crispness of fall and the mischief that comes with spooky season.
Furthermore, it recently occurred to me that we are officially more than halfway through 2024, which already has me rounding up contenders for my best releases of the year list. Man...I'm not ready! So many awesome new albums and EPs have been released in the first half of the year, and I'm sure there are many more to come. Furthermore, ranking the new releases each month has been getting increasingly difficult, so I can't fathom the challenge the end of year list will present. Almost always, I feel like different albums are equally good for different reasons. But, more often than not, there's a clear number one, as was the case this month...
1. Boozewa - Bon Vivant
Accurately describing themselves as "the Valium version of The Pixies and Sonic Youth, Boozewa is a trio who grew from the seeds of another band you may know, Backwoods Payback. Their sound resides somewhere among the realms of grunge, noise rock, and sludge for the most part, but there are plenty of nods to doom, punk, and alternative rock lurking about as well. Boozewa has a knack for creating music that, while erring on the darker side, offers a realistic look at the world and life. In fact, their music inevitably feels familiar, calling to mind very specific moods and experiences for the listener. This holds true for both their instrumental and lyrical songs. On Bon Vivant, Boozewa digs deeper than ever before, delivering a raw, candid, heavy portrait of the human experience and psyche.
Read my full review here.
2. Black Capricorn - Sacrifice Darkness and...Fire
Sacrifice Darkness and...Fire sees Black Capricorn delving back into the occult rock-heavy doom sound utilized on their 2022 album Cult of Blood, while wiping away just a bit of the scuzz. The album offers up a more sophisticated sound, rich with layers, variety, and a plethora of dark psychedelic groove. Its flow is often hypnotically low and slow, trippy, groovy in many places, and always sinister. In addition, vocals deliver their best performance yet, and we hear a lot more of them. Black Capricorn are true maestros of the characteristic acidic, occult doom sound arising from Italy, and it's safe to say Sacrifice Darkness and...Fire is their finest work to date.
Favorite Track: Sacrifice
3. Outer Head - Cosmic Vibrator
Spaced-out doomsters Outer Head return with Cosmic Vibrator, arguably their heaviest release yet. The band keeps true to form with their hypnotic doomy drone, waves of atmospheric psychedelia, cosmic sci-fi grooves, and creeping tendrils of sinister occult rock. Composed of four tracks and a forty-five minute runtime, Cosmic Vibrator delivers an entire saga, including the nearly nineteen-minute juggernaut of a song Elyon, that ends the album with a phenomenal showcase of Outer Head's stylistic prowess. This is an utterly bewitching album that has the power to both spellbind and rock your world.
4. Fear the Beards - Space Whale
Italian stoner rockers Fear the Beards make a massively strong entrance with their debut EP, Space Whale. The five tracks featured here are the polar opposite of flat or one-note. Gritty yet melodic vocals mingle with the colorful dimensions of psychedelia and the rugged but soaring tones of stoner/desert rock. The sound of Space Whale mirrors the peaks and valleys as the Sonoran Desert; as cool and refreshing as a lone mountain spring that is all too aware of its unforgiving, sunbaked surroundings.
Favorite Track: Shame, Rust, & Pain
5. Land Mammal - Emergence
"Heavy" and "meditative" are two words that seem to conflict, but Land Mammal has made this style of psychedelic rock their specialty, and they execute it beautifully. Their second full-length album, Emergence, is one of those albums that flows in such a perfect, seamless way, each song pouring its energy into the next like water from streams into rivers into oceans. While each stop varies in both composition and intensity, the transfer itself couldn't be more natural. Emergence demonstrates Land Mammal's ability to create immersive, meditative psychedelic rock utilizing soaring, mesmeric vocal and instrumental compositions, but it's so much more than that. It's a spiritual, healing experience for the heart and transcendence for the soul, simultaneously empowering and soothing.
Read my full review here.
Favorite Track: Tear You Down
6. Thunderdope - MOTORSATAN
Thunderdope's sophomore EP, Motorsatan, sees the band heavily expanding upon their high octane stoner rock roots and honing in on their signature sound. While keeping true to the gritty, turbulent nature of stoner rock, the band adds plenty of heavy psych, garage rock, and an insane amount of groove to their repertoire. The result is four devilishly catchy tunes boasting more variety and a sophisticated sound that will appeal to fans of many genres of heavy music.
Read my full review here.
Favorite Track: Strawberry Voids
7. Magmakammer - Before I Burn
Magmakammer's highly-anticipated album Before I Burn has a seamless, serpentine flow that fills each of its eight tracks with smoke, catchy hooks, disembodied spirits, and a delicious sense of apprehension. Utilizing their signature blend of scuzzy, proto-doomy psychedelic grooves with the raw, vintage sound of garage and occult rock, Magmakammer delivers something altogether haunting, retro, impassioned, and addictive.
Favorite Track: Doom Jive
8. Sacri Monti - Retrieval
San Diego psychedelic/progressive quintet Sacri Monti is back with their third studio album, Retrieval. This beautiful album is packed full of some of the most legitimate retro sound you'll ever hear from start to finish. Not only that, but its lyrical storytelling dances with its instrumental progressions in such an immersive way that you'll be gleefully transported to another time and place, one that you'll be reluctant to leave.
Favorite Track: Intermediate Death
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