5 Albums I Want To Be Buried With #14: Stonewielder!
After reviewing the glorious debut EP “The Suffering Ritual” from St. Louis Missouri trio Stonewielder, a band dedicated to Doom Metal and amplifier worship for life with their vision for their sound a blend of crushing riffs and slow, heavy atmospheres, getting guitarist and vocalist Mark Weeks to give us his choices for our new (ish) weekly feature seemed an obvious choice. Before we even start, based on their record alone you know its going to be filled with riffs fit for worship from influences across the spectrum of Doom, Sludge and Groove Metal…
The premise is simple: “Back in ancient Egypt they believed that the items their Kings were buried with would travel with them into the afterlife and so part of the burial ritual would see the mummified bodies surrounded by chariots, gold and more. Fast forward to now. If there were five albums that you’d want buried in the coffin with you to take to the afterlife, what would you choose?”
1 – Black Sabbath – “Masters of Reality“
“Picking the five albums to be buried with, for me, can change with the flow of the wind but today I have a pretty solid selection that I am fairly confident in. First up we have Black Sabbath- Masters of Reality. This album from start to finish is filled with bangers and is a blueprint for how to create a doom/stoner album. The tones, grooves, riffs and vocals on this album are some of the best to ever be recorded.“
2 – Sleep – “The Sciences“
“A few years back it would have been holy mountain but in time this has come to be my favorite Sleep release. So much tonal color and the production is so tasty. It’s like the perfect blend of Sleep and Om and the drum work is stellar.“
3 – The Sword – “Age of Winters”
“This is is a perfect blend of doom already on this list and the more metal albums coming later. There such a richness and variation to the music on this and features some of the best hooks the band ever recorded. The production is a bit more raw but still filled with clarity.“
4 – Judas Priest – “Painkiller”
“Painkiller from Judas Priest is next and it’s an album I’ve had since it was released and the vocal and guitar melodies never cease to inspire. Almost every section in every song is a hook, no filler here. The band went for the jugular and Rob’s voice matched them every step of the way.”
5 – Megadeth – “Rust in Peace“
“For me this is the ultimate thrash album. Abrupt tempo changes, scale choice and technique is all ramped up further than they had went before. Marty Friedman and his guitar work made this album the unstoppable force that it is. It also features some of Dave’s coolest riff work.“
“The Suffering Ritual” by Stonewielder is out 6th September 2025 and is available over at bandcamp
