SOM - Let the Light In (2025)

SOM might be the band that made me interested in doomgaze as a genre. Their 2022's album The Shape of Everything really stuck with me and made me excited for the follow up. This came just two weeks ago in the shape (ha!) of the equally green and equally good album called Let the Light In.

High pace, complex music backgrounds and Jonas Bjerre-esque vocals is what characterizes the Americans. In their music, the "doom" part certainly doesn't refer to the speed in which the tracks go by and by. It's fast, there's a seducing flow, the compositions are catchy. The "doom" part is the heaviness of the music that contrasts so beautifully with the fragile, soft vocals that really make me think of Mew's airy madness. But what strikes me most is the ingenuity that is so well perceptible in the backgrounds. Everything that takes place under the vocals in Let the Light In, Chemicals or Give Blood is shockingly awesome.

The first part of the album feels certainly stronger. Maybe it's because this kind of intense music may tire the listener a bit with time. But still, it's one of the best bands of its kind out there and I can't wait for an opportunity to see them live somewhere out there.

Let the Light In costs 7.99 EUR.

Check: Chemicals 

Country: US

Genre: energetic doomgaze

Label: Pelagic Records

SOM - The Shape of Everything (2022)

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Pothamus - Abur (2025)

The sophomore album that is even better than the debut? It's how it is with the Belgian doomgazers/ sludge metal heads of Pothamus who released their new album via Pelagic making it the most interesting post-metal release of the beginning of the year. The psychedelic meeting the heaviness? Count me in!

This repetitious, tribal-like pace is certainly what strikes the most while listening to Abur. The flow of the tracks is unbelievable, you can start listening to the first track and suddenly realize that it's been almost an hour and you sit mesmerized by the guitar psychedelia. And this doesn't mean that the album is monotonous, quite the opposite, there is space for dance-inducing, high voltage parts and for meditative, musical mantras at the same album.

An important part of the band's philosophy is the way it looks to the Eastern cultures, which can be spotted even by complete laymen in the title of the first track (and I assume the following ones as well). The spiritual component of the Belgians' music is so important for them that the band describes themselves using the phrase "mixing music and metaphysics" as the starting point. In other place, they say about this album that "[the songs] are vessels of meaning and ideas, meant to be carried, reshaped, sung back into the air". For me, the mesmerizing, tribal-like rhythm certainly invites some self-reflecting states.

Abur costs 7.99 EUR.

Check: Zhikarta

Country: Belgium

Genre: spiritual doomgaze

Label: Pelagic Records

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shedfromthebody - Whisper and Wane (2025)

It's becoming a layman tradition that if it's a winter of an odd year, there's a new album from Suvi Savikko, better known as Shedfromthebody. And it surprise anyone as the Finnish artist's music is as dark as the long, freezing nights in Scandinavia and equally mysterious.

The artist's signature style stays the same: the more dreamy than nightmarish vocals play the main role not only to boost up the atmosphere, but also convey intriguing melodies (very Scandinavian dark pop-like) and disturbing lyrics. And the music stays decisively in the background, even if it is made with metal-like instruments, it is designed to accompany the vocals, but nothing more. While usually it's something that bothers me (I'm looking at you, Dry Cleaning), here it makes a perfect sense. It's like dark ambient backgrounds but played with real (I think) instruments. And also being a bit metal. Still, it works.

It should also be mentioned that Savikko is also a talented visual artist and she painted the cover art (and company pieces available to see at her Instagram) herself. They are also really good. And unsettling. But as Shedfromthebody describes herself: she's a "provider of immaculate vibes". Checks out.

Whisper and Wane costs 7 EUR.

Check: Mooring

Country: Finland

Genre: dark doomgaze

shedfromthebody - To Hold the Ripened Sun (2021)

shedfromthebody - A Dead and Aimless Hum (2020) 

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Psychic Scream - Psychic Scream (2023)

The "melt your face noise punk from the depths of hell", the depths of hell meaning North Carolina, band called Psychic Scream is a new thing that follows the trail of great American bands that combine nugaze with very aggressively heavy and noisy music. Connor Regan, who is responsible for this commotion, showed it on his self-titled debut EP.

