Reviews

Bong Voyage is a sort of supergroup made up of members from Håndgemeng, Suncraft and Buskas. *Hedonistic Hard Rock* was released on 8 May 2026 on Ripple Music. It’s a debut album that doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is: nine tracks of loud, riff-heavy party rock from Oslo.

Majestic Mountain Records is releasing *Four Altars of Sin*, a four-way split featuring four of the most exciting acts on the Scandinavian doom and stoner underground scene. Doomherre, Ordos, Hexjakt and Kaiser each contribute one exclusive track, all four ranging from 6 to just over 11 minutes in length. This is doom for doom fans, and nothing else.

Besvärjelsen are back with the first single from their forthcoming third album, "Till Glömskan Ad Oblivionem". The single "Didn’t Come to Party" is about the bloke nobody really wants to hang out with, and the album is due out on 28 August 2026.

The Gothenburg band Tornet are back with their first release since the 2022 album Domedagar. This time it’s a cover of Roky Erickson’s classic "Night of the Vampire", performed in Swedish under the title Natt För Vampyrer. It’s good to hear from them again.

Skraeckoedlan are back with "Mareld", the first single from their forthcoming fifth studio album. The Swedish fuzz veterans from Norrköping flex their muscles on a track that sounds rawer and more direct than much of what they’ve done since the Eorþe era, yet without losing the progressive core that sets them apart from the rest of the field. The album is being released on the band’s own label, Horror Lizard Records – a clear sign of complete artistic control.

For the first time in a decade, Truckfighters are back with new material. *Masterflow* is the band’s sixth full-length album, released on their own label, Fuzzorama Records, ten years after *V* from 2016. Nine tracks, 41 minutes and more fuzz than most people can handle.

Monolord are back with *Neverending*, their first full-length album in five years, released on 29 May via Relapse Records. To create a sharper and more immediate album, the band brought in the legendary Sylvia Massy as producer. The result is an album that feels like a distillation of everything the Gothenburg trio has built up since their 2014 debut, *Empress Rising*.

Purple Skies are an underground rock band from Bergen, formed in 2017, with roots in the heavy rock of the late 1960s and 1970s and a dark veil of doom hanging over them. Their debut album, *A Million Years*, was released on 10 April via Apollon Records. The band was founded by Henrik Solheim and Marius Aasen Moe in a cold cellar on Askøy, and after years of line-up changes and musical development, the long-awaited album has finally seen the light of day.

Gjenferd from Bergen released the single ‘Bliss’ on 10 April 2026 via Apollon Records. The track probably originated from the recording sessions for 'Black Smoke Rising', but did not make it onto the album. It is a fast-paced, hard-hitting rock track driven by powerful riffs, crisp drums and a heavy Hammond organ, channelling the raw energy of 1970s hard rock.

Bergen’s very own Gjenferd are back with their second album, and *Black Smoke Rising* isn’t just a good follow-up – it’s a quantum leap. Ten tracks of organ-driven 70s rock that hold your attention from start to finish, and which have already secured the band’s highest-ever chart position on the Doom Charts.

Stockholm-based Goddess, formerly known as Goatess, have released their debut album, *Ritual of the Cloven Hoof*, via Majestic Mountain Records. After founding guitarist Niklas left the band, the remaining members chose a new name that better reflects the hypnotic and almost spiritual power of their sound. The essence remains the same: crushing, riff-driven doom mixed with thick stoner grooves, soaring vocals and a dark, psychedelic edge. Doom Charts ranked the album at number 8 in May 2026.

Since 2012, the Norwegian quintet Kal-El from Stavanger have blended doom, stoner and psychedelic rock into a riff-driven and cohesive soundscape. *Astral Voyager Vol. 2* is the follow-up to the most critically acclaimed album in their catalogue, and continues the multidimensional journey in which the interstellar bounty hunter Mica escapes her pursuers, The Nine, through time and space. This is their seventh album, and it’s a perfect fit.