Combat Astronomy - Method and Trap (2024)

Combat Astronomy is a one man band, releasing music since 1999 (I wish I had discovered it earlier!). Method and Trap isn't its latest album, but it's my favourite among its recent stuff. What about the music, Expect high quality instrumental noise/post/math rock, always based on the drums and bass rhythm, but with something different in each release. In Method and Trap I'd say it's the synth soundscapes building an atmosphere in the songs. Subtle and very nicely done. Recommended!

 

The BC page. 

Iceage - For Love of Grace & The Hereafter (2026)

For the previous Iceage album I wrote that they included some pop/indie rock in their post-punk, in their new one, For Love of Grace & The Hereafter, we can hear some post-punk elements left in their indie rock. And despite getting sometimes dangeresously close to cheesy pop punk at times it's still a good and enjoyable album thanks to their always excellent singer and their songwriting skills, their capacity to transmit feelings. Recommended when you'r in the mood for something that isn't heavy.

 

The BC page. 

The Heavy Eyes - Focus (2026)

I don't think Focus is their best album, but anyway it's a pleaseure to hear again The Heavy Eyes six years after their previous one. Their garage / stoner /doom, somewhere between Brant Bjork and Black Sabbath, still has something special and theydifferentiate from similar bands thanks to superior songwriting skills and their excellent vocalist. Good stuff again!

 

The BC page. 

 

Haunted Horses - Dweller (2025)

Haunted Horses is a trio from Seattle, and their fourth album, Dweller, is confirming the excellency of their post-punk (reminding a bit Iceage, especially the vocals) mixed with some noise rock heavy enough to border doom, with a sinister industrial feel. Haunted indeed, and recommended!

 

The BC page. 

 

Soft Play - Heavy Jelly (2024)

SOFT PLAY, who used to be called SLAVES, is an English punk duo. Heavy Jelly is their firts album since they changed their name, and it's soon obvious they didn't get softer! And they are still great at channeling the original spirit and energy of punk, but without trying to replicate a sound or a formula over and over, they are not just another d-beat or Oi! clone, nor basic streetpunk. On some soungs they get heavier and darker, and close to nu-metal, while the closing track sound a bit like a Oasis hit played by angry punks. Straight-forward but never boring, diverse but always intense. they changed their name, but not their habit of delivering excellent punk albums. 

 

Their website. 

 

New Age Doom featuring H.R. - Angels Against Angels (2026)

Angels Against Angels is another dub flavoured album from New Age Doom, this time teaming with Bad Brains singer H.R. And it's no less good than the awesome one they did with Lee Perry and Donny MacCaslin. But of course different. Again psych/jazz rock infused with a lot of dub, but this time with a rawer feel and a glorious punk assault in the middle of the album. And cool vocals by H.R.Truly addictive stuff. One of  my favourite album this year so far.

 

The BC page. 

 

The Shits - Diet of Worms (2026)

The Shits' music is often described as a very convincing mix of The Stooges and Brainbombs. That's definitely relevant and their new album Diet of Worms is another blatant proof. But we could also just say that they are among the very best at channeling the darkest energy of rock'n'roll (crafting riffs like these must imply some Robert Johnson kind of deal).

 

The BC page. 

 

Buñuel - Mansuetude (2024)

Buñuel, the other band with Eugene S. Robinson, seems to be more than a one shot, since there is now (well, I'm a bit late here, it's been released two years ago, sorry) a second album called Mansuetude (I also recommend the first one Killers Like Us). No big surprise we're into noise rock territory, and as expected we get great screamed/spoken vocals. But maybe more diverse than Oxbow, sometimes heavier, sometimes more melodic, sometimes groovier, more rocking, sometimes a post-punk feel, a touch of math rock. Maybe progressive noise rock would fit. In any case great songwriting, a formidable singer backed by really talented musicians. Awesome!

 

 The BC page. 

 

Backengrillen - Backengrillen (2026)

I have mixed feelings about this one. Backengrillen has Dennis Lyxzén on vocals, two other ex-Refused members, Magnus Flagge on bass and David Sandström on drums and Mats Gustafsson on sax, and is released by Svart Records. So I had big expectations. It turns out I think it's a good album and I enjoy listening to it, but for the most part it sounds like doom metal with sax and Lyxzén singing, which is fine, but I expected something more exciting. Also, maybe it sounds a bit too much like long improvisations than songs, which it kinda is since the album has been done in three days. Anyway, the faster and more rocking, with a somewhat stoogian vibe, song in the middle of the album is great, and the songs all have some great sax playing, more melodic/lyrical than I expected from Gustafsson, but why not, when it's good it's good... 

The BC page.

