Best New Releases May 2026

 

May was one of those weird months in which some of the highly anticipated releases didn't appeal to me personally. In fact, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to come up with more than two or three albums for the Doom Charts when the month began, but by its end, I ended up with a full list. The good news about months like this is it gives me, and hopefully some of you, an opportunity to check out some of the lesser known and new bands in the heavy underground scene, and it's releases from such groups that make up the bulk of the list I have for you today. 

Here are my favorite new albums from May 2026 in descending order:

11.) Mörkekraft - Fragments

Mörkekraft is a trio from Norway who makes a memorable first impression with their debut album Fragments, giving us eight solid tracks of stony heavy rock peppered with alternative rock energy and bluesy swagger. The powerful, expressive vocals and catchy hooks are the icing on the cake, ensuring you'll be singing along in no time. However, the grooves on Fragments alternate between bitter and sweet, delivering honest lyrical perspectives on topics such as deception, abandonment, internal conflict, and the supernatural. This is where Mörkekraft's trademark emotive intensity comes in, delivering an infectious sound that implores you to listen up and a soul that has the power to resonate with all of us.

Favorite Track: Ghosts 

10.) Goddess - Ritual of the Cloven Hoof 

With glowing energy and earth-shaking riffs, Swedish doom quartet Goddess is a phoenix rising from the ashes of the band Goatess. Their new album Ritual of the Cloven Hoof, rather than symbolizing a "comeback" for the band, honestly feels more like a powerful new beginning. This milestone release embodies the souls of doom metal forefathers such as Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus while utilizing elements of a more modern sound: the slow-burn cadence of bands like Electric Wizard and Sleep, energetic bursts of gritty stoner metal, sunbaked desert rock flair, and psychedelic oases. Uninhibited, potent expression from vocals and instrumentals alike seal the deal, representative of the explosion of energy that occurred when Goddess was reborn. With a sound that pays homage to both the old and new schools of doom, Ritual of the Cloven Hoof is sure to satisfy both long-time, die-hard metalheads and new generations of heavy music lovers.

Favorite Track: Godless 

9.) Qlessar - Stratorian Oracle 

Qlesaar is an up-and-coming quintet from Switzerland that creates one of the richest sounds I've heard in the heavy underground. Made up of members of Carson, Sons of Morpheus, Soulgazer, and Larska, the band lays down a sturdy foundation of rumbling stoner/desert riffage that they adorn with intricate, sprawling psychedelic guitar work and impassioned, soaring vocals. Well before the end of the first track on their debut album Stratorian Oracle, it's apparent that Qlesaar's sound is as inspired by Jimi Hendrix as it is Kyuss. However, this group really stands for the unfettered intensity they bring to each and every note of their music. Whether it's a towering riff or a dreamy interlude, Qlesaar's tones are consistently full-bodied, and the emotive expression is unrelenting in its rawness. All in all, Stratorian Oracle leaves a crater of an impression, delivering a beautifully vivid, cinematic, heartfelt experience that feels infinitely bigger than its six tracks.

Favorite Track: Green Lady 

*Note: The price of a digital download for this album on Bandcamp is noticeably higher than what we typically see in the heavy underground. I'm unsure of the reasoning for this, but you can also listen to the album on Spotify, YouTube, MusicBrainz, and Musify.

8.) No Man's Valley - Live Kult 41 - Bonn

Dutch quintet No Man's Valley, whose music sounds kind of like what would happen if you invited Jim Morrison and Nick Cave to the same party, describes their condition at their live shows as a state of being "completely possessed" for an hour, even after ten years and countless stages. This psychedelic energy, in turn, is successfully transmitted to their audience, resulting in a near spiritual experience for all. One such show took place in Bonn, Germany on October 11, 2025, a magical gig that just so happened to be captured on multi-track. Naturally, the band seized the opportunity to release the result as a live album, Live Kult 41 - Bonn, adding only a minute amount of additional mixing. You'll certainly hear that the integrity of the live performance is very much intact, showcasing a sound that's simultaneously restorative and invigorating, feelings made even more palpable through the intimate nature of the live show.

You can read more about the album here.

Favorite Track: Lies

7.) Robot God - Onto the Afterlife 

Australian heavy psych wizards Robot God have developed quite a reputation in the heavy underground for giving their listeners a balanced and ultra immersive blend of towering stoner/doom riffs and atmospheric, spaced-out psychedelia. The flow of their songs is utterly mesmeric, flowing between towering walls of thunderous sound, hazy interludes, jammy breakdowns, and sharp spacey tones. The band's new album Onto the Afterlife has an even more improvisational feel than Robot God's previous works as riffs, emotive solos, and hypnotic rhythms tend to develop even more organically and expressively. The result is a gradual weaving of expansive, layered sonic tapestries on which stories and emotions unfurl piece by piece and without restraint, as if in a dream. According to Robot God, Onto the Afterlife was "written across a period of transformation and reflection...shaped by the chaos, clarity, and contradictions of the world around us." In this way, the album feels like a very important, highly personal milestone in the band's career - not a peak nor plateau, but a sturdy, well-developed springboard from which Robot God's creativity can confidently soar without limits.

