A new editorial week at Progressive Rock Journal opens with a selection that moves across hemispheres and half a century of underground music — an exclusive premiere from the Australian cinematic fringe, two reviews that span from contemporary Swedish Doom to a long-buried Krautrock gem making its first digital appearance, two in-depth conversations with artists at career-defining junctures, two archival excavations from Santiago and Vienna, and the thirteenth volume of the PRJ Compilation series, a deliberate descent into the heaviest corners of the current underground. The PRJ Stoner/Doom Playlist on Spotify has also been refreshed with ten new entries, curated from recent coverage. And on the YouTube channel: two more full demos rescued from oblivion, because the archive never sleeps.
— EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE —
[Exclusive Premiere] Serena Rose – “Wild One”: A Cinematic Drift Through Atmosphere and Restraint: Australian Cinematic-Psychedelic artist Serena Rose premieres her new single — written in a single session among the wet forests and creek-fed silence of the Byron Bay hinterland. Built around drifting guitar work, minimal percussion, and a strong sense of physical place over compositional structure, the track arrives alongside a short Q&A that goes directly to the heart of her creative process. Compared at times to “Mazzy Star,” her work points somewhere quieter and more specifically located than any reference can fully contain. PRJ exclusive. [Read here]
— REVIEWS —
Witchcraft – A Sinner’s Child EP: Sweden’s Witchcraft return on March 13 via Heavy Psych Sounds Records with a five-track EP that does not so much extend their language as strip it to the bone. From the Swedish-language solo opener to the cavernous weight of “Själen Reser Sig” — recorded by Magnus Pelander alone, across three sessions over eight years — the record navigates between acoustic Nordic Folk austerity and full-band Doom heaviness with a compositional honesty that renders the distance between those registers irrelevant. A document of a songwriter operating entirely on his own terms. Essential. [Read here]
Epsilon – Epsilon (1971 – 2026 Digital Reissue | Bacillus Records/Bellaphon): The debut of Marburg’s Epsilon, originally released on the nascent Bacillus Records in 1971 and recorded at Dieter Dierks‘ studio in Cologne, is now available digitally for the first time. An organ-dominated statement that aligns more closely with the British Progressive tradition than with anything in its immediate German surroundings, the record moves freely between Hard Blues, Bossa Nova, Baroque re-composition, and a jaw-dropping deconstruction of “Paint It Black.” One of the most compelling and underexamined entries in the German Progressive Blues Rock catalogue — now within reach. [Read here]
— INTERVIEWS —
[Exclusive Interview] Anneke van Giersbergen on “La Mort” and the art of living through loss: The second chapter of Anneke van Giersbergen‘s personal trilogy arrives March 27 as a four-track EP of uncommon emotional depth, rooted in the experience of losing both parents within two months of each other. This conversation moves across the creative architecture of “La Vie,” “La Mort,” “L’Amour” as a structured artistic cycle, the writing of “Sail Towards The Sun” at her father’s bedside during his final days, and what the reunion with The Gathering for the Mandylion 30th anniversary has revealed about her own journey as a solo artist. Among the most open and substantial interviews to appear on PRJ this year — and Anneke herself confirmed it. [Read here]
[Exclusive Interview] Myrath: Inside “Wilderness of Mirrors” — Identity, Legacy, and the Sound of Two Worlds: Ahead of their new album’s release on March 27 via earMUSIC — and the major European tour across 16 countries that follows — PRJ sat down with the Tunisian-French quintet for one of the most in-depth conversations of their career. The origins in Tunis with no scene and no infrastructure, the meeting with Kevin Codfert at Carthage, the arc from “Hope” to “Shehili” and the deliberate editorial refinement that led to “Wilderness of Mirrors“: a record built around the image of a CIA operative’s disorientation in a world of false reflections — and its resonance in the present moment. An extensive, essential read. [Read here]
— NEWS —
Krokodil – “Getting Up For The Morning” (1972) now streaming via Bacillus Records on Bandcamp: The fourth album from Switzerland’s premier psych-prog outfit arrives digitally for the first time through Bacillus Records‘ official archive initiative, complete with original LP artwork as a bonus. Recorded at Dieter Dierks‘ studio in Cologne, the record marks a transitional moment in the band’s evolution — Blues-based structures meeting Psychedelic and Progressive instincts, with harmonica, flute, electric piano, and layered guitar at the core. Essential for any serious collector of early-’70s European underground Rock. [Read here]
Tusmørke – Official Video for “Vi er et kollektiv” from new album Balderdom: Norway’s Tusmørke celebrate the release of their thirteenth album — out March 20 via Karisma Records — with the official video for the new single. “Balderdom” arrives following significant lineup changes, and is framed by the band’s own mythology of seasonal death and rebirth, Balder and Ragnarök, the turning of the year. The album closes with the twenty-minute “Lidskjalv” — a demo that has existed since the 1990s and finally receives its first proper recording here. [Read here]
— HIDDEN RARITIES —
[Hidden Rarities #56] Aquila (Chile): Santiago, 1973. Under the shadow of the Pinochet coup, five musicians — including vibraphone director Guillermo Rifo and drummer Sergio Meli, co-owner of the underground Jazz club Rosso Nero — recorded the only album in Chilean history to fully synthesise Jazz, Rock, and música docta into a coherent language. Described by historian Álvaro Menanteau as the foundation of fusión latinoamericana, the record vanished almost immediately as the military curfew emptied every club in Santiago. Their flight was brief and interrupted — but its shadow falls long. [Read here]
[Hidden Rarities #55] Paternoster (Austria): Vienna, 1970. Recorded in two days in March 1972, barely 270–300 copies sold, master tapes lost with the collapse of CBS Austria — and yet Paternoster‘s self-titled debut has since reached auction prices exceeding $10,000. A Hammond-driven descent through religious scepticism, death, and nihilism that predates the Doom aesthetic by more than a decade, the record was hunted down and reissued by Now-Again Records in 2016, after founder Eothen Alapatt traced organist Franz Wippel through an Instagram post. The bassist, Haimo Wisser, did not survive to see the recovery. One of the most harrowing albums ever committed to tape — and one of the most rewarding to finally hear properly. [Read here]
— COMPILATION —
PRJ Compilation Vol. XIII – Altars of Rust and Ruin: The thirteenth volume maps five distinct shades of contemporary heaviness — Buzzard‘s politically charged Doom Folk from Massachusetts, Witchfang‘s Occult Horror Rock from Denmark, Saint Axe‘s desolate Stoner Doom from West Virginia, Cinder Mage‘s solo ritual heaviness from Connecticut, and Oolith‘s slow-burning Melodic Sludge from Manchester. Each artist contributed an exclusive quote. Each track was selected by ear. In 2026, Doom is not a genre — it is a necessity, and this volume is a document of exactly that. Stream in full on YouTube. [Read here] |
Stream on YouTube:
— SPOTIFY PLAYLIST —
PRJ Playlist: Stoner/Doom — March 2026: Ten new entries added to the PRJ Stoner/Doom 2026 playlist on Spotify — Mr. Earthbound, Vain Valkyries, Mörkekraft, Solar Mantra, Black Wind, The Devil’s Trade, Demons My Friends, Wizards Of Hazards, Myar, Witchsnake. New singles, full streams, and upcoming release previews drawn directly from recent coverage on the webzine. Stoner, Doom, Heavy Psych, and Dark Folk — carefully selected, no algorithm involved. [Read here]
Stream on Spotify:
— PRJ YOUTUBE CHANNEL —
Interspace – Interspace [1992, Full Demo] — Stream here:
Desiderium – Demo [1999, Full Demo] — Stream here: