#i think of old paintings made my stoners that have dust on them but are too delicate to dust and now have been intrinsically changed by

[ghostliest-ghosty-ghost-bastard]

when i think of u i think tally hall. gorillaz.

-🦇

Sobbing screaming throwing up how dare you do this to me on a Tuesday evening, I'm taking emotional damage from this thank you 💚

[deerblossoms]

my girlfriend and i (MY GIRLFRIEND!!!!!!!) have always compared ourselves to nick and jess, like long before we were dating. and now that we’re dating it’s really funny to me how the comparisons have just racked up over time. like i’m sort of an alcoholic and i’m a bartender and he has a thing for me in formalwear and i have a thing for him in short dresses and we always fight about stupid stupid stuff and we pined for years before we started dating. and we STARTED dating because we hooked up and then we didn’t clarify it and there were so many reasons not to date but we said fuck it. but it’s like. nick cleans himself up for jess and starts wanting to be a better man. and i’ve noticed myself doing the same thing. like joan’s coming in march so i’ve started sorting and throwing out my old stuff and getting shower supplies and better sheets and a washcloth and cleaning my room and dusting and i wake up early and i’ve started stretching every day and i’m trying to fix my posture. like i’m on this self improvement kick and maybe when he comes and leaves i’ll revert back to my nasty wallowing humpbacked state but maybe i’ll keep working on myself for me.

i have always had this dream of dancing in the kitchen with joan to old jazzy love songs and i made a playlist of them and it turns me into such a sap thinking about it. like this is my best friend and i love him so much and i’m going to dance in the kitchen with him to moonlight serenade over pasta one day. and i think i’m going to marry him. i don’t even know how to talk about it. it’s so weird for me to tell people like “oh yeah my girlfriend etc etc etc…” but i want to say it all the time. my girlfriend’s coming in march! my girlfriend is a huge taylor swift fan. my girlfriend’s this amazing poet i’ll show you his writing, if you want to see. my girlfriend kind of got me into cooking my girlfriend’s been pestering me about how much i drink my girlfriend’s such a stoner my girlfriend reads tarot my girlfriend loves to paint my girlfriend works at a bookstore too my girlfriend my girlfriend my girlfriend my girlfriend! i just want to brag forever and ever and ever about it. my girlfriend. i love him.

[doomedandstoned]

10,000 Years Take Us Into The "Gargantuan Forest"

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

Review by Billy Goate

Album Art by Francesco Bauso

Leaving the world For salvation yonder Quest for eternity To suns beyond

Gazing upon our past Out into forever To a future obscured What glory awaits?

To begin another week of awesome original content at Doomed & Stoned, we're getting you better acquainted with the Swedish juggernaut 10,000 YEARS.

Last summer, the band dropped their eponymous debut to welcome ears and in just a few short weeks 10,000 Years come roaring back with a follow-up. Y'all know I'm a sucker for a good concept album. The eight-track full-length record 'II' (2021) picks up the trail of the Albatross research vessel, which has been galavanting 'cross the nether reaches of the galaxy on a potent rocket fuel made of sludgy stoner rock and doom metal.

If that sounds epic, wait'll you get a load of what's next for our interstellar crew. It helps if you picture the following text as a Star Wars-style screen crawl, slowly working its way up the page against the backdrop of a starry night.

After narrowly escaping the confines of the strange planet and its surrounding dimension, the Albatross and its crew finally return home to Earth. The re-entry is rough and the ship crashlands in a forest. The earth that greets them is vastly different from the one that they left.

When the ship travelled back to earth through the wormhole, it created a rift in the space-time continuum which propelled them far into the future, as well as allowing the Green King and other ancient gods from the other dimension to cross over to our dimension. They have since taken control of not only the earth, but the entire solar system.

After various harrowing experiences and encounters, the truth finally dawns on the surviving members of the crew. They are indeed back on earth, but ten thousand years in the future from when they started their journey. And to make matters worse, they find evidence that the Green King has been known and worshipped by secret cults and societies on earth for millenia, since before humankind even existed.

The surviving members of the crew come to the conclusion that the only way to set things right again is to repair the Albatross and take it back through the rift again in order to close it.

Now that's a saga I'm ready to get invested in. George Lucas, eat your heart out!

The record revs to a start with "Descent," a track that can best be described as terrific panic. It had me thinking of KOOK's "Escape Velocity" from their recent second album, though that's an eight-and-a-half minute slow burn and this is a quick twenty-six second fall from the sky. I wish this little notion had a chance to develop into something longer, but regardless what a thrilling way to open an album!