I love how uncontrollably noisy the music is. While the melodies are very catchy, the vocals appropriately dreamy, the music beneath them (and above and around really) is a chaotic storm of noise: the guitars wreck your nerves, the audio effects make your brain scream and the drums march in extremely fast, mesmerizing pace. Regan didn't do the whole thing by himself, but I admire his music taste with the psychedelia and doom showing their influences everywhere on the album. The pure chaos of noise rock, however, is what I hear the most here and I love how overwhelming it gets and how well it works with psychedelic/nugaze vocals. Great debut.

Psychic Scream costs 4.20 USD.

Check: Fairweather Friends

Country: North Carolina, US

Genre: noise-gaze

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LOCKSTEP - Arrival (2023)

Tennessee

LOCKSTEP, the Tennessee-based project released already two fantastic EPs and so it's time for something a bit longer (but not LP-long) to arrive. Come Arrival, this year's (mini)album that's filled with heavy nugaze gold.

This doomgaze music is like a slower and heavier face of nugaze. It is very much focused on lead-heavy, crunchy, stoner-like guitar sounds that create a wall of sound with a super subtle, soothing vocals put on top. But the point is that the whole thing is extremely slow, as if an explosion was put in slow motion and served in perfect HD cause the quality of sound is fantastic. You can feel the weight of this sound on your shoulders and the slow pace only makes it weigh more and more. This album is filled with those heavy lullabies and the atmosphere of slow but steady sadness that crawls together with the notes is something difficult to shake off.

Arrival costs 5 USD.

Check: Hunger

Country: Tennessee

Genre: doomgaze

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SPACESHIPS - Ruins (2023)

The experienced band from Indiana (a decade passed since their debut album I Am a Storm at Sea!!!) released their fourth album this year and, while I came for the the guest musician in the first track, I stayed for the overall quality of their heavy and enchanting music on Ruins.

For any shoegaze/nugaze fan who hasn't been living under a stone for last years, the highlight of the album is gotta be the guest appearance of Ryan Osterman (Holy Fawn) in the opening track. However, the band proves that they don't need the bait really as already the following track, Sinews, is at least as good with overwhelming guitar music and super catchy finish. But their music is not only about being loud; there's a surprising amount of slower, calmer tracks that go in the direction of a very oldschool rock music with inclusion of some interesting instruments like, I believe, saxophone in Seedlings. Those slightly retro vibes are only strengthened by the way the vocals feel.

But probably the most important thing about this album is how easy for the band was to create ultimately catchy tunes here. From Spillt to Sinews and Shared Graves: next to every composition here hides a super engaging part that suddenly appears and you forget about all of the noise: it's just the melody that matters.

Ruins costs 7 USD.

Check: Spillt

Country: Indiana, US

Genre: doomgaze

Label: Friend Club Records

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E-L-R - Vexier (2022)

I was lucky enough to witness E-L-R's beginnings when back in 2019 they performed live during the Bergmal Festival in Zurych with their very fresh debut album Mænad. It was quite mind-blowing so I couldn't wait for the continuation of their career. The struggle is over with the band's new album called Vexier.

The combination of very heavy guitar riffs from the sludge/post-metal musical area with the dispersed and airy but also very psychedelic vocals is the core of the Swiss band's work. The said vocals express extremely ethereal lyrics ("opiate the Sun" sounds like something taken from a braver, lyrics-wise, version of the old Slowdive or MBV) divided into short phrases that make them feel like tribal-esque mesmerizing chanting. All of this makes this sophomore album a very literal continuation of the debut, including such an interesting detail as longer pauses between tracks filled with subtle sound samples of cracking fire and other nature-originating moody tunes.

The mesmerizing features of the band's works are present also in the music itself: its slow, doom-like pace and psychedelic guitars make it easy to get lost within the sounds. As their Bandcamp page describes it, they "oscillates elegantly between velvet darkness and flaring bursts of high energy" but the bursts are always toned down, covered by the layers of post-metal noise that makes everything a very homogeneous and smooth (the velvet reference is on point!) sound.

Vexier costs 6.99 USD.

