Best New Releases March 2026

 

The legendary luck of the Irish must be shining down upon us because March was another great month for new releases. Here are my ten favorites in descending order: 

10.) Azken Auzi - Infernua 

Three years after the release of their debut, French occult doom/sludge duo Azken Auzi returns with their sophomore album Infernua. Here, the band utilizes a revamped sound "that is darker, more technical, and emotionally deeper". While the leaden trudge of despair pervades the album, tendrils of lighter, open atmospheres rise to the top, creating a buoyant albeit dismal layer atop the murky mire. These lighter nuances serve as foreshadowing as the comparatively delicate final track From Hell is designed to give the listener "a sense of fragile hope".

Favorite Track: See You Next Tuesday 

9.) New Dawn Fades - Lores

Lores is the debut full-length album for Pennsylvanian stoner/doomers New Dawn Fades and is their first release as a quartet. Instrumentally, this album vacillates among murky grunge, the weighty trudge of doom, a heavy metal crunch, fuzzy stoner, and a bluesy groove. This is topped with soaring, clean vocals that have a way of making the band's catchy hooks even more infectious. Even with all of these stylistic influences at play, I was pleasantly surprised at just how smooth the album's flow is, quickly finding myself lost in a hypnotic ride that's as steady as it is dynamic. 

Whether your musical preferences land closer to metal or more on the grunge/alternative side of the spectrum, it's hard to deny that with Lores, New Dawn Fades has given us the perfect heavy groove for summer. 

Favorite Track: Souls 

 

8.) Gjenferd - Black Smoke Rising 

For their sophomore album Black Smoke Rising, Norwegian retro rockers Gjenferd return with a noticeably keener sound. While classic guitar tones and organ are still the driving force behind the band, Gjenferd delivers even catchier hooks and more bursts of high energy groove than they did on their 2024 self-titled debut. However, Black Smoke Rising also contains much starker contrasts and, from fourth track Calling Your Name, the album plunges into darker, stormier atmospheres. This not only pays homage to the moodier tones Gjenferd developed on their debut, but it provides an air of authenticity, covering a wide spectrum of emotion. While the band set out to create an album with "a more direct and accessible sound" this time around, the sharper tones, mounting intensity, and more pronounced expressiveness ultimately created Gjenferd's most immersive work to date.

Favorite Track: The Thrill 

7.) Kaleidobolt - Karakuchi 

Karakuchi, the fifth album from Finnish prog rockers Kaleidobolt, is a fast-paced collection of tunes aptly named after a particular brand of Japanese dry beer that is "very intense at the first bite, and then leaves your mouth feeling refreshed.". Karakuchi is filled with clever contrasts, namely a gritty, Motörhead-esque blend of classic heavy metal, hard rock, and punk with pockets of sophisticated, refined psychedelic prog throughout. While Karakuchi certainly takes the listener on a frantic, fuel-soaked ride, it's these soulful pit stops that allow Kaleidobolt's sound to stand out, showcasing the well-rounded musicianship and expansive musical tastes of the band members.

Favorite Track: Friends of Fire 

 

6.) Mister Earthbound - Ostara 

Mister Earthbound is a swamp rock band from Virginia whose new EP Ostara had me blissfully drifting away on its bluesy psychedelic tones for the duration of its thirteen-minute runtime. This EP is a really great chill pill for the most part, delivering a hypnotic, leisurely-moving haze, thick with the mournful notes of blues. However, interludes of buzzing stoner fuzz, lush waves of cool psychedelia, and emotive crescendos offer plenty of buoyancy, groove, and expressiveness throughout, so the EP is far from dispiriting. Final track Only Son (my personal favorite) boasts a particularly light and airy optimism, making it the perfect jam for the beginning of Spring. 

Favorite Track: Only Son 

 

5.) Cowboys and Aliens - Finis Temporum 

Cowboys and Aliens is a stoner rock machine from Belgium that just can't be stopped...not that we'd ever want them to do so. After planting their roots back in 1996, releasing 8 albums, and playing countless stages, the quartet is still going strong. Not even a hiatus from 2006-2011 could keep them down for good, and Cowboys and Aliens is still rocking with their original lineup. The band's latest release, Finis Temporum, features 6 tracks of the blistering stoner rock energy we know and love from the band marked by an infusion of post grunge and that unique vocal that gives the sound a classic heavy metal air. This is a deeply personal album for Cowboys and Aliens...forged from grief and loss and bathed in the light of hope, it's "the sound of a band that still had something to say - and said it".