With rapt attention, I'm waiting to hear what comes next. The ship seems to have crash landed deep inside a "Gargantuan Forest." As an aside, it would be a blast to smoke a bowl o' something (anything, really) with Erik Palm (guitar), Alex Risberg (bass, vox), and Espen Karlsen (drums) just to gab it up a bit about sci-fi lit and horror flicks. I mean, check out the trove of B-movie greats referenced in their preface to the new single (which Doomed & Stoned is debuting today):

In this ABSURD (1981) video, 10,000 Years enter a FOREST OF FEAR (1980) as they access THE BEYOND (1981) and enter a BLOODBATH (1971) with THE BOOGEY MAN (1980), otherwise known as the Espbeast. The Espbeast stalks and haunts the bodies and minds of the characters in this C-grade homage to the horror movies of yesteryear.

The characters FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE (1976) through insane NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN (1981). If they survive the AXE (1974) they may still end up in an INFERNO (1980) and risk being EATEN ALIVE (1976). All the same risks face the viewer, so don’t watch with the lights out, don’t watch by yourself and DON’T GO IN THE WOODS ALONE (1981). Because after all, isn’t there an Espbeast in all of us?

10,000 Years have picked the ideal setting for the music video. The forests of Sweden stand tall and dark, the ground packed with snow. Screw you, Blair Witch Project -- this is where I want the next found footage flick filmed!

The song opens with a mysterious theme on solitary electric strings, surrounded by hazy reverberation. Drums and bass accent the motif as it's repeated several times over. Dazed by their graceless fall to earth, the crew wander about, checking one another for injuries, seeing if the faithful Albatross has even hope of another journey. As the shock begins to wear off, their hopeless plight reveals itself.

Screaming from the sky Blasting through the atmosphere

Come to rest On the forest floor Still alive What fresh new hell is this?

Surrounded by swamps A strange bleeding from the earth

Giant trees A dense horror taking root Same old sun Unfamiliar rays shine down

Is there something lurking about in the Gargantuan Forest? I'm sure no one wants to wait until nightfall to find out! The so-called "Espbeast" (which the band may actually have been first to name) is more than likely some strange amalgamation of guitar and creature, ripping through foes like a berserker of sound with scraps of High on Fire's "10,000 Years" echoing perversely through the treetops as it stalks and ultimately slays you. Nobody wants to be around when the Espbeast is on the prowl.

Now see, I'm letting my imagination get carried away! Then again, maybe that's what the band had planned all along -- for listeners to join in the fantastic adventures of these cosmonauts, to see through their eyes and feel through their body as they touch foot to strange soil. What will our adventurers find next?

The answer comes all too soon: "Spinosaurus!" This gruff beast charges angrily through the woods knocking things about, displacing rocks, snapping branches, royally pissed and ready to make somebody pay for the noise that snatched him away from a damned good nap. The repeated note riff, with its odd strumming pattern, does a nifty job of representing the crude movements of the Spinosaurus as it lumbers about the forest. Eric is a virtuosic mess of frantic tremeloes and wiry noodling against Espen's stampeding drums, as Alex narrates the scene with a terrifying shout:

Is this our earth? No time to dwell Dorsal sail cutting air Cretaceous ghost made flesh

Staring into Dead end eyes No place to hide Theropodic annihilation

Teeth into flesh!

What the crew is experiencing on their homeworld thus far seems foreign, almost ancient. Through some curse of Einstenian logic have we zipped through a wormhole only to return to the distant past? "The Mooseriders" are about to challenge our assumptions about what's possible on this Rock.

Thundering hooves crack the sky Dark robed wizards appear in the light Travellers in ether descending Protectors of the realm

These are the oath-bound eternals -- interdimensional templars, if you will -- who have arrived at this precise moment in time to take on the Green King. Complex rhythmic drumming with precisely stricken odd beats, is accompanied by a hyperactive bass and progressive metal riffmaking. Together, the band conjures the trot and hustle of the approaching entourage. A wilding guitar heralds a message from the great protectors:

The hour draws near The endgame is nigh Divine prophecy Even death may die

The mood now turns stately. A brave theme is introduced and developed with dashing prowess. This track would fit perfectly into a playlist with Mastodon, Ape Cave, and Zirakzigil. I found Alex's vocal approach especially appropriate for the frantic depiction of "antlers clashing with steel" in this battle to the finish. "Even death...may...DIE!"

"Angel Eyes" greet us on the B-side, and it's not a cover of the Jerry Cantrell song (though that would have been unexpectedly awesome). No, the hard-charging mood and raspy vocals are pointing to something far more apocalyptic.