 

Bygone - Bygone (2025)

Bygone is an excellent first self-titled album, merging synth propelled space rock and hard rock/heavy metal. It reminds at time Deep Purple and more often Hawkwind, but with also a touch of more recent stoner sound. Epic and catchy songs with great vocals. A strong start, recommended!

 

The BC page. 

 

US Christmas - Cannibals of Unaka (2025)

Seems good things also can happen in 2025. Like a new US Christmas album, fourteen years after the previous one. Cannibals of Unaka is another masterpiece in psychedelic drone rock. Somewhere Earth, Neil Young (think the original Soundtrack of Dead Man) and Neurosis could meet. Not sure I'll do a best of year list, but if I do, this one will be in it. Highly recommended.

 

The BC page. 

 

Goat - Goat (2024)

As is spot on for a self-titled album, this new Goat album sounds very Goat, and I feel that, more than on the previous albums, it put the emphasis on what made the specificity of the Goat sound : the inclusion of afrobeat/world music in heavy psych music, sounding like Black Sabbath, The 13th Floor Elevators and Fela Kuti jamming together, and making a very cohesive and catchy music out of it. Goat is an album as good as it is quintessential Goat! 

 

The BC page. 

 

Viagra Boys - Viagr aboys (2025)

Viagr aboys isn't my favourite Viagra Boys album, but I listened to it a lot and really enjoy it nevertheless. Not big evolution, but pure Viagra Boys music, funny and sarcastic smart lyrics, excellent vocals, sharp post-punk riffs, the saxophone, and excellent songwriting full of inventivity. Excellent stuff again.

 

Eunoia - Psyop Of The Year (2022)

Since two of them have been sent to different states, Psyop Of The Year probably was Eunoia's last operation. Which is a pity because it was an excellent album, from an interesting band. They played a nice blend of noise rock and screamo, with also elements of math rock and extreme metal thrown in. Nicely surprising at the first listen, and even better when you knew the songs more. 

 

The BC page. 

 

Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness (2024)

Cartoon Darkness, the third album from Amyl and the Sniffers, released last year, manages to be as good as the previous one, also full of catchy songs full of energy, and with sarcastic, fun and smart lyrics, and again great vocals from Amyl. I'm telling you, maybe you don't know it yet, but you need Amyl and the Sniffers music in your life.

 

The BC page. 

 

The Young Gods - Appear Disappear (2025)

Yes, The Young Gods sounds eternally fresh, neither from the past nor in the present, but in their own time dimension. And every album is a new variation in their blend of industrial rock/metal and psychedelic rock, and... their own stuff. On their new one Appear Disappear we get more nice songs with heavy guitars, grooves, but also plenty of subtle atmospheres, melodic and/or trippy in their own special way. With good vocals either in French (they're from Switzerland) or in English, with poetic lyrics. Strongly recommended, as usual!

 

The BC page. 

 

The Shits - You're a Mess (2023)

We had The Stooges, and needless to say they were awesome, then came Brainbombs, and they are still awesome, and now we also have The Shits, who are awesome as well. Thank the mad deities of wild and twisted rock'n'roll, listen to You're a Mess, and rejoice!

 The BC page. 

 

Psychic Lemon - The Unheimlich Kingdom (2024)

I'm discovering Psychic Lemon with their fourth album The Unheimlich Kingdom (and thanks to a blog called The Fragmented Flâneur). Their music could be described as a dark and kraut side of psychedelic drone rock. Nothing about oriental melodies or flower power here, the music is trippy in a minimalistic and repetitive way and the mood is more evoking anguish and weirdness than happiness. Excellent stuff!

 

The BC page. 

 

 

 

Bambara - Birthmarks (2025)

If you're into bands like Algiers, Ice Age, or, if we go back in time The Cure or Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (I know all are still active, but the classics from the latter ones are not their recent albums), then Bambara should be also one of your favourite bands, and their new album, Birthmarks should be among your favourite 2025 albums. In the same vein as their excellent previous albums, the trio from New York managed to vary the pleasures with some female vocals on a couple of songs, some sax parts, new beats, etc., making each song a memorable one. And the vocalist has once again done a tremendous job. Highly recommended!

 

The BC page. 

 

Wailin Storms - The Silver Snake Unfolds (2022)

Wailin Storms is a band I've been following for ten years, so it's due time I review one of their album, even if a bit late, since The Silver Snake Unfolds was released in 2022. Their music is a kind of modern take on the post-punk/swamp rock/gothic americana thing, reminding Joy Division, Gun Club, Birthday Party or Slug Guts, but blending it with heavier doom/Neurosis elements. Good stuff.

 

The BC page.