Favorite Track: Onto the Afterlife

6.) Komarov Magnificent Backflip - Cop Days 

The Italian quartet modestly dubbed Komarov Magnificent Backflip is decidedly not a stoner/doom group. In fact, the band plays an energetic and often quirky blend of punk, garage, kraut rock, surf rock, and post punk. However, the core of this sound is a brilliant exemplar of one of the things music has historically done best: uniting listeners on a global scale via their shared frustrations, fears, and outrage, providing an outlet through which that negative energy is transformed into something positive and unbelievably powerful. The time for Komarov Magnificent Backflip to record their sophomore album Cop Days came when "the urgency to say something be[came] stronger than the urgency to play", and, as time has proven over and over again, "music cannot look the other way". Through alternating acts of deceptively sunny surf punk grooves, bleak despondency, raw grit, and chaotic breakdowns, Cop Days delivers almost painfully honest and thought-provoking insight into the splintering world around us.

Favorite Track: Cops Clubs/Kids Cigs 

5.) Skip Danko B-Movie Road Club - Trippin on a Chinese Market 

Skip Danko B-Movie Road Club is an eclectic musical project whose creative process is as unique and memorable as its name. Featuring elements of alternative, stoner/desert rock, jazz, punk, indie, krautrock, and noise rock, the group's new album Trippin on a Chinese Market truly has a mind of its own, floating off in countless directions but in a remarkably natural way. While some tracks are sharp and vivid with a clear-cut direction, others are free-flowing, hazy, atmospheric, and utterly experimental, so you never know what to expect from one moment to the next...and that's a good thing! With each and every song taking on a unique identity and vision, it's safe to say that Trippin on a Chinese Market is an album that is truly the sum of its parts, enthralling cinema that's both gripping and hypnotic. Once you press "play" on this one, know that you are merely along for the ride.

Favorite Track: Spaceshrimps

4.) Goldfish Kaseem - For a Bryter Future 

Goldfish Kaseem makes a lasting impression with their debut full-length album For A Bryter Future. While it's safe to say that the trio's sound is founded on trippy psychedelia, raw garage punk delivery, recurring cyclones of utter chaos, and plenty of volume and fuzz, Goldfish Kaseem does rein in the energy every so often. For example, you'll get lost in the hazy and sprawling psychedelic mindflight that is opening track The Master Built Walls, We Brought Them Down, soak in the soulful emotion on Situation, vibe with the Bauhaus-y beginnings of Kathmandu, and be soothed by the light and buoyant desert tones of final song It's Coming For You. On For A Bryter Future, Goldfish Kaseem gives us so much more than a run-of-the-mill garage psych album. Overflowing with energy, variety, creativity, and heart, this release is the go-to album for any mood.

Favorite Track: Situation

3.) All Them Witches - House of Mirrors 

I'll be the first to admit it: All Them Witches is one of those bands that I always meant to get around to listening to in-depth, but never really did. Heavy blues is a genre that I'm incredibly picky about...while there are some bands out there that I really enjoy, it's not a style that I listen to regularly. Well, let's just say after giving House of Mirrors, the new album from these Nashville-based rockers a spin, I can wholeheartedly hear what all the fuss is about. 

House of Mirrors proves without a shadow of a doubt that All Them Witches is so much more than a heavy blues band. Also featuring elements of heavy rock, psychedelic rock, stoner rock, and folk to name a few, this album plays out like the most engaging film. The natural movement to and from each stylistic influence is filled with palpable emotion, thanks in large part to the incredibly adaptable, expressive vocals that have the power to embody an entire cast of characters and their moods. 

If you're anything like me and you're just now dipping your toes into this beautifully soulful sound, let House of Mirrors be the springboard that ultimately propels you through All Them Witches' discography. And, if you're a long-time fan, I feel confident in stating that you'll be far from disappointed in the latest installment of some of the most intense, multi-faceted stoney blues rock out there. 

Favorite Track: Red Rocking Chair 

2.) Go Mahhh - Doppelgänger 

Blowing in with grooves as refreshing as a cool breeze on an otherwise stifling day, Berlin-based garage/psych rockers Go Mahhh give us the healing escape we all need right now with their full-length debut Doppelgänger. With golden, desert-baked atmospheres that wash over the listener as reliably as the tides, hypnotic krautrock-inspired repetition that pulses throughout, and an ever-rotating kaleidoscope of richly colored psychedelic tones that naturally and delicately shift the ambience as needed, Doppelgänger is utterly captivating from start to finish. That's not to say that Go Mahhh spouts sunshine and rainbows 100% of the time...the band makes no qualms in reminding us early on in the album that "hell remains" and "evil reigns", and around Dopplegänger's midway point, the aura makes a discernible shift into darker, grittier territory. No matter what mood a song takes on, Go Mahhh consistently delivers a soothing and mesmeric experience that's blissfully easy to get lost in.

Favorite Track: High Mountain

1.) Fossile - No King 

Finnish stoner metal quintet Fossile has unearthed their debut album, the aptly-titled No King, and it's sure to be one of the most powerful and cathartic releases you'll hear this year. No King is filled with barreling stoner metal energy, hulking, doomed-out sludgy riffage, and resonating stoner rock melody. However, the most memorable thing about this album is its deeply palpable passion and pent-up frustration. As much as No King delivers an engaging listening experience that's both deliciously heavy and intensely soulful, it's also incredibly relevant, arriving at the perfect time.

Favorite Track: No King

That's it for May! 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, show your favorite heavy underground artists some much-deserved love! 

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