HIBERNAUT ~ OBSIDIAN EYE .... review

Salt Lake City heavy groovesters Hibernaut, Dave Jones (guitar/vocals); Zach Hatsis (drums); Josh Dupree (bass) and Matt Miller (guitar), blew a fair few minds with their debut release "Ingress", ours included, musically the album sat somewhere between "DopeSmoker" era Sleep and "Children of the Haze" period Dopelord, a mix of sludge and stoner metal that also boasted prog-like elements and psychedelic essences, lyrically though "Ingress" album was in a class all of its own with otherworldly tales laid out like ancient poetry. "Ingress" was roundly praised on its release and grabbed Hibernaut a well deserved #15 place on the Doom Charts and it will come as no surprise to Desert Psychlist if the bands latest album "Obsidian Eye" (Olde Magick Records/ Kozmik Artifactz) matches that achievement or even betters it as "Obsidian Eye" is everything "Ingress" was but so much more..

The album begins with "Engorge Behemoth" a song that opens it account with dissonant dual guitars trading off against each other (especially effective through headphones) then shifts into a just shy of doomic paced stoner metallic groove underpinned with low gravelled bass and thunderously busy drumming. Vocals here are delivered gruff and bear like yet despite this retain much of their clarity, which is applaudable given how much thought that has gone into the lyrics. Next song "Venatic Rite" kicks off in a similar style to its predecessor only a touch more drone-like and murky but then a piercing guitar motif cuts through the murkiness and the band explode into hard-driven sludge meets thrash like groove around a full on and forceful vocal, on a sidenote you could almost be fooled into thinking the drums are the leading instrument here such is the force of their impact. Those drums are just as impactful on the following "Pestiferous" however they do not have it all their own way here as they have to contend with constantly swirling guitar solos, a powerfully performed vocal and a rolling bass line weightier than a ships anchor. Title track "Obsidian Eyes" rears its gnarly head next and like the songs before it this starts dissonant and drone-ish but then slams into a thunderously dark groove over which a powerful vocal tells of "sylphlike silhouettes" who stand "in shadow" and "sexless tattooed priests" with "nefarious intellect" in tones dripping with throaty contempt. By now you are probably hoping for a break from all the full on intensity and relentless furiosity but Hibernaut are not in agreement and instead plough on regardless with "Revenants" another sludgy stoner metal barn burning opus that gives no quarter, this one telling of "soupy skies" where "leviathans slither and twist". Final number "Beset" does not bring any respite from all the heaviness but it does slow down that heaviness to something approaching traditionally doomic, the guitar work here is blistering, the bass lines boneshaking, the drumming pounding and the vocals strong and gruffly sinister.

Powerful heavy music framing powerful lyrical imagery is what Hibernaut serve up with their second album "Obsidian Eye", a conceptual album exploring themes that include infection, resurrection and manipulation. A musical force of nature from its first note to its last "Obsidian Eye" delivers musically, vocally and lyrically and could well be one of the best albums of its style released this year (2025).

Check it out ... 

© 2025 Frazer Jones

SKULLDOZER ~ HIGH TIDE .... review

"Minimalist" is not how Desert Psychlist would describe Skulldozer's music but that is the legend sitting beneath the bands photo on their Bandcamp page, to be fair though they do follow that up with the sentence "loud riffs" and they are definitely words we at The Psychlist can get on board with. You would probably have to ask the band themselves why they decided to describe their music as "minimalist" but we are not going to do that instead we are going to just give you our thoughts on the bands new album "High Tide" and let you decide the rest.

A few thunderous drum beats announce the arrival of first track "Bloody Ground" followed by an equally thunderous guitar and bass riff over which vocalist Ben House sings of "blood running in the streets" in tones that sit at the slightly helium end of powerful. If you were unfamiliar with the Skulldozer before hearing this track you will now know that they are kick-ass unit with their feet planted firmly in the soils of proto flavoured doom and metal, and a very good one we might add. Next track "Sign of the Times" begins with a heavily fuzzed guitar motif from Justin Morgan that is then joined by bassist Dylan Wills and drummer Jay Erbe in a ferocious stonerized metal groove that if it were a few bpm's faster, and did not slow down to allow for a searing lead break, would almost fall into thrash territory. House once again excels in the vocal department here, his higher ended tones coming across at times like a hybrid cross between Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne and Dope Smoker's Gareth Hopkins but with twice the power. Title track "High Tide" explodes out of the speakers next, the songs dynamic a mix of stop start sludge, doom and drone offset with a mantra like vocal, it is followed by "Erosion" a thrumming slightly off-centred  tome with Sabbathian undertones that boasts a slightly lower key but just as effective House vocal, Dissonance and drone introduces next track "Mass Production" the band then hitting into a strident proto metal/doom groove beneath a surprisingly swinging vocal melody. Skulldozer go epic for the ten minute plus "Misanthromation", here we find the band mixing stoner metal stridency with low'n'slow doominosity, constantly shifting up and down the musical gears around a powerfully delivered vocal that rails against fake news, lies and misinformation, the real delight here though comes when the vocals drop out and Wills and Erbe settle into a thrumming and intense dank groove which Morgan decorates with blistering but tasteful lead work. Final number "Hand of Fate" sees Skulldozer throwing everything into the musical cauldron with doom, heavy rock, stoner metal, sludge and even a little blues all getting mixed and mashed together beneath yet another powerful vocal performance, if this is what the band call "minimalist" then god knows what they might sound like if they ever decide to go down the extravagant route.

Those of you out there who bought into Skulldozer's previous release "Killing Season" will remember that it proudly carried the legend "no bass guitars, bass simulators, or octave pedals were used in the making of this album" new album "High Tide" however does contain bass and the inclusion of that bass has brought an extra thickness and depth to Skulldozer's sound, the songs on "High Tide" feel so much richer and fuller. Of course bass or no bass you still need good tunes and good grooves and you'll be glad to find there is no shortage of either of those on "High Tide".

Check it out ....  

© 2025 Frazer Jones