Hooves of burning coal Let loose upon the world

Return of the warlord Eternal fire scorches the earth

Heavenly gaze Order through chaos

At times Alex seems exasperated, practically out of breath, as he gives these dire words his all. It's a style the 10,000 Years frontman owns as well as his counterpart, Simon Ohlsson of Vokonis, who has a comparable vocal attack. A bass-fortified guitar establishes a second theme that adds a Wagnarian touch of high drama, and this ushers in the song's curtain fall.

If 10,000 Years is to be compared with High On Fire at all, the rumbling riffstorm "March Of The Ancient Queen" surely merits it (to say nothing of their mutual love of alternative histories).

Her royal blood Once ruled these lands Generations Buried by time Dynasty of dust Rise from the sands Rise from the dead The Green King's servant

March!

March Of The Ancient Queen - Single by 10,000 Years

That last lyric is uttered with the most blood-curdling all-caps conviction that I was immediately drawn into its sentiment, miming "Maaaaarrrrrch!" with my ugliest war face on every time it came up in the song. The NWOBHM-style finish is so deftly executed that it comes across as orchestral. 10,000 Years paint with big, bold strokes here.

"Prehuman Walls" is a welcome shift down, with its chugging "Bury Me In Smoke" tempo. You sludge fiends will find moments of Zen here, with riffs that bend and twist and saw 'neath the summer sun. The crew have chanced upon a temple of sorts, though not one made with human hands. Nothing seems to make sense here at all. It's like Area X from the film Annihilation (2017), where everything is a contortion of reality. Then the "truth settles in." This alien monstrosity, we find, bears the mark of the sinister Green King. We thought we'd escaped him, only to find that he both followed us and was here millenia before.

Unholy worship Feed the Green King Eyes pried open Sanity stripped away

At last, we reach the final track in our journey: "Dark Side Of The Earth". So many revelations have been made in this second chapter, so many loose ends that need to be tied off. Naturally, a third chapter must be written. "We must go back, set it right," deliberates an exasperated Albatross crew. "We must go back, whence we came."

Dimension walls broken down The fabric ripped and torn apart Thread the needle once again A journey of ten thousand years

We must go back, set it right We must go back, through the tears

Insanity the only way The dark side of the earth

Following these words, the song develops instrumentally and the mood gets quite emotional. I found myself drawing parallels between this "bastard version of earth" and our own, wondering if we ever can go back and make it right. For us, perhaps it should be about moving forward, for there is no golden age or better time to which we can return. We make this world a heaven or hell tomorrow by the choices made today.

The album was recorded by Tomas Skogsberg at Studio Sunlight. Totally diggin the awesomely swamp landscape that Francesco Bauso of Negative Crypt Artwork created. It reminds the five-year old me of Luke's sopping wet landing on Dagobah, though guitarist Alex Risberg says the band's more inspired by Planet of the Apes than by Star Wars.

The album will be released on June 25th as a special vinyl "Green King Edition" by Interstellar Smoke Records pre-order here), a cassette tape "Forest Edition" from Ogo Rekords (pre-order here) and "Swamp Edition" from Olde Magick Records pre-order here), with the digital and compact disc formats handled by Death Valley Records (pre-order here).

10,0000 Years have in II their most accomplished album to date, with powerful moments that will stay with you long after the record's stopped spinning. Fans of High On Fire, Black Tusk, and The Sword listen up! You might just discover your next favorite band.

Give ear...

10,000 Years - Gargantuan Forest (Music Video)

Some Buzz

Having previously played together in the original lineup of Swedish underground heavyweights Pike, Erik Palm (Guitars) and Alex Risberg (Bass/vocals) found their way back to each other, musically, in early 2020. The creative fire reignited and stoked to a burning inferno and through a mutual love of heavy riffs and thundering stoner rock, doom, and sludge metal, 10,000 Years was born. Finding a drummer would prove to be an easy task and with Espen Karlsen the final piece lay firmly in place. The groove they fell into during the first rehearsal hasn’t stopped rumbling since.

After spending the first-half of 2020 writing and rehearsing, 10,000 Years recorded their self-titled debut EP during one weekend in June in the legendary Studio Sunlight with equally legendary producer Tomas Skogsberg. The self-titled EP was released on July 10th and immediately struck a chord with the heavy underground worldwide, and 10,000 Years garnered rave reviews and accolades.

