"Hope Is Heavy" is the second full-length album from the South African doom metal band, ACID MAGUS. They have a dreamy sound that is more akin to WEEDPECKER, as opposed to that of HIGH ON FIRE. The album has six tracks and is just over forty-three minutes long. It was independently released on August 4th, 2023. The first track, "Demon Behemoth," begins with what sounds like the backward guitar licks at the beginning of the LED ZEPPELIN song, "Black Dog." Afterward, the song slowly takes shape as fat, fuzzy guitar riffs envelop the clean lead guitar arpeggios. This track is standard dreamy stoner doom metal fare with its reverb-drenched vocals and guitar along with slow, steady drum and bass beats. The pacing is on the slow side for me, but otherwise, it's a fun song.

Track number three, "Caligulater," picks up the pace a little bit. Again, the riffs are full of that thick distortion that is exemplary of this type of metal. They get into a nice groove that makes the track fun and easy to follow. The lead guitar arpeggios are nice as well, but I found the track to be lacking any sort of bite whatsoever. The track lacks aggression. Guest vocalist, Johni Holiday, employs a different vocal style from Van Renen during the chorus of "Dead Weight." He sounds almost like Mike Patton's high-pitched singing with FAITH NO MORE. This style combined with the way Van Renen sounds during the verses is odd and a bit off-putting. The funky chorus is also reminiscent of a stoner FAITH NO MORE. Ultimately, there is just too much going on in this track. It lacks cohesion.

The final track, "Trillion Tonne Sun," is a ten-and-a-half-minute-long epic. It's an introspective work that reminds me of a less-focused TOOL song. It's easy to get lost in the music, which is a boon for this type of music. This is my favorite track on the album, but I must admit I found the long vamp near the end to be a little bit bloated. Overall, "Hope Is Heavy" is a solid second album. ACID MAGUS shows promise, but there are a couple of things that I didn't feel worked out as well as they could have. This band shows promise, but they lack that extra spark of ingenuity to set them apart from the pack.