Blacklab

Describing themselves as a "dark witch doom duo," BlackLab originated in Japan. Their stoner doom inclinations took shape on the 2018 debut album Under the Strawberry Moon through layers of distorted riffs paired with ghostly vocals. Distortion reached even greater intensity on the third album, In a Bizarre Dream, released in 2022, which also featured a guest turn from Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier.

Vocalist and guitarist Yuko Morino joined drummer Chia Shirasishi to form the band, which surfaced from Osaka's doom underground via the February 2017 EP issued as 1st.EP. Its three self-recorded, sludgy tracks paved the way for the full-length Under the Strawberry Moon in early 2018 and a subsequent contract with New Heavy Sounds, which reissued the album before the year ended. The follow-up Abyss appeared on the same label in 2020, leaning into a melodic quality that more directly reflected the group's name—a portmanteau of Black Sabbath and Stereolab—without leaving metal behind. In a Bizarre Dream arrived the next September, with Laetitia Sadier supplying lead vocals on "Crows, Sparrows and Cats."