Niels de Vries

August 20, 2021

Let this week’s playlist be the soundtrack to your weekend – whether you’re venturing out, or staying home. As ever we hope you find something new, or are able to reconnect with an old favourite. If you like what you hear, please hit that “heart” button on Spotify – we update the playlist every Friday with new tunes.

If you want to seek out the tracks elsewhere, here’s the info you’ll need:

Deafheaven – Shellstar (Sargent House)

Circuit des Yeux – Dogma (Matador Records)

Fly Pan Am – Parkour 2 (Constellation)

Hoaxed – Candle Master (Relapse Records)

Chat Pile – Brutal Truth (Self-Release)

Portrayal Of Guilt – Touched by an Angel (Self-Release)

Succumb – Aither (The Flenser)

Wolves In The Throne Room – Through Enternal Fields (Century Media)

Ulver – Bounty Hunter (House of Mythology)

Wreck and Reference – Change (In The House of Flies) (The Flenser)

Alora Crucible – Bottomless Madraguda (House of Mythology)

Massimo Pupillo, Gabriele Tinti, Márton Csókás – The Lyre of Blood Will Drive off All Evil (House of Mytholgy)

The Lovecraft Sextet – Funebre Macabre (Denovali Records)

August 6, 2021

This week’s playlist is jam-packed with Roadburn alumni, as well as some up-and-comers who have caught our ear lately. The second half of 2021 is shaping up to be flush with exciting albums exploring heaviness in such a diverse array of ways. Bring it on!

If you want to seek out the tracks elsewhere, here’s the info you’ll need:

Full of Hell – Industrial Messiah Complex (Relapse Records)

Enslaved – Caravans to the Outer Worlds (Nuclear Blast)

Wolves In The Throne Room – Primal Chasm (Gift of Fire) (Century Media)

Wormwitch – Hammer of the Underworld (Prosthetic Records)

King Woman – Coil (Relapse Records)

Møl – Photophobic (Nuclear Blast)

Kayo Dot – Void in Virgo (Prophecy Productions)

Soen – EMDR (Silver Lining Music)

Green Lung – Reaper’s Scynthe (Svart Records)

Hail Spirit Noir – The Monsters (Agonia Records)

Deathsomnia – Akinesia (Isolation Rec)

Deafheaven – In Blur (Sargent House)

Slow Crush – Hush (Church Road Records)

Michael Love Michael, Chelsea Wolfe – Have (MLM Loves You)

Lingua Ignota – Man Is Like A Spring Flower (Sargent House)

July 30, 2021

Opening this week’s playlist with ZZ Top’s classic anthem “Tush” is a fitting tribute to the late Dusty Hill, and also a nod to all of the great, new music that’s out there, too!

If you want to seek out the tracks elsewhere, here’s the info you’ll need:

ZZ Top – Tush (Warner Records)

Jerry Cantrell – Atone (Self-Release)

Healthyliving – Until (Self-Release)

King Woman – Coil (Relapse Records)

Zetra – Care (Children of the Vortex)

Sculptured – Dead Wall Reveries (The End Records)

These Hidden Hands, Zanias – Shackles (Hidden Hundred)

Blak Saagan – La Firma del Legionairo Maple Death Records)

Mightyhealthy – Peppered Jab (Grimey Nobody Records)

Pleasure Plateau – Cortisol (Self-Release)

The Bug, Flowdan – Pressure (Ninja Tune)

Tropical Fuck Storm – New Romeo Agent (Joyful Noise Recordings)

Angel Olsen – Safety Dance (Somethingscosmic)

Grouper – Unclean mind (Kranky)

Torment & Glory – No Big Crime (Sargent House)

Underdark – Qeres (Surviving Sounds)

Succumb – Okeanos (The Flenser)

Ungraven – Onwards She Rides to a Certain Death (Black Bow Records)

Slomatics – Monitors (Black Bow Records)

Papangu – Bacia das Almas (Self-Release)

July 23, 2021

Let this week’s lengthy playlist start a summer holiday of sorts, or at least launch a trip into an imaginary festival without any restrictions, as the current state of affairs is still way too to difficult to navigate, and we really need a brief escape. Enjoy!