E-L-R - Mænad (2019)

Check: Seeds

Country: Switzerland

Genre: ethereal post-metal

Label: Prophecy Productions

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SOM - The Shape of Everything (2022)

The American band SOM debuted five years ago with The Fall but at the beginning of this year they managed to release an even better followup in the form of The Shape of Everything (pun intended). Their heavy blackgaze is dark and captivating, no wonder this is one of the more important heavy music albums of January.

The band's sound, already baptized as "doom pop", creates a post-metal, heavy-guitar-oriented atmosphere with delicate, dreamy vocals sitting on top. In this case, they very much remind me of Holy Fawn and this is a huge compliment. The balance between the crushingly loud music with guitar riffs that dominate the soundscapes and the ethereal, shoegazey type of delivery is most certainly difficult to achieve but the Americans do it very well. You can feel that the music is heavy and airy at the same time. The blackgaze walls of noise seem to close on the listener in each of the compositions, making them feel as massive as possible and as a shoegaze release should.

This gloomy atmosphere that resides on the album and constitutes the core force behind its might, comes from observing the reality around us. Unfortunately, it usually brings darker inspirations as the band used "the darkness of recent times to create and heal". This blissful sound surely has some healing properties.

The Shape of Everything costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Son of Winter

Country: US

Genre: airy doomgaze

Label: Pelagic Records

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shedfromthebody - A Dead and Aimless Hum (2020) EN

Shedfromthebody is a "spooky baby" from Finland and it seems that those origins are well audible in her music. The artist released recently her debut album and, damn, is A Dead and Aimless Hum good.

On one hand shoegazing vocals and atmosphere, on the other clear doom vibes, this is the music served by the Finn. And then there are inspiration drawn from dark folk, blackgaze, etc. Interesting combo, in practice, it sounds like a darker, slower version of shoegaze created with delicately guitar-based but atmosphere-filled music. I was slightly afraid that the doom influences would sound kitschy but it quickly came to me that it's completely opposite - the Scandinavian, metal spirit makes the album more complex and it's no wonder that it was recommended by Violet Cold himself.

Those inspirations sometimes are better visible (as in the fueled with very metal guitar sounds Sol) but to me, the most important songs are those that could as well be featured on Chelsea Wolfe's Hiss Spun , as the great Curl and Cherubian Hand. Very, very good debut.

A Dead and Aimless Hum costs 10 EUR.

Check: Cherubian Hand

Country: Finland

Genre: dark folk doomgaze

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shedfromthebody - A Dead and Aimless Hum (2020) PL

Shedfromthebody to "spooky baby" z Finlandii i wydaje się, że miejsce pochodzenia słychać w jej muzyce bardzo wyraźnie. Artystka wydała niedawno swój debiutancki album i, szlag, A Dead and Aimless Hum robi wrażenie.

Z jednej strony shoegaze'owe wokale i atmosfera, z drugiej słyszalne doomowe vibe'y, taką muzykę serwuje nam Finka. A do tego dochodzą inspiracje dark folkiem, blackgaze'em, etc. Ciekawa mieszanka, w praktyce brzmi to jak mroczniejsza, powolniejsza wersja shoegaze'u tworzonego z pomocą łagodnie gitarowej ale ociekającej atmosferą muzyki. Trochę się obawiałem, że doomowe naleciałości będą trąciły kiczem, ale szybko przekonałem się, że jest zupełnie inaczej - skandynawska, metalowa dusza dodaje płycie fantastycznej głębi, nic dziwnego, że album zdążył już polecić Violet Cold.

Czasem te inspiracje są lepiej widoczne (jak choćby w napędzanym bardzo gitarową gitarą Sol) ale na mnie największe wrażenie robią kawałki, które mogłyby znaleźć się na Hiss Spun Chelsea Wolfe jak na przykład znakomite Curl czy Cherubian Hand. Bardzo, bardzo dobry debiut.

A Dead and Aimless Hum kosztuje 44 złote (10 EUR).

Sprawdź: Cherubian Hand

Kraj: Finlandia

Szufladka: dark folk doomgaze

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Misertus - Outland (2019) EN

This is another one solo project making quite a loud music this week. This time, it's Misertus run by musician known only as Tomas. The Manchester-based artist makes poignant post-metal strictly bordering with blackgaze, just like it does on his third album called Outland.