10,000 Years by 10,000 Years

10,000 Years' musical and lyrical world revolves around the tale of the terran class III exploration vessel Albatross and its mission to explore the Milky Way and nearby galaxies in search for a possible new home for humanity. The EP tells the tale of its first foray into space and what happens when the crew accidentally travel through a wormhole and end up in an adjacent dimension populated by ancient gods and giant beings, ruled by the Green King. The EP ends with “From Suns Beyond,” where the crew make it off from the strange planet, back out into space in search of a way back home. The new album picks up the story as the Albatross blasts through the atmosphere of a seemingly unknown planet and crashlands headfirst into strange new adventures.

II by 10,000 Years

Now, less than a year after their first release, 10,000 Years are back with their first full-length effort, aptly titled 'II' (2021). Picking up right where the EP left off, II continues the story of the ill-fated Albatross mission and its exploration of time and space through a skull-crushing mixture of stoner rock, doom, and sludge metal. The album will no doubt continue to build on 10,000 Years' already golden reputation and prove to be an even bigger hit with the heavy masses.

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[merezeh]

It’s been quite an eventful night for Zoey. She had returned to her dorm from a night of dancing, partying and two huge bombshells being dropped on her dainty shoulders. On the outside, she was drenched in confusion and spilled Champagne, but underneath her Princess of Monaco worthy ball gown and fake eye lashes, she was secretly loving this; the attention of the two boys she had crushed over all semester. Aaron finally had the nerve to tell her how he feels about her and Luca, well, Luca dusted off his finest tux and rode in like a shiny knight to sweep his princess off her feet once and for all. The two lads showed up within minutes of each other; romantic gestures cocked and loaded, and made their feelings known to her. Now, it was official; it was real, and Zoey could no longer play the game of pulling two strings. She actually had to make a choice between the two boys fully aware that whomever she picked, the other would not wait around for her any longer. And wait he did not.

After Zoey wandered around her room from desk to bed to floor and back to desk, all the while twirling and twisting and chewing anxiously on her long, curly hair, she finally came to a decision. It was Aaron; it was always going to be Aaron. Luca was the mysterious, broody, cool kid; an enigma, and it was enchanting to her. But Aaron, he cared about things and he was not afraid to speak up about them. He never hid underneath invisible sunglasses and apathic, disaffected coolness. His passion oozed out of every indignant rally and heated conversation. Sure, it got a little much sometimes, but she wanted to be with the guy that made her question what she stands for and made her care about things on a deeper level. Zoey was a superficial girl. But “this is college; it’s time to grow up”, she thought and Aaron might just be who she needs to be with at this pivotal moment in her life.

Of course, Luca was disappointed. Perhaps if he had made his feelings known sooner, Zoey would be with him instead. He let out his woes unto his canvas and painted numerous odes to his object of desire. Though it was no huge loss like the death of a loved one or the end of a great romance, the salty taste of rejection followed him around for weeks. With every brush stroke, however, he could taste it a little bit less. Like many great artists, he emptied himself completely unto his art. Soon, his mind was clear of all that is Zoey Johnson. He may even have his sights on a new girl.

Skylar, Zoey’s friend, had been there for Luca as he licked his salty wounds. She felt that he was the better choice for Zoey and she made that clear to him. “I like Aaron, I do, but Zoey is an idiot if she doesn’t see how amazing you are”, she said to him in slurred words as they both gazed at his final ode to Zoey; a masterpiece of juxtaposition between the passionate brush strokes that illustrated her beautiful, bouncy hair and the soft, sweeping glides of oil that reflected light off every curve on the figure’s body. Luca took the dirty blunt sitting between his fingers to his mouth and inhaled deeply before passing it over to Skylar. “Dead ass”, he slurred back.

After weeks of pining over Zoey, Luca was finally ready to move on. The unusual friendship between he and Skylar – unusual because they seemingly had nothing in common besides Zoey – began to blossom outside the realm of their mutual friend group. They laughed at each other’s hair, despite both having long, black locs styled differently, Luca took her to his underground, cool-kid parties and they shared a similar taste in music, especially when they were high. Getting high was extremely familiar to Luca, but new to Skylar. She had recently discovered how relaxing it was to let the world melt away and her problems melt along with it. They were also both brilliant at their fields – he, a brilliant artist and she, a brilliant athlete – and neither of them had many people in their lives to whom they could vent about the expectations and weight that comes with such brilliance; not without sounding like conceited assholes.

Most of all, it was easy. Being around each other was effortless and uncomplicated. They bonded over things they now knew they had in common and laughed over the things they could only ever agree to disagree on. Luca’s extremely easy going nature, the thing that made him unfit for Zoey, was perfect for Skylar. Deep down, she was a free spirited girl, but wound tightly by the pressures of her circumstances. Being on a sports scholarship came with its own set of tribulations after all. With him, she found an escape and with her, nothing had to be performative. They could both just be themselves. Skylar never demanded he perform care and interest, for anything, in a way that suited her. She could read the subtleties of his facial expressions like a map and he could do the same with her. And when that failed, they were both mature and confrontational enough to have straight forward conversations. Neither of them had the capacity for head games and two-sided interactions.

