Back catalogue: Post Rock/Experimental

Review: Few conversations or analyses surrounding doom metal can begin without mentioning the integral Sleep and their genre-defining opus Dopesmoker. That same analytical discussion cannot be rounded up without OM coming into the fray, as the duo of bassist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Haikus originally worked together as Sleep's rhythm section. The hypnotic 'Gebel Barkal' single would serve as the final recording from the pair following the 2007 full-length Pilgrimage, before 2009's God Is Good would welcome the arrival of current drummer Emil Amos and signal the group's continued expansion into an eventual three-piece.

Review: Led by the incomparable Sami Albert "Witchfinder" Hynninen (Reverend Bizarre, The Puritan, The Candles Burning Blue), Opium Warlords are the lo-fi, sultry, genre-less playground where all of the sonic auteurs most insightful and bizarre predilections come to life. Described as an audible melting pot of "pussy techno, sludge, industrial pop, hardcore punk, drone, shamanistic pulse, noise, heavy metal, old school gothic rock and march music", Strength is the sixth full-length from the mysterious project which essentially guarantees from the outset that you're entering into an utter mess of ideas, yet reliably reigned into one cohesive vision. While compared to the oppressive gloom of 2020's Nembutal, the material here benefits from brighter synths and glossier production yet underpinned with a macabre and alienating dissection of Machiavellian and Nietzschean philosophies of strength and elitism. That's when the lyrics aren't directly pulled from the back of shampoo bottles. Confused? Good, that's the only requirement for entry