Best of 2020 Top Psychedelic Stoner Rock & Doom Fuzz
Best Heavy psych rock and top stoner rock of 2020 covers the heavier side of psychedelic rock. There are incredible bands on this list from all over the world. If you are into music that digs into sections of heavy distortion, hard riffs and blazing hot guitar leads you will find a lot to like on this list.
This is one of several best of 2020 lists make sure to check out the other lists as well just click into the best of page in the menu!
heavy psychedelic rock can range from heavy-prog to space rock to stoner to heavy metal influenced music. I was overwhelmed by all the incredible music that came out this year. This list is a powerhouse drawn from over 170 reviews and even includes amazing bands that I did not get a chance to write about previously.
2020 was a great year for psychedelic rock album releases and for vinyl in general. 2020 was not cool but the music was. Here I gather together all the gems from 2020 so that we can all find more great music and artists to support.
The psychedelic rock scene is very diverse and it is a genre that strives for innovation and new sounds. Thus the psychedelic rock scene has many divergent branches that draw inspiration from all the genres. I attempted to divide the music of 2020 into genre oriented lists to help viewers find what they are most interested in. Many bands are bridging multiple genres and sub genres they may appear on multiple best psych of 2020 lists.
Thank you To Heart Of The Sun Liquids for the incredible cover image. check him out on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/heartofthesunliquids/
Best of 2020 Top Psychedelic Stoner Rock & Doom Fuzz
SLIFT UMMON
SLIFT UMMON adds the the #1 album of the year line up seriously amazing space rock, garage rock, psychedelic rock here. SLIFT is shaking the world with its incredible new album and the music is as epic as the packaging taking fuzz rock into all the places. SLIFT has it all and is with out a doubt one of the best albums of the year in psych rock.
Anunnaki / The Band Whose name Is A Symbol – Split
Anunnaki with a heavy doom sound that can blow out the windows. The flip side is kraut rock free improvisations by The Band Whose Name is A Symbol. The album as a whole is a great paring but since this is heavy psych Anunnaki hits so hard that you might lose your mind! After listening to this album I feel like I have done something wrong like I violated the sanctity of the matrix. That filtered wah guitar is so good it hurts. Don’t let the slow build up at the start fool you.
Turtle Skull Monoliths
Turtle Skull Monoliths is incredible with heavy psych, stoner, dual harmony vocals, and garage rock. The lyrics are meaningful and the vocals sound great. They are from Australia and Monoliths is a break out sophomore album. They have a heavy sound but there is an openness and emotional clarity and sophistication that brings in some progressive rock and psych rock.
Black Helium The Wholly Other
Black Helium is dark magic stoner rock with a wicked doom and psychedelic nightmare element. This album has heavy hard highs and strange oozing slow downs. The whole production stands out as being highly creative and innovative blend of styles making a sound that is all their own and it is awesome for raising the dead.
King Buffalo Dead Star
King Buffalo Dead Star is an impressive album that blends many sub genres of heavy metal, stoner, prog and heavy psychedelic rock. The end result is no doubt a triumph and easily one of the best heavy albums for the year. The sophisticated rhythms, dueling guitars and variety make this album something that rises above the rest.
REZN Chaotic Divine
REZN Chaotic Divine rips hard with slamming stoner riffs and alien space rock textures. They are from Chicago USA. The album has awesome slower moments with droning guitars as well as hard heavy metal and stoner riffs. The sound is awesome and out of this world.
The Janitors
The Janitors Noisolation Sessions Vol 1 from Sweden is a dark gothic industrial journey which is both musically and psychologically heavy. The brooding music is something to be experienced their sound is hard to define and they have a sound all their own that is highly satisfying for those dark musical urges.
The Spacelords Spaceflowers
The Spacelords Spaceflowers is heavy space rock with stoner vibes. This album could easily be at the top of the list with a refined sound that is some of the best in the genre.
Meinakunaru Lost Bones Of The Holy Butterfly
Meinakunaru Lost Bone Of The Holy Butterfly from the UK is all out space rock with ripping guitar solos and out of this world effects. The dirty driving bass lines and heavy percussion blast into stoner and krautrock territory. The guitars are blazing hot on this one with some AMT style freak outs / meltdown in the mix.
