I fell down my stairs on the way to buy cheese and all I got out of it was a Doom Metal concept album about Stonehenge
Power Held In Stone (2025)
I’ve always been classified as a “henge-head.” This is a name I invented for people who share the belief that Stonehenge and other neolithic henges are quite cool. I also believe in the humor of creating names for things that no one has asked for. Or even blog posts people haven’t asked for. But that’s why we’re here today.
I like making music. I’ve been making music for nearly 20 years, and have made 5 albums of music in the last ten years. This is the story of the 5th record. It is called Power Held In Stone and is a made-up story concept record about spooky old rocks. The band I play in, VVARP, put the album out with the help of a label based in the Netherlands. The album has sold out, which I think is quite flattering and also somewhat surprising considering it is a very niche product and very much for nerds only. ‘Henge-heads’ were encouraged to listen, and it turns out there are a few out there.
This album started after a trip to the UK in late 2022, where I dragged my wife and adventure companion Alice to Stonehenge so we could spend the afternoon looking at old rocks. I’m not the only person to be awestruck by the power of Stonehenge, but I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Seeing it in person, the big ol rocks have a mystic aura that I hope I captured in this image:
It’s Stonehenge, duh
Thinking about those people in Neolithic times using primitive engineering to move these rocks to this particular place, and arranging them so that at certain times of the year (like midsummer or midwinter) the sun or moon line up with the stones is insane to me. I can barely pick up my dog and go up and down the stairs. Anyway, I had to channel this experience into something. The universe decided this for me. Fast-forward a couple months to early 2023 - after I fell down my stairs trying to buy cheese I broke my ankle. I discover quickly that I needed a project at home to get stuck into ‘coz I wasn’t going anywhere. Certainly not up or down the stairs at least. It was time to start working on the second VVARP album, so it all fell in my lap. What about some sort of spooky concept linked to neolithic structures, like Stonehenge or other Standing stones? The others in the band and I floated round some ideas, agreed that old rocks and folk horror were on brand for our unique brand of music (‘Doom Metal’, here’s a playlist of related stuff in case you want to delve deeper) and we went about writing and eventually recording the album up the road at Goatsound Studios with Jason Fuller.
We started in May 2023, but weren’t able to finish until November 2023. The band managed to catch the flu in the middle of our planned first session, so we had to rebook for later in the year. In the time between recording sessions, we really tightened up things like the vocal harmonies, and the (at times) gratuitous harmonised guitar solos. I make no apologies for what I enjoy and think is cool. I think guitar harmonies are rad and I always will. Thin Lizzy forever (look it up).
Guitar wise I used this Orville Les Paul custom. It’s from the 90s (like me) and was made in Japan (unlike me). For Amps I used an Orange Rockerverb 100 that I hired and don’t own. The first record was a Thunderverb 50 that I sold (which I sort of miss, despite it being a bit busted up). I think the common element between the two recording sessions is my Boss Hyperfuzz, and the Electronic Audio Experiments Longsword combo. I think this is the “VVARP Sound” in a box (well, two boxes) and I am unlikely to change things up because I like it. If all of this sounds like a foreign language to you, then just know that I made these decisions that no one but fellow nerds would care about, but that I have good taste and made cool choices that resulted in a cool sound. According to me.
The big gap between recording sessions also meant we could make some interludes between the songs. We were inspired by the ‘Dungeon Synth’ genre (a playlist here for those keen to engage) and tried to write small compositions that eased the transition between songs. It was as simple as figuring out the key of one song, and then writing something that would modulate into the key of the next song. I mean, I say simple but I did find it hard and there was plenty of trial and error. It was also a real struggle to fit into the final recording, as the stuff I’d written and recorded at home had to be remixed to fit the album, but also the vibe for what we were going for. Think “lofi hip hop beats to study/relax to” but “lofi dungeon synth keyboards to be spooked out/transcend to a higher plane to.” I hear it is the next big thing.
You either understand the reference I’m trying to make with this, or you haven’t been on the internet enough
We also made a music video for “A Path Through The Veil” which was its own kettle of wriggly eels. We tried to really ride that lofi aspect I mentioned before by transferring the entire video project to VHS, but I’ll delve deeper into that in its own post here.
Our first record, First Levitations (2020) didn’t come out on vinyl. It did get a tape release by Iommium Records (thank you) in 2020, but because COVID freaked everyone out in the music production biz (fair enough) we couldn’t entice someone else to actually pay to press the record, so we put that dream on hold for a bit. With the new record ready to go, we asked around a number of labels to not only put our new album out, but also press the first album too so it could also get a physical release on a format that was even more cumbersome and outdated than a tape. One from Holland said yes and here we are.
Claudia Sullivan who sings, plays bass, and writes music in VVARP also draws real good so designed the illustration on the front cover. She’d done album number one too. We enlisted the help of Alice (my Stonehenge sojourner and a creative in her own right) to help us lay everything out for the printers and pressers and I think everyone did a great job. We even fit in a picture I took onto the back cover (yes, I took this picture despite being in it… this is what the self-timer function is for) to fully round out the DIY production. Check it out:
Very spooky but if you look close I am actually smiling and therefore the joker of the group
So yeah, I thought I would chronicle how this thing came to be and that I am happy with this thing I made with my friends. I will definitely make more music and try to get it pressed onto records in the future (either with VVARP or one of the other projects I have), and if you like making music I would encourage you to also release it in an outdated inconvenient format that requires substantial investment to participate in the enjoyment of it. For some reason people like it in 2026 and I think physical media is one of the only ways that people can seize control of the stories they like without worrying if it’ll be there next time you look (like on a streaming service). I mean, if my house gets robbed it might get taken but excluding that, this record should be on my shelf until I’m in the retirement village accosting my neighbours about how I used to be cool.*
*Disclaimer: I was never cool.