Favorite Track: Life Tree

4.) My Pitbull Lucifer - Welcome to New Earth 

My Pitbull Lucifer is an eclectic band from Croatia who skillfully blends the sinister trudge of doom, the chaos of noise, the mind-bending nature of psychedelic rock, the raw attitude of punk, and the unpredictability of alternative metal into a spellbinding cocktail. The band delivers a beautifully refined sound on their new album Welcome to New Earth, which begins with a solid showing of stoner/doom and alternative metal before gradually becoming more and more ethereal by way of some desert-infused psychedelia. The intensity reappears in final track Analog Man, an 11-minute juggernaut that really brings the album full circle. In this way, listening to Welcome to New Earth truly feels like experiencing a cycle - a spirit that is born in vibrant fiery energy, grows and metamorphoses through beauty and chaos, withers and dies, and is triumphantly born again. My Pitbull Lucifer's compositions are noticeably more complex on this album, their expression more unfettered, and their sound infinitely more dimensional. One of my favorite things about Welcome to New Earth is that the influence of doom is certainly there, especially in the album's first few tracks, but the band's other stylistic influences keep the energy from getting bogged down. Also, I love the vocals - melodic and powerful but appropriately and believably frantic when necessary to the mood, solidifying this album's status as My Pitbull Lucifer's most sophisticated, raw, and authentic work to date.

Favorite Track: Mountains 

3.) Red Sun Atacama - Summerchild 

French stoner rock trio Red Sun Atacama has done it yet again in releasing an exemplary representation of beauty amid chaos with their third album Summerchild. This aptly named release boasts a particularly colorful, multi-faceted version of Red Sun Atacama's boisterous sound, as nearly every song glows hot with sunny, contagious energy before lapsing into peaceful shoreside psychedelic grooves (and back again). True to form, the band's tone remains delightfully unpredictable on this album, ensuring there isn't a dull moment within its seven tracks. However, the overall vibe is noticeably more tranquil when compared to Red Sun Atacama's previous releases, as Summerchild implores the listener to rock out with reckless abandon while mindfully releasing negative energy, soaking up the present, and persevering. In this way, Summerchild is as therapeutic as it is lively, the perfect mental cleanse as you prepare to savor the restorative warmth of the summer months ahead.

Favorite Track: Weightless 

 

2.) Witchcraft - A Sinner's Child 

Witchcraft continues to reveal the bleeding core of their sound in an unapologetically raw, cathartic manner on their new EP A Sinner's Child. If the band's previous album Idag is representative of their essence and soul, A Sinner's Child embodies the bones - weary and spent. The atmosphere surrounding the EP is dark, brooding, and folky, becoming so mournful at times it feels a bit like a dirge - an utterly unfettered outpouring of emotion. While you'll revel in some fuzzy doom on the song Själen Reser Sig and will groove to some occult rock on opening track Drömmen Om Död Och Förruttne, A Sinner's Child is otherwise light as air, stripped down and unadorned, allowing the emotive expression to come through even stronger. As dark as this EP may seem, I can't help but hear the soothing guitar tones on the title track and its reprise Sinner's Clear Confusion as weak sunshine, offering soft but discernible glimmers of hope.

Favorite Track: Själen Reser Sig

1.) Yeast Machine - Bad Milk

Whether they intended to or not, Yeast Machine has given us everything we could ever want or need on Bad Milk. Primarily by employing their sharpest contrasts to date, the band merges deeply poignant moods with jubilant energy in a way that only Yeast Machine is capable of. Poppy anthems like Feeding Poison to the Spiders Was Never Really My Thing, Falling Rocks, and Honey & Sweat will have you flying out of your seat, compelled to move along as you're mentally transported to the middle of the crowd at a live show. Nestled between these tracks, you'll find songs that are a bit darker, melancholic, or subdued, reminiscent of the band's earliest material in many ways. However, no matter which vibe a particular song embodies, it always packs that powerful emotional punch that we associate with Yeast Machine thanks to a raw, unfettered, authentic delivery. Bad Milk just feels right - a natural evolution of Yeast Machine's sound that draws from their grungy roots, utilizes the theatrical, larger-than-life presentation they developed on their debut full-length album Sleaze, and ultimately produces what feels like their very essence. And, in my eyes, this marrow consists of a contagious, unstoppable energy that arises when Yeast Machine's relatable libretto, driven home by cathartic, perfectly timed bursts of intensity, infiltrates your soul. 

You can read my review of the album here.

Favorite Track: Karthago 

       

That's it for March! I hope you enjoy these albums as much as I did. Be sure to check out this month's Doom Chart where there are forty albums waiting for you to discover and as always, show your favorite heavy underground artists some much-deserved love (even if it's just a follow on social media)! 

🖤🖤🖤

This month's list is dedicated to my dad (August 1955-March 2026). He actively encouraged my love of music, self-expression, and obscure interests, and he never once complained about the wall-rattling, often frightening sounds coming from my bedroom stereo. Fly high, Dad! 🕊️

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