On one hand, the instruments on his album create a real metal fury, just like those angry vocals. On the other, the whole thing is composed in such a way that it blends into one dense, airy soup creating an elevating/energetic atmosphere with fantastic flow. This creates a situation when you listen to the whole album without blinking or breathing (such a great Blue Spirits!). Also thanks to the synths that add to the album's charm and tenderness.

Outland costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Blue Spirits

Country: UK

Genre: post-metal blackgaze

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Misertus - Outland (2019) PL

Kolejny w tym tygodniu projekt solowy, który gra dość głośną muzykę. Tym razem jest to Misertus muzyka znanego tylko jako Tomas. Anglik z Manchesteru tworzy przejmujący post-metal ściśle graniczący z blackgaze'em, tak jak pokazuje to na swojej trzeciej płycie Outland.

Z jednej strony instrumentarium na jego płycie to prawdziwa metalowa furia, podobnie jest z wściekłymi wokalami. Z drugiej - całość skomponowana jest tak by zlewała się w jedną, gęstą, eteryczną zupę tworzącą podniosło-energetyczną atmosferę z fantastycznym flowem, dzięki któremu słucha się całej płyty na jednym wdechu (znakomite Blue Spirits!). Także dzięki syntezatorom dodającym całości wdzięczności i delikatności.

Outland kosztuje tyle, ile chcesz zapłacić.

Sprawdź: Blue Spirits

Kraj: UK

Szufladka: post-metal blackgaze

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Holy Fawn - The Black Moon (2020) EN

The Arizona-based band impressed me and the half of the alternative music world with their 2018 album Death Spells. To such a degree that whatever they touch, they have their place reserved on my blog and on my playlists. And so does the new EP called The Black Moon.

And the material here is quite different from the album. Their music is still a kind of blending of post-rock, metal and shoegaze, but there's more focus on the atmosphere and less on the psychedelic melodies. The subtle, airy vocals by Ryan Osterman are even more airy and atmospheric while the metal-originating parts even more captivating. At least in Candy. Thethered is mostly an interlude while Blood Pact is even more interesting as it's flirting with electronic sounds and extremely post-metal in its finish. A short album but so impressive.

The Black Moon costs 3 USD.

Check: Blood Pact

Country: Arizona, US

Genre: shoegazing post-metal

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Holy Fawn - The Black Moon (2020) PL

Zespół z Arizony olśnił mnie i połowę alternatywnego świata wydanym w 2018 roku albumem Death Spells. Do tego stopnia, że teraz czegokolwiek się nie dotkną, mają u mnie miejsce na playliście i na blogu. Tak też jest z nową EP-ką The Black Moon.

A jest to materiał dość różny od poprzedniej płyty. Ich muzyka to wciąż mieszanina post-rocka, metalu i shoegaze'u, tutaj jednak wyjątkowo dużo jest atmosfery, a mniejszy ciężar położono na psychodeliczne melodie. Delikatny, eteryczny wokal Ryana Ostermana jest jeszcze bardziej eteryczny i atmosferyczny, a metalowe wtręty jeszcze bardziej zajmujące. Przynajmniej w Candy. Thethered to raczej wypełniacz, a Blood Pact jest jeszcze ciekawszy bo flirtujący z elektroniką, a w finale bardzo post-metalowy. Krótka płyta, a tyle wrażeń.

The Black Moon kosztuje 12 złotych (3 USD).

Sprawdź: Blood Pact

Kraj: Arizona, US

Szufladka: shoegazing post-metal

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Dreamswell - SPOILED (2019) PL

Pensylwański doomgaze pojawił się już na blogu z wcześniejszą EP-ką, teraz Dreamswell rozwinęli ją w pełnoprawny album SPOILED. I brzmią... dokładnie tak jak powinni.