As they relaxed into each other’s easy-going company, their bond deepened. They both started to notice things about the other they never had before. She observed that for a guy who seems so cavalier about everything, he was really hard on himself when it came to his work; an observation that blew her mind as she felt he was fantastically gifted. She also noticed his style. “You know, for a stoner dude who couldn’t care less what anyone thinks of him, he has impeccable taste”, she confessed to her sister Jazlyn. He also had started to notice her – how the sun danced and flickered around her hazelnut eyes. Their mesmerising shade of brown had even become his new favourite colour to paint with.

Jazlyn was admittedly “sceptical about Skylar’s new nth-cloud pal”, as she cheekily put it, but she quickly converted into a supporter of the pair when she began to witness her sister drift back into the relaxed essence of light she once was. There was, however, one person who could never understand or support Skylar and Luca’s new bond. Upon spotting the pair from a distance on one of their mundanely adventurous outings, Zoey hissed and sighed silently about it for hours on end, unable to make captive audiences of the people around her and voice her true feelings for fear of hurting Aaron’s.

It felt like a personal slight to her; a betrayal. Little did she know that her current feelings of betrayal were only the beginning, because despite maintaining that her relationship with Luca was strictly platonic, Skylar was starting to develop romantic feelings for the artist. Luca, on the other hand, was wise to stay away from Zoey and Skylar’s friends. Perhaps he was cautious of the way he gazed helplessly and lustfully at Skylar when she tucked her hair behind her ear being a dead giveaway to the group, and possibly to Skylar herself.

Despite Zoey’s quiet objections, Skylar and Luca continued to hang out together; acting both as fans and as escapist havens for each other. One perfectly yellow afternoon, Skylar had just finished a race and as she and her sister jogged off that burnt orange track in victory, glistening, smiling from ear to ear, their friends – Zoey, Ana, Aaron, Nomi, Vivek and Luca – received them unto the side-lines with cheers and refreshments. After the race, they all planned to get together for a movie night at Aaron’s place but Luca, who wasn’t too keen on watching Zoey and her new beau canoodling in their natural habitat, swiftly excused himself from the group meet.

Trying to be sensitive to Luca’s awkward predicament, she claimed to herself, Skylar stepped in to rescue the budding artist. “Yeah, there’s that show we wanted to see right?”, she said swiftly, inviting herself to join him and Luca was more than happy to play along. “Yeah, I’m hoping it inspires something for my class project”, he said in his usual mellow tone. Zoey glared at Luca smiling at Skylar, and as she pictured her magical night of dirty frat-house couches and pizza, she coveted Skylar because she too had experience Luca’s artsy world when his eyes were still on her.

Later on in the night, as Luca and Skylar wandered down the lit-up streets finding reasons and excuses to touch, playing “something in your hair” and “something on your jacket” games, they came to a halt in front of a door of what looked like an old tattoo parlour. “We’re here”, Luca said suspiciously. Skylar raised her eyebrows at Luca and said “where exactly are we?” with a slight excitement and hesitation in her voice. She might have trusted him, but she was still weary of dodgy-looking abandoned buildings. Luca opened the door by turning one of the fifty antique-looking knobs and handles on it and let her in to yet another underground party.

As they made their way slowly through the crowd, they started to move subconsciously to the music. From their worries and fears to pressures and the world around them, everything disappeared, time stood still and they began dancing together. Now, they had the perfect reason to touch and roll and grind all over each other. Luca’s fingertips found reasons to glide over every visible inch of Skylar’s bod, across her face and down her arms and around her waist; each stroke more electric than the last. With emotions running high and inhibitions running low, they stopped and looked at each other for a long second – it was like they had both just witnessed beauty for the first time – before Luca leaned in and kissed Skylar. The party lights sparked and shimmered like fireworks, giving the pair their fantastical moment which lasted just the perfect amount of minutes that felt like years.

After the kiss was over, they unlocked their lips and looked at each other for another long second, both trying to confirm that the magic they felt was not one-sided and imaginary. The smile that swept across both of their faces and the look of satisfaction and awe in their eyes was confirmation enough. Luca winked cheekily at Skylar to make her laugh; she rolled her eyes and burst out laughing. Time unfroze and everything around them started to move again just before they became aware of the music and proceeded back to dancing.