JACK HARLON & THE DEAD CROWS release a new album, "Inexorable Opposites," on February 6, 2026. Although it's their fourth album since their formation, it will be their first album with new drummer Brayden Becher (GHOSTSMOKER) as well as their new label Magnetic Eye Records. What isn't new about this album is the smokey western vibe that has become their trademark. The band takes threads of Psych Stoner/Doom and weave it with experiences from their own travails and stitch them into the fictional character Jack Harlon. A good technique that has served them well.

Comprising eight tracks and running for 43 minutes, the album kicks off with plenty of fuzz . . . or perhaps I should say moss though the opening track, "Moss," reminds me more of tumbleweed than anything growing on a rock. This is one of the finer tracks of the album, grounding us with down-tuned riffage and a searing solo. Tim Coutts-Smith are clean and dusty, sounding like he was singing through sandstorm and maybe needs a drink of some cool water. Track two, "Venomous," delivers a Stoner groove-fest accented with some deep valleys of Doom. Another standout track.

Tracks three and four, "Mt. Macedon" and "Dave Is Done," maintain a steady mid-tempo momentum. If this is the meat of the album, it's savory and chewy. It's with tracks five and six where we get some distinct flavor. "Junior Fiction" gets all kinds of sideways and kaleidoscopic while "Seer" hands the reins over to Brayden for a wild ride over hill and glen.  "On the Overwhelm," the penultimate track, gets bluesy and downtrodden, reminding us that this is at it's core a Stoner/Doom band. The final track, "To Die," is a slow-moving outro. This track is all kinds of mellow and introspective. The lyrics drift off at about the 3:30 mark and we float to the close of the album in an ambient haze. If this song is about dying, literally or metaphorically, 'tis a slow death.

Overall, "Inexorable Opposites" shifts more into the rock space than metal. A few tracks to get your blood moving, but mostly inward gazing Psych. The Jack Harlon saga continues. He seems a little older and wiser and maybe more somber than previous iterations. But isn't that the way it is with life as we face off with the inevitable contradictions—the inexorable opposites—that exist around and within us.