Właściwie ich labelka mówi wszystko: muzyka Amerykanów to połączenie bardzo doomowych, przygniatających i oczywiście głośnych gitar oraz wolnego, przewalającego się tempa z eterycznym wokalem i łagodnymi elementami. Właśnie ten balans między fragmentami doomu i shoegaze'u pojawia się już od pierwszych chwil Stranger. Królujący w muzyce Dreamswell wokal Candice Martello przywodzi na myśl oldschoolowy gotycki metal i jednocześnie Lisę Gerard budując niezwykła atmosferę.

Swoje robią też fantastycznie ciężkie gitary. Zwłaszcza, gdy muzycy pozwalają im się rozkręcić, tak jak w finale Naive. Z drugiej strony na płycie są też kawałki, jak Temporary, które zadziwiają melodyjnością i niemalże popową estetyką. Niemal, bo nad wszystkim ciągle króluje doom.

SPOILED kosztuje 38 złotych (10 USD).

dreamswell - Act 2 EP (2018) PL

Sprawdź: Stranger

Kraj: Pennsylvania, US

Szufladka: doom gaze

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Dreamswell - SPOILED (2019) EN

Pennsylvania-based doomgaze band have already appeared on the blog with their previous EP. This time Dreamswell have developed it into a real album called SPOILED. And it sounds... just as it supposed to.

Actually, the label for their music says it al: the music by the Americans combines the very doom-like, crushing and of course loud guitars and slow, rising-tide pace with airy vocals and delicate elements. This balance between doom and shoegaze is something that appears from the first sounds of Stranger. Another thing is the music's leading force, the vocal by Candice Martello that makes me think of some oldschool gothic metal and Lisa Gerard at the same time and which creates unique atmosphere.

Another thing is the job done by the fantastically heavy guitars. Especially when the musicisans let them do their best, as in the finish of Naive. On the other hand there are also tracks, like Temporary, that are surprisingly melodic and have a lot of almost pop vibe. Almost because the whole thing is still ruled by doom.

SPOILED costs 10 USD.

dreamswell - Act 2 EP (2018) EN

Check: Stranger

Country: Pennsylvania, US

Genre: doom gaze

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dreamswell - Act 2 EP (2018) EN

As they picture themselves, dreamswell is a collaborate work by Philadelphia based artists who started to cooperate to "to hit hard, get muddy, and whisper lightly". This description itself plus a very doom-metal-like cover art show very well that dreamswell have chosen to play an interesting genre-blending music - doomgaze.

Characterised by grinding guitars and heart-trembling atmosphere of doom metal but also by melodic and subtle vocals taken from shoegaze. One of the most impossible mixtures, especially that the vocal is delicately female and the guitars are raw and overwhelming.

Act 2 is a continuation of the first part released half a year ago. And although it's only three tracks, the unique style of the band is tangible. "Naive" is very grinding, "Temporary" makes a massive ballad, just like the last song on the album - reaching the pinnacle of epicness, long "Buried". The latter only adds up the feeling of regrets that the end of the album comes so quickly.

Akt 2 is available for whatever you pay.

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dreamswell - Act 2 EP (2018) PL

Jak sami mówią, dreamswell to kolaboracja filadelfijskich muzyków, którzy zaczęli współpracować by "dać czadu, ubłocić się i lekko poszeptać". Ten opis plus zdecydowanie doom metalowa okładka płyty pokazują najlepiej, że dreamswell wybrali do grania bardzo interesujący mariaż gatunków - doomgaze.

Charakteryzuje się on zgrzytliwymi gitarami i doprowadzającą do drżenia serca atmosferą doom metalu ale też melodyjnymi i łagodnymi wokalami shoegaze'u. Jedno z bardziej niewiarygodnych połączeń, zwłaszcza że wokal jest delikatnie kobiecy a gitary surowe i przytłaczające. 

Akt drugi to kontynuacja wydanej pół roku temu części pierwszej. I mimo, że to tylko trzy utwory, udaje im się pokazać unikalny styl zespołu. "Naive" jest bardzo zgrzytliwe, "Temporary" to masywna ballada podobnie jak wybijający się na wyżyny epickości, najdłuższy na płycie "Buried". Ten ostatni utwór potęguje tylko żal z powodu zdecydowanie zbyt szybko nadciągającego końca albumu.

Akt drugi można mieć za ile zdecydujesz się zapłacić.

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