Best New Releases August 2025

 

Well, August was yet another slow month in the new release department for yours truly. While the volume of new albums is picking back up after a summer lull, not as many of them spoke to my heart and soul this month. Truth be told, I'm well aware that I can sometimes be the black sheep amongst the heavy underground bloggers, a title that I've come to wear a bit proudly :). However, one of my primary goals as a blogger and Doom Charts Contributor is to always be honest and never try to speak to the merits of something that I don't enjoy or understand. 

The good news: If you're anything like me and you value the lighter side of the stoner/doom scene, especially music that's heavily influenced by alternative rock, grunge, and psychedelic rock (and also find yourself in a bit of musical slump), fear not: I can assure you that there are some VERY epic things coming soon!  

With that said, here you have six lovely albums that did tickle my fancy in August, listed in descending order: 

6.) Supernaughty - Apocalypso 

Supernaughty's third full-length album Apocalypso makes good on its promise to be the band's heaviest yet, leaning hard into blistering stoner metal, sunbaked desert rock, murky sludge tones, and plenty of heavy rock swagger. However, Supernaughty maintains their propensity to have a sound that's often as melodic as it is riff-driven, offering up plenty of smoothed-out oases amid the heaviness. 

Favorite Track: King Again 

5.) Mezzoa - TON 618

Listening to TON 618, the third album from Californian grungy stoner rockers Mezzoa, is like diving headfirst into a time capsule filled with the music of my youth: grunge, alternative rock, and hard rock, set to a backdrop of buzzing stoner rock with a strong punk/alternative metal influence. While the thirteen tracks of this ultra-high energy album fly by at breakneck speed, I can't help but be a bit mind blown by just how much soul Mezzoa crams into each song, ensuring each track is as meaningful as it is hard rocking. 

Favorite Track: Uncle Cho

 

 4.) Tar Pit - Scrying the Angel Gate

Scrying the Angel Gate, the sophomore album from Portland-based doom quintet Tar Pit, is a must-listen for any modern doom fan with a healthy appreciation for the genre's forefathers (and I think that's pretty much all of us, right?) Here, Tar Pit retains a backbone of proto doom influence made unique by folding in well-placed sludgy mires, psychedelic interludes, and energetic bursts. However, the tone on this release boasts a newfound clarity, the sharpness allowing the listener to focus on the impressive power behind the vocals and the reverberation of each and every haunting note. There's also an increased focus on scene-building, with the songs frequently being divided into distinctive parts that come together to tell an epic tale. Of all the things you'll hear on Scrying the Angel Gate, there's one that rings through the loudest, and that's the palpable fervor that Tar Pit possesses for their craft. 

Favorite Track: Coven Vespers

You can read my full review of the album here.

3.) Red Mess - Hi-Tech Starvation

If you're at all familiar with Red Mess, you're well aware that the band expertly marries the most malleable of grooves with intense bursts of barreling stoner riffs and the bite of metal. On their new album Hi-Tech Starvation, Red Mess finds a very captivating meeting point between the doom/punk ferocity of their first full-length album with the grungy stoner meets cool psychedelic flow of their second. The melodic, feel-good interludes are as dreamy as ever, yet the heavy parts have a newfound grit, brimming with coarse but vibrant stoner metal goodness. Hi-Tech Starvation encapsulates everything you love about Red Mess, amplifies it tenfold, and delivers it to you in a fast-paced and concentrated form that will leave you craving more. 

Favorite Track: Inexistent Color

You can read my full review of the album here.

2.) Purple Strain - Live from Nowhere 

Purple Strain is a band who has taken great care in hollowing out a most enchanting alcove located squarely between the realms of stoner and psychedelic rock, utilizing a pathway of progressive rock as a means of travel between these worlds. The result is an incredibly soothing and hypnotic tone, scooping up the giddy listener and embarking on a dreamlike mind flight that seems to end far too soon. Don't get me wrong, this sound is far from one that will lull you to sleep. Amid the tranquil flow of psychedelia, you'll hear immensely powerful and expressive vocals, feel the pulse of the booming percussion and energetic bass, and you'll take to the air on the groove brought about by electrifying riffs from Stonerland. The coolest part of all? This multifaceted sound emanates from a live recorded album titled Live from Nowhere, a more than adequate representation of just what Purple Strain is capable of as they gear up to record their first studio album! 

Favorite Track: Collection of Sad Stars

 

 1.) Witchrider Metamorph

Austrian stoner/alternative rockers Witchrider are back with an electrifying new EP titled Metamorph: six energetic tracks that showcase a newfound intensity from the band while building up a solid "wall of sound". However, if you're like me and you're a fan of the band's saccharine sweet melodies (veiled in just a bit of darkness, of course), you'll be pleased to know that those are very much intact. In short: Metamorph is everything you love about Witchrider, but cranked up to eleven. 

Favorite Track: Used to be a King

You can read my review of the album here.

That's it for August! I hope you enjoy these albums as much as I do! 

Don't forget to check out this month's Doom Chart where there are forty albums waiting for you to discover, and as always, be sure to show your favorite heavy underground artists some much-deserved love!