We launched three years ago, so this is our third birthday celebration! We're so grateful to see that many of our very first supporters are still with us. đ„ł
Galway #Ireland
#photography
#streetphotography
#mastodon

Howling Giant â Crucible & Ruin Review
By Dear Hollow
Howling Giant occupies such an odd place within its scene. The Nashville collective is stoner metal and psych rock to the core in an energetic way that recalls the down-and-dirty acts like High on Fire or Mastodon, but layers of melody and creative chord usage feel progressive a la Intronaut or Baroness and the triple vocal harmonies are catchy yet evasive, not unlike Torche or Helmet. They also donât take things too seriously, with a solid sense of humor and a relatable relationship with fans to bring their formidable technical skill to earth.1 Now a release removed from the formidable debut full-length The Space Between Stars and even more from the Black Hole Space Wizard suite, Howling Giant proves their worth once more.
To address the elephant in the room, Glass Future saw Howling Giantâs progressive tendencies flying their freak flag too much. While attempting to keep the stoner murk and reconcile it with aptly crystalline melody, the band lost what is so great about them: solid songwriting. Itâs completely contrary to what gave them the edge over genre mates Sergeant Thunderhoof in their dueling split â their head-first dabbling in more elusive chord progressions felt like a more stoner-inclined dime-store version of Intronautâs Habitual Levitations. This is what makes third full-length Crucible & Ruin so refreshing:2 itâs everything you love about the Nashville now-quartet â and more. The template of killer riffs, soaring choruses, searing solos, and stoner haze is amplified by new guitarist/synth player Adrian Zambrano â adding layers and textures to Howling Giantâs already winning formula.
Howling Giant feels reinvigorated with Crucible & Ruin. Songwriting prowess on full display, the kitchen sink of riff, solo, melody, and catchiness has never looked so clean. While some remnants of Glass Future hang around in more evasive chord structures and emphasis on melody (instrumental âLesser Godsâ), the tracks shift from the anthemic to the kickass, rounded out by the understated Helmet-esque triple-vocal attack â a potentially divisive element of Howling Giantâs sound â3 and that warm stoner haze. Chunky riffs dominate and add a jolt of energy (âHunterâs Mark,â âBeholder I: Downfallâ), while anthemic choruses and transcendent chord progressions take listeners to a psychedelic heaven (âArchon,â âArchivistâ). Southern fried bluesy vibes a la All Them Witches also grace the vibe with a backwoods atmosphere (âBeholder II: Labyrinth,â âMelchorâs Bonesâ), paying homage to their home state of Tennessee. All assets culminate in the two parts of âBeholder,â the Phrygian key giving them a more epic and grandiose feel.
With the addition of Zambrano, Howling Giant has never felt so fleshed out. Compared to the flashy vocals and melodies of Sergeant Thunderhoof, Howling Giant has always been a meat-and-potatoes type of band, but Crucible & Ruin finds the band building upon this template using more versatility in its musical arsenal. Layers of melodic overlays grace rhythmic punch a purpose and intensity (âCanyons,â âScythe and Scepterâ), the tasteful balance between the melodic and the skronky add intrigue and madness (âHunterâs Mark,â âArchon,â âBeholder I: Downfallâ), and ethereal atmosphere is built atop and duels with more downtuned riffs and bass (âLesser Gods,â âArchivist,â âBeholder II: Labyrinthâ). The dueling guitars add a much-needed and ridiculously tantalizing dimension that takes Howling Giantâs already solid sound to new heights.
Howling Giantâs vocal approach of hyper harmonies will remain a divisive element, the central riff and spoken word of âMelchorâs Bonesâ can get a bit repetitive, and instrumental âLesser Godsâ is a bit questionable, but donât let that distract you from the fact that itâs the bandâs best album to date. Crucible & Ruin distills everything that makes Howling Giant great and beefs it up, weaponizing their already formidable songwriting with Zambranoâs melodic and textural synth and fretwork. Featuring riffs upon riffs with complex songwriting that doesnât fly over listenersâ heads, relatable vocals that donât lose their punch, and new guitar work that takes the band to new heights, across a forty-eight-minute runtime that zips by, itâs hard not to bob your head. While comparisons to Mastodon, Baroness, and Anciients are fair, Howling Giant is its own beast, an intersection of stoner haze, riffy intensity, and melodic taste. Crucible & Ruin caught me by surprise in the best way, and is sure to appear at year-end.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Magnetic Eye Records
Websites: howlinggiant.bandcamp.com | howlinggiant.com | facebook.com/howlinggiant
Releases Worldwide: October 31st, 2025
#2025 #40 #AllThemWitches #AmericanMetal #Anciients #Baroness #CrucibleRuin #CryOfTheAfflicted #Helmet #HighOnFire #HowlingGiant #Intronaut #MagneticEyeRecords #Mastodon #Oct25 #PsychedelicRock #Review #Reviews #SergeantThunderhoof #StonerDoomMetal #StonerMetal #StonerRock #Torche

