Italian Doomers WASTE CULT Share Big Opener to Forthcoming LP ‘Blame’

From Bologna, Italy comes the mighty WASTE CULT. The ancient city is the home of doom-stoner bands like Three Eyes Left, Hyperwülff, Holy Giant, Slow Order, and State of Non Return – a number of which have been highlighted in these pages and on The Doomed & Stoned Show in past years.
Waste Cult, a four-member doom crew, are poised to release their first full-length record, ‘Blame’ (2025) this summer via UK label Aesthetic Death Records. This follows an excellent self-titled EP debut in 2022.
There’s something stately about the architecture of the songs, no doubt inspired by the legacy of Italian architecture (or at least the psychological impact of those elegant arches, columns, and spires). At the same time, there’s an early morning misty melancholy that pervades, not quite as sad as Pallbearer, yet capturing a kind of wistful wishfulness.
The band’s latest single is “Ad Astra,” (which Doomed & Stoned brings you today), and it opens the record with a fiery spirit, charging forward with melodic guitar, rumbling bass, sturdy chords, and stalwart rhythm. The vocals are earnest, reaching for lofty places, looking to soar, capturing a longing to live beyond regret, aspiring for a life of greater meaning.
The drumming is a big highlight of the album for me, as well – peppy with an off-beat feel, keeping their feet dancing without ever tripping up (something you’ll pick up on immediately with the track that follows, the whimsically titled “Delirium Of Manners”).
The band gives us a bit of background on the new record:
It was written in the very first creative period after the release of the previous work (the self-titled EP) and marked the beginning of the shift towards a style that is both powerful and introspective. 'Blame’ is meant to be a sum of all different influences from hardcore punk classics, to classic doom, to post metal, with a more defined identity, after a few years experimenting in the practice room.
You can get Blame by Waste Cult on June 6th here or here. Stick it on a playlist with Candlemass, Marche Funèbre, Endonomos, and that first album by Age of Taurus.
Give ear…
SOME BUZZ
Waste Cult’s debut full-length album, 'Blame’ (2025), will be released on June 6th, 2025, via Aesthetic Death.
Emerging from Bologna’s underground scene, Waste Cult was formed in late 2021 by musicians with roots in punk and thrash metal, yet a desire to explore a darker, doom-laden sound.
'Blame’ is the culmination of this journey—a raw, introspective work that merges classic doom influences with modern post-metal atmospheres. Following their self-released 2022 EP, this album solidifies their identity, delivering immersive and emotionally charged soundscapes.
Waste Cult started in Bologna, Italy in late 2021, with all members having experience with other punk/thrash metal projects, including Rake-Off, Hyle, Siege Stompers, Call The Cops…
The aim for Waste Cult has been to create different sounds and atmospheres to those other projects - exploring a slower doomier approach to their sound. In mid 2022 they self-released an eponymous 4-track EP on tape, and on the back of that started playing shows across Italy.
The first full length - 'Blame’ - is the characterisation of all their different influences, with a more defined identity - taking inspiration from the doom classics to the more modern post-metal sounds. This reality took shape after years experimenting in the practice room, with 'Blame’ bearing witness to a more introspective and personal approach within both the music and lyrics.

Aesthetic Death has always been a fan of stoner doom sounds and, like many, was schooled on the likes of Kyuss, Monster Magnet and Black Sabbath. Yet, Aesthetic Death has rarely had opportunity to work on any release with bands from these lands of sound.
When first listening to Waste Cult it instantly resonated. Albums can become a soundtrack to a period of our lives, as an immersive escape alongside all the positive or negative things happening.

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