If you want to seek out the tracks elsewhere, here’s the info you’ll need:

Cave In – Youth Overrided (Sony Music)

Illudium – Soma Sema (Prophecy Productions)

Mono – Riptide (Pelagic Records)

Eskina – We Were the Moon (Challenge Records)

Horte – Pelko karistaa järjen (Pelagic Records)

Midwife – Colorado (The Flenser)

Low – Disappearing (Sub Pop)

Alexis Marshall – Drink from the Oceans . Nothing Can… (Sargent House)

Desire Marea, Gyre – Studies in Black Trauma (Izimakade Records)

Moor Mother, lojii – Shekere (Self-Release)

Dame Area – La Doble Luna (Mannequin Records)

Alessandro Cortini – Lo Specchio (Mute Artists)

Hooveriii – We’re Both Lawyers (The Reverberation Appreciation Society)

Restive Plaggona – Swimming In The Rain (Fleisch Records)

Elektro Hafız – Ali Rodrigez (Ironhand Records)

Kutiman – Guruji (Siyal Music)

The Holy Family – Chasm Second Part (Rocket Recordings)

Drott – The Marauders (By Norse Music)

Ghorot – Charioteer of Fire (Self-Release)

God’s Bastard – To the Last Standing Village (I, Voidhanger Records)

July 16, 2021

“Sometimes, on a Thursday night (or a Friday morning, or a Saturday afternoon), it turns out that a new track from Iron Maiden is just what’s needed to get your blood pumping. ‘Is the Roadburn Essential Sounds playlist the place for Iron Maiden?’, I pondered. As you’ll see – the conclusion was definitely yes.

“If the mighty Maiden aren’t your bag, there’s plenty more to tickle your fancy this Friday. Enjoy!”

— Becky Laverty

If you want to seek out the tracks elsewhere, here’s the info you’ll need:

Iron Maiden – The Writing On The Wall (Parlophone Records)

Spirit Adrift – Forge Your Future (Century Media)

Fawn Limbs – Noose Gestures (Roman Numeral Records)

Chat Pile – Roots Bloody Roots (The Flenser)

Four Stroke Baron – Friday Knight (Prosthetic Records)

La Femme – Paradigme (Disque Pointu)

Crippled Black Phoenix – Dead is Dead (Season of Mist)

King Woman – Boghz (Relapse Records)

Deathsomnia – Katabasis (Ft. Kyle Kimball) (Isolation Rec)

Howlin Rain – Dharma Wheel (Silver Current)

Kurt Vile – Run Run Run (UMG recordings) (Header image)

Midwife – Enemy (The Flenser)

Lingua Ignota – Perpetual Flame Of Centralia (Sargent House)

July 2, 2021

Dive in to our newly updated Essential Sounds playlist below…

If you want to seek out the tracks elsewhere, here’s the info you’ll need:

King Woman – Psychic Wound (Relapse Records)

Outlander – Sundowning (Church Road Records)

Year of no Light – Alètheia (Pelagic Records) (header image)

White Ward – Debemur Morti (Eitrin Editions)

Amenra – Het Gloren (Relapse Records)

Cloud Rat – Mother Tongue / Glitter Belly (Artoffact Records)

Hellish Form – Another World (Translation Loss Records)

Duma KE – Cannis (Sub Pop)

Perturbator, INVSN – Excess (Blood Music)

Zetra – Life Melts Away Pt.2 (Children of the Vortex)

Hail Spirit Noir – Mannequins (Agonia Records)

Hante. – Two-Faced Angel (Synth Religion)

Dana Dentata – Do U Like Me Now? (Roadrunner Records)

June 25, 2021

Who’d guess that one day Sir Tom Jones would kick off our weekly playlist, let alone with a 9 minute spiritual psych exploration? Well… he’s doing exactly that with “Lazarus Man,” and we couldn’t be more excited. This week’s playlist is full of other surprises, too! Enjoy.

If you want to seek out the tracks elsewhere, here’s the info you’ll need:

Tom Jones – Lazarus Man (Universal Music)

Spellling – Boys at School (Sacred Bones (header image)

Low – Days Like These (Sub Pop Records)

Tropical Fuck Storm – G.A.F.F. (Joyful Noise Recordings)

Zahn – Tseudo (Crazysane Records)

Delving – Delving (Stickman Records)

Zement – Soil (Crazysane Records)

Polypores – Exopheromones (Behind The Sky)

Thief – Apple Eaters (Prophecy Productions)

Otay:onii – Child No.22 (WV Sorcerer Productions)

Nuha Ruby Ra – Cruel (Brace Yourself Records)