#Mastodon v4.5 is scheduled for release tomorrow !
(Or shortly thereafter if some last minute bug should surface).
I know you're all very anxcious to enjoy the latest new features but please be a little more patient.
Due to lack of enough free time to monitor for any unexpected release bugs, I won't deploy v4.5 before the weekend.
But no worries, it's coming đ
https://mastodon.social/@MastodonEngineering/115496537923662130
is there hate towards #mastodon? and if so, why?
Mastodon v4.5.0 is just around the corner - time to perform some upgrade tests of my test instance
Today in #powRSS
Masto-mailo-inator by MichaĆ M. Sapka
"Masto-mailo-inator is a small program which allows reading Mastodon from the comfort from your modern email client. It works by reading mastodon API and storing each toot as a mail message in Maildir format. I build to escape from browser even more, to learn python and how email works."
https://michal.sapka.pl/project/masto-mailo-inator/
#blogs #mastodon #foss #indieweb
On November 30, 2022, I tooted for the first time on Mastodon.
âHello world!â
Then I began tooting my #music and a ton of #puns #jokes, and #memes. Everyone here responded so genuinely, and with such positivity, that I was very quickly made to feel at home.
My deepest gratitude goes out to the #Mastodon community, a #community that has literally improved the quality of my time on this spinning rock as it hurtles through space, towards a future that seems more uncertain every day. You have been my friends, my therapists, my critics and fans, as well as an inspiration and reliable sounding board. Mastodon really is unlike any other âsocial media platformâ out there.
Today, I celebrate the arbitrary milestone of twelve thousand followers, and I wanted to say thank you.
Thank you for the favourites, the boosts, the follows, and the comments.
Thank you for your conversations, discussions, and corrections.
Thank you for listening to my music and sharing your thoughts, and for following along on your chosen streaming service. Your support has been amazing.
But, above all, Iâd like to thank you all for making Mastodon the friendly and welcoming place that it is. My experience here has predominantly been one of acceptance and support, and it has been truly humbling. There is nowhere else quite like it.
Massive huge love and big gigantic hugs to you all,
@driceman boas vindas ao #fediverso ![]()
Seguem umas dicas legais e importantes que vĂŁo ajudar muito sua vida aqui no #mastodon
https://bolha.one/@pBaesse/113897063782987686
My docker-based Mastodon instance is now running v4.5.0-rc.3.
I'm really experienced at it now đ. Updating is so incredibly smooth.
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.5.0-rc.3
#mastoadmin #mastodon #update #maintenance #mastodonrocks
Wenn ich da reinschaue, finde ich 90-95 % der Profile unpassend fĂŒr mich. Wie wird die Liste zusammengestellt? #mastodon #troetcafe #icecubesapp

As ever we are thankful to be part of #Mastodon #ubuntu #ubuntuUK #linux
