INTRODUCTION

How many times have you listened to a new band and you're grooving with the beat and digging the riffs, but then the vocals enter into the recording and it just kind of ruins it all for you? Instrumental bands have, in a way, solved that problem, though obviously most have higher artistic aims than simply avoiding a so-so singer.

Before us is another set of bands in our ongoing summer series documenting some of the outstanding instrumental talent in the heavy underground, consisting of a wide range of styles, but anchored to doom metal and stoner rock.

Volume II takes us around the world, from Poland to Peru, Italy to Ontario. Fantastic acts hailing from Germany, France, Belgium, and England abound, each with a characteristic style that is very easy to identify with them and them alone upon repeated listens. Overall, the character of this particular compilation is aggressive and upbeat, though I've left room for meandering psychedelia, introspective post-metal stylings, and dark, downtuned sludge.

We hope you will enjoy this as a thoughtfully curated listening experience and, in so doing, discover several new bands you'll seek out to add to your record library. Huge thanks to Rob Hammer for helping me to organize such a huge undertaking!

More to come...

BillyGoat, Curator
Doomed & Stoned:
The Instrumentalists (Vol II)