Backxwash, Michael Go – Burn To Ashes (Ugly Hag Records)

Sugar Horse – Fat Dracula (Small Pond Recordings)

Splinter – Brand New Future (Robotor Records)

Cobra Man – Powered Up (Cool, Nice)

Green Lung – Leaders of the Blind (Svart Records)

Comet Control – Secret Life (Tee Pee records)

Yagow – Getting Through… Is The Where The Magic Happens (Crazysane Records)

June 18, 2021

Thanks to every one of you who ‘likes’ our playlist on Spotify and joins us weekly for the latest offering of Essential Sounds. If you don’t already follow the playlist, please do – it would mean the world! Click through to a freshly picked bunch of new and inspiring tracks!

If you want to seek out the tracks elsewhere, here’s the info you’ll need:

Lingua Ignota – Pennsylvania Furnace (Sargent House)

MJ Guider – Gloria: Small Dance of Gratitude (Modemain)

Senyawa – Gendang Kiamat (Dekoder)

The Body x Big ‡ Brave – Oh Sinner (Thrill Jockey)

Botanist – Antirrhinum (Prophecy Productions)

Health x Tyler Bates x Chino Moreno – Anti-Life (Loma Vista Recordings)

Filth is Eternal – On The Rake (Church Road Records)

Knoll – Gored Veil (Self-Release)

Wormwitch – Abracadabra (Prosthetic Records)

Hangman’s Chair – Cold & Distant (Nuclear Blast)

Unreqvited – Funeral Pyre (Prophecy Productions)

Greg Puciato x Tyler Bates x Gil Sharone – Now You’ve Really Done It (Loma Vista Recordings)

Unto Others – When Will Gods Work Be Done (Roadrunner Records)

Whispering Sons – Vision (PIAS)

Sven Wunder – Pentimento (Piano Piano Records)

June 11, 2021

This week’s playlist is straddling the line between hope and fear – hope that the world will open up even further (and that we can fully enjoy the summer); fear that these unprecedented times will keep things restrained. Either way, we have these artists to provide the soundtrack as we navigate forward.

If you want to seek out the tracks elsewhere, here’s the info you’ll need:

Alasdair Roberts, Völvur – The Green Chapel (Drag City) (Header image)

Esther Ann Gove – Dead God (Self-Release)

Martha Skye Murphy – Found Out (Self-Release)

Jorja Chalmers – Bring Me Down (Italians Do It Better)

Deathsomnia, Selofan – Self Sabotage – Apocalypse Version (Isolation Rec.)

Deafheaven – Great Mass of Color (Sargent House)

Amenra – Voor Immer (Relapse Records)

Odraza – Acedia (Godz Ov War Productions)

Wolves In The Throne Room – Mountain Magick (Relapse Records)

Inferno – Stars Within and Stars Without Pr… (Eitrin Editions)

Den Sorte Død – Den Sorte Død (Cyclic Law)

Daniel Davies – Out of the Night (Not Not Fun)

Lustmord, Karin Park – Song of Sol

Acid Twilight – Midnight Sun

Wyatt E., Tomer Damsky – Kol Badai (Self-Release)

Five The Hierophant – The Black Waves (Self-Release)

Slow Fire Pistol – Who Decides (Tripple B Records)

Lantlôs – Magnolia (Prophecy Productions)

June 4, 2021

The sun is shining (at least, it is here!) and a slew of great artists have announced new albums coming this summer! There’s plenty to look forward to, but also plenty to get stuck into already here on your favourite weekly playlist!

If you want to seek out the tracks elsewhere, here’s the info you’ll need:

King Woman – Morning Star (Relapse Records)

Midwife – God is a Cop (The Flenser)

Kælan Mikla – Ósýnileg (Artoffact Records)

Hante. – Apnée (Synth Religion)

Cold Cave – Psalm 23 (Heartworm Press)

Microcorps – UVU (Alter)

Zeal & Ardor – Run (Redacted GmbH)

Alexis Marshall – Hounds In The Abyss (Sargent House)

Pus – Oscuras Intenciones (Self-Release)

Sordide – Je n’ai nul pays (LADLO)

At The Gates – The Paradox (Century Media)

Cirith Ungol – Route 666 (Metal Blade)

Twin Temple – Babalon (Self-Release)

Dead Can Dance – Mushin (Holy Tongue Records)