Canadian stoner/doom/heavy psych outfit PALE HORSE RITUAL evoke the occult sound of the '70s in their new album, Diabolic Formation. The first single, "Wickedness" provides a taste of the fuzz-driven, analogue ambience that lies in wait. Diabolic Formation is set to arrive in our realm on November 28, 2025, via Black Throne Productions.

The haunting psychedelic splendor of "Wickedness" is highly immersive. Rhythmic instrumentation carries the momentum throughout the track while additional textures are delivered by organ arrangements, atmospheric fuzz and compelling vocals. Flooded in a haze of heavy, there's something eerie and disturbing beneath the surface.

About PALE HORSE RITUAL
Steeped in mysticism, PALE HORSE RITUAL create an spellcasting blend of doom, occult rock and vintage metal. Based out of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, the band formed in 2024 and their sound is driven by gritty vocals, sludgy riffs, and pounding rhythms that channel the spirit of 1970s heavy music with a modern, gothic edge. Following their alluring 2024 EP titled Enchantress, the quartet are preparing to unveil the full-length, Diabolic Formation on November 28, via Black Throne Productions.

Line Up:
Paco (Bass/Vocals)
James Matheson (Lead Guitar)
Will Adams (Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals)
Jonah Santa-Barbara (Drums)

Album Credits:
Producer: Will Adams
Recording Studio: Green Mountain Ranch
Engineer: Will Adams at Tell Me About It… Records
Mastering: Zack Hollow at Z Hollow Studios
Mixing: Will Adams

Guest Musicians:
Dom Valela- Keys, Vocals
Doom Valhalla- Italian Preacher

Links:
Bandcamp: https://palehorseritual.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/palehorseritual/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaleHorseRitualBand
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pale.horse.ritual

Toronto-based trio VÖLUR, the band that has spent the past decade proving heavy music doesn’t need guitars, join forces with producer and sound artist CARES (James Beardmore) to release their fourth full-length album Breathless Spirit today via Black Throne Productions. The record arrives alongside the premiere of a haunting video for “Windbourne Sorcery II,” an otherworldly piece of doom-folk storytelling featuring guest vocals from Amy Bowles (PONY DA LOOK).

Breathless Spirit is VÖLUR & CARES’ most immersive and uncompromising work to date, a six-track journey through dread, exile, and psychic unraveling inspired by The Saga of Grettir the Strong, a 13th-century Icelandic tale of a cursed outlaw. Blending doom, folk, black metal, free improvisation, and world music traditions, the album reimagines myth as sound: cinematic, spectral, and unbound by genre.

CARES’ role goes far beyond production, contributing piano, synthesizers, theremin, custom-built electronics, and radical sound processing to expand VÖLUR’s acoustic core of violin, bass, and drums into liminal territory. Through fractured textures, spectral layering, and immersive re-amping, the collaboration transforms Breathless Spirit into something part metal ritual, part sound art installation.

“Windbourne Sorcery II,” the record’s third track, shifts from crushing doom riffs to an introspective folk lament. Told from the perspective of a witch cursing Grettir, the song is filled with paradoxes, air that freezes, snow that burns, and builds toward a hallucinatory vision of an encroaching iceberg, a solid wall of metallic ice on an unalterable course. The new video channels the song’s stark intensity, pairing its dynamic shifts with imagery steeped in isolation, magic, and the inevitability of fate.

Breathless Spirit is available today on black vinyl in standard and limited “diehard” editions, the latter including a 7-inch bonus record (Flutterby Number and Glamr) and a 20g packet of custom-blended Breathless Spirit tea. Digital formats also include the bonus track Glamr, unavailable on streaming platforms.

About VÖLUR & CARES

VÖLUR is a Toronto-based experimental doom metal trio composed of Laura C. Bates (violin, vocals), Lucas Gadke (bass, vocals), and Justin Ruppel (drums). Known for their unorthodox instrumentation and boundary-pushing compositions, VÖLUR draws from a wide range of influences including doom metal, European folk, free improvisation, classical music, and Persian/Kurdish traditions. Their sound, often described as haunting and cinematic, blends thunderous low-end weight with fragile melodic tension. Since forming in 2014, they have released multiple albums and EPs, performed at festivals such as ProphecyFest and Sled Island, and collaborated with artists from around the world as part of their Die Sprachen der Vögel series.

CARES is the project of James Beardmore, a UK-born, Ontario-based musician and producer. Known for his experimental production methods and emotional sonic textures, Beardmore integrates analog synthesizers, hacked hardware, custom Max/MSP instruments, and field recordings into compositions that are as tactile as they are atmospheric. His work with VÖLUR on Breathless Spirit is a seamless collaboration that expands the band’s sonic universe, elevating their music into a richly layered fusion of organic and electronic sound.

Together, VÖLUR & CARES create immersive, mythically charged music that resists categorization, rooted in story and sound, breath and ritual.

VÖLUR is:

Laura C. Bates – violin, electric violin, viola, cymbals, vocals
Lucas Gadke – electric bass, double bass, harmonium, keyboards, tanbur, clarinet, bass clarinet, vocals
Justin Ruppel – drums, percussion

Connect with VÖLUR:

Website: www.volurdoom.com
Bandcamp: https://volur.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VolurDoom/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/volurdoom/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/volurdoom
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/volurdoom
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@volurdoom
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Y2XCmgrMhdMpoNdGibU01

PALE HORSE RITUAL Announce 'Diabolic Formation'

VÖLUR & CARES Release Breathless Spirit With Video for “Windbourne Sorcery II”