Vinnum Sabbathi Of Dimensions and Theories
Vinnum Sabbathi Of Dimensions and Theories is space rock with heavy hard hitting riffs that will grab the attention of stoner rock and heavy psych lovers. Their style is guitar center with strong bass and percussion and the sci-fi theme is ever present with narrative voice overs fore telling of a time when humanity must search for new worlds to allow the species to survive. There are dark shades of doom here too not to be overlooked.
Las Historias
Las Historias is from Argentina and this is their self titled debut. It is gritty dirty heavy psychedelic stoner rock with a warm low-fi garage feel. Their sound has some sabbath sounds but they take it into their own more psyched out jam.
Mothers of The Land Hunting Grounds
Mothers Of The Land Hunting Grounds from Austria is heavy metal progressive rock with clean guitar intros, heavy fast progressive climaxes and psychedelic blues all in the mix. The production is top quality the performances are impressively skillful. If you want heavy metal stoner progressive space with classic rock vibes this album will excite your pallet.
Karkara – Nowhere Land
Karkara Nowhere Land ripps into the eastern tinged stoner rock. They get fairly heavy and their music is high energy and creates an atmosphere that with dark magical forces and ghoulish shadows lurking in mythical temples. They have an awesome eastern psych sound with touches of turkish music and microtonal insinuations in guitar arrangements. The vocals echo and reverb in psychedelic rock and garage style.
Yuri Gagarin The Outskirts Of Reality
Yuri Gagarin The Outskirts Of Reality from Sweden is heavy stoner rock with heavy metal and space rock style. They come in hard and fast with driving riffs thumping bass and clear penatrating guitar leads. This band is instrumental and takes the sound into far out places as often as it drives into the heavy stoner grooves and heavy metal near thrash riffage.
White Hills Splintered Metal Sky
White Hills Splintered Metal Sky of the UK have a dark industrial album that gets heavy with pounding rhythms evil feedback and dark moody vocals. The sound is warm and compressed giving it a Gothic 80s, 90s feel. The male female vocals are gritty dirty and way to cool. White Hills has been on the fore of the psych scene for a long time and they continue to evolve with new sounds and impressive creative album development. The sound on this album is great White Hills rocks.
Helicon This Can Only Lead To Chaos
Helicon This Can only Lead To Chaos is a ripping album with fuzz guitars, dark tones and wild effects. They include the Indian instrument the sitar into the mix for a world music flare. Their dark droning heavy tracks get into dark psychedelic nightmare territory with some heavy space doom.
The Re-Stoned Thunders of The Deep
The Re-Stoned Thunders of The Deep kicks their instrumental heavy psych stoner rock into the next gear with a perfectly stoned album. From Russia this band has chops and kicks it out with stoney compositions that build and draw down for a great ride.
Tombstone Eyes Land In The Sky
Tombstone Eyes Land In The Sky of Chicago USA is an album that avoids repeating itself. The songs go from heavy metal, to space rock, to atmospheric to doom and stoner. This band can do it all and with style. The album is a complete song cycle from beginning to end filled with treats for heavy psych lovers.
Stonus – Aphasia
Stonus Aphasia is from Cyprus and serves up heavy distorted stoner rock with psychedelic acid rock flair. The guitar tones and thumping bass have great tone and the overall composition of the album is highly enjoyable.
Best of 2020 Top Psychedelic Stoner Rock & Doom Fuzz
About ThePsychRock.com
ThePsychRock.com is a place for people to find new music that is underground and out of the mainstream. All the bands share common musical lineage and have great diversity in sound but all the music is creative and comes from one of the many branches of psychedelic rock music.
2020 was a big year for the page more viewers then ever with tens of thousands of you finding new music. I received more promos then ever before and unveiled a whole new website design for better browsing.
The year end lists are always the most popular articles on the website with the exception of the home page. Don’t be afraid to click on those article titles to read the full review with videos and sound samples. Come back soon to ThePsychRock.com I have new articles and posts going up regularly.
Thank you!
Thank you so much and yes we do all need psychedelic rock acid folk music in 2021 we need more hippies in our world. Peace n love brother.
Very informative!!! Thanks my friend, can’t wait wait until the next one!!! Much love from dmtworld.net!!!