2025 is only starting (reminder that Spring is usually the busiest time for new releases) but psych, stoner, and doom are already having a banner year. Some of these releases I've already written about, some of them I will be writing about very soon, and some I'm writing about right now as Pyres has shot all the way to the top of my list. Yun, their album dropping tomorrow, Friday the 7th, is of that brand of stoner that is fueled by pure fury. To convey this fury, the band have enlisted Andrew Wilson, whose gruff voice reminds me so much of HARK (RIP) that I instantly fell in love with the band. Back that excellent, throaty singing with plenty of fuzz, riffs that know how to be intelligent while they're hitting hard, a muscular groove section that can also catch you off guard, and you have everything you need. What are you waiting for? Stream it in full below!
Oh baby, that's the good stuff! Usually I tell you to start at the beginning, and you could do worse by doing that here, but I'm going to send you instead to "Granular Flow", the leading single from the album. Holy shit does this thing go! Listen to the aforementioned vocals carry the aggressive weight of the track while the guitars etch out massive, but pleasingly melodic riffs that catapult the track forwards. Slide on over a few tracks to "Lineage" and you can hear that groove section take center stage, with one of the best drum/bass riffs I've heard in a long, long time. So good it makes you want to dance and you already know that if I describe metal as "it makes me want to dance", it's the good stuff.
There are so many other callouts I could make here: "Some, Not All, Came Back" channels those Clutch influences, creating a track that would not be out of place on Blast Tyrant (and that's high praise indeed); "Old Dogs", which closes the album, is somber and hits super hard. Instead of going on and on though, why don't I just release you to dive deeper into this treat - it's set to be one of 2025's best albums if you are at all interested in stoner, psych, or doom. Make sure you head on over to the Bandcamp link above to pre-order this one or click right here, because I'm nice like that.