A harrowing document of life, death and transcendence, Do You Still Love Me? is the fifth album from Planes Mistaken for Stars (PMFS), the band’s second outing for Deathwish Records and first new music since 2016. It is also the first PMFS release since the death of frontman Gared O’Donnell, whose cancer diagnosis loomed heavily over the recording and whose ghost guided the mix. Chemo and radiation would not stop him from making this masterpiece, in which the band finds itself reeling from the gut-wrenching horrors of their leader’s unimaginable absence.
Written in Peoria amidst the forced isolation of a global pandemic and recorded by Sanford Parker in Chicago, these thirteen songs burn the ears to listen. Album opener “Matthew is Dead” wastes no time with niceties as Planes mourns the 2017 death of founding guitarist Matt Bellinger — Gared’s throat-shredded rasp seethes as if taunting himself: You’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead— guttural human screams unbottled and broken glass shattered as transcendental meditation and musical catharsis, for band and listener alike. These acute and raw moments are found throughout the record, audible wounds you can hear, see, taste and almost touch. We’ve only got the night, as Gared knew and preached and lived. Just one last drink, shall we begin? Do You Still Love Me? carries forward Planes’ natural evolution beyond post-hardcore and metal-tinged rock n’ roll, unveiling new layers with each listen. Intertwined vocals and infectious melodies simmer beneath the surface and occasionally boil over, shards of guitar strike like lightning as the rhythm section pounds its marching orders. Whether pummeling mercilessly or tenderly relenting, Do You Still Love Me? shows a band unafraid to lose itself in the musical maelstrom. I don’t have the shakes, the shakes have me — it’s not an easy listen, yet offers immense rewards with time, alchemizing a unique beauty from the pain and tragedy of its creation. It’s an emotional bloodletting for Planes and their extended family around the world, a collective primal scream of coping with life and last breaths, and eternal proof that death is truly not the end. Source: Bandcamp

“What we’re doing with Buñuel is to carve out a very specific glimpse… partly into hearts of darkness, but more specifically into the depth of our secrets. Secrets we keep from each other, ourselves and whatever futures we’ve imagined for ourselves. We are ultimately trying to communicate something direct and deadly about the human condition.” - Eugene Robinson

In March 2019, shortly after the release of our last album „About Rooms and Elephants“, we started writing new songs in a small cabin up in the Italian alps. We managed to find ideas in a new collaborative way. We arranged the new songs back in our studio and worked on the lyrics. And then there was Covid and the world was upside down. During these months we tried to write songs in remote which had a completely different feeling. Having finished two thirds of the record we concentrated on playling live again, which felt liberating. In 2022 we collaborated with a string ensemble and had a fantastic show with them. After that we actually wrote some new songs, others got kicked out of the album, vocal lines got changed, guitar solos rerecorded, mixes were first completed and then started again from scratch. The next Carpet album was supposed to be perfect. And what should we say? It turned out to be fantastic.
Source: Bandcamp

'Adrift / Tending the Embers' marks Pelican's first new music since 2019 and the first songs written with the band’s original lineup since 2012. The EP marks both a reunion and a departure, eschewing the caustic bombast of 2019’s 'Nighttime Stories' for more delicate and nuanced territory that imbibes their pastoral Midwest post-rock tendencies with triumphant riffs that feel indebted to the classic Dischord pantheon. Source: Bandcamp

Acclaimed instrumental post-rock band IF THESE TREES COULD TALK is back with a new single, “Trail Of Whispering Giants,” the group’s first new music in eight years, out today and streaming via Metal Blade Records. “Trail Of Whispering Giants” marks the anticipated return of the Akron, Ohio-based lineup spearheaded by drummer Zack Kelly and his guitarist-brother Cody Kelly. IF THESE TREES COULD TALK has been praised by Metal Hammer for, “uplifting post-rock that layers cascading guitars over tight drums with a deep emotional resonance,” while the lineup’s third LP and Metal Blade debut, 2016’s The Bones Of A Dying World, was called, “a fluid-flowing masterpiece that builds upon complex, progressive dreamscapes.” . Source: Earsplitcompound.com

Instrumental Psych Rock Maestros MONKEY3 herald the new year with an epic magnum opus! Source: Bandcamp

Over a decade since their last outing, European stoner/desert rock progenitors Dozer have reawakened with a vengeance. Drifting in the Endless Void is a fiery, amp-splitting rumble of a record, a gravitational mass packed with space-tripping grooves, massive sludge and red-eyed psychedelics. Dozer's explosive return to the musical landscape they helped shape is a truly unmissable experience! Source: Bandcamp

"Birds in Row & Coilguns" represents an exciting culmination of their collaborative efforts, offering a unique musical experience that reflects their shared passion and creative energy. Source: Bandcamp

New Zealand Multi-instrumentalist and Psychedelic guru Craig Williamson returns with an album of classic Lamp of Universe tunes. Full of artifacts from the original era, including Mellotron, fuzz guitar, Sitar, swirling effects and trippy vocal harmonies, this album touches the Psychedelic Psoul. Source

Rising from the depths of hell with fury, wrath, and rage, Danava – Portland’s hard rock anti-heroes – return with the release Nothing But Nothing, their first album in over a decade and a devastating collection of songs to soundtrack the inevitable decline of western civilisation.
Scheduled for release this April on Tee Pee Records, Danava, who formed in 2003, will mark their twentieth year of collective existence while seeking to deliver a sound that incorporates hard rock, heavy metal and a fire forged in the spirit of Iommi and Schenker. Ever since the release of their debut album in 2006 the band has adopted a scorched earth approach that has blazed brightly through psychedelic metal solos, glam-rock flair, fret-board wizardry, 70s prog and a white line fever reminiscent of Lemmy